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What Your Body Is Trying to Tell You: Gut Health, Stress & Healing With Dani Luna
36 Plays1 month ago
Close your eyes for a moment. Breathe in. What if the bloating, the fatigue, the brain fog… isn't about food? In this episode, I’m joined by Dani Luna — ex-investment banker turned yoga teacher, breathwork and detox guide — as we explore the deeper connection between your nervous system, your gut, and your energy. From breathwork to detoxing, this is about releasing what your body has been holding onto — physically, mentally, and emotionally — and returning to a state that actually feels like you.
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Transcript
Opening Meditation and Breathing Techniques
00:00:01
Speaker
So we're doing a little tool breathing meditation first. Yeah, let's crack on. Close your eyes. Find a comfortable seat wherever you are. If you're commuting, if you're at work, wherever you are, just gently close your eyes.
00:00:15
Speaker
Take a big breath in through your nose.
00:00:20
Speaker
Side out.
00:00:23
Speaker
Nice. One more time like this. Inhale through your nostrils. Inflate your belly.
00:00:31
Speaker
Exhale out through your mouth. Sigh it out. That's good. And then now in inhale through your nose. Expand your belly. Bring that breath all the way to your rib cage.
00:00:43
Speaker
And then your chest. Hold at the top.
00:00:49
Speaker
And then slowly exhale through your nose in reverse. Exhale through the chest. The ribs. And then the belly.
00:00:58
Speaker
One more time like that. Big breath in from down upwards.
00:01:05
Speaker
Hold at the top. Relax your face, your jaw.
00:01:12
Speaker
Slowly exhale in reverse. Chest deflates naturally downwards and then the belly.
00:01:22
Speaker
On the next breath in, you're going to hold at the top. And then as we exhale, exhale you're going to hum it out, really activating our parasympathetic nervous system here, our relaxation, rest and digest response, and also activating our vagus nerve.
00:01:37
Speaker
Big breath in, same way diaphragmatically. Exhale for hum.
00:01:54
Speaker
Inhale and belly raises.
00:02:00
Speaker
Hum.
00:02:10
Speaker
Three more like that. Big breath in. Real emphasis on that M vibration.
00:02:29
Speaker
Two more.
00:02:43
Speaker
Last one, really intentional. Inhale, belly rises, rib cage, bend the chest. Hum.
00:03:02
Speaker
And slowly return to your natural breath. in Inhale through nose and exhale through nose.
00:03:14
Speaker
Take a moment to notice how you feel.
00:03:22
Speaker
And gently you can come back into the room flickering the eyes open. Hello there. Hello. Oh my god. I feel so peaceful right now. Good. i feel like we both needed it.
00:03:34
Speaker
I know. I have a very special guest today, as you can tell already.
Introduction to Dani Luna
00:03:39
Speaker
It's Dani Luna, an ex-investment banker turned yoga teacher, breathwork and detox guide.
00:03:48
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to be on your podcast and I'm very excited about our conversation today. I'm going to ask you immediately about detoxing because there is something at the moment. Everyone I speak to has got problems. Everything they eat bloats them. They feel tired. And me too. am Even at the moment, I'm a bit bloated. Even though I started going to the gym again, which realistically should be helping, right? Yeah. So let's talk about detoxing. Let's break detoxing into two elements, right? Half of it, or I would say 70% of gut issues are related to the nervous system.
00:04:29
Speaker
dysregulation of the nervous system, chronic stress, um not taking the time to breathe properly, like how we've done at the beginning, right? Diaphragmatically, we're constantly in a fight or flight response because we live in 2026, right? We have social media, we live in London or cities, and we have this constant need to live in a fast-paced environment so and be productive and have all these worries and all these achievements. And it's It is useful to be in fight or flight, but not all the time. And that's the problem, that we don't know how to really turn on our parasympathetic nervous system, which we did actually on the breath work, not on purpose at all, but there you go. So that's one element of what you need to really heal at a cellular level and to really relax your gut.
The Importance of Detoxing
00:05:18
Speaker
properly so that it can then eliminate because if you don't eliminate properly you won't be able to detoxify it doesn't matter how many supplements you take or how many diets you do if you can't really and take the waste out of all these let's say things that you're taking to detoxify you won't detoxify essentially so the second part is the nutrition aspect right like how or what is it that you're consuming to help with this detoxification process. So how I like to um enter detox or guide clients into detox is through a transition. You can't go from eating normal food and drinking coffee and drinking alcohol to water fasting, just fasting the day after. You can, of course you can, you can do anything, right? But
00:06:05
Speaker
it will be very hurtful for your body. You will feel it, you will have like all of these reactions, you'll feel ill because you will be mobilizing toxins so quickly that your body will get like flu-like symptoms like fever, just really unwell, like headache and so on.
00:06:20
Speaker
So we we do a transition where we cut out um the animal products, dairy, the gluten, anything like weeds, anything that's fermented because yes, fermented foods are great for gut health, but not when you're detoxifying because you also want to get rid of potential candida overgrowth or fungi overgrowth in the body and fermented foods feed that. So we get rid of that as well. We increase the amount of alive waters that we're taking. What does alive water mean? It means water that isn't dead. Tap water is dead.
00:06:55
Speaker
It doesn't hydrate you. So if you drink just tap water, its its hydration isn't about drinking more and more and more water. It's about your cells being able to absorb that water through minerals, like usually electrolytes, salts and things like that.
