Ep 552: Rebooting Your Nervous System Using Martial Arts With Danielle Pashko

Are you struggling with a mystery illness or looking for ways to tap into your body’s own healing power? 🌿💪

In this episode, I sit down with Danielle Pashko—author, functional nutritionist, and chronic illness coach with 20+ years of experience. Danielle went from thriving in her career to being bedridden with chronic Lyme disease—but she found her way back to health through the martial arts of Qi Gong, Tai Chi, and Kung Fu. Now, she’s on a mission to make these powerful practices cool again—and trust me, she’s onto something!

💡 Ready to reclaim your health from the inside out?
We dive into 5 Element Qi Gong, the basics of Wing Chun, and why Tai Chi isn’t just for elderly folks—it’s a powerful form of self-defense.

📌 Resources from the Show:
👉 Wing Chun – Siu Nim Tao – Danielle’s example of the first form HERE
👉 Soulhakker – https://soulhakker.com/
👉 Instagram: @thesoulhakker

🎧 Listen now and discover the ancient wisdom your body has been craving!

Our Partners

Podcast Transcript

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Mystery Illness and Personal Journey
02:59 The Struggles of Lyme Disease Diagnosis
06:04 Navigating Treatment Options and Recovery
09:06 The Role of Acupuncture, Tai Chi, and Qigong
11:53 Understanding the Impact of Stress on Health
14:52 Positive Changes Through Movement and Visualization
17:57 Exploring Five Element Qigong and Its Benefits
21:01 Daily Soul Series and Community Support
26:02 Introduction to Tai Chi and Qigong
30:28 The Benefits of Tai Chi for Chronic Illness
36:07 Exploring Wing Chun Kung Fu
40:11 The Connection Between Movement and Nervous System Regulation
45:53 Finding Joy and Flow in Healing Practices
48:40 The Future of Healing Martial Arts
51:15 Integrating Acupuncture and Traditional Practices

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Jannine (00:02.498)
Danielle Paciol, welcome to the Health Fix Podcast.

So happy to be here, thank you.

Well, from what I can tell, we have a lot in common and my clients are really going to love this, especially my folks up in Wisconsin, where we are working with mystery illness and chronic Lyme stuff. So, of course, your background story hits really close to home for a lot of people that are dealing with mystery illness. You know, you’re you’re feeling good. And then all of a sudden things just kind of tend to turn. So give us a little background in terms of how you transition from

you know, just average every day. I’m gonna say above average because I don’t like the average word above average every day gal just live into like being like what is going on with my health and any insights that you may have to give folks a good intro as to how things progressed.

Yes, so I was always very physically fit, very physically active. I’ve been a functional nutritionist for about 22 years. So I worked in one of the top clinics in New York City, and I saw many people come in with mystery illnesses and things like Lyme disease and autoimmunity and viruses that were bothering them.

Danielle (01:15.062)
It just hadn’t happened to me and I could have only so much sensitivity because I couldn’t really relate to what they were going through because thank God I felt you know really well and I started having these symptoms that did not make sense. I was getting blurred vision out of nowhere or I was having these dizzy spells I was having talk of cardia just feeling just associated with my body and I thought.

Am I just having anxiety? Like what’s going on with me? And just to recap a little bit, I did have thyroid cancer when I was 31 and I had some of these symptoms, but I’ll tell you that the Lyme is much worse than the cancer and that’s pretty crazy for people to hear. So I was not feeling well and I did not see a bull’s eye rash and it didn’t occur to me, hey, maybe you have a Lyme, but I did spend summers out in the Hamptons, which there’s a lot of deer there.

So I went to get a test in the clinic that I worked in and it came out negative initially. So I just let it go. And then a year went by until I had an actual diagnosis. And by that point, as your listeners know, if you do not treat Lyme right away, it can become chronic. And that’s when this hell started for me.

Oh, it is it is a beast. mean, if we here in Wisconsin, if we get a bite, we have have doxycycline on hand. If we get a bite, we’re just taking it. I’m giving it to the dog. You know, it’s it’s one of those things. But of course, you know, really, the education is now starting to come around kind of like as menopause emerges. And now we’re starting to learn more about, you know, all these all these things. You know, a lot of us are stuck in in a catch 22 where we had no idea.

that this was even a possibility. Now, when your initial testing came back negative, did you do a a igenex test or did you just do a lab course?

Danielle (03:11.182)
I did, I did. Was it? No, I think it was. West now it wasn’t. No, it was maybe maybe it was lab corporate. It was was no, it’s Empire Labs. I’m sorry. I was trying to think of the name, but I did have some bands which I found peculiar. I’m like, why do you know you have to have the criteria of meeting a certain number of bands to be positive for Lyme disease? And I didn’t meet that requirement, but I’m like, this is strange. I have some bands and.

no one really made a big deal about it, but I felt intuitively like that’s really not right. And then I was kind of assured, don’t worry, you you’re, fine. Just kind of get back into your meditation, take your adaptogens, like, you know, do your thing and you’ll be just fine. And I was not fine. And so finally, I went to, I was going to a bunch of functional doctors outside of my practice and no one hit on it. And then

I went to a regular GP that took my insurance and he used bio-reference, which is not even like as sensitive as eigenics, but I was really surprised. I tested positive for Western blot from a bio-reference lab that was covered through insurance. And I thought, my God. And as terrified as I was because I saw so many Lyme patients come to the office, I was like, no, no, like this is crazy. But at the same time,

I was happy at least I got a diagnosis because I felt like I was dying and there was no rationale for it. So at least I knew that I’d be on a path of starting to heal if I could identify what was going on.

