Hi! I’m Dani. I’m a hippie, teacher, artist, and signal-booster. I help entrepreneurs and creative spirits get unstuck, clear, and focused, get pointed in the right direction, and use the momentum from previous successes to take action.
In addition to coaching and digital retreats, I offer boatloads of free resources, guides, and knowledge to connect with your inner self at my website, Life Unconstrained.
Why the mix of biz and personal? I’ve found through my own experiences, and through helping others, that the things that get in your way – the things that keep you from achieving success and creating a business (and life!) that you love – are personal. It’s personal change, personal growth, personal clarity that leads to a happy, healthy business.
Q1. What does wellness and health mean to you?
Wellness is feeling good. Not in a “stimulate the pleasure centers” way, but in an “I can do the things I want to do, take on the things I want to take on” way.
Q2. What is the #1 wellness practice you live by?
“When you can’t even begin to figure out the question, the answer is a fifteen-minute walk.” I saw that phrase on Twitter once a few years back, and it’s stuck with me ever since – that getting out of your chair, moving about, is good not only for your body, but for your mind too!
Q3. Thinking back, what were your earliest influences regarding living a healthy and balanced life?
My mom was big on making sure we didn’t eat crap when we were kids. She had a cookbook called “The Taming of the C.A.N.D.Y. Monster”, and it was full of things like gelatin snacks made of apple juice, popsicles made of fruit, etc. Good stuff.
Q4. What has your journey been like over the last couple of years to get you where you are today?
I struggle regularly with my body’s limitations – I have fibromyalgia that flares up at the oddest times – so for me, my focus over the last few years has been on gentle movement, stretching, and keeping limber (yoga and pilates are my faves).
Q5. Looking back what was the most challenging aspect of your journey and what did you learn from it?
Retraining my brain. Logically, I know that the more I move and stretch and stay limber, the more I can do the things I love, like long hikes over rocky terrain – but on the days when it hurts to move, it’s hard to remember that!
Q6. What is the #1 healthy food you love? The #1 indulgence you give into once in a while?
Healthy food I love? Anything with dirt on it. I had the pleasure of vending at a farmer market one summer, and it got me hooked on veggies so fresh they still taste like earth – because they were picked just a few hours before. My biggest indulgence is definitely name-brand cola, HFCS and all.
Q7. To get you through challenging moments in life, what is the one mantra or quote that you live by?
“Tinkerbell says, and I find I agree, you have to break rules if you want to break free”, which is a line from a Seanan McGuire song, Wicked Girls. The whole song, really, is a delight, a joy, and an inspiration – storybook girls taking their own roads and saving themselves.
Q8. You’ve accomplished so much so far, what’s something you are most proud of?
Finding the strength to step away from the company I founded and step into the work I’m doing now, which is so much more fulfilling.
Q9. What’s your advice to those struggling with finding their own path to health and happiness?You have a great internal compass: the combination of gut instinct and values. You already know what to do. Take a deep breath and listen. Take the paths that ring true to you and ignore the ones that don’t. Step carefully or run wild – it’s up to you. Go barefoot!
Q10. Finally, what are your plans for 2012?
Keep spreading messages about barefoot living and universal awesomeness. Help as many businesses take flight as I am able. And enjoy the ride!
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