Meet Elah

My name is Elah Marcel Zakarin. My life is animated by a passion and commitment to remember our connection with the Earth, heal the wounds in our bodies and souls, and create a more just and beautiful world. It is a joy to hold space for people as they heal, recover their voice and access a renewed sense of belonging, joy and purpose.

My experience draws from over a decade of dedicated practice and study in a range of healing methods, spiritual practices and traditions. As a young one, I befriended trees, played in the dirt, listened to crickets and knew in my bones that these relationships were real. My training with Ancestral Medicine grounded and deepened my connection with the spirits, the ancestors and the more-than-human world. Over a decade of Buddhist practice, I accessed a steady quality of presence and open-hearted compassion. Through Jewish practice and tradition, I learned to hold complexity and paradox, to bring joy and depth together and to honor the transformative power of relationship. Earth-based queer Jewish community reconnected me to the land and to a vision of restoring the health and vitality of living ecosystems.

I found my way to this work through a blend of heartfelt curiosity and inspiration, as well as my own suffering. I was in pain, and I sensed that so much more was possible than we typically dared to imagine. I now know this is true. No matter where we find ourselves, we each can return to an innate sense of goodness and wholeness.  

I believe we each have available to us all that we need to heal. I don’t see myself as a “healer,” but rather as a facilitator to allow your own healing intelligence to re-awaken. Any healing that comes with me is not done by me, but rather through our shared contact with the fundamental source of all that is and to which we all belong. It is in this shared resonant field that a true transformation can unfold.

My ancestors are Ashkenazi Jews most recently from Poland, Russia and France. As a diaspora Jew and queer person, I know the heartache of un-belonging and I know the depth of connection that is always available. This knowing has moved me into an embodied awareness of the wounds of racism, sexism, colonialism and other oppressions and a heartfelt commitment to create liberation for all.

The songs, prayers, struggles and vision of my ancestors live on in me and in my creative, joyful work. I have received abundant blessings and it is from this wellspring that I offer. It is a delight and blessing to enter into this work with you.

I welcome you to reach out to learn more about me and my practice.