Absolutely. know there’s a lot of debate on do we really need a diagnosis, do that? But I feel like we need a direction. And sometimes that helps because otherwise with mystery symptoms and being kind of vague, it becomes lots of rabbit holes. Did you end up on different rabbit holes of research while trying to figure it out?

Danielle (05:09.196)
You know, because we were such a Lyme-focused practice, I knew exactly what I needed to do. And truthfully, when I had Lyme the first time around, even once it was chronic from doing these therapies, I actually recovered through an herbal protocol. I used a lot of acupuncture, Chinese herbs. I used supplements, peptides. I did a lot of ozone, a lot of hyperbaric.

And I was lucky that the first time this had happened to me, I actually pulled out. It took about a year worth of treatments, but I got back to my 90 % and I was feeling well again. What ended up happening was COVID came around in 2020. So I got Lyme 2017, 2018, and I kind of recovered by 2020. And I was like, I’m feeling good. Lockdown comes along.

I’m very physically fit again. I’m jump roping in the apartment. I’m running my stairs out of boredom because we’re all in, you know, we can’t go to our offices and I get COVID and it was a very mild case and I see this a lot with people I work with and they’re like, I had a nothing case. I was kind of feeling okay. And then it was like a lime on steroids. And this time I retraced all my steps with everything that I did in the past. And it was like hitting a wall. Nothing worked.

And that’s when I had to re-shift my direction. Yeah.

This is so common. This is so common for a lot of folks. They’ll have gone either the medication route and switched up medications. Then we go down the herbal route. And then if that’s not working, sometimes we go back to medications, right? And this is where the acupuncture, the energy work, the movement comes in. And for me, sometimes it’s a little bit, even as a naturopath, the harder cell to be like, we’re gonna do something that you’re not gonna take per se.

Jannine (07:04.438)
it’s going to give your body the messages, right? And so how do you bridge that gap with folks to kind of explain like, hey, this is what these kinds of things did for me and this is what it can do for folks with Lyme.

Well, I think if I had not experienced it firsthand and I didn’t have success with what I’m doing, I think people might think, another therapy I have to try. Like I have to go through this whole thing. I’ve already seen 15 doctors, like, and now you’re telling me to do this other practice. And they would probably be more resistant only because they see the changes in me and know what hell I went through. mean, I was at a point where

I had to have a nurse come to my house for like five hours at a time to give me IV immunoglobulin and I would cry through it and then I would get these super migraines and then I developed POTS where I postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, my heart rate would go up, my pulse would drop, I was agoraphobic, I was afraid to go outside because I was scared I was gonna faint and it was too much stimulation in Manhattan. So I went from that.

to now being in a place where I’m practicing Kung Fu several days a week. So like Wing Chun, besides Tai Chi and Chi Gong. So to be able to have that transformation, I’m like, listen, it’s great. not against, I think herbs and supplements and different interventions all make sense. You have to work on the gut. Your nutrition has to be good. But the energetic practices and talking about Chi and your life force and how in acupuncture,

how moving the chi through the meridians and blocking up stagnant energy and strengthen in the organs, the same thing happens with qigong and tai chi and it’s real. And so I think just watching that, they start to say, okay, if it’s working for you, I’ll have an open mind. I’m getting these people are coming back to me and saying they’ve done a class, they’re trying, they’re practicing things like rounding. So I think it’s starting to resonate.

Jannine (09:06.53)
Yeah, yeah. It’s definitely a one day at a time type of thing. Now, I want to back up for a second and then we will let’s dive into talking about more about acupuncture Tai Chi and Qigong. Yeah. One of the things I hear from a lot of folks is like, but you’re so healthy, how, you know, or they are eating so clean. They’re doing all the things they’re exercising. How did this happen? What?

kind of, you know, how do we bridge that gap between how did this happen? Looking at the soul, of course, we’ll talk about your website, Soul Hacker as well. But like, how do we bridge that gap between how did our system go this far to create these symptoms and create this like huge warning sign? And even though you were doing what we think are all the things to keep us healthy, right?

Well, that’s a detailed question, but it goes back a little bit to we talked about is the testing necessary? Do you need to know? And so people will always say, I need to know like the root cause of like how this happened to me or what exactly it is that’s going on. And I find that for many people who were very healthy like myself and very physically fit and active and hiked and did yoga and did all those things,

whether it’s autoimmunity, whether it’s hormonal imbalance, whether it’s Lyme disease, long COVID, Epstein-Barr, any of these things, there’s some kind of metabolic dysregulation that happens with a major stressor to the nervous system. So it almost doesn’t matter which of these syndromes you’re dealing with. Your body has a dysregulated nervous system from an event that occurred and

Covid for me was that event and I saw other people who may not have had Lyme, but let’s say they had mono when they were in college and now they have this reactivated Epstein bar episode and they’re like, what’s wrong with me? It was that stressor or maybe someone’s going through a breakup or looking at the state of the world and they’re freaked out and they’re not realizing how it’s affecting their body. And then it causes them to not able to be able to have

Danielle (11:23.896)
harmony and it really doesn’t matter exactly what it is from. The therapy for this whole circle of issues almost seems like the same. And that’s why I respect acupuncture in so many ways, because it’s not like, hmm, let’s work on your diagnosis. It’s like, let’s talk about your symptoms and what’s happening and how are you emotionally? Like, what’s going on? And that’s really what I think is important. So I think it has, we have to identify not

the diagnosis and what’s going on, but what was the stressor? What’s going on with our nervous system? And how can we reclaim our power by taking that back and becoming more balanced?

