About

I’m Yusuf Can Kızılay.

KÖKEN grew out of my curiosity to understand first myself, then the human being, and the search this set in motion. Each new piece of knowledge opened another question; each question led me into another field. This process was driven largely by my hunger for knowledge and my admiration for all that has been created.

The parts were explained. What I wanted to understand was what they said together.

The Body, mind, movement, nutrition, behavior, lived experience, and the ways people respond to them were usually considered within their own fields. I tried to understand how all of these related to one another.

My interest in esoteric disciplines was also part of this search. The symbols and relational patterns I encountered there played an important part in helping me read the pieces I had seen separately as a whole.

That search also led me through different fields of study and work. I graduated from programs in Elderly Care and Nutrition and Dietetics. I worked in fitness and massage, including around seven years as a trainer in gyms. I completed a Level 3 massage training program approved by Türkiye’s Ministry of National Education.

I directly cared for older adults and people who were ill, and applied my education in nutrition and dietetics while offering individual support. My experience in these two fields is grounded in one-to-one practice rather than institutional employment.

I have been observing for as long as I can remember. Over the past decade, that observation became more systematic. I observed not only while reading or working, but everywhere: the person in front of me, my own reactions, how movement changed, what changed in the Body and in behavior when a word was spoken, and why the same situation produced different outcomes in different people.

Over time, what I had learned from different fields began to connect. Something I learned in one place found its counterpart elsewhere; as previously separate pieces came together, the whole became visible.

I did not build a system from nothing. The pieces already existed, and the relationships between them were at work whether I was looking or not.

I gave a name to the whole I saw:

KÖKEN.

Today, KÖKEN is a system that reads the relationships among the Body, Understanding, lived experience, conditions, and Action together, and continues to evolve. I share this reading through this site and social media, and examine it within a broader whole in the book I am writing.