founder
Shazia Elahi
I’m Shazia.
I’ve held many titles and roles in my life but, the only one I hold now is that I am a human.
The truth is, the work I want to do in this lifetime is to create opportunities for safety, stillness and healing for others – spaces where people can reconnect with themselves and feel at home in who they are.
Alongside that, I advocate for intentional use of plant-based medicines and the role they play in supporting healing and human potential.
I’m not a healer – just someone who has walked this path, and is continuing to walk it. Anyways, you can read my story below…
Let’s stay connected – and if something here resonates, I’d love to work together.
Connect with me!
On the surface, everything looked fine.
I was born in South London and studied software engineering before moving into consulting. I was ambitious and driven, but I never quite knew where to place that energy or how to channel it into something that felt meaningful.
On the outside, life looked good. But underneath, I was quietly struggling with burnout, chronic health issues, and a deep sense of disconnection. For years, I was told I had high-functioning depression and anxiety. In reality, my nervous system was overwhelmed and responding to unmet needs.
Over time, I began to understand my experience more clearly through the lenses of ADHD, autism, and PMDD.
Eventually, I turned to plant based medicines
Traditional approaches to treatment never felt right for me. Eventually, I was prescribed legal medical cannabis — a decision that carried its own weight, especially within a South Asian community where these medicines are often misunderstood or stigmatised.
That experience opened something up. It gave me relief, clarity, and a new perspective on healing.
It led me into the UK medical cannabis space, where I began volunteering my skills and exploring the industry more deeply. For the first time, I felt aligned and connected to something meaningful.
But beneath it all, I was still running in survival mode. Not long after, my body and mind forced me to stop. I stepped away to focus fully on my health, community, and reconnection.
Mushrooms gave me my magic back
The most profound transformation came from going inward. Through years of deep nervous system work — supported by yoga, breathwork, meditation, and psychedelic therapy — I began to regulate, process, and reconnect.
Slowly, I moved out of survival mode and into a way of living that felt softer, safer, and more grounded. For the first time, I wasn’t just coping. I was actually living.
In that space, something became clear. I wanted to help others experience the same shift.
That’s why I created navigating.life — to bring together everything I’ve lived, learned, and tested. A space that bridges nervous system work, self-awareness, and plant-based medicines, while contributing to safer, more informed conversations in this space.
My professional background spans software engineering, systems consultancy, public-sector work, health advocacy, and research-informed practise.
I worked as a consultant across regulated public-sector environments, contributing to business design, product design, and delivering technical solutions within multidisciplinary teams. Alongside this, I volunteered my time to the UK medical cannabis sector through advocacy, education and patient-rights work, collaborating with clinics and stakeholders.
I supported educational/advocacy based events and engaged in public speaking opportunities. I co-authored a research paper with the Cannabis Industry Council examining the environmental, social, and governance impact of medical cannabis in the UK. I later co-founded EthVida, a health-focused social enterprise within the industry exploring education, advocacy, and consultancy at the intersection of plant-based medicine and care.
Since then, I have completed 200hr Yoga Teacher training, which included deepening my practice in breath work and meditation. These experiences now inform how I create safe spaces for others to ground themselves and reconnect. Also, how I approach advocacy, research, and collaborative work with care, context and nervous system awareness.
In my spare time, I like to practise Bujinkan martial arts, explore, play, cook, get crafty and hang out with my community.