Yeah, I mean, I think that’s really something to take into account because yes, when I tell folks, when we’re going through different things, I’m like, diagnosis helps in some ways to kind of ease your mind. But at the same time, it’s not gonna change the treatment protocol. So a lot of times we have that conversation to determine like, is it worth massive amounts of testing other than figuring out, this is what’s underlying now let’s.

move forward. I’m really glad that you shared that with us because that helps to hear.

I mean, I can do functional testing with people. I really, before this had all happened and I really uncovered how much the nervous system and the energetics of our body plays a role, I was like, well, we should check for cortisol levels, check your adrenals, and check this and check that. And I’m not saying these things should not be regulated. Yes, you want your thyroid and balance. You want your hormones balanced. But guess what? You can take the bioidentical hormones. Or you can be taking the thyroid medicine and you’re

Danielle (13:06.636)
TSH or your thyroid hormones can look perfect on the labs. But if you are in that stress state, you’re still going to feel like crap. So, so what if your test comes back better? You’re not fixing, you’re not fixing that health and that’s what we need to work on more. So I kind of rather than scare people with looking at a lab report with a lot of red on it, I’m not saying if you have cancer or something more serious, like of course that you need to see a doctor. But I’m just saying like, if you kind of know what you’re dealing with, don’t cause your body more stress by

running from doctor to doctor to doctor and spending all this money and stress about money because now you’re in disability. It’s like go into the solution and that is really what I want to talk about.

Yeah, absolutely. I agree. I agree because looking at lab after lab or looking at antibodies after antibodies for Hashimoto’s, I it’s it’s. It does stress people out. I absolutely agree. I agree. So let’s, like you said, move into the positive side of things and where you’re seeing really great changes and where you’ve seen them with yourself. And feel free to choose whichever one you want to start with, because I love them all. So go.

Yeah.

Jannine (14:15.018)
you choose which one you want to talk about between aki puncture qigong or tai chi and and kind of what you’ve seen

Jannine (14:26.166)
shoot. That’s okay, Zoom. This is what it’s been doing. What did you hear last?

I’m sorry.

Danielle (14:35.81)
What are the positive changes and what have you been doing for yourself?

Yeah, okay, perfect. We’ll just go from that. I’ll just repeat it and then I’ll cut out that other part. So what are the positive changes you’ve seen and what are you doing for yourself? I’d love to hear all about it because I think that’s where that’s the good stuff here.

So I addressed a lot of my symptoms through, well, really getting into my body. I had major vertigo. I had the POTS, which I explained, the terrible tachycardia, rapid heart rate. I no longer experienced that. My energy is really, really good. I went from being basically

in bed a lot of the time or not unable to make plans, having to work remotely, not going in the office because I was feeling so bad. Just being like a shell of myself to now like I’m between New York and Miami during the winter, mostly Miami, but I’m in Manhattan now. And I come up to train once a week to practice Wing Chun Kung Fu, which is Bruce Lee’s practice. then I like walk there and walk back two miles. So it’s like I get in like a five mile walk and I’m practicing Wing Chun.

So doing, and I still practice Tai Chi and Qigong daily, but that has given me the strength to do the ultimate of what I considered my power. And when I was really not well, I got very heavy into visualization. And it’s interesting because my visualizations, I used to see myself as this martial arts practitioner, never practiced in my life. I was always a yoga person, but I thought my solution was if I can be this,

Danielle (16:16.204)
grounded, precise martial artist, like I’m already healed. So I would watch this all the time in my visualization, but then I would come out and say like, yeah, like I’m going to do kung fu. So I found there’s an expression that goes when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I started, I’m like, maybe I could start with Tai Chi. Tai Chi is still kung fu. It’s just more internal form and slower. So I found this teacher.

And he really understood chronic illness because he went through some challenges of his own and healed tremendously. And he went very slowly with me. We spent a lot of time together and worked in the park. If you’re going to do Tai Chi, I would say in the park, be in nature. I know it’s a little cold, makes a difference. And we would be in nature, be in the park. And each week I would feel more strength, like in rootedness. And I was like, hmm, this is interesting. And

After I would say like three months, I was really bouncing back. And this is not with, I was doing acupuncture once a week, by the way, not because you’re an acupuncturist, but I did that. And I was just starting to feel really good. And he said, I know you had this like Kung Fu dreams, you wanna do this. And I think you should start practicing Wing Chun. And I’m like, crazy, I’m gonna like go into the studio and like, I’m gonna pass out. Did not happen. And ever since martial arts have become a huge part of my life.

and my healing. And I feel like it’s just amazing what it does for the chi, what it does for your organs, the proprioception, what it does for neuroplasticity in the brain. mean, it’s just, I think it’s like a gem that people do not understand.

