Meet Jill Mcdonald

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jill Mcdonald. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jill , thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

I think resilience is just simply not giving up, it doesn’t mean that a situation isn’t challenging, painful, or life-changing, resilience is despite it, you try to start again everyday. I have had a spiritual practice of buddhism & yoga since I was 18. I think my 20 years of practice helped me build an internal fire, capable of withstanding some pretty life-altering challenges. Each day is a chance to start over.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Hi, I’m Jill, mother to a brilliant Autistic boy named Luca who is 4 years old, and battles with severe intractable epilepsy. I was born & raised in Ireland, and after studying Anthropology and Development Studies, I began traveling the world in search of Spiritual learning at the age of 18. I studied buddhism and Yoga for many years and lived in monasteries in India, Thailand & Cambodia. That study led me to San Francisco to study with some of the greatest Iyengar teachers who are based here.

In 2010 I returned to college to study Industrial Design at Academy of Art University with a focus on transportation design. That weirdly led me into footwear design, and I designed equestrian performance footwear for a short time, trying to find my passion within design.

After my first burning man experience in 2013, things started falling together and I created the brand Deep House Yoga, an immersive pop-up event featuring a live DJ, visual art, a dynamic and dance focused class, at some of the best underground clubs in SF, LA, Denver, Vegas and beyond. I built the brand over 10 years without any corporate investment. it was a passion blending underground music, venues, and getting to work with incredible artists. People report
Incredible transformational experiences during our events, being able to feel deeply again after loss, or glimpse bliss, for that we are very grateful. We have some exciting retreat projects in the works for 2025.

In 2022 I was approached by Sephora to assist them with their event projects, this lead me to begin working with their Social Impact team, and now I get to blend many passions together supporting non profit partners and Sephora employees with volunteer events and creating experiences. I also have the best most supportive empowering manager anyone could ask for.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Trusting yourself and your decisions – I think for someone like me who has forged my own path completely away from my family, I have to sit in alot of decision making and really trust myself, I think I have gotten really good at trusting my gut instinct.

If you have an idea, and its a good one, it will find energy and flow, you wont have to force it at all. Trust that.

Hard work is important, but more importantly is rest & self-care. As a creative its my down time that allows me to create more.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

This is a personal share something which is affecting all areas of my life. My son has severe and intractable epilepsy and we are working with 2 centers of medical excellence who are offering us 2 completely different opinions on his treatment. One is a preventative brain surgey to give him the best life long chance to be seizure-free, the other is a medication treatment plan which actually isnt really working. Its been a really challenging situation to continue to make the best decisions for my kiddo as we hold down our work & creative lives. when
My son was 18 months old he underwent a 16-hour brain surgery.
Something which no one could have prepared me for as a mother.
Somehow I am still
Standing thanks to good friends,
Family, strong coffee, hard techno & Yoga 🧘‍♀️. Life is good, despite my
Challenges.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lovedeephouseyoga.com/
• Instagram: @lovedeephouseyoga

Image Credits

dhy team, no specific photographers need to be mentioned