Live the Good Life: Experience a Happier, Healthier You – An Interview with Dr. Danielle Griffin

Can movement and mindset truly transform your life? Danielle Griffin reveals how they changed hers.

Danielle Griffin’s journey into spirituality and wellness is a story of growth, resilience, and rediscovery. Raised in a faith-centered household, she carried those roots with her while seeking a more personal, heart-centered connection to spirituality as an adult. It was her discovery of yoga in 2017 that opened the door to not only physical healing but emotional and spiritual transformation. From navigating grief and postpartum recovery to finding a practice that brought her joy and balance, Danielle eventually deepened her journey by becoming a yoga instructor and exploring additional modalities like somatics, hypnotherapy, and NLP.

In this heartfelt interview, Danielle shares how these practices became powerful tools for healing and how she now helps others do the same. Whether it’s addressing physical pain, navigating life’s challenges, or finding peace through intentional movement, Danielle’s work is about meeting people where they are and helping them move forward. Her story is a reminder that healing is not just possible—it’s deeply personal and uniquely yours. Join us to hear her insights, wisdom, and practical advice for anyone looking to reconnect with themselves and their purpose. To enjoy the conversation, keep reading or listen and subscribe for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or YouTube.

Did you grow up with a faith tradition, or was your journey into spirituality something that unfolded later?

Danielle Griffin: My family has always been more church-going people. We were always in an Episcopal church, so faith has always been a part of my life.

As I’ve gotten older and matured, I’ve been trying to establish spirituality for my family—my children, my husband, and me. Our views on how we practice are a little different than the traditional way we grew up. We really feel our faith is in our heart, our lives, and our spirit. It’s reflected in how we practice, how we work with other people, and how we treat others.

We didn’t always feel like there was a church or religion that necessarily matched how we felt about our connection with our beliefs and with God.

As I’ve aged, I’ve come to know that physical movement is a necessity for me in my life. What I practice and what I do daily demonstrates to my family—especially my children—how they should live their lives, whether I say it directly or they just see me doing it.

I chose yoga primarily as the method that felt good for me, something I could be consistent with that brought happiness and joy into my life. I don’t necessarily push that on my family, but I definitely encourage them to move their bodies in ways that bring them joy and fulfillment—something they can do consistently.

How were you introduced to yoga, and what was its initial impact on your life?

Danielle Griffin: I’m not sure of the exact moment I was formally introduced to yoga, but I remember around 2017—either shortly before or after Hurricane Harvey—there was a studio near my home at the time called Some Like It Hot. Unfortunately, they’re no longer open, but I thought the name sounded interesting. I visited their website, and they offered so many forms of yoga, spirituality, movement, and meditation, including different types like booty yoga.

It was a great way to explore the practice, try different things, and figure out what felt good for me. You didn’t have to go as deep into the practice as others, and they provided many options. The community there was really nice, and I enjoyed being part of it. That’s when I first felt empowered—like, hey, this is something I like, something I might want to learn more about, maybe even teach someday.

At that time, I wasn’t ready to teach, but I started asking questions and talking to instructors about what life as a yoga instructor was like. However, it wasn’t until 2021 or 2022, after COVID, that I began yoga instructor training.

In 2020, when COVID hit, we were all locked up, so much of my practice happened indoors. During that time, my husband and I got pregnant with our second child, which brought its own challenges. My movement was limited due to maternity-related issues—hip stiffness, sciatica, and the general discomfort that many women experience.

Being indoors so much during pregnancy seemed to exasperate those issues. We tried to get out for walks or bike rides, but those activities were often more uncomfortable than helpful. After having my second son, my body took longer to recover than it had with my first.

There’s a significant age gap between my two boys—almost 10 years—so I was a bit older the second time around. I struggled with high blood pressure during pregnancy and realized I needed something gentler. After my first son, I had been lifting weights and doing high-intensity training, but this time my body didn’t respond well to those exercises.

I would do a simple workout—5 to 10-pound dumbbells, crunches, lunges—and feel like a train wreck afterward. Even small efforts left me barely able to move the next day. I realized I needed a different approach.

Around that time, I learned about a new yoga studio opening near our home. As soon as they opened, I signed up right away. I started attending classes regularly, and the instructors were wonderful.