Absolutely. Absolutely. mean the foundation of all of this right is circulation. We’re circulating Chi. We’re circulating blood and I may be on a What do we call it like repeat or people might be sick of hearing me say it? So I am hoping for you to help Back up in that department because I am always saying the root of anything is circulation whether it’s you know Chi circulation whether it’s nervous system cheese, you know, I kind of break it into those things but

Jannine (18:26.286)
Tell us a little bit about when you were like, okay, this is working. Like, I’m sure you geeked out on like, okay, how is this working? What is it doing?

totally. Well, especially Qigong. I mean, there’s one practice I really like to do, which is five element Qigong, and you’re working on the different organs. So you understand this, but for someone who’s maybe feeling a lot of anxiety and they’re, you know, they’re

just like anxious all the time. It can be related to spleen cheat efficiency or kidney cheat efficiency. so working on those organs really helps. So five element Qigong will work a lot on the earth element, which is let’s say the stomach spleen. So I’m doing these exercises to help to strengthen that and really feel rooted. And then I might do an exercise for the kidneys where I’m actually.

pressing on my back and I’m moving in such a way where I’m like leaning back and on one foot and I’m doing this to maybe release some fear, you know, another emotion that’s trapped or people can’t detoxify well, they’re maybe having issues with their liver. So there’s an exercise where you’re punching and you’re making a sound and using your eyes like breathing through your eyes as you’re doing this and not only does it bring circulation to the body, but it’s like letting go of like a lot of stored.

emotion that we feel like I find that a lot of people who are more susceptible to having these kind of illnesses, a lot of people could have Lyme or have autoimmunity or have something, but maybe it doesn’t, they’re not presenting with it. But when you have a lot of trauma or emotional dysregulation or that sometimes when it comes out more. So to be able to release a lot of this, this stagnant energy,

Danielle (20:17.848)
throughout the body, it’s really helpful. And if you do it barefoot, it’s even better. I like to either do it in the park, get right in the grass, or when I’m in Miami, I’m right in the sand. That’s my sunset exercise. I I’m like the crazy lady who is on the sand, and I’m just doing all these weird exercises. And I kind of know people from it they’re like, what’s that? And yeah, I love it.

my. Now, is your is your mentor, the one that we see in the videos on your website? Is that who’s with you?

Sifu Gary Tong. Yeah, he’s like my angel. Like seriously, he just helped me so much. Yeah.

Nice. Yeah, these, you know, I think for a lot of people thinking through how this type of, I’m gonna say exercise because it is movement. is, you know, something that everyone’s like, we need more movement. We need more of this. It’s also like a two for one because it’s a practice of, you know, we’re working on the nervous system along with an exercise. And so how do you, how do you explain like when you’re talking about five element Qigong,

How do you explain getting into the organs? Are you talking with folks about how you’re breathing into them? You’re bringing energy, you’re visualizing them. Give us a little bit more background there, because I think one of the hardest things for me to describe to folks is like, so we’re going to do some breathing and we’re going to, give us your version of it.

Danielle (21:46.296)
So you could think about the organs and then imagine where they are in your body. So it’s good to have a sense of where the organs are when you’re visualizing them and doing the practice. And then the movements, they also have sounds associated with them. let’s say like, I’m giving an example, you’re working on the heart, which is a circulatory system. So you’re doing this movement that you’re bringing the arms all the way up in a circle, and then you’re

bringing your hands to your lower and your middle dantian, which is like these energy centers, and then you’re making the sound.

And then you’re also visualizing the color red, is the heart. So it’s like you’re doing these things in combination. So it’s not just moving, but you’re thinking, okay, circulatory system, that’s my heart, it’s the color red and the sound is ha. So each organ has that and a different sound. So you start to get familiar with that and familiar with the colors. And I’ll take a breath in between each.

movement for each organ and I’ll visualize the color of what’s the association and close my eyes and root and root myself. So that’s that’s how I’ve learned to do it.

That’s cool. It’s cool. mean, it looks, you know, from your videos, you’ve got a lot of different resources. And of course, you’ve got your membership there where folks can join in and learn more and give us a little sense of like, let’s talk about your website. Let’s talk about how folks can interact with you and how you offer your variety of support because you have the Tai Chi, you have the Qigong. So give us a little more background there in terms of nervous system regulation, what you’re doing.

Jannine (23:38.7)
and that sort of thing.

So I call the series that’s on the website. It’s not a lot of videos. It’s seven videos. And I call it the Daily Soul Series because it’s meant to be something that if you can get as much of it in as you can daily as just part of your practice, it’s going to help you. And these are the types of exercises that I did with my Sifu teacher to really help me. So the first one is warming up with body tapping. like talking about circulation and moving. like a lot of us,

We like it’s, you know, from like a somatic perspective, sometimes we don’t even like touch certain parts of our body or people don’t touch us there. And like, we’re just don’t even have energy going. So it’s like, you’re tapping the arms, you’re, you know, you’re, tapping your legs, you’re hitting your glutes, you’re doing all these tapping and you’re really waking everything up. And it’s like a great way to start your morning, the body tapping. Also you’re working, you know, you’re working on the intestines and hitting your chest and this sort of thing. And it just,

it’s waking you up. So that’s the first one. And I think people should start with at least the first three, because those are really the most healing. So the body tapping. And then the next one is Chi circulation and intestine exercises. So you talked about circulation. So we do some of these movements to move the Chi. And then the intestines exercises. That’s like, if we think about the gut,

hold 70 to 80 % of our immune system. also, this is where we hold a lot of our stress and the gut-brain connection. So you’re doing these exercises where you’re really working on the intestines. And that’s so good for fatigue, specifically people who have chronic fatigue. they just, I do account to, we do account together to about a hundred of these. But my Sifu told me when…

