Meet Nishta & Evangelos
Evangelos Diavolitsis:
Seeker's Compass - Life Alchemist – Mystic Mirror
I’m a playful and forthright Dharma teacher, movement facilitator, and coach devoted to helping people let go of who they think they need to be—and awaken to the radical mystery of who they already are.
I was raised in a Greek-Canadian household that valued the dream: a polished purpose and a reliable paycheck. I followed the expected path, earned a degree in Urban Planning… and walked away during my first week on the job. Why? Because my nose was buried in psychology books and my heart was flooded with existential longing. The extremes of life—success, failure, deep love, and spiritual crisis—nudged me into an early awakening. I stumbled into the Dharma like a thirsty wanderer discovering a hidden spring.
For over 25 years, I’ve trained under Qapel and Catherine Sensei of the Tibetan Buddhist Namgyal Lineage. My teaching is classically grounded but joyfully interwoven with movement, science, nature, and the expressive arts. I work with people through meditation, study, travel, and somatic inquiry—committed to freeing beings from the countless suffering states that obscure their innate brilliance.
I’m a certified 5Rhythms teacher (mentored by Gabrielle Roth) and a Behavioral Money Coach (trained by Deborah Price). I co-founded Four Ways to Freedom, a transformational framework that weaves together four essential pathways: mindfulness, money, movement, and mystery. My approach is non-dogmatic, creative, and deeply experiential—offering practical, embodied tools for spiritual awakening in the modern world.
My teaching style is both poetic and precise. I lead from lived experience, using humor, humility, and a fierce love for truth to guide others toward vitality, clarity, and wholeness. And when I’m not teaching? I’m probably wandering in the forest, playing with metaphors, or being lovingly kept in check by my partner Nishta, who ensures I stay humble, honest, and in service.
Nishta Matarese:
Teacher, Trickster & Tender Truth-Teller
“Nishta” means trust. And trust is where my path begins.
As a child, I’d fall asleep under the vast Texas night sky, stars pouring their light into me until I dissolved into something greater. That early taste of boundlessness sparked a lifelong devotion to mystery, wisdom, and the human experience.
I’m a chameleon, a curious observer of the psyche, and a lifelong student of what it means to be alive. Breaking away from my Southern Native American-Italian roots at 18, I pursued the big questions: How do we endure the ache of living? What are emotions? Where do we belong?
These questions led me to decades of formal study in psychology, mysticism, movement, and Dharma. I’ve been a social worker, business owner, tango teacher, filmmaker, and pie baker. By my early 30s, I was producing events and working closely with multiple inspirational spiritual teachers and emerging New Age thought leaders on Maui at The Studio Maui, which was a vibrant hub for community, personal transformation, and cutting-edge cultural evolution.
I’ve danced through lineage and learning — from Tibetan Buddhism, Osho, and the Diamond Approach to Open Floor International and the alchemy of behavioral money coaching and recently Integral Theory.
The extraordinary teachers from my life are my compass. My teaching style is heartfelt, humorous, and fiercely clear. I use movement, mindfulness, and matters of the heart to explore deeper states of being.
Experiencing everything in its totality is what keeps me awake — and what I offer to others who long to wake up fully. Transformation is not a destination but a rhythm, a continual unfolding. This process of being human is the process of waking up — raw, radiant, imperfect. And that, to me, is the precious gift of our humanity.
Together with my beloved husband Evangelos, who keeps me from falling asleep at life’s wheel, we co-founded FWTF . We live, love, and teach across the globe, modeling conscious relationship and a commitment to the collective shift.
Most days, you’ll find me somewhere between silence and song, grounded in inquiry, and dancing in the hills of piemonte.
Learn about our method
Creators of the Embodied Awakening Path
We are here for those ready to burn.
To live, die, and rise beyond the smallness they've mistaken for life.
We do not offer comfort — We offer freedom.
We guide you into the wild intelligence that has always been yours, fierce and radiant beyond measure.
This is the work of remembrance.
This is the path home.
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