00:07:10
Speaker
Um, but you can do it in a natural way, which is through juices like vegetable and fruit juice and, um, coconut water, lemon water. So we increase that at the, at the beginning of the day in a specific order. So there's, you know, a whole guideline on of how we do things. And then we also reduce the amount of fight or flight response that we're having. I'm not asking people to stop working. I'm just asking them, For that period of time, maybe don't do HIIT workouts. Maybe don't take your body to the extreme at the gym or, you know, go for like super long runs. Like if you're training for a marathon, maybe that's not the time to detox, you know, and or like training for higher rocks and things like that.
00:07:52
Speaker
Now, that's the transition. And most importantly, before this hydration and the things that you cut out and everything is the breath work. So the nervous system regulation, that is kind of the anchor of the process, which I always guided in the morning and then in the evening of this whole kind of week, let's say. So the transition is about like four days. You have the breath work, you know, to repeat it. You start your day like that. And then you have all of these like guidelines of what to consume.
00:08:22
Speaker
Then once you've had those four days, you have a week of detoxing. So you can pick either a solid root, which means you're still consuming solid food, but it's mainly fresh ah fruit and vegetables and they're raw, particularly, majorly. But again, you're increasing your intake of this alive waters, coconut water, cucumber like green juice etc and then if you want to take it up a notch or like a bit more advanced you do a juice fasting week let's say there's a lot of liquid you're taking that day during the day i mean so you won't really lack the nutrients and again i really want to emphasize this this is not a diet and it's not a fad it is a protocol okay see it as a medical protocol that's going to heal you for a lot of things particularly gut health, but not only. And you you make this commitment to do this for a week. And then later on, you'll come back to kind of your normal habits or your healthy habits. It's not like I'm advocating for juicing, you know, as ah as a regular thing. Right. So then you start your week. through that some people like to do water fasting but again i would never recommend a water fast to someone who's never done a juice fast or someone who has a very unhealthy lifestyle currently you need to go through the motions you need to go through the stages before you can you know get to that stage and within throughout those seven days of detox we increase the breath work is like an hour in the morning an hour in the evening every single day and that's how you enter your day, how you start, that's your breakfast essentially, and that's your kind of dinner or how you close your day.
Detox Protocol and Emotional Wellness
00:10:00
Speaker
That regulates you so that because you're not consuming food as normal, you're not having the anxiety around the whole process.
00:10:10
Speaker
So you're really within a container. And we add other things like alkaline herbs that are going to start brushing naturally your insides so that they're start grabbing all these toxins and mobilizing your gut so that if you If you want to see an analogy, like throughout the week, you empty yourself, right? You go to the toilet, then you're only drinking the juices and this like liquid nutrition, the alkaline herbs, and then the binders. And what that does is with the breathwork, you're relaxing your gut finally. And then all the accumulated waste, toxins, and things that have never come out and will never come out unless you give your body a ah break from food putting food in.
00:10:50
Speaker
starts getting released into the pipes, into your canal. And then with all these herbs and the psyllium husk and other binders, you then brush that out naturally out from your system. Some people brush out naturally and they purge it. Some people do need to put like a water enema. And like we also I also guide the people how to do that. And anyway, just to wrap up on that, like you do that for seven days, essentially. And you clear kilos of mucoid plaque that's been accumulated for old are you? 35. OK, for 35 years. So when I did my first detox, I was 30, 31 years. And then since then, once I purged like six kilos of mucoid plaque and all my clients have done the same, then it really transforms your relationship with your body, with food, with how you take care of yourself. And it's not like after it you become vegan or anything. You can continue living a normal life. And, you know, I love a spicy margarita and I love to enjoy myself, but I'm so very mindful of like what I put in my body and how and how I eat things in what order and things like that, right? And then when you finish your detox,
00:11:59
Speaker
because it's so physical, but then it taps into your cellular and we're using the breathwork, it's also a very emotional and energetic purge too. So you tap into things that are a bit more like maybe blockages. You've been holding on to limiting beliefs, toxicity, relationships, people. And then when you're physically purging from this parasites, because parasites might come out too,
00:12:23
Speaker
Mucoid plaque is the home of parasite. And parasites really like your immune system and your serotonin, your happy hormone is producing the gut. So this is why people are having mental fog, and bloating, you know, obviously the obvious ones, IBS and bloating, but then anxiety, depression, it's because if you don't have clean down there, it all comes back to your your mind because as there's a highway, the the vagus nerve, which we just relax through our humming or activate it, let's say, it connects your gut to your brain. And so, yeah, this is why the birth work is so important in the process. And this is why it's not just a physical detox, but then it takes it into other levels. And then when you're done, we don't just go next day to having fries. We have a whole process on how to reintroduce foods gradually. So that, you know, your your digestive system has been asleep, essentially purging all the waste, but not just from the gut, right? That's where that's kind of like the trash can where everything goes out of the body. But your liver, your gallbladder, all the other organs are also dropping all the waste and toxins that are released through this process through all the herbs that we're taking into the gut. And then that's how you purge it out. It's a mind-blowing process. When I did it, I had to share with the world. And then that's why I started leading those myself. Then you do about five days of reintegration of food until you go ahead and have your avon toast with eggs and you know sourdough and and coffee again. is a mind-blowing process. I know I've spoken so much, but do you have any questions on that? I mean, first of all, dead water Because something personally, I've always felt almost weird because I drink water, I drink water, i drink water, and I don't feel hydrated. And I always wondered what's wrong with me. Like, am I sick? Because just water never hydrated me, and I never knew why. So water is h two all or HO2.