Danielle (25:32.022)
he was having some fatigue issues, he would do about a thousand a day and just standing, rooting himself, the intestine exercises and just breathing in and like letting it go. that, I mean, fatigue is such a big issue with any of these syndromes. So that’s a really good one. And then the next one that we were doing in there that was also very good was the five element Qigong. So those three are a great start. And then if you have more time, it’s very,

Very beginner Tai Chi. Tai Chi is like, you know, it’s good to work with somebody but this is sort of a supplement. usually you would do like a 24 posture, 36 posture. This is Yang style Tai Chi. This is just like a 12 style, 12 posture Yang style to get you introduced to the form and the movement. But it’s not so heavy in the Tai Chi as it is in the Qigong.

Okay, okay. Yeah, I think for a lot of people, you know, it’s gonna be intro, right? Because it’s not mainstream for us. And maybe we’ve seen the classes in the park where people are doing Tai Chi, you know, but for a lot of folks who have fatigue, who have dizziness, I mean, we’re talking baby steps. How many minutes were you able to do when you first started just out of curiosity?

when I first started, we would just practice the body tapping, the chi circulation and the intestine exercises. And just maybe five element Qigong, we didn’t even go that far. We would just work on the earth element, stomach spleen. We didn’t even do the whole, I was just like tired, but just that helped me feel more rooted. And that was just

huge for me because I felt so disassociated from my body and so like off kilter that to feel actually grounded I was like wow like and not fatigued that was where I started so I think that’s a really good practice for people just to do initially you know you don’t have to like it’s a Tai Chi came later it was more the Qigong.

Jannine (27:34.146)
Okay, makes sense makes sense. And for those of you who listening to you, we can do sitting we can do, you know, we can lay down, you know, there’s there’s different ways depending on you know, I’ve had people who are better and you know, and so we’re doing things laying down. Whereas Tai Chi, a little harder. I’m sure you probably have some ways of seated Tai Chi to though.

Yeah. also, mean, the Qigong even can be done for people who even have things like Parkinson’s or a lot of different illnesses with very limited mobility. So it’s a really good start. But I think it’s interesting because Tai Chi, also people are reluctant to do it because they think of seniors in the park. They’re kind of like, I’m young and I’m going to just go do yoga and like Barry’s boot camp because like I’m to do Tai Chi. And honestly, if I had not been through what I went through,

I would be the same way. was like a very athletic. wouldn’t, I’m like Tai Chi, you know? He always read like in these AARP or something, like do Tai Chi. And I’m like, okay, that’s just not for me. I’m too young for that. But once I got sick, I was like, wow. And truthfully, it’s a very martial form. It was actually created in China for, as a form of combat and self-defense, but it’s been used in a softer, more healing way. And that’s what people,

think about it, but it’s actually quite beautiful, quite flowing, and it’ll make your other athletic practices better. see, now that I also practice Wing Chun Kung Fu, which is very, it’s much more combative and that sort of thing, it’s given me a way to breathe and move in a more yin kind of way, where I’m not just like,

throwing myself around, I’m controlled and I can actually handle something more physical because I’m not burning out. So it’s teaching you non-burnout skills, if that makes any sense.

Jannine (29:32.918)
Yes. I mean, for me to be spot on on the ARP thing with the Tai Chi, because yeah, that’s what you see. And for me, you know, I’m thinking F45 CrossFit, like, you know, that’s my jam I used to do now. You know, it’s changed. looking at like, you for a lot of people, think even just maybe you don’t have a chronic illness, but you’re just like feeling more tired. Your hormones might be off. You’re going through perimenopause.

this type of shift can actually be so incredibly useful. And, you know, just in terms of just aging well and being nice to your joints, but I’m very curious about the kung fu. And I think for a lot of people, they might be like, ooh, now that bridges like getting from, let’s put it this way, chronic, being chronic.

ill and being someone who was super fit before it bridges in and gives you that like future like I can take this and there’s a there’s a trajectory that goes back to fitting my soul let’s say that so tell us a little bit more about it how did you you know what kind of things do you do like I’m imagining Bruce Lee right so I’ve got that on the far end but I’m going what kind of things you know do you do to start off with because I’m

people are probably thinking like, trumping and spinning and all kinds of things.

So it’s actually, there’s a lot of exercises that are very good for the brain and the nervous system and Kung Fu. It’s not all like super young, like let’s just fight. And this is the coolest thing for you female listeners. So you think Bruce Lee, Wing Chun Kung Fu, which is okay, but just what he is known for. Wing Chun, I don’t know if you know this, but Wing Chun was developed

Danielle (31:27.682)
by a nun named Wu Mei and Shaolin. So Wu Mei the nun started this form of Kung Fu and she taught her student who was a female named Wing Chun. So Wing Chun is actually developed by women and Wing Chun taught this to her husband and later on it passed down to the different lineages and was adopted by Bruce Lee. And now you see a bunch of men doing it but it’s been rebranded as like Bruce Lee, Yip Man, fighting art. Well.

