Meet Dani Reardon

We recently connected with Dani Reardon and have shared our conversation below.

Dani, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

Finding purpose is such an interesting thought, and I think it’s a question that puts a lot of pressure on our society in general. So many of us ask, “what is my purpose?” We think if we don’t have a specific and grandiose purpose that we are somehow not successful or doing life wrong. So much goes into finding purpose, and I think it’s an evolving subject through our life, that changes with each of our chapters. When we think about it, we have so many purposes. We have so many roles that we play in daily life, and all of them are purposeful. Just because we are human and living life, that alone is purpose enough as we are evolving our consciousness which helps the collective and helps the universe evolve, even when we think we are insignificant in the grand scheme of things, its important to know we are not. Being a mom, wife, daughter, athlete, provider, creator, teacher, baker, etc. these are all purposes, and they are enough. So before I get into how I found my purpose I wanted to lay that out and let people know they already have purpose, and it’s more than enough.

For me finding purpose starts with curiosity, then passion, then service, and before we know it, we have purpose. Currently I am a sound practitioner, yoga teacher and ceremony facilitator. These three pillars of purpose in my life started with a glimmer of curiosity, and because I followed my curiosity it lead me to passion, because I followed and developed my passions it lead me to purpose and a way I can be of service to my community. So maybe a better way to think of purpose is service.

With sound in particular, which is my burning passion at the moment, its started off with a hit of inspiration when my teacher gifted me with my first flute. I began to make my first sounds and squeaks and from there I started to believe that maybe, just maybe, I, someone who was never known to be musical, could be a musician and an artist. I think it’s important to note the belief topic is massive when beginning a journey. All we need is a little bit of belief in ourselves to keep the curiosity alive and evolving into a passion. With that, comes action and practice. Practice and practice and more practice. Taking action, one step at a time, as we walk down this road of our curiosity will lead us to beautiful places. Which as a result leads to more belief, and thus more practice, and then more results. It’s a cycle of momentum and all steps are crucial. Belief, action, results. Which leads to more belief, action and results.

After I began playing the flute, I got another flute, and then another, and now I have about 11 flutes. Along with many other and different instruments. I let go of the belief that I cant be musical, and I tapped into the belief that with enough practice I can actually learn and play anything. So now a whole world of possibility has opened up for me, that I never thought was possible.

There is another thing to add to this and that is getting out of our comfort zones. This is where it gets juicy. Getting out of our comfort zone means we are living on the edge of ourselves and what we know to be possible. For me, getting out of my comfort zone meant playing my flute in front of others. So at the end of my yoga classes I would play my flute when my students were in savasana / meditation following our yoga flow. My flute would squeak, I would be shaky, I would mess up and make mistakes, but the point is, I did it, and I kept doing it.

Fast forward to me collecting more instruments, finding more belief in myself, and finding my next edge, which was offering a full sound ceremony for my community. Playing my instruments for over an hour as people laid there and received the sounds that I was playing. Again, I was nervous, but I did it. I realized in that moment that I had a way to serve my community through playing my sounds of passion. Learning about the science behind sound gave me another layer to work with and another layer that I could help my community to feel more relaxed, rejuvenated, more in tune with themselves and the emotions that may have come up during the sound ceremony. Now its been over a year of service through sound and I feel I have purpose.

The purpose is two fold, and maybe this is when you know that you are onto something. When your curiosity and passion is feeding you, as well as the people who are experiencing whatever you are doing. The first layer of purpose is for me, the evolution of what I know to be possible for me, the obsession, the passion, the learning and growing and living on the edge of myself each and every time I host a sound event. The second one is being of serving and being helpful to my community. Through sound people experience so much as they go on a journey, and at the very least they took an evening for themselves to feel better and replenish the cup that gets drained through their daily lives.

Before I close this thought, you may have noticed that I keep mentioning service. I think this is when the alignment comes and we are off and running into what we know to be “purpose”. Being of service is one of the most beautiful things we have available to us, its truly where we feel the most alive, where we feel the best, where we feel the most on purpose and helpful. Maybe you are serving your community, your family, or maybe it’s the whole world. I don’t think it matters how big or small the group we are serving, so long as we are serving ourselves and someone / something else.

