Hi, I’m Danielle
I’m a movement specialist, narcissistic abuse survivor, and someone who knows — first hand — that your chronic patterns, your anxiety, and your past trauma are all related.
Here’s my story…
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I learned what rage was at an unusually young age from a narcissistic + addicted parent.
It was something that became an unfortunate constant for the duration of my childhood — affecting me in ways I could clearly recognize, and also in ways I was completely unconscious of.
So when I spent the better half of my twenties healing residual childhood trauma, new relationship traumas, and trying to keep my nose above the poverty line, I knew there was something much deeper going on, and I needed to get to the source, to the reason why these things were happening. I was searching for a cure to the manifestations of dysfunctions in my health, my relationships, and my bank account.
“He was crazy!”
“You did nothing wrong” they’d say.
“You’re probably just stressed”
“Maybe get more rest” they’d say.
And while, yes, of course I knew the abuse was not my fault, I knew I lived with stress (who doesn’t these days???) I also knew that these deep reflective pains I was experiencing everyday, would NOT be completely cured until I went much deeper into what was happening at a core level. I knew there was something happening that I didn’t fully understand, something that was draining my energy in stages, something that no one else seemed to be able to see, but it was showing up and I needed to understand why and how to change.
I knew there was something deeper going on...
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The chronic, unexplained need to be a ‘peacekeeper’ started when I was 8 years old. Being in a household with an alcoholic creates an unstable and unpredictable emotional environment, where you are often walking on eggshells and in a state of hypervigilance- let’s just say, I near perfected the art of fawning and people pleasing to try and keep the peace. At the time, I did not know this was a trauma response… one that would stay with me until I could become conscious of what was happening.
At first, it was manageable — an inconvenience, at best. And that inconvenience, (along with self medicating and suffering from PTSD + anxiety), became my new normal.
As the years went by, that inconvenience became intolerable. My peacekeeping/people pleasing skills and desire to help/fix/bring peace to those close to me became unbearable, I tolerated abusive behaviour because I thought it was ‘normal’ for men to have anger outbursts that were scary; my energy was completely drained, I didn’t feel like I was receiving any of the support I was so freely giving away. The life I was living genuinely felt unlivable.
By the time I was in my mid to late twenties, I was suffering with PTSD, anxiety, depression, digestive issues, inflammation, temporary hearing loss, blurred vision, vitiligo and a host of other symptoms. I was completely fatigued and oscillating between hypervigilance and dissociation.
I talked with my doctor for years, and eventually realized that the questions I had been asking were never actually answered. That’s when I took my healing journey into my own hands — and I started to realize that western medicine would never actually provide me with the answers I was looking for.
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To be clear, I am NOT against Western medicine, it has helped me and countless others in a myriad of ways, AND I also recognize this…
Western medicine is quick to treat the symptoms of our problems, and quick to prescribe a pill to ease the pain. Birth control pills to keep your cycle on track. Extra-strength ibuprofen to minimize physical symptoms of PMS. Xanax for the anxiety I was experiencing (never took that). Steroid creams for the skin irritations I was walking around with everyday (never used this either).
These things weren’t going to do the thing I needed most. And that was for the chronic, unexplained symptoms in my relationships and in my body to go away, NOT just for a little while… But for good.
***
My entire life I’ve been a bit of a movement junkie, movement is my therapy. I’ve always enjoyed sports, dancing, gymnastics, running, playing and tumbling around. I discovered yoga when I was fifteen, and started to practice it at home on a regular basis with my handy VHS tapes. In my mid-twenties, I decided to take a Yoga Teacher Training course, and this is where I was introduced to a wide variety of experiences, including therapeutic, restorative and somatic exercises — gentle, therapeutic movements that connect your physical body to your emotional body. Somatic movement allows you to treat the physical manifestations of long-term pain by addressing the trauma, anxiety, and stresses that have been causing it. There is so much more to movement than we tend to acknowledge. (Most of) the medicine we need is in our body, and movement is key to unlocking and managing both the ‘poisons’ and the medicine. Your body can feel much better than what it’s used to.
Now with a diverse educational and experiential background in Yoga, the Neurobiology of Trauma, Body Energetics, with specialization in movement + pathologies of body, mind and spirit, and 15 years of teaching experience, I’ve been changing the conversation around how movement + yoga affects the body and soul for 15 years. Specifically, how trauma, anxiety, stress, and emotional experiences are all connected to the physical symptoms we’ve been generationally programmed to just “put up with.” There is medicine inside of you, and movement, breath-work and meditation will unlock your natural mystic within, and heal yourself from the inside out.
So don’t wait until it’s too late.
By utilizing mindful movement through yoga, breath-work, sound therapeutics and somatic exercises, I’m helping today’s generation heal from the unexplained pain that doctors can't treat, be free from the trauma you’ve been putting off, and introduce you to the way your body is supposed to feel.
A session with Danielle is a breath of fresh air! Shed elements of your old self, and come out shiny and new, with a shift in perspective, and a rosy coloured hue.