It came from women. So that’s pretty awesome because women get attacked in close range. So a lot of the movements are made for females to have self-defense when they’re getting attacked so closely. So it’s kind of like a grappler’s mentality. Like you’re able to fight very close and it’s very precise, but a woman can totally do it. And you do these exercises. One of them is called the very basis for Wing Chun. One is called the Sunam Dao.

And it’s this different form, it’s all these different forms, which you’ll see each part of Kung Fu comes in. It’s like a three and a half minute meditation of all the postures that you actually do when you fight. But it’s like a meditation. So I will take my time and do it by the beach, the Sunam Dao, and maybe take 10 minutes to go through it just with softness. So that’s one part of it. can make that your Wing Chun practice, the Sunam Dao.

And then the other part of it is you do something called Chi-Sao. So it’s it’s partner hands and you’re doing these different movements with your partner and you’re doing switches with punches and Bong-Sao and all these different things. And it takes a lot of brain because you’re like, Ooh, like which way is my partner going to go? And like Tai Chi, once you become sensitive, you can close your eyes and it’s like Chi sensing your partner and you know, am I throwing a punch? Am I doing a block or am I?

And it’s not super rigorous on your body, even though it would have built up your shoulders, but it really roots you. And it really, really makes you able to have more neuroplasticity and it just changes your brain. And I feel when I come out of doing like even a Chi Sao practice, just doing practicing Sunam Dao, I’m like, my brain feels really good and it helps appropriate reception, balance.

Danielle (33:48.512)
So yes, there’s a lot of sparring, there’s a lot of fighting. You can choose to do that, but you can just learn the basics of Wing Chun, which are very, very effective and they are also very good for your health. And a lot of people are not promoting the health benefits of it. And I think that’s like a huge part of it. And it’s really helped my health when I practice in the way of sensing someone and breathing and using my Tai Chi in the Kung Fu.

I’m sold. I’m like, sign me up.

I want to do this. It’s It’s so great, but right now in my class in New York, I’m pretty much was like, no girls. And I kind of like that it’s cool. It’s just not really popular. And I feel like if I start promoting the Wing Chun too much, it’s just going to be flooded with women. And I want to, but part of me is like, I don’t know. I kind of like that I’m doing it on the DL.

I mean, how cool that a woman, you know, really, really came up with us because like Bruce Lee, you know, and Jason Lee, both of them, you know, were just so like cool to me, right. As I was growing up, wow, look at that, you know. Yeah, I I can’t say enough. But listen, I could see where you’re like, yeah, I like to be like the cool cat. You know, Carmen, I get it, I get it. But I am thinking like, you know,

What you’re describing is really repair of how we connect with our nervous system. Much like people are talking about different types of practices of balance and whatnot. And some years ago, I read a book by Norman Doidge or something like that. I think that’s how he says his name, the brain that changed itself. And they were doing different exercises in there with patches on and things of that nature, putting it over the eye so that you could train.

Jannine (35:39.246)
cross body, but I’m thinking here, like you’re actually going beyond that so that you don’t even need the patch. You just close your eyes and you can visualize what’s coming next. And this is like your sixth sense, let’s call it. Maybe we’re developing that. so my, where am I going with this? I’m going with it in terms of, do you believe, and I know this is a loaded question, but do you think that at some point, some of what happens to us in terms of chronic

illness really is a degradation of how we communicate with our nervous system.

Danielle (36:13.318)
100%. 100%. Yeah, I absolutely feel that way. And as much as it can throw us into being dysregulated, I think we can also teach ourselves how to regulate that once again. And that you have to work on it. you know, there’s a lot of brain retraining programs when you talk about the brain that changes itself. I remember reading parts of that book because I did

one of the brain retraining programs called DNRS. know, we’ll know that or they know the Gupta program and it works great for some people. I’m not, I’m not knocking it. I did it twice. I didn’t feel any difference. And I felt like because I wasn’t incorporating the movement with the brain retraining, I was just talking to myself pretty much. And, and that may work for somebody, but I needed it to be like visceral. Like I needed to feel it in my body. So this is

This is my brain retraining. did the visualization part though. I visualized the Kung Fu and I did manifest that. So that did happen. But now the nervous system retraining is through movement. And once you really tap in, that’s what’s so cool about Qi is like, can sense that from someone else, your partner. In Tai Chi, there’s touch hands where you’re going back and forth and you’re feeling them and you know when there’s gonna be a switch or how they’re moving.

And Kung Fu is kind of the same way when you’re doing these partner exercises, you really tap into your body and like that sixth sense and your and your your calm and your nervous system. Like that’s the place that even when I’m upset or stressed or sad, and I get there, I am like, I’m present, I am like fully present. And that is where we need to get out of our heads and just like get into our bodies. And that is

That’s why I love these practices because I’m like, I’m somewhere else when I’m there and I’m just present in that movement and I feel and that’s where we want to be because some of us have forgotten how to feel. We’re so disconnected to our bodies and I was there. I was like people would talk to me and like they’re like Earth’s Danielle like where did she go? I was felt so sick and all I could do was focus on my health. my God, my symptoms that feels weird, body checking. No, I don’t do that anymore.