The last thing I will say is to give yourself permission to evolve form one purpose or curiosity to another. What we once found passionate will absolutely change as we change and make our ways into new chapters of our lives and new identities we create. It’s inevitable. So I am giving you permission to let go of what is no longer serving you anymore. It must serve you first, before you can properly serve others. By hanging onto something just because its what you have always done will lead to energy drainage and possibly resentment. You will serve no one with that energy behind it. I am a former professional athlete. I was awarded second in the world in my division, and I thought I would be competing forever. Until, it became more of a chore than a passion. Until, it didn’t feel good anymore. Until, I didn’t love it anymore. Letting go of that was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but, I wasn’t in love with it anymore, and I had to trust that something better was waiting for me once I made the space and let go of the thing I was hanging onto. I will say it took me about 6 or 7 years to fully fall in love with something else and find my next purpose and passion. But I kept following the breadcrumbs of my curiosity, and now here I am on purpose and really in love with what I get to do and practice each day.

Be in love with what you do. Thats the root of all this. Building a purpose is like building a relationship. It takes work, it takes belief, it takes action and not giving up. Love doesn’t happen over night, love is a journey. If love is at the center of what you do, then you will spread love no matter where you take your curiosity and passion, and before you know it, you’ll call it purpose.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Where I am most focused personally and professionally at the moment is on my three pillars. Yoga, Sound and Ceremony. They each have their individual purposes, sometimes they shine on their own but I also mix them together and can create something very special and unique. What all of these have in common is service, and that I am totally in love and on a journey with each one of them. I learn something new each day and feel the possibilities are infinite for learning and creating.

I live on Cape Cod, where I get to teach power vinyasa yoga classes, sculpt, and recently have added restorative yoga combined with sound healing. In my yoga classes whether they are powerful and challenging or slow and steady, I feel I am a conductor, an orchestrator of energy between movement, themes, and of course, music. What I love most about the yoga world is the vast amount of wisdom available, and the huge amount of creativity I tap into when planning classes around some of my favorite topics like, the elements, chakras, mantras, shamanism, spirit animals and plant medicine.

Sound for me, is the most exciting right now. I travel all around New England and host sound and cacao ceremonies at various yoga and fitness studios as well as privately in my home or someone else’s home. I have a variety of instruments including flutes from around the world, drums, guitar, rattle, harmonium, hand pan, chimes, bowls, gong, voice, and a few other unique sounds I bring along with me. I am obsessed, in awe, and so grateful at what we all get to experience during sound ceremonies.

I host private and group plant medicine ceremonies which can vary depending on what medicine we choose to work with and where we are. They are done with prayer, respect, and reverence as we tap into the South American plants that have changed my life. So it’s a privilege to be able to hold space for others to work with the medicines and work through what needs healing within them. The medicines I work with include cacao, tobacco, sananga, and a few others.

I study with my teachers from all around the world in Arizona, Peru and through online courses. Of these modalities (yoga, sound and ceremony) I am a student first, and that may be one of my favorite parts of what I get to do. My own learning, healing, practices and journey comes first, and what I know is that I cant take anyone some where I haven’t been first. So this journey has started with me being a student of myself and these modalities first and foremost.

Speaking of Peru, one of my most exciting and heart centered projects right now is being involved in the Huachuma Foundation. This is a foundation centered around the preservation, education, healing, and traditional trainings with the sacred cactus, Huachuma (San Pedro). People in the Andes have been using this plant medicine for thousands of years as a religious sacrament, path to healing, and method of self discovery. Due to its growing popularity and over harvesting, the cactus is in danger. So we have decided to help our teacher Miguel in his mission, to build a cactus sanctuary where we will be planting over 5000 cacti in effort to keep the Huachuma population thriving and in the hands of someone who has dedicated his life and all his prayers to serving and saving this medicine. We have been working hard to raise money and we are two-thirds of the way to reaching our goal! We just have two crucial steps left, which is building a protective wall and laying fertile soil. We are hoping by spring time 2025 to have the first ceremony as we plant the very first cactus and kick off a life long project of saving and serving this beautiful medicine. If you are interested and want to read more, please check us out on www.huachumafoundation.org.

As a new musician I have started to release music on Spotify and all other listening platforms under “Dani”. I have two flute singles as of today, “Amazing Grace” and “Sycamore Canyon”. My dream is to have albums and many releases with all my instruments, so I can share my sounds and heart with more people from all around the globe.

The possibilities and journeys we go on through yoga, sound and ceremony are infinite and its been amazing and so authentic to incorporate all of me into all of what I do and study with shamanism, spirituality, the elements, the chakras, India, plant medicine, North / South America and energy work.

If any of the readers are local to the New England area, I would love to be able to share space in my yoga classes and sound ceremonies with who ever wants to come move and listen with me. I am also open to traveling to other local studios or private events / retreats if any one out there feels called to have yoga, sound, or ceremony in their space and creations.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

This is a great question, and really its hard to narrow it down to just 3 skills or qualities that were most impactful. So I kind of grouped them into 3 energies that have really helped me grow in all aspects of my life. Before I get into each one, I will say that being an athlete really taught me how important these three areas are in anything we do. From building a business, to building a body I believe that there are three big topics that constantly need attention and development. They are also 3 topics that happen simultaneously, sometimes we lean on one more than the other, but they are all happening all the time.