00:14:17
Speaker
H2O. H2O. So two hydrogen, one oxygen. And alive waters, say if you juice a cucumber or you have a coconut and you drink the coconut water, not from the cardboard, from the actual coconut. I mean, obviously, coconut water from the cardboard is better than a Coca-Cola and is better than, you know, like a tequila. It depends which tequila, but but... But I'm talking water from the coconut, like a watermelon juice, anything that comes from something that is alive, a fruit or a vegetable, um or in the case of electrolytes in water, right?
00:14:51
Speaker
Obviously water as in filtered water, you can have clean water. that, let's say, reverse osmosis or all of these filtering systems. But even plastic a bottle water, it's got all the plastic, microplastics filter in it. So that is dead water too. Tap water is dead. It's full of chemicals. It's full of chloride. It's, you know, box your pineal gland, but let's not even get there just yet. and That's another rabbit hole. If you maybe focus on consuming a little bit more of alive waters, which are alkaline in nature, they will hydrate you. They will make your body more alkaline, which then makes your body less prone to disease. But it's not just that, right? it's not just that and and having a stressful life. you know it's It's so many elements. This is why holistic health is so... It's not because it's holistic. It's because it's whole looking at the whole picture, right? Of how is your your nervous system? How is your mental state? like Are you grieving from something? Heartbreak or somebody died? like Work, like financial stability and freedom. ah All of these other things affect you so much more.
00:15:57
Speaker
or if not as much as what you're eating and putting into your body. You know, are you smoking or are you drinking? That's fascinating because I was like, I drink a bottle of coconut water, but the one that's, you know, the the good one. And I feel so much better and hydrated than just drinking water and water. And sometimes I drink water and then I feel sick because I had a lot of water.
00:16:23
Speaker
There's no space for it to go anymore. yeah And I don't feel hydrated. So my point, because I didn't get to it, was that alive waters like coconut water, cucumber, any fruit and veg water, or lemon water, they are H3O. So the molecule is like a structure water. And you can actually, it has a lot more hydrating potential. And you with structure water, you can actually intention it. So if we're talking a bit more here, energetics, quantum physics, spirituality, you can actually put an intention... into these molecules or into these enzymes. And when you're drinking them, you can have a more
00:17:00
Speaker
beneficial, should we say, or whatever you the intention it is that you're putting on, right, into it. But independently, if you don't believe in that, let's say, if you don't want to touch on those topics, that will hydrate you. It has a lot more nutrients in and minerals than just what plain water alone. I still think that good filter water is really good and important, don't get me wrong, because I know there's a lot of like detox, um advanced detox, like coaches that live in, you know, Costa Rica and like all these islands. We can't afford...
00:17:29
Speaker
doing that
The Benefits of 'Alive Waters'
00:17:30
Speaker
because we live in London we also need to adjust to where we live the fact that we're in an urban city where we can't just hope to drink like five coconut coconuts a day like we work in a freaking investment banking right like but if you can make the small changes of maybe adding one green juice a day one coconut water a day and then on top of that having a really good filter for your normal plain H02, H2O, sorry, water, then then that's going to help you a lot more, you know?
00:17:59
Speaker
Or just simply adding a little bit of Himalayan salt into your water. oh you can do that. That in excess could give you adrenal fatigue. oh So it really depends how you are with your adrenal glands and your cortisol production. I personally, my favorite, if...
00:18:14
Speaker
if If you don't want to like invest or buy an electrolyte, because there's so many brands and I'm not going to do any promo here of any brand. And you have to watch if they are ah high sugar, low sugar, zero sugar. You should ideally have one that's zero sugar. My favorite natural electrolyte is lemon.
00:18:28
Speaker
Just grab half a lemon and squeeze it in warm water every morning. Just put it to boil. half boiled, half boiled. filtered water, just a little like half lemon and maybe sometimes a bit of pinch of salt or sometimes not, but make sure it's like not table salt, right? So yeah, lemon, it's full of potassium, it's full of magnesium, it's full of vitamin C naturally.
00:18:51
Speaker
But ah make sure that it's a lemon that has seeds. And this goes for all the fruits that you buy. If you buy seedless, what does this mean? Is this natural? How does a fruit grow? You need to plant a seed for a tree or a plant or a fruit or whatever vegetable to grow. If this thing is seedless, what does that mean?
00:19:11
Speaker
It's genetically modified. It's not natural. It's been through a process. I mean, a lot of the foods that we eat, even fruits now, bananas, are very genetically modified because bananas back in the day, they used to be like this small. If you grab a banana, like a baby banana in the Amazon jungle, it's full of those seeds, the black seeds, like boom, boom, boom. It has massive ones.
00:19:31
Speaker
If you open a banana here from Waitrose, Sainsbury's, whatever, Tesco, and even export it from Colombia, Costa Rica, like my country, like, you know, like where I'm from. the The banana is is big. Sorry, I'm like... yeah yeah And then the seeds are like two little freckles in the middle. Just bite a banana and then look at the two dots in the middle. That's ah where the seeds just put ancient banana on Google and you'll notice the the change in like what has happened. So this is one of the reasons, and this is coming very naturally actually, of why detoxing is important nowadays. People say, yeah, but back in the day, like no one did... Yeah, we're not back in the day. Like if you look at at what McDonald's was like in the 60s, potentially it was real meat and potentially it was real bread.
