We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Daya Singh. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Daya below.
Daya , we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
Resilience, for me, grew in the spaces where things fell apart. It wasn’t something I planned or pursued, but it emerged through loss, through learning how to live with unanswered questions, and through moments that asked me to hold more than I thought I could.
I’ve learned that resilience isn’t just about getting through the hard things, it’s about how you come back to yourself afterward. For me, it’s been a process of slowing down, learning to listen to my body, and creating spaces, both in my work and in my life, where safety and authenticity can exist together.
Over the years, my resilience has been shaped by my work with the nervous system, animals, and creativity. Horses showed me what regulation feels like. Music gave me language for what I couldn’t yet speak. And my body slowly taught me how to come home to myself.
It all helped me build resilience that’s rooted, not rigid. It’s not about pushing through or staying strong all the time, it’s about flexibility, self-awareness, and knowing how to support myself when things feel overwhelming.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I wear a few different hats in my work, but they all revolve around one central theme: nervous system healing and creative expression. I’m a trauma coach, somatic practitioner, equine osteopath, and canine myofascial therapist, and I also work with artists, songwriters, and creatives to help them reconnect with their bodies and regulate their nervous systems in ways that support both healing and artistry.
One of the most exciting projects I’m currently focused on is Somatic Songwriters—a platform, podcast, and soon-to-launch online course & app that bridges the worlds of music, nervous system education, and embodied creativity. We’re creating tools and conversations that help artists navigate the emotional highs and lows of the music industry, while staying grounded, regulated, and connected to their true voice. It’s trauma-informed, rooted in the principles of Polyvagal Theory and Somatic Experiencing, and designed to meet creatives exactly where they are.
What makes this work special to me is that it’s not about fixing or performing, it’s about coming home to the body, finding safety in presence, and expressing from that place. Whether I’m working with a songwriter or someone healing from burnout, the goal is the same: to help them feel safe enough in their body, more attuned, more free, and more alive.
We have some exciting things on the horizon:
– The Somatic Songwriters podcast launched in May 2025, featuring interviews with songwriters and creatives about how they navigate stress, mental health, and performance.
– Our nervous system-informed app is currently in development and will offer guided tools for somatic songwriting, co-regulation, performance, brain based voice tools, and creative flow. People can sign up to get notified when it’s ready.
– Our online course, designed to educate and support creatives in regulating their nervous systems and reconnecting with their voice, launches in September.
At the heart of everything I do is the belief that the body holds the wisdom, not only for healing, but for authentic expression and a more connected life. And I hope to guide people through that, one step at a time.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. Nervous system awareness
Learning how to understand and work with my nervous system changed everything. It helped me recognize the difference between survival-driven decisions and soul-aligned ones. Whether you’re a creative, a healer, or an entrepreneur, nervous system regulation is what allows you to stay present, connected, and resilient, even when things feel uncertain.
Advice: Start by noticing your body’s signals, your breath, tension, and energy levels. Learn what safety feels like in your body, and build from there. Practices like orienting, exploring your resources, somatic tracking, or co-regulation can be powerful foundations.
2. The ability to listen deeply, especially to what’s not being said
This has shaped my work with animals, clients, and artists. Deep listening isn’t just about hearing words, it’s about sensing energy, attuning to the body, and holding space without judgment or the urge to fix.
Advice: Get comfortable with silence. Learn to sit with discomfort. Practice curiosity instead of control. Empathy grows when we stop trying to be right and start trying to understand.
3. Honoring my creative instincts
For a long time, I doubted my voice or felt I had to “earn” the right to create, whether that was through music or other projects. But creativity is part of our aliveness. It’s how we metabolize experience and reclaim our truth. Giving myself permission to create from a regulated, embodied place has brought more freedom and connection than any external validation ever could.
Advice: Don’t wait until it’s perfect. Make space for your creativity to be messy, real, and honest. Surround yourself with people who nurture your expression, not just your performance.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
One of the first things I do is pause and orient. I look around the space I’m in, take in my surroundings with soft eyes, and remind my body that I’m safe here, now. This alone can start to bring things down a notch. If I can, I’ll place my hand on a part of my body that feels tight or ‘frozen’, and just track what I notice. Not to fix it, but to be with it. Maybe there’s tension, heat, or shakiness. I stay with that sensation, and let it shift in its own time.
I also ground myself by feeling my feet on the floor or by reaching for something solid. I’ve learned that regulating my nervous system doesn’t mean feeling calm all the time, it means being able to flexibly move through different states, and having the capacity to meet what’s here without getting lost in it.
Advice:
Overwhelm isn’t a personal failure, it’s a nervous system state. The best thing you can do is slow down, orient to your environment, and bring in one small resource, something that helps you feel just 5% more connected and helps you stay present with the feelings without numbing out. That might be taking a bath, a breath, a sound, a sensation, a pet, a person, or even a memory of a safe place or experience.
And over time, nervous system education and somatic tools can actually increase your capacity, so you don’t get to that overwhelmed place as often. The more you understand your own patterns and learn how to regulate in smaller moments, the more resilience and flexibility you build.
Always, always go at the pace of your body, not the pace of the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.somaticsongwriters.com
- Instagram: @somaticsongwriters
- Youtube: The Somatic Songwriters Podcast
- Other: www.somaticserenity.com, www.equi-dogmovement.com
Image Credits
Manon Vanovenberghe, ParallaxStudio.xyz