Belief / Trust / Clarity – This one speaks to what goes on inside of us and what we believe is helping or guiding us, you may call this the universe, god, energy, source, vibration, your guardian angels, the force, or a higher power. This is an as within, so without topic, and it’s a big one. Clarity I will mention first, and I will add a quote by Yogi Berra that says “If you don’t know where you are going, you will end up someplace else”. If we get into our car with out a destination we will just keep driving in circles. Same thing goes for life. If we don’t have a clear goal or vision we will keep taking steps that will lead us in circles, never actually getting anything done, never actually reaching our destination or being clear on taking the next step that is in alignment with our vision. It starts with clarity, and then we can get into everything else. To give you an example, when I was an athlete, my vision was me on the Olympia stage. The biggest stage in the world as far as bodybuilding was concerned. It took me 6 years to get there. But I knew where I was going, and so every decision I made was in alignment with me getting to that stage. Over the years, I did many shows, hired many coaches, learned many lessons, I even got my masters in exercise physiology because I knew it would help me get to where I was going even if it took me almost a decade. I knew these steps were in alignment with the vision I had of myself on that stage. So I kept working and doing what I needed to do one baby step at a time until I was 25 and finally stepped foot on that stage. The point here is I held that clear vision close.

As I mentioned before believing in yourself is the crux of anything we are attempting to build and develop. I am always reminded of the Henry Ford quote “whether you believe you can or cant, you’re right”. This is everything. As we take each step towards our goals and dreams the belief inside of us grows. We don’t necessarily need to know how we will make our big vision come true, all we need to know and believe in is that we CAN take the next step. One foot in front of the other will lead us to a place where our goals are right in front of us. Something that once seemed so far away, and so hard to fully believe in will be right within reach. The next step is simply reaching out and grabbing it. Another quote I will mention here is from Mary Morrissey “baby steps will take you all the way to the top of Mount Everest, if you just keep taking them”. So right there is an example of clarity and belief – the destination is the top of Mount Everest, and belief that we can take just the next baby step will lead us where we want to go. We will get into perseverance soon, but another layer of belief I want to hit home is the belief that we are never in this alone. We have the whole universe backing us up, cheering us on and helping us to orchestrate what our hearts desire. There are many books and teachers that will talk about how we co create with the universe in order to reach our goals. So whatever you want to call this higher power, I want you to know and believe that you never walk through life alone. One last thing to hit home about belief is that the only person that needs to believe in you, is you. No one else can believe for you and many people will throw shade on your journey. The important thing here is that you believe, even when no one else does, especially when no one else does. The only person that matters as far as belief is concerned is you. If we stick with the body building example, so many people scoffed at me when I told them I wanted to be at the Olympia one day. I was 19 and competed in my first show, and lost. But I kept going, something inside me told me to not give up. I ended up winning the next one. Lost a few more and then won a big national level one. Which lead me to more belief in myself. I held my vision close and kept competing, lost a few more and then won another big one, and before I knew it I was on the Olympia stage. In fact, someone took a picture of me on stage, that was the exact vision I held in my mind for all those years. I remember being brought to my knees when I saw the photo, I was in awe and absolute belief that the universe had been listening to me and walking with me all those years.

Trust is another one that happens inside and outside of us. Trusting in our abilities, trusting in the journey, trusting in the guidance, and that we are exactly where we need to be, trusting in divine timing. Nothing happens before it’s time, and things take time to grow and build. This is the law of gestation. Babies take 9 months, a mighty oak tree takes hundreds of years to grow, and so your vision and what you are building takes time. Be patient, keep going and keep trusting that the energy you put in, will be the energy you get out. That is another law of the universe. The law of cause and effect. Energy in, is energy out. Every single time. Trust what you are doing day in and day out, you will get in return one day. This is not woo woo spirit talk, this is physics and a law of the universe. Trust that if something is falling away let it, trust that if something new is coming into your life to keep following it. Trust that if you have a vision or a goal you are going after, that it’s possible, and it’s yours for a reason. It’s yours because somewhere inside, you believe that it is possible, even when the mind wants to trick you into thinking that hearts desires are too big, or too grandiose… you must trust that these visions are yours to dream because they are yours to achieve. To sum up that thought, get clear on where you are going, believe in yourself, and trust the process.