00:20:18
Speaker
You look at any of these fast foods or any of processed foods, anything that isn't one ingredient fruit, like chicken, papaya, like, you know, one ingredient has no ingredient list. If you look at that now, that has like all these syrups, glucose, corn, like it's just it's just genuinely poison. So no wonder your body is going to get stuck with that inside. Hence what you need to manually like manually, I mean, do physically a detox. to purge that thing, that accumulation out, because that starts slowly getting there. Plus, you're chronic stress. You're not breathing properly. You have a lot of things at work. Like, you know, your your face is already getting really stressed. I'm just imagining my gut right now. Yeah, and it doesn't matter how healthy you are, how active you are, because I have always been healthy and active.
00:21:05
Speaker
And holy fuck, what came out of me, like, kilos of this thing. And after that, you feel like you're flying on, like you're cooking on gas, like you're truly finally like an optimal avatar, like an optimal human being that it functions perfectly.
00:21:26
Speaker
as designed right like you eat and you digest and you go to the toilet like really regularly and you don't feel like you're accumulating you don't have brain fog like your clarity comes back your mood all of these other things that we don't think are getting affected by our gut health everybody knows gut health is important everybody knows gut health affects other things but it really goes to you know acne, psoriasis, eczema, autoimmune, chronic disease, and again, anxiety and depression, because these are very much linked to nervous system dysregulation and to gut contamination. So when the gut has contaminants, it filters through the bloodstream and then, boom, manifests in things physically, topical, let's say.
00:22:10
Speaker
If it doesn't filter that way, then from the vagus nerve connection, it goes to the mind. And then those parasites become parasites here, right? It's like procrastination, laziness, I'm not good enough, like all these toxic thoughts, toxic and negative self-talk.
00:22:27
Speaker
that really start hindering your progress. It is important in today's day and age to detox at least once a year. I mean, to begin with at least once in your life, you have to experience it, right?
00:22:38
Speaker
And then once you do it once you're in your life, you understand. I don't, you know, no one needs to to to listen to my my lecture again. it's You try by experience. That's my best advice with this and with anything. When people say, should I do it?
00:22:51
Speaker
Have you tried it? you know We know fasting is not good for some people. Fasting or inter intermittent fasting or even juice fasting, a lot of medical lab coat, you know white coat lab, people will say like it's not good for women because hormones. yeah Fair enough. There is some truth there.
00:23:06
Speaker
But if you're someone that has a lot of these symptoms that I've mentioned and you haven't given yourself a holiday from solid food, to purge and really hear at the root what's causing you all of these ripple things then you really need to try by yourself like for yourself and then live and experience that um that this might be really the solution for it something i was told recently that i didn't even think of i was doing a a face mask in the red light therapy and it stopped my outbreaks and then someone was asking wip where where does that go then because if you have an outbreak and it doesn't come out where does it go of of acne yeah so as you were talking about the toxins the toxins are there and if the outbreak doesn't come to your face where does it go because it's not coming out
00:24:00
Speaker
I'm not against anything beauty related. In fact, like people you know go and do your Botox and whatever you want, but don't just do that without cleaning your insides. yeah right It's like having an amazing Ferrari with no engine and no oil inside. It will just look pretty out there, but it's not going to go anywhere. like It's not going to go fast. and What was it made of to fucking be driven like pretty fucking fast, right? So to be ridden, like it's not going to go anywhere. So I always say like it's it's not like I'm against physical and aesthetics. No, on the contrary, like whatever makes you feel more empowered and be your best, beautiful self.
00:24:42
Speaker
But you need to start by tackling the root cause of what's causing the things on the outside. and and then And then look at the outside too, if you want. But yeah.
00:24:54
Speaker
it's Yeah, it's very important for exactly what you said. Like, where where where is it going, you know? Are you are you just covering the sun with one finger, you know? Like, the sun is still there. The problem is still there. Like, yeah, you just put a plaster on it. How long is that going to last?
Dani Luna's Journey to Wellness
00:25:10
Speaker
So, you mentioned investment banking. What was the reason you transitioned? And when did you start? What was the process like in your journey with the wellness industry? Yeah.
00:25:21
Speaker
I came to the UK 13 years ago to study economics and finance. I went to British school in Peru. I'm from Colombia and I moved around growing up. And coming from Latin America, you have a businessman dad. Like I have, like my real dad is a dentist in Barcelona and then my stepdad is a businessman and in Mexico. um And then I grew up with him and my mom and my brother um in Guatemala, in Peru, Colombia. And then when I moved here, they moved to Mexico.
00:25:50
Speaker
that's just to set the scene. Then I came here to study economics and finance. And when you grow up in Latin America, especially with the data that's into business, you kind of get told or you're programmed, let's say, by the culture, the generational and so on, that the way to make it is to be in business, right? Like administration, like management, business management, economics is the thing that you go and study. Now, then when you take me out of that environment and I do my degrees here and all that stuff, and then I kind of start a career there in investment banking because it was just a natural way.