One day, a master trainer happened to be at the studio. I asked her about becoming a yoga instructor—just out of curiosity—and she mentioned that their instructor training program was starting in about a month. She thought it would be great if I joined.

That wasn’t necessarily the intent of my question, but it gave me a lot to think about. Shortly afterward, I signed up for their 200-hour instructor training program and completed it. It was a wonderful experience.

How did hypnotherapy, somatic exercises, and NLP come into your life as modalities you now offer alongside yoga?

Danielle Griffin: Oftentimes, I think it’s partly the Google searches and social media algorithms playing a role. Once you’re interested in a topic—in this case, yoga—and start researching and learning, especially during training, you naturally get introduced to related concepts. That’s how I began discovering some of these additional components, along with being introduced to them through my yoga instructor training.

During that period, I was recovering not only from postpartum but also from the grief of my husband and me losing our fathers in 2021. It became a healing journey for me, and the instructor training played a significant role in that process, even though I didn’t realize it at first. As I learned more, I started stumbling upon somatics and saw how it tied into what I was already practicing and learning in yoga.

Yoga emphasizes movement, mobility, and stretching, but somatics introduced a new layer. While yoga often focuses on deepening stretches, it doesn’t always emphasize joint movement. Somatics helped me understand the importance of mobility—not just stretching—particularly for keeping the joints healthy and maintaining synovial fluid as we age. It also became a valuable tool for recovering from injuries.

For example, in the past, shoulder mobility was a big focus for me due to prior injuries. I discovered that somatics offered an excellent way not only to heal but also to maintain mobility and prevent further issues. It tied together beautifully with what I was already doing.

And then, with the somatics…

Can you explain the difference between yoga and somatic exercises, especially in how they relate to stretching versus mobility, and how you use these practices with clients?

Danielle Griffin: Well, with somatics, it definitely focuses on awareness—being aware of what your body needs in that moment and slowing down your thoughts, which yoga teaches you as well. But with somatics, it’s more of an experience of sensing in the body, specifically where you might have some pain points or discomfort, or even where you’re feeling good.

It’s about being able to do what we call body scans to understand what you’re feeling in that moment. Sometimes you might wake up and think, “Oh, I’m feeling some discomfort,” but taking the time to really channel, where is that coming from? Where is that feeling coming from? That’s where somatics comes in.

You can focus and isolate those areas more than what you might do in a traditional yoga practice.

And the benefit. 

Danielle Griffin: I was going to say yoga is great for an overall sense of well-being, stretching feeling of the overall body, but somatics is more of isolation of specific areas for specific needs. 

Tell us all about your book entitled Somatic Exercise Made Simple. Can you explain the structure of your book and why you created it?

Danielle Griffin: I wrote the book with the people in my inner circle in mind. I’m one of the few people in my family who consistently practices yoga. Everyone else feels like yoga isn’t for them. They’ll say things like, “Oh, that’s for hippies,” or, “I’m not flexible enough to do yoga,” even though you don’t have to be flexible—it’s a practice, you get there.

I also know that traditional yoga studios or even doing yoga videos can feel intimidating for a lot of people.

About three years ago, I went through a tough time in my life. I always thought yoga seemed interesting, but I imagined it was just for young, flexible people, and I’d feel embarrassed. Finally, I broke through that mental barrier, went to a studio, and realized no one was paying attention to me. I can relate to how your family feels about yoga.

Danielle Griffin: I think a lot of people feel that way when they’re new to it. They know yoga might be helpful—maybe their doctor recommended it, saying, “You should start stretching, you should start moving.” But then there’s that intimidation factor, similar to what happens with gyms. People think, “Oh, everyone there will be lifting heavy weights or looking perfect.”

That’s not always the case, though. Sometimes it depends on the studio or gym you go to, but more often than not, most people are focused on their own journey, not judging others. It’s about finding a place where you feel comfortable to start exploring movement in a way that works for you.

Depends on the gym, for sure.

Danielle Griffin: So I wrote this with those people in mind—you don’t have to go to a studio; you can do it on your own. It doesn’t have to be this necessarily deep spiritual practice. Somatic Exercise Made Simple is about healing your body through movement and doing the things your body needs.