Perseverance / Adaptability / Growth Mindset – This topic is about taking action, and the way you handle loss and criticism. Employing a growth mindset is the big topic here, and I think at the heart of it, is your ability to see everything coming your way as a vehicle for growth and a teaching. Of course the triumphs, achievements, new teachers and experiences, those are easy ways to see growth. But what about obstacles, loss and criticism. What about when you have put your whole heart and soul into something, only to come up “short”. But was it really short if you learned an invaluable lesson? A lesson you can take with you for the rest of your journey. I see that as a win every time. Bring on the loss and lessons. If you are truly committed to the long haul, and being involved in whatever you are doing for a very long time, then you will inevitably have loss and criticism. You will inevitably have obstacles come your way. What if we can change the language of obstacle to opportunity and the language of painful losses to powerful lessons. See, it’s about perspective and commitment. The perspective switches from everything happening TO you, to everything happening FOR you. It may sound a little cliche. But I promise you this is a very important perspective to keep close. It will help you persevere when it gets tough, it will help you adapt when you need to. Adaptability is also super important. Realizing that the only constant in the universe is change, is something that will help you when you need to make shifts along your path. I can promise you that you will need to make shifts at some point. So remaining open and flexible is also important to note. Control and keeping things the same will most likely lead to failure, and a breaking point, especially if your processes are beginning to not produce the same results any longer. We can learn a lot from water in this instance. Water flows around rocks, it doesn’t get angry they are there, it doesn’t try to go through them or ask them to move out of the river, it simply flows around them. Water is forgiving, adaptable and learns to take the shape of whatever we put it in. Like bruce lee says,” If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Be like water my friends, shapeless and formless”. This leads me to a little bit of a similar mindset, The beginners mind. We have the growth mind set that allows us to see every opportunity that comes our way as a vehicle for learning and growing. Then we have the beginners mindset which allows us to tap into the vibration of humility. Being humble as you grow is important for keeping your arrogance in check and keeping you enthusiastic about your path. You will never know everything there is to know, because the universe and its possibilities are infinite, as is our ability to create. Once you believe this, its instant humility, and relief. What a relief to know we will always have ways we can get better and learn. What a relief to know there is always room to grow and expand and learn. What a relief to know we can keep our egos in check no matter how masterful we get. What a relief to know we can always be a student of life and the craft we choose to study. I call this the humble warrior. A person who perseveres, works hard, believes and trusts in the process. While at the same time a person who knows humility and that there will always be ways to learn, grow and adapt.

Love / Gratitude – Love and Gratitude are two huge feelings that can help us with anything we do. If you are not in love with what you are doing, then why are you doing it? Do you think hating the journey will lead you to a place you love? No, it wont, alignment doesn’t work that way… it’s about loving the journey, loving each step, loving each obstacle, and loving each triumph. When you operate from a place of love, when you walk your journey and work your path from a place of love, the destination actually becomes less important, because you find out you are already there in love with it all, and that is the ultimate destination. All the juice is in the journey, especially if you really love it. I believe love leads us to gratitude. Being so thankful for all the things that fell away, even if they were painful, being so thankful for every obstacle because they helped you grow, being so grateful for the belief in yourself and all the people that helped you get where you’re going. This is the way. Love and gratitude is the beauty of life and every journey we embark on.

One last thing I’ll say here because it so important is vibration, and the law of attraction. The Law of attraction simply put says, “like energy attracts like energy” When we vibrate in alignment with what we want, and who we want to become we can not help but get that thing. It’s only a matter of time before the reality we dream about becomes the reality we live. There is the law of resonance, which states, we don’t get what we want, we get what we ARE. This can be a hard realization when we realize we are not in total alignment. But it can be a relief because then we know why we are not getting what we want. This means if you want to be a star athlete you must do the things, employ the mindset, become the vibration of a star athlete. If you want to have a successful business, you must do the things and become the person, the vibration, that attracts a successful business. You can not want success and then not take the action of a successful person. This could mean switching your perspective, your daily activities, or your whole life around in order for it to vibrate in alignment with what you want. This takes time, commitment, radical responsibility and honesty about where you actually are and what you are actually doing. This was one of the hardest lessons I learned when I was competing. I was dreaming of being the best in the world, and I was doing as much as I could to be the best, I was eating perfectly, training perfectly, visualizing perfectly, I was doing everything, except one thing… I was 26 and had a real shot of becoming the best in the world, but I let my immature impulses of partying from time to time with various substances get the better of me. So I was awarded second in the world instead of first. And when I was given my second place award, I knew why. At this point, I knew too much about how vibration worked, and the universe wasn’t about to let me off easy. First in the world didn’t party and experiment with substances, first in the world was the full vibration on every layer. This lesson was so hard to accept because I knew better. I will never forget this lesson, and I will take it with me into my next endeavors, and I’ll remember this when I really want something or to become someone. I will always ask myself, “am I being the vibration match to what I want? Or am I out of alignment somewhere, even just a little bit?” I’ll leave you with this, before we need to publish this interview as a Novel, Albert Einstein has a famous quote, “Everything is energy and that’s all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want, and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics.”