00:26:29
Speaker
You then start, but when you live in another continent by yourself, you have your own experiences, start removing. i mean, if you're doing the work, which is where your yoga comes in, those programmings and those patterns that you're, you know,
00:26:43
Speaker
born with or are you take on as you grow up and I i think I went to a yoga class with a friend in Oxford and I really like I really enjoyed it it was more spiritual than it was physical just bear in mind that like the first time I tried yoga with my mom and I was like maybe 21 or 18 I didn't like it I thought it was boring it really needs to meet you Where you are in life, there's so many different styles. Yoga is for everyone, but not every style is for everyone, right? There's a style for what ah like different types of ah people and their aims and their goals and whatever. So I started going to a yoga school. I basically went there for like seven years, seven to eight years. I did yoga and then I did some tantra. And it was kind of like a like like yes not university, but like you had year one and year two. You couldn't go to year two if you didn't finish year one. And it was long classes, theory and practice and et cetera. And so, I mean, that is a whole conversation in itself because that school ended up being a cult and actually they just released. I left when I found out. I never was like um targeted. Well,
00:27:57
Speaker
not that I am aware of, I guess I was not very easy to manipulate maybe some more vulnerable women where this is a huge organization like in like global and then the guru was like this things about human trafficking like yeah it's hella heavy. The documentary just came out um on Friday or Thursday on Apple TV and it's called Twisted Yoga. Yeah so if anyone wants to see it that's that's all I'm gonna say about the topic but Investment banking. So I was working in investment banking and I was going into that school and I was really, really my my life changed, like my life transformed. Like I was able to connect to myself better, like my relationships, the way that I saw the world, I had like a spiritual awakening.
00:28:42
Speaker
i mean, it it was it was incredible. Like, i from a teaching perspective point of view, it was an amazing school, let's say. And then these allegations came in, and then I heard from the victims, and then I stopped going. I canceled, like, everything. I said, please get me from all your marketing, because I was also doing some karma yoga for them, which means when you do things um without pay, like working in reception or, like, and being the model for, you know, photo shoots for their marketing, and I was like, please remove me from all your... marketing materials because I don't, you know, I'm going into becoming a certified yoga teacher later on, you know, a few years ago. And I didn't want to be associated with them, you know, after all of that. So then that the pandemic hit and then I started um teaching my mom and my cousins online. Then I decided I want to become a certified yoga teacher. And I did my first certification. Then few years later, i took a sabbatical from investment banking. went to bali i did my advanced 300 hour yoga teacher training and i had both in parallel for quite a while i wasn't like very actively like teaching in studios because investment banking is a very demanding as you can imagine um industry and it has its plus and minus like anything i think having had a whole year and a half now of full-time yoga teaching because i also quit my job in investment banking but that's another topic there's a breakup involved and Just stay tuned. The realization I came into is that there's going to be hardship anywhere.
00:30:13
Speaker
You need to find your heart, but pick your heart, you know? yeah Like starting from scratch in a completely different industry where I had like my cushy salary, like my level or whatever, you know, my grade or my reputation, like all all these things. And then just like cutting all of that, it's pursuing a dream, which I'm so happy I did. But in a way, it was kind of like it was an opportunity I took, let's say. Because I don't want to say it was forced. I wasn't forced. No, nobody put a gun in my in my head and said, quit your job. And then that transition that you know, e you really need to build yourself again from scratch in a completely different place where nobody knows who you are. You need to bring you build your brand, build your name, your experience, your clientele, find your own voice, your own teaching style. It's London. It's a very saturated market for pretty much anything. A lot of people say, yeah, the pie only gets bigger. And that is true to one extent, but also that doesn't make it any easier You also need a hustle. But if anything, I've always hustled like, you know, by coming here and doing all the visas and all the immigration. And it's just anyway. So investment banking and yoga. It was such a...
00:31:21
Speaker
intense environment i would say challenging um long hours a lot of desk work sitting sittinging and and to an extent it felt soulless like i was not pursuing my let el alone pursuing my passion like fulfilling my full potential right it's not so much like i want to pursue a passion it's not it wasn't a side hustle like I know was put in this earth as a star seed for a purpose, like a karmic contract. Am I just going to sit here behind this? like and
00:31:53
Speaker
But then I now understand that there is purpose in that too. So it's like I've come full circle moments. So I don't think like there's judgment about staying in a full-time job, and of you know nine to five or whatever, six to six employment. um Yeah, because it wasn't off nine to five, let me tell you that.
00:32:13
Speaker
that I just knew that i I needed at some point to give it a full go to this, you know? But there was a lot of elements for me, particularly, that I couldn't do it when I wanted, which is I had to wait because i was my visa was sponsored and I had to have indefinite leave to remain and I needed to meet 10 years in the UK. And it was all these other like immigration pressures, like, you know, i was buying a a flat with, like, my ex-partner. Like, there was all these other elements that meant, like, later, later, later, okay, when I get the the passport or the citizenship or that whatever, I'm going to take a sabbatical and go to Bali. That's going to be like the first kind of ah breather from this, you know, mini lockdown I've had because after our general lockdown, I had my own because then I couldn't, for mig immigration reasons, I couldn't leave the country. Otherwise, I would have lost the 10 years I had accumulated. So anyway, it was beneficial for me because I, for other reasons, but ah at the end of the day,
00:33:05
Speaker
I felt like trapped, you know, like I had just been burning myself out, having a promotion each year, which was just great on paper. But it was, again, soul destroying to an extent. And then when I went to Bali and did my advanced yoga teacher training and i kind of immersed myself into that world again, i was like, oh, my God, this is it. i can't wait to transition. Like I can't wait to to To just like do this full time. How amazing. And you tend to always romanticize the grass is greener on the other side, right? I will just be teaching and it's going to be so chill and it's going to be so smooth and like all of that. And and now having done it for a year is is pretty fucking intense as well. It's also like you have 10 full time jobs like social media management is one. The teaching is another. The planning is another. The sales is another. Marketing, like there is a lot of involvement, but I'm not really sure I am answering your question. I'm just walking you through different aspects of like how has it been now that I analyze it from where I am at. But at the point of kind of transitioning, and it was just like I wanted to give it a full go at my dream and at what I...