One thing I find with going to a class or pulling up a video online is that it’s not centered around your own physical needs. You might step into a class where the focus is on heart-opening stretches, but what you actually need is something for your hips and lower back. Sure, you might touch on those areas, but the class isn’t specifically tailored to your needs.

Sometimes, this mismatch can lead to overdoing it. You might not be thinking about how your body moves, what injuries you’ve had, or even realize you’ve had an injury. Overdoing it could potentially cause more damage than good.

That’s why Somatic Exercise Made Simple is set up to address your specific needs. You can point to the pain, figure out what your body requires, flip to that section in the book, and work on it directly.

I see the table of contents here, with chapters on foundational techniques, tailoring somatic practices, and focusing on physical health, as well as mental and emotional well-being. So, it sounds like these are individual movements, not a flow like yoga. Can you explain how these movements help with mental and emotional well-being, and maybe give an example or demonstrate one of them?

Danielle Griffin: The biggest one is not even a movement; it’s the breathwork. One thing that differentiates somatics, or what makes somatics, somatics, is breathwork, movement, and meditation—those three things combined.

So, always remembering: okay, I may do this exercise, but I’m not just going through the motion. I’m breathing, sensing, and visualizing that joint or part of the body—how it’s feeling—and using the oxygen to circulate the blood into that area.

And that’s really where the healing happens. It’s not just the movement; it’s always remembering to breathe throughout the movement. Breath to movement—so inhale with one motion, exhale with the next.

Many of us sit at our desks for 8 to 10 hours a day. Can you give us an example of something we can do while seated to help with our physical or emotional well-being?

Danielle Griffin: Definitely. And there’s actually a whole section on exercises for desk workers, I know myself included, oftentimes at a desk. So one that I was just kind of demonstrating is shoulder circles.

Inhale as you roll your shoulders up towards your ears and exhale down your back. You can feel, as you exhale, the tension just melt out of your neck and shoulders. You can do this as many times as you need, always remembering to go forward and then back. Whatever you do on one side, make sure you do the other to keep your body balanced.

Some other stretches, just sitting at your desk, include neck stretches. Sometimes I use my hand as a guide. Gently turn the top of your head towards your shoulder, feeling the stretch down the side of your neck. You can bring your gaze slightly towards the ceiling to deepen the stretch and drop that shoulder down. You can even press your hand towards the ground to lengthen the stretch through your neck.

When you inhale, rise back to center and exhale, tilt to the other side, bringing your gaze toward the ceiling. Feel the stretch through the side of your neck and shoulders. Inhale back to center.

You can do some head tilts, bringing your chin to your chest. Inhale to open and lift your chin toward the sky, exhale to close. Inhale open and exhale close.

So, you can see that just in these movements and in your own practice, doing them as many times as you feel you need, while sensing and visualizing the muscle as you stretch, can bring a release.

It’s amazing how such simple exercises can be so effective. I noticed in the book, along with the photos and videos, that the movements are pretty gentle.

Danielle Griffin: Yes.

Are the movements in your practice gentle, or is there something like downward dog, which I personally don’t enjoy because it makes my blood rush to my head and my hands slide forward?

Danielle Griffin: In this book, yes. I do have another one that I’m working on, which is more of, I’m calling it, the mastery program. So, not that the movements aren’t gentle, but by this point, you would have at least done a consistent practice. 28 days is recommended, and you’re ready to build on that.

Not necessarily that they’re hard or advanced, but you’ve prepared your body a little bit more to do some deeper work. This could include deepening your meditation practice, more varied types of breath work, or deeper stretches and mobility exercises. You could also learn how to incorporate the somatic technique into other modalities or exercises.

Maybe you do like to lift weights—learning to do it in more slow, controlled breath movements, rather than just hammering out those reps.

What is the value of cultivating awareness of our bodies versus just focusing on making the movement to activate the muscle?

Danielle Griffin: One, I would say, is it helps with injury prevention. I have a client that I worked with recently, and before she started working with me, she joined a gym and she wanted to challenge herself and do a cartwheel, and she did. But I think she tried to do a few more and ended up injuring her body.

But if she had that sensing, I think she had already done like a full, intense workout prior to doing the cartwheels as well, which, I mean, I commend her for, like, when I say, like Kim, is my body still capable of doing this? Cartwheels are fun. But knowing like, okay, after the first or maybe the second, were you at your limit?