Clarity. Belief. Trust. Patience. Growth. Adaptability. Perseverance. Love. Gratitude. Vibration. Alignment.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

The number one challenge I am working with right now is collaboration. I will be totally honest with you, I do play very nice with others, but I work really really well alone. I believe this is why I was so successful with bodybuilding, it was a solo sport. When I get really invested and committed in the things I do, it becomes more of a relationship I am building versus a hobby or job. Sound is my new relation right now and when I am in creation with it, there is nothing better. It’s a meditation, a martial art, a way to channel spirit, sound is my teacher, my lover and everything in between. With bodybuilding it was me and the weights, me and the food, me and the posing, me and my mind and vision. For me this is where I feel most alive and in tune.

Working alone you learn a lot about yourself, but working with others you learn even more, and I think this is why it can be so challenging and at the same time so beautiful and rewarding. One of my favorite quotes from the most recent Wonka is when Charlie reads a note from his mom that says “its not about the chocolate, it’s about who we share it with” It can take a lot to finally reach this conclusion and embody it, because when we work with others so much comes up. Jealousy, comparison, parental wounds, rejection, projection, judgement, abandonment, sharing the spotlight and so much more. These are all huge topics that can be quite painful and emotional to feel and move through, and most of them we can only learn from working with others.

Currently I do many things alone but I am also involved in projects that include my friends and co workers. The most challenging thing to balance is all the shadows that are coming up and not ruining a friendship because of the shadows. This requires radical responsibility and being so conscious and forgiving of others and myself as these dark parts of ourselves arise. Collaboration requires constant communication and sometimes having hard conversations so these feelings don’t fester inside and blow up in dramatic ways.

What am I doing to resolve this? I am staying in it and working with it. I am not giving up and quitting the collaborations I am in, because at the moment this is where the most growth lies for me. I am in this game of life to grow into a better brighter version of myself, and the only way to do that is to truly look at the shadow parts of myself and alchemize them into understanding, forgiveness and truth. Knowing things that come up, especially with my friends, doesn’t actually have to do with my friends, it has everything to do with me and my perspective on certain situations. It has everything to do with my own wounds, and my friends are simply mirrors reflecting these wounds and shadows back to me. Zooming out and realizing it’s more about me than them has been monumental in me working through these darker aspects of myself. The triggers of our life are our greatest teachers. Especially when they come from people closest to us. Triggers simply show us where our darkness, shadows, misunderstandings, and short comings lie. So when someone is triggering me, I know there is something here that I need to look at. It’s not the thing these people are doing its the way I am relating to it. It’s shining a big spotlight on something that I need to really take a hard look at.

Another aspect of this is when other people are working through something. I am reminded of the four agreements, a wonderful book by Don Miguel Ruiz, one of the agreements is not to take things personally. Nothing others do is because of you, it’s about whats going on within them. So looking at challenges with collaboration from a place of compassion can be helpful as others work through their shadows and wounds. At the root of it remembering you really love these people, and you are simply a mirror that others can work through their traumas with. People may project things on to you, it may feel personal at times, but remembering that it’s not, and meeting them with love and acceptance is the only way they can transmute what they are working through. Love and gratitude are the emotions that alchemize and heal situations. Fighting fire with fire is really not helpful and doesn’t get us anywhere, in fact going into battle with your wounds and their wounds is the quickest way to end friendships. Especially if we are not conscious in it and have a narrow perspective on life, collaborations and relationships.

Another note about love that I will mention is to remember all the things we feel even if they are negative are just other shades of love. We feel fear because we are afraid to lose something we love. We feel grief because we have lost something we love. We feel jealousy because we think someone is going to take something we love. We feel joy because we are doing something we love. We feel motivated because we are climbing a mountain we love. So remembering that everything is love, stems from love and makes it way back to love can help alleviate the turbulent emotions that arise and feel not so loving. It’s all love.

Bringing it back to collaboration and how challenging it can be, remembering underneath all the things that come up in collaboration, that ultimately we love what we are doing and who we are doing it with. If we do not love what we are doing, and who we are doing it with, then why are we even doing it?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Danireardon.com
• Instagram: @dani.reardon
• Youtube: @dani.reardon
• Other: Spotify: Dani

Image Credits

Cedar Kai Photography