00:34:13
Speaker
know I've been put here for which is like helping with the expansion of consciousness doing something for the greater good being of service right rather than just like oh making money out of my passion there is a little bit higher mission here right with my ex-partner he had an opportunity to go to Portugal and said like quit your job like focus full-time on like your yoga business also for you financially like I mean, that wasn't really established for how long or anything, but it was it was like my dream was sold to me and I took it, right? Amazing. Well, we're having some relationship difficulties and this is kind of a way of bringing us together back or trying to fix those issues, let's say. it would be a great thing to quit what I've been wanting to quit, you know, in the back of my mind.
00:35:04
Speaker
go to Portugal, how amazing, and then start Dani Luna Yoga properly, you know, because it had been there like on and off and stuff. and And so I did. And that worked out until we broke up. This is what we bonded over because i was in Portugal with my ex-partner and then when we were met, I found out That you were in Portugal with your ex-partner? Yeah, I know. Like, when we met, we were like, we have so much in common. We've just been through a breakup. We were in Portugal with the ex. They didn't work out. We came back. Like, we've been in a year of healing. Well, I mean, I have. I don't know how long yours has been. Lifetime. On a no-dating...
00:35:43
Speaker
um No, I don't want to say ban, but like... Well, I can't say i had that for myself. but i Last year for me was survival, right? I came back, breakup, having to move from my own home. And also I had given up my job and my financial stability and freedom. The person that was going to support me on that was not going to support me anymore. And now I had to figure everything out from scratch by myself. And I know it doesn't sound so big.
00:36:08
Speaker
But it was like there was nothing more button that but than that. Of course, yes, there's, you know, I could have somebody could have died. And like there's always worse things that can be happening if you put everything into perspective. I'm well aware that I have options, that I'm privileged, etc. But it was it was everything had been taken away from me.
00:36:28
Speaker
um And I had to. yes, like survive and really start teaching in studios and I hadn't done that before because I had moved to Portugal and I had only started like my kind of detox program online from there and it was a huge curve from, you know, again from the investment banking world and having everything settle in a way to going into completely different industry where you have to like build yourself again and the older you get, I'm still very young, but The older you get, 34, ripe age, you feel like a ah clock is ticking, right? You do. Not just on the, well, time is ticking. I really need to crack on either with the corporate side or with my teachings or with my business But it's also the element of being a woman and like, oh, my goodness, I've just came out of a five and a half year relationship. And now need to find someone else if I want to build a family and be a mother, because I also need to think about my hormones and about my ovaries and about my egg count and about holy like that alone, like all of this that I'm telling you. It's been such a fight or flight, believe it or not, how ironic, right, that I am a nervous system guide through yoga, breath work, detox and all these things and and yeah breath work um that I myself have been on fight or flight trying to survive because of all these situations. I even had like shingles three weeks ago, four weeks ago. Yeah, which is, do you know what that is? yeah It's like the varicela. It's pretty dangerous then.
00:38:02
Speaker
Like, boom, you have that virus if you've ever had chickenpox and it just like triggers... It awakens. it It's dormant normally forever or until you're very, very old or very vulnerable, like low immunity. Like the herpes virus.
00:38:15
Speaker
Kind of thing. Yeah. ah Anyway, so so I had that. And that was a big aha moment because the whole of last year I had like a tick in my right eye. Not the whole of last year, but I consistently had it. And I knew like... okay, I know I am stressed and I'm trying to survive and I'm trying to make it in this like all new, new, new. And don't get me wrong, like I have done great. Like if you see things, the things that I have achieved, I don't want to go through my achievements and stuff like that, but everyone is like, you've been smashing it. Like for just being one year or eight months in like this industry, you've really done stuff that it's taking us like more years or whatever. And and I've been very supported by you know friends in the industry or whatever. But yeah,
00:38:53
Speaker
The point is that even knowing all of this knowledge and having all these tools, I still had this reaction on myself because I'm also fucking human. You know, as much yoga I teach, um sometimes i don't have time to practice my own teachings because other things take, you know, I have to prioritize a delivery or like UGC or something that actually brings a revenue in.
00:39:17
Speaker
that then, you know, it's it's having this effect in my nervous system and then I have that. But I'm better now. I'm trying to really learn to slow down and practice what I preach, um which is always essential. Talking about soci societal pressures and fertility specifically for women, that's so big because you'll be so, you know, you want to be very attuned to your body and, you know, you want to...
00:39:47
Speaker
not be thinking too much about finding someone because you know it's going to arrive when it when the time is right but then there is a timing issue here yes and like what do
Societal Pressures and Health Management
00:40:00
Speaker
you do about that yeah look it's that half and half and I always think that you there's only so much you can control yeah and this goes with any situation right always do your best on the things that you have power on on the things that you don't have power on like you can offer it to the universe god your highest self your highest energy well this is my approach and this is what i always advise to people right it doesn't matter what you believe in there has to be an um element of hope and faith or offering it's not like you're washing your hands but in a way you are right for the things you cannot control you must give that power out to something higher It really gives you more peace than trying to control everything because let's be real, we can't control everything, right? And then the things that are in your power, that's what you can put your focus on, okay? So for example, very recently I did the fertility test yeah for hormonal and fertility testing at home. You just prick your finger, put your blood...