Jannine (38:34.804)
It’s, it’s definitely all you describe are things that I’ve seen in my patients for sure. You know, it becomes obsession in terms of what’s going on internally. And I’ve found for myself different practices like rock climbing and, and sailing for me have meant things and their, you know, brain and some movement involved. And, you know, I’m looking at it going like, wow, you know, when

I’ve seen people at their healthiest or their peaks, there’s some kind of practice going on. And I came from a background of kickboxing and taekwondo. And so looking at it, I haven’t done it in years. Broke up with that boyfriend, that’s what happens. Moving on. And so it’s one of those things where you’re like, wow, wait, maybe it is a little bit of feeling the feels, but also being able to feel

just getting into that side of things and taking the thought process out that really helps. And so I know I’m kind of just reiterating what you said, but for helping folks to really land this home, it seems that, you know, we talk a lot about fight or flight. We talk a lot about fight, flight, freeze, fawn too. And

It seems that there’s a lot of like, you look at a lot what’s going out there is everyone’s like, do the comp, but don’t do the fight. But maybe we need to feel the feels to go through all the things and have a little bit of that fight to get back to our primal selves. What do you think about that? That thought process.

No, I think that that definitely makes sense. And, you know, having some of the fight you’re talking about, like literally having some of that, yeah, once you’re strong enough, it gives your body a lot of confidence. It’s actually bringing back to you like I am strong, you know, like you feel you feel like confident and when you feel confident in your body, it gives you more it gives you more power. And also

Danielle (40:36.716)
You mentioned how you did rock climbing and things that bring you joy. And that’s another part of it. It’s like two words that come to me that maybe sound a little bit cliche, but joy and flow. So when we’re in a flow state where we’re loving what we do and we’re like, just, for some people, hey, martial arts may not be everybody’s thing, but they find that thing that can get them out of their head and into their body.

great, go with that. And also, but these practices are joyful to me. All my friends say they’re like, Danielle, you light up when you talk about this. And I used to be like, I love talking about health, and I could talk about nutrition or whatever, but I don’t light up in the same way anymore. This, for me, brings me happiness. And there’s a great expression that I’ve heard. It’s a quote, and I love it. And it says, the most basic

cause of illness is on happiness and the greatest healer is joy. And I had to find like what what makes me feel really joyful, you know, and doing this is one of those things and so people need to find a practice to be great if they could you know challenge themselves a little bit without having post exertional malaise but a little challenge but also like got to love it.

Otherwise, it’s just going to be another drain for you. So find what is your, your happy place. This is my happy place.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. No two of us are the same. And I’ve seen some great progress when someone has some some hobby that they can get out of the head into the body a little bit and just kind of get in the flow. So tell us a little bit about what you’re up to, how you’re coaching folks, how you’re helping folks on this level find their joy and and their flow.

Danielle (42:32.66)
So forever it had been nutrition. know, someone has an issue, I say, send me your lab work, maybe we’ll run some extra lab, see what’s going on, figure out. That was always how I worked. And then I come up with a nutrition program for them, or I worked a lot with weight loss. And now it’s funny because people reach out to me and they have something going on. A lot of people I work with have chronic illness situations. And I say, well, send me your lab work. And they’re like,

I just want to know what you did and how can I get out of my head to be able to get into a practice? Tell me more about the grounding. Tell me about what you’re doing. And also, I’m into vagus nerve stimulation. That’s another thing. What are you doing to stimulate the vagus nerve? What is your meditation practice like? And we start getting into things like that and visualization. And I find that I might end up doing a session talking about things that

maybe sound a little esoteric to certain people. But once you’ve gone down the road of seeing enough doctors and scaring yourself and you’re just not, it’s like, you know, we’re like, okay, I’m open to the change, even though this may sound woo woo, like if it works, let me try. So I’m doing a lot of that now that I kind of fell into that. I never thought like that’s how I would be coaching people. But sometimes I would say more than half the time our sessions turn like that. So yes, I can help people.

nutrition diet lifestyle, but a lot of it is about taking on these mind body practices.

Very cool. so unique ways, I’m guessing you’re kind of looking at what lights them up. You’re looking at what

Danielle (44:09.878)
Right, we’ll talk about it, get into like, you know, I was working with one woman who just, she was suffering from depression and hormonal issues and a lot of it was just a lot of fatigue and just no joy in her life, but she was drained and chronically fatigued. And I was like, well, like what really makes you happy? And she’s like, well, you know, I used to be an artist and I love to paint and I love fashion.

And I would love to take a class in Italy. I don’t know, that would really make me happy. And it was one of these things that we got into it. And now she’s working on that. She was scared to go alone. And now she’s booking this trip with her daughter. she goes, that’s really cool. And I’m not a life coach. I didn’t expect to be talking to people about this kind of stuff. yeah, her thing, she said to me, should I do the grounding in Qigong? And she just wasn’t.

It wasn’t going to be her thing. Like she didn’t need more quiet and meditative. She needed to have fun. So I was like, you need fun and you need to do that. And that’s, that’s going to be a healing for you. So I can, I don’t know. I have an intuition about people sometimes like what might help them specifically, you know, this is great for many people, but I don’t like to box people in and say, everyone needs to do this. It’s going to save your life. Like I’d save a lot of your lives and not everybody’s.

Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, when it comes down to mystery illness, when it comes down to chronic illness, no two people are the same. mean, no two people are the same in general, but we all I see and I’ll put my opinion out there is that I see it is when this happens, there is a loss of self. There’s a loss of nervous system and action and we’re it’s a body screaming. Yeah. Please find me.

It’s true.

Jannine (45:55.682)
Yeah, it’s so awesome. I love all the resources that you have. Now you have a membership, I noticed. Tell us a little bit about that. What can folks expect from that? What’s that like?