And being able to take that moment, especially after having done that workout, to make sure that you don’t injure something, knowing where your limits are, that’s one big thing. And then that awareness helps with just emotional regulation—being aware of how you’re feeling.

Sometimes, if you’re carrying pain or tension or stress, knowing where that’s coming from, why you’re carrying it, people, myself included, can tend to reflect that outwardly, unintentionally. You might be going through something or experiencing some pain that has nothing to do with anybody else, but having some awareness of how you’re feeling mentally, emotionally, and physically can help redirect, allowing you the opportunity to work on those areas so that you can feel good before you start interacting with others.

You know, a lot of us do online meetings—maybe taking a few moments, knowing, okay, this is gonna be a stressful meeting, or maybe I’m nervous about this, or whatever the case may be, starting to feel tension, calming yourself, calming your body, centering, focusing on where you’re feeling that stress and anxiety, where you’re carrying it, and allowing your body to release it before engaging with others.

How has hypnotherapy helped you, and how do you use it to help your clients, especially with its varying perceptions?

Danielle Griffin: This practice, it was something that I had been aware of, but more of like meditation visualization. I think those that practice it, we’re still trying to, not only make it mainstream but make the word hypnotherapy like not taboo, for the reasons you just said. You tend to think of the stage performer, like, the most common comment I get, are you going to make me cluck like a chicken? Like, do you want to? If that’s what you want, we can work on that, but that’s not what I’m going to do.

And so I was going through a business coaching program for my travel agency business, and the coach had made a comment: the money will come. You know, if you’re doing the work, you’re putting in the effort, you’re progressing, you’re making sure you’re doing all the things to make your goals happen, they’re going to happen and the money will come.

I was having doubts at that time about how to grow the business and making certain investments, and she’s like, you’re doing all the things, that’s going to happen. And so I got off that call pondering about that concept. That’s a familiar concept. That’s abundance. Let me go deeper into this and when I started going down the rabbit hole, the spirituality on abundance and that’s where I learned about hypnotherapy. Yeah, I already know about hypnosis, but the concept of abundance manifestation and how it tied in with hypnosis.

And I start using the hypnosis nightly to reset my mind on how I think about the work I do, how I help others, overcoming my own personal limitations. Knowing that exactly what she said, if I’m putting in the work, if I know that the path that I’m on is the right path, this is for me, I’m doing all the things. It’s going to happen. The only thing that’s going to get in my way is me. It’s my own self-doubts that’s going to stop it from happening.

And it was through that practice that helped me release those self-doubts, helped me to achieve so many more things. Whether it be my yoga practice or my business, and going through that, I said, I was still grieving, my dad, my mom was grieving as well. We were kind of had a tumultuous relationship at that time, I think because of the grief just hadn’t known how to deal with it. She wasn’t necessarily open to receiving the same things that I was doing.

So I worked on myself, and through the work on myself, people started seeing my transformation. They knew something was different. My relationships were healing, I was able to communicate better, more effective at my job and the things that I do, and when I saw that transformation for myself, I realized I have to help other people. I know people who need this and I have to learn it so I can help them too.

What types of people do you primarily work with, and what challenges do they come to you with?

Danielle Griffin: A lot of people just, I hate to use this term, but just kind of general pain, stress, anxiety. I have found in my work and a lot of research, everybody’s story essentially is a COVID story. Like, we have all gone through this traumatic event, the whole world went through a traumatic event, but we all had to get back to work, probably sooner than we should have. We had to adapt to make life and work happen in these weird times, like virtual, hybrid. We’ve created this new normal and we had to do it in a very quick pace, and we were already under stress and just adding to that, adding to it, adding to it.

And there has been research that has shown that there’s been a 25% increase in the US of stress, anxiety disorders, 4% globally, and then as well as similar numbers in terms of chronic pain issues as well globally, and so I’ve found that this is needed across the globe.

Like, a lot of us are feeling this thing right, and not really sure why, can’t necessarily identify why I’m just constantly in this rat race or feeling discomfort, waking up daily, feeling these things. And it’s probably similar things that I’ve gone through. But, fortunately, I was blessed to have the opportunities to train and learn deeply. But now I’m ready to share that with others so they can start freeing themselves of the pain, giving them the techniques to do on their own at home.