00:40:58
Speaker
um and And then they give you like, you know, where's your range of hormones, like your egg count, all that stuff. So that gives me gave me a peace of mind to know that things are in range and they are good for my age. And it gives me right. At least if something was out of whack in there, i could take some measures to like not fix it, but improve it. Right.
00:41:18
Speaker
Because then if you're completely oblivious and unaware, you're you might be wasting time and years by not having that knowledge, okay? So I'm i'm more of a tuning with your body, like go with the flow, all these things that rather than like have everything tracked and have everything lab tested, i' I'm less um on the everything has to be evidence-backed, evidence-based because a lot of things don't aren't evidence-based and it's more about like tuning with your heart, you know? And I think people really need to understand and Stop disregarding things that are spiritual and energetic just because they're in science bag. Because if you actually look at them, science and spirituality are just the other side of the same coin. But their their audiences are very here and they don't that. Almost in a fight with each other.
00:42:06
Speaker
is always the polarity of existence, the yin, the yang, plus, minus of everything that exists. And there's always going to be, there's always going, we're always going to have that in this 3D reality.
00:42:16
Speaker
So anyway, things that you can control. So I did the testing, of course, like lowering my stress. And again, for that matter, I think I'm potentially going back into corporate now that i've established my business my classes my online week online online offerings my weekend events because now i don't have to build it from the ground up now i have foundations that now i can go back to a place where i can have a bit more financial freedom continue growing my career there and continue feeding into danny luna yoga you know it's exactly the things that i'm doing and if i do have to take one class out i take one class out that's just gonna make demand more like higher for me that's not a problem
00:42:54
Speaker
you know Having that financial higher financial freedom and coming back to traveling more and doing the things I enjoy more um will bring an element of kind of more relaxation around that. right Because if you're just doing things to survive or to make it, make it work, it it takes a toll after a while. Especially with something like a fitness or yoga or somewhere where your body Is the service, is the product, or sometimes just my voice, right? Yes, maybe I'm not demoing every single pose, but I am talking for an hour, right? I'm giving my energy out. And if I'm unwell and I don't do it, I don't get paid. If I want to take a holiday, I don't teach and I don't get paid. So this is where you have to start diversifying your revenue streams and building an online brand.
00:43:40
Speaker
Anyway, all the stuff, but the things that you can control then lowering your um your stress, finding ways to have a bit more of sustainable like lifestyle in the sense that what is it that truly nurtures you, right? Knowing where your hormones are at, like really knowing yourself, no? Because if you are oblivious to hormonal health, to what should I be eating, like having good nutrition, having good hydration, having a detoxified body,
00:44:07
Speaker
If you look at everything that we've spoken, everything is related, you know, to being like an optimal human being. And I'm not like a Brian Johnson, you know, like the biohacker. I'm not here advocating for like, you know, wake up at 4 a.m. and put your red lights and all the things. I'm more of like go out in the sun, touch grass, like be more of the natural, like have some grass fed beef, you know, use tallow skin care, remove as many toxins from the things you put on yourself because there's so many hormone disruptors that That is another point. Makeup, right? Makeup, skincare, perfume, fragrances.
00:44:43
Speaker
I mean, I still use it. I have Dior and Dolce & Gavana and all that. But every time I use it now, because of the awareness and the detox world I'm in, I'm like, I only put it on the clothes. And eventually I'll stop using it. You first get the info and then you're like, ah be it reluctant to change because we're human. Everyone's reluctant to change. We all want to keep everything as it is. Yeah. You know, and it's hard to change and and fair enough, you know.
00:45:08
Speaker
But then eventually you start you start walking the path and then one day, OK, you use it less. You would make swaps. Yeah. Don't use plastic chopping boards. Always use wood. Don't drink tap water. Drink your filter. You know, all these little like and.
00:45:23
Speaker
changes you can do in your kitchen to start reducing the toxic load of the things you put in your body, obviously, let alone processed foods, alcohol. Like if you are on the fertility journey, I mean, I'm no fertility expert, but don't binge drink. Like don't don't drink, like reduce your drinking as much as possible. Increase your healthy fats. Don't cut food groups. You know, when it's like no fats, no carbs, that's the worst thing you can do for any human, let alone any woman that needs all of like the healthy fats and stuff. So those would be, I think, the things that you can control, right? Your food intake, your mental health, um having some info about your hormones and enjoying, I think, joy and playfulness yes is a massive thing, right? Like fucking have some fun. but I'm going tonight to have fun. Yes. and Where are you going?
00:46:15
Speaker
I can't say. Okay. But I am going out. Good, good, good. Talking about fertility, i want to ask, what's your opinion on egg freezing? I don't have an opinion of egg freezing. Because I've been thinking about it for myself. Should Should I not? Should I? Should I not? And I've been thinking because also I'm i'm thinking if I do it, then I don't stress.
00:46:38
Speaker
But then is there even a guarantee it works? I don't know. In my ideal world, I'm meeting someone this year or next and I'm having babies. High five. and And I'm very ambitious because it's like, i want to thrive on this business. I'm going back to corporate. also want to be a mom. It's like, girl, which one are you? All of them. All of them. I want them all. in no particular order um but egg freezing i think i mean there's so many perspectives i don't really know how to tackle this it is great medical advances for all those women that want to do it have the means because it's expensive right and it's not covered by and it's also okay not an easy procedure no it's not an easy procedure injected with hormones which again i'm kind of like I am against anything that's anti-natural. Not against, I just prefer the natural. yeah And again, no judgment with the anti-natural. um
00:47:34
Speaker
So for me, if I can avoid it, I will. But if it gets to a point where I really know that I want to be a mother and I really have not met the person that I want to be the father of my kids...
