For Funda Zeytinoğlu, a Wellness Workshop Is the Beginning of Something Bigger

Funda London brings Turkish wellness educator İlker Çağlayan to England for a four-hour workshop exploring gut health, energy, mood and metabolism while building a new community around wellbeing and connection.

Funda London Founder and Director Funda Zeytinoğlu Organises a Turkish-Language Wellness Experience Exploring the Connection Between the Gut, Body and Mind

Turkish holistic health and performance consultant, author and educator İlker Çağlayan will come to England on 24 October 2026 for a special experiential workshop exploring the relationship between gut health, the body and the mind.

Organised by Funda Zeytinoğlu, Founder and Director of Funda London, the event, titled “Change Your Gut, Change Your Life,” will run from 12.00 to 16.00 and will be presented entirely in Turkish.

Designed as an interactive three-to-four-hour experience rather than a conventional seminar, the workshop will invite participants to explore how everyday habits and the gut-body-mind relationship can affect areas such as digestion, energy, mood, mental clarity and metabolism.

The event represents an important new chapter for Zeytinoğlu, who is bringing more than two decades of entrepreneurial and retail experience into the worlds of wellness, events and community building.

After moving to the UK in 2000, Zeytinoğlu studied English before completing a degree in Business Management and pursuing her ambition to build her own business. Over the following two decades, she established a career in independent fashion retail, operating boutiques in locations including Reading, Guildford, Notting Hill, Covent Garden and Ealing Broadway.

But her work, she says, has always been about more than fashion.

Highlights

• İlker Çağlayan comes to England on 24 October 2026.
• The event is organised by Funda Zeytinoğlu and Funda London.
• “Change Your Gut, Change Your Life” is designed as a three-to-four-hour experiential workshop.
• The programme will be conducted entirely in Turkish.
• Key themes include digestion, energy, mood, mental clarity and metabolism.
• The workshop explores the gut-body-mind connection and everyday lifestyle habits.
• Çağlayan’s background brings together nutrition, coaching, movement, mindfulness and Eastern and Western approaches.
• The event marks an important step in Funda Zeytinoğlu’s move into wellness, events and community building.
• Zeytinoğlu spent more than two decades building businesses within independent fashion retail in Britain.
• Funda London aims to make events about more than listening to speakers by encouraging participation, connection and shared experiences.
• Its guiding philosophy is “Connect. Develop. Grow Together.”
• The long-term vision is to build a community around wellbeing, learning, personal development and human connection.

Years spent working directly with customers gave Zeytinoğlu a close understanding of the importance of human connection, trust and creating environments in which people feel welcomed and valued. That experience has gradually developed into a wider vision for Funda London.

Her philosophy — “Connect. Develop. Grow Together.” — is now at the heart of a programme of events designed to combine personal development, wellbeing, education and social connection.

“I want to create a community where people can feel that they belong, build genuine connections and grow together.”
— Funda Zeytinoğlu

“I want to create a community where people can feel that they belong, build genuine connections and grow together,” says Zeytinoğlu.

For Zeytinoğlu, bringing İlker Çağlayan to England reflects that ambition: offering audiences access to expert-led experiences while also creating opportunities for people to meet, exchange ideas and form new connections.

A Different Approach to Wellbeing

Çağlayan brings together experience and influences from several areas of health, nutrition and personal performance.

His background includes studies in nutrition, sports nutrition and coaching in North America, followed by years of professional experience in Turkey. He later spent time in Shanghai, where he studied Mandarin and explored traditional Chinese medicine.

His work has developed around subjects including gut microbiota, mindful eating, digestion, food-related behaviours, movement and resistance exercise, with an emphasis on examining how daily habits can contribute to wider wellbeing.

He is also the founder of Habit and presents “İlker Çağlayan ile İyi Alışkanlıklar” on beIN Gurme, where he discusses lifestyle, nutrition and the development of healthier everyday habits.

During the England workshop, Çağlayan will focus particularly on the connections between the digestive system, physical wellbeing and mental performance.

Rather than simply presenting information, the workshop is intended to encourage participants to reflect on their own habits and explore practical approaches they may be able to incorporate into everyday life.

More Than a Seminar

For Funda London, the event is also intended to demonstrate a different style of gathering.

Zeytinoğlu wants participants to leave not only with new information, but also with the feeling that they have shared an experience with others.

Her longer-term ambition is to establish a community around thoughtfully curated events spanning wellbeing, personal development, learning, culture and human connection.

The 24 October workshop will be among the first significant steps in that direction.

With Çağlayan bringing his perspective on nutrition, mindfulness, movement and lifestyle to a Turkish-speaking audience in Britain, “Change Your Gut, Change Your Life” is set to offer an afternoon combining learning, reflection and personal exploration.

For Zeytinoğlu, however, the event itself is only the beginning.

The larger goal behind Funda London is to create a space where people can meet, learn from one another and continue building relationships long after an event has finished.

Connect. Develop. Grow Together.

Event Details

Event: Change Your Gut, Change Your Life
Speaker: İlker Çağlayan
Organiser: Funda London / Funda Zeytinoğlu
Date: 24 October 2026
Time: 12.00–16.00
Location: The Swan at Streatly, England
Language: Turkish
Format: Three-to-four-hour experiential workshop