I don’t want people to feel like they have to come to me for the rest of their lives for help. Now I want them to feel they have a community, and that’s also what I’m building — a community for people to talk to, have a resource, guide, understanding what other people are experiencing and knowing that they’re not alone in that.

What does the coaching process look like? How do you decide on the number of sessions and choose the modalities for each person?

Danielle Griffin: Yeah, so one reason why I prefer the hypnotherapy, well, hypnosis and NLP, the training that I’ve gone to, they’re kind of hand in hand. But with the hypnosis, it expedites the healing process because of some of the blocks that I talked about that we often have, like, oh, I’m not able to heal, I had this injury or I have these constraints, I can’t do it, I don’t have time. We can work on those things.

And so my discovery call gives me an opportunity to understand what some of the limitations my clients might have, and I usually recommend two to three sessions, like full hour and a half sessions, because we do the somatic exercise. It gives them, like I said, the tools and techniques, learning the movements, working on specific areas of their body.

I give them a detailed plan. Here are some exercises you can do on your own at home, work on these for the next couple of weeks, the breath technique. So we go over all that in the first call and do a session of the hypnotherapy as well to help get to the subconscious, understand that they’re capable of healing, knowing where it is that needs to be healed and then giving them the opportunity to take away and do the work on their own and then coming back, seeing where they’re at, going over some of the movements, seeing how they feel, and then doing another hypnotherapy session at that point to anchor some of the concepts that we’ve worked on to allow them to continue to prosper.

You primarily offer coaching via Zoom, right?

Danielle Griffin: I’ll do some things in person for local peopled if they prefer it, but primarily in Zoom. Not everybody is local here in Houston, but then I also do workshops and group sessions as well.

How does Good Life Travel by Danielle assist retreat leaders in finding the right location? How do you help with travel arrangements for retreats?

Danielle Griffin: I know, as a business owner, we’re already strapped with lots of things to do. And then adding, organizing retreat is more work, and so my agency is a way for you to kind of hand off those laborious tasks, whether it’s doing the extensive research or payment management, managing who all is coming. That’s somebody that can handle it to free up your time. Like booking travel, coordinating trips from start to finish right can be very time consuming, and so my group of agents. We are knowledgeable on various destinations.

We have extensive training with the resorts, whether we visit them or done online training, working closely with their business development managers, to really understand the product. One thing I found with working with retreat organizers, social media is great now, but oftentimes they say, oh, I saw this resort on Instagram or on TikTok and it looked beautiful, that’s where I want my retreat. But it gives us the opportunity to really understand well, what is the experience you’re looking for, who is your clientele, and does this option fit their budget? And the experience you’re looking for, because that resort or location may not fully fit your needs or your client’s needs. Making sure that when you book this resort, that you’re actually able to sell it out and you’re not pricing out your primary clients, and so working with us really helps identify some value added options not necessarily cheap.

Travel isn’t inexpensive, but what resorts, locations are going to give you and your clients the most value providing. Some of them might already include a lot of activities, and so maybe you’re filling in with your expertise with what might already be there. Are you bringing multiple people? Are you looking to make money off of this? Help us understand what your needs are so we can find the best options, price it accordingly for who you’re trying to attract.

Where can people connect with you online? What’s the best place for them to reach out?

Danielle Griffin: Yes, so my website is drdaniellegriff. You can find more information about my resources, services around the somatic exercise and hypnotherapy coaching. Soon, we’re launching a virtual group coaching as well, so if you want to have weekly sessions with me, you can submit questions online prior to the session, I’ll answer them, go over some of the exercises in a one-hour virtual session. Also on Instagram at @drdaniellegriff and pretty much all of the social media channels. So, and then my travel agency is daniellegltravel.com. That’s Good Life Travel by Danielle.

What encouragement would you offer to someone struggling with injury, grief, or feeling down?

Danielle Griffin: I would say you know they’re not alone. You know grief, stress, anxiety can feel isolating. A lot of times it’s hard to talk about what we’re going through, we’re afraid of judgment, but looking for those communities that are judgment-free zones and, again, knowing that you’re not alone and finding people to help you work through those concerns or grief. Your grief is a process and it takes time.