00:47:48
Speaker
Because it's not just about, like, you know, a partner in a relationship. It has to, like... Exactly. Somebody that doesn't just want a wife and kids. Someone that wants to be a father and a husband is a very different framing. Very. Right? Very. And someone that is aligned, for fuck's sake. Like, if I exist, surely someone like me has to exist, right? That can enjoy both worlds, right? I love the...
00:48:09
Speaker
the spiritual barefoot ayahuasca jungle experience but I am also a let's go on a really bougie trip and wear heels wear designer bags like we've done this together ment you yeah like you know and have a spicy margarita like yeah I think you always have the the extremes. Majority of people are on the more superficial side that I've just described of the traveling boujra and money making and the other are like the hippies and you know the spiritual world.
00:48:39
Speaker
Sorry but like that surely there's people in the middle like I'm one of them. When I ask now for like a partner like manifestation letters or you know meditations or visualizations is alignment. I think that word really encompasses a lot of things right?
00:48:56
Speaker
The bare minimum is to be they already ticked off, you know, when people are it needs to be loyal. And like, come on, that is like the baseline. Loyal. Like all those things. I don't even mention them because they are already. i think you should have to go. You know, you might have to. of course, you have. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah i need I need passion. I need to be attracted physically to the person that, you know, of course, I know that the those bubbles settle after the first two, three years. but There needs to be an element of like admiration and attraction and passion. But then I know that at the end of the day, what remains and what matters is the foundation of the relationship that the building blocks, right? Even when the attraction is less.
00:49:39
Speaker
But there's still some, you know, attraction there and of course like the trust of what you build together um the respect the admiration like ambition but also consciousness like someone conscious enough to understand like okay awakened right like to the world of today like awakened to like what happens in freaking hollywood and like epstein like i can't be with someone that's like um unaware, unawakened to those topics, to those themes, you know? I don't need someone that's going down the rabbit holes every single day and it's calm function because of the darkness of the world.
00:50:15
Speaker
Someone that is aware of them and yet it's able to go back and go to work and, you know, provide and be in his divine masculine. That's what I want. Divine masculine so I can be my divine feminine. I feel know i feel like I've been so much in...
00:50:29
Speaker
ah masculine energy in the last relationships because of course I want to have like my projects my passions my you know my um my mission fulfilled but also have a man that can provide for me that I can be the piece of the home I understood that very very later on not when I was in my previous relationship I was maybe not the piece at times I don't think I knew what I wanted until very recently. Or not even that. I don't think I thought that I deserve what I wanted.
00:51:03
Speaker
That's a big one. That was my 20s. I heard the other day, sorry to interrupt you, um about these low-maintenance dates and how women should stop saying yes to them. i'm not does This messaging isn't coming from me. I'm just rewording something I heard, but I thought it was really interesting because I haven't dated in this whole year of healing on purpose, right? I have not been in apps. I have not done any anything um because I really want to, like,
00:51:30
Speaker
Focus on myself, focus on my business, focus on healing and like create fertile ground and just fertile, egg fertile, but like fertile ground for really really work. Having looked at all the things that I needed to, oops, that I needed to like change perhaps patterns I needed to remove because I can't change other people, but I can change the things that were perhaps not top for me. So this person said, this woman on Instagram or on a podcast or something, um if you accept ah all these like coffee walking dates and things like where basically he is having access to you at the bare minimum, not the bare minimum, a very minimal effort.
00:52:08
Speaker
he will get used to that and not put effort into like a better date let's say you know like a like a nicer more i don't want to use the word expensive because that's really not i don't want people to think that like oh women are so high maintenance and but in a way like a date shouldn't unless you're um a serial dater then that that's why you want to keep a low budget you know like low cost but then that what is your intention but behind this serial dating I'm talking like towards the guys that are doing that. You kind of want to...
00:52:41
Speaker
I don't even know it myself. I have this... Like, it's a thing for people to think about because i I do question it. Like, what kind of dates do I want to go on being at a first date with someone? Yeah. And it's something that I think you have to decide for yourself because there is this thing where you don't know if you like the person. Do you want to spend time with them? Maybe is it worth having a phone call first?
00:53:05
Speaker
And to think about that because... It does set your intention about what you want from dating. So what a conversation. i really enjoyed it. It was i didn't even know where it was going to go because it was absolutely incredible. I want to know where can people find you find out about the events you have coming up Thank you. No, thank you. it It was amazing. It flew by and I wish we had more
Connect with Dani Luna
00:53:32
Speaker
time. um Yes, people can find me on Instagram, Dani Luna Yoga or www.danilunayoga.com or my number. I'm joking. is
00:53:44
Speaker
Please, share. I have a lot of phone calls. Yeah, and and, you know, if you want to practice in person, I have a lot of in-person classes or move and meet events, which are social fitness um events that I am an ambassador for. if you want to work more deeply or like more one-to-one, I also have offerings for that. And if you want to like heal your gut and work at a deeper level and purge all those parasites and the mucoid plaque and really regulate your nervous system, then like probably the detox is for you. And then this year I'm hosting my first ever in-person yoga retreat abroad in Portugal. So all that information can also be found on my Instagram. And yeah, I think that's pretty much ah around like my... It's nice heart. Yes. Yeah.
00:54:29
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you. That's better.