So the membership is for the videos, which are part of the Daily Soul series, which are mostly Qigong and the one Tai Chi video. There’s also a healing meditation at the end that people can listen to. If they don’t meditate, it’s more like a guided visualization for healing. doing it. And then I also am including community videos where I’m doing interviews with other, I like to call them Soul. So the name of the website is called Soul Hacker.

And it’s kind of a play on words of biohacking because biohacking is good, but it uses many tools like let’s say, you know, jumping into a cold plunge or using a red light or doing all these things. And this is tapping more into the essence of your soul. It’s kind of like hacking your soul. So I have interviews where I’m talking to other, I like to call them other soul hackers because people who like yourself, you know, who are into the mind body spirit connection and we’re having conversations about that. Or I may just

be my own talk so they can have access to those resources. And it’s $10 a month. I made it very easy. So because I know a lot of people, especially with chronic conditions, a lot of them can’t work. And I didn’t want it to be a barrier. So I was like, at least start here. And so that’s what I’ve been doing.

it. I love it. Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s very expensive, unfortunately, when you’re when you’re invested in trying to figure out what is going on with you. And yeah, great, great stuff. I definitely will be referring folks to take a look at the resources, see if it you know, if it resonates with them and kind of going forward from there. So okay, we’ve got Kung Fu, what’s next for you? What what are you gonna do? What’s what are you coming up with? What are you working on?

Danielle (47:51.886)
I mean, I have some thoughts, but they’re not totally ripe yet. But I want to bring healing martial arts to the mainstream. I really do. Maybe the kung fu, not so much, but it could be cool. But the Tai Chi Qigong, because I’ve seen what it does, I want to rebrand it as something that is healthy and cool and also get people involved and be inclined to try this because

I just, I think I know the magic of it. So that that’s really like my mission is I just, I want to really incorporate that into my work and you know, do good things for the world. Like after you’ve been sick enough, you just want to like, you want to serve. You’re like, thank you God for like helping me. And I just want to give back. So that’s where I’m at.

That is we need more folks like you. love it. And I love getting back to getting the Tai Chi and Qigong being cool. Because it’s definitely one of the things that I work up against with my folks. So I’m all in support. I’m all in support.

That’s awesome. And I love acupuncture. so for it. I’m actually, I’m going to Kung Fu and then I’m going to acupuncture right after I’m walking there. have a second I’m done. I’m actually going there. So I go every week. that’s been a maintenance for me. I think it’s really important to continue that. So I just, it’s something that I do. You know, that’s my practice.

Do you feel like doing acupuncture just kind of just resets or reboots you or I would love to hear your take on it because the folks who do it regularly, my folks are always like, yeah, I just need it. Like no one’s getting in the way of my time for acupuncture. It’s just like my rebooting is what I hear a lot, but I want to hear your take on like, what does it mainly give you so that folks can get a sense of?

Danielle (49:43.542)
God, I have leaned on acupuncture for so long. There is a doctor that I started seeing 30 years ago, Dr. Fu Di. he, I mean, I went to him pretty much in his childhood, like 30 years ago, maybe. But Chinese herbs, I would work with him if I ever had a digestive issue or very heavy menstrual cycles or my sleep wasn’t good. And yes, Qigong can work on these things. But it’s just, it’s adding that extra help.

you know, and it just works so synergistically. So for me, you know, right now, I’m feeling like I’m going into my menstrual cycle. And it’s like, I get symptomatic, you know, and, and it’s so it helps me and I do take herbs, I always take Chinese herbs, I don’t take that many supplements, but Chinese herbs have always been useful for me. So I feel like it just, it helps with so many things that are going on, or just like when I’m under a lot of stress, like it just

it also gives me that extra relaxation even with doing these practices. Like it’s just, it’s the bonus, you know? And when I can make it, I do.

Yeah, I sing on the cake that she going to take. She’s one of the daily work, you know, and the acupuncture is just the booster. Definitely is. I love it, obviously. But it’s it’s just something I love.

work and being a naturopath too. Those are like really cool things. thought I probably in another life, like that would have been maybe what I would have chosen to do for a living.

Jannine (51:15.298)
There’s never there’s never too late on that. If you do change your mind, we’re happy to take more folks into the side of medicine. Yeah, it’s it’s it’s something to think about. Right. And for everybody who’s listening and wondering, like, what do do with my care? What do I do next? Maybe you’ve seen 20 people, maybe you’ve seen some natural paths. Perhaps it’s time to look into chatting with Danielle and seeing, you know, if there’s there’s something that to work on your soul a little bit and.

That’s usually when I hit to, when folks have tried everything, I’m like, let’s try on, let’s try you. That’s pretty much where I head to with this. So. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming on and sharing all about your experience.

It’s so great to meet practitioners who are like so like-minded. So yeah, this is really nice.

Well, my pleasure. Can’t wait for this one to come out. And we’ll make sure that everybody guys go over to soulhackerr.com. That’s where you’ll find all of Daniel’s info. And what about Instagram?

Instagram, yeah, I post a lot on Instagram. It’s V-T-H-E and then S-O-U-L-H-A-K-K-E-R, the Soul Hacker.

Jannine (52:25.71)
Check her out over there. We’ll definitely do some posts too once this podcast comes out. thanks again for coming on Danielle. really appreciate

Looking forward.