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

Alright, Dani thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

The dream was asleep inside me for years and years. I worked in corporate brand marketing for almost a decade and was certainly ready for more depth, meaning, and aliveness in my career path. I was anxious, depressed, and locked inside myself.

2016 was the year of seemingly spontaneous awakening from this deep sleep state I’d been going through the motions in a I began to question everything in my life (a year of tears!). I began to source my own truths slowly through my yoga practice, inner inquiry, and psychedelic medicine. My path began to illuminate through my devotion and sacred action. ‘There are years that ask questions and years that answer’ (Zora Neale Hurston).

The following year I went all-in on my coaching, yoga, and energy healing trainings which launched my business foundation and liberated me from structures of career that no longer served the textures of my evolutionary path. I was born to be a more independent creator, and the highs and lows of entrepreneurship continue to offer the excitement and growth I once yearned for.

Underneath my new life soils, I still held a secret dream of photography and storytelling that had been with me since childhood. This was more raw and vulnerable to bring into the sunlight, as the artist had been suppressed long ago and required a level of emotional maturity to emerge.
This aspect of the dream awakened much more slowly, initiated through a visit to Grandmother Ayahuasca, and only recently did I finally allow this aspect of my dream to begin to shape in the world of form.

Dani, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

A spiritual awakening rocked my world and woke me up from a deep sleep in 2016, and from there I began shaping an entirely new reality which transformed every aspect of my life.

As a seasoned alchemist, coach, photographer and yoga teacher I support humans on the path of self-realization to illuminate truth + liberate life force inside the adventure of body, relationship and business.

I believe in…
BODY LITERACY + YOGA | UNION as a path of liberation
BUSINESS + ARTISTRY as a path of liberation
RELATIONSHIP + FAMILY as a path of liberation

And that self-realization happens through our organic, liberated living.

What I’m most proud of is the level of presence, heart and devotion I bring to my path, holistically. My path calls me to the altar of truth daily.

My favorite part is walking intimately with other heart-rich creatives, artists, and brilliant humans all over the world who are uniquely, consciously creating their own realities.

My sincerest heart prayer is for all beings to be free.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

One aspect I want to speak to is the idea that we need to have a lot of financial resource to power our dreams. While it’s certainly true that money can provide opportunity, I would love to offer a potential reframe to the creative who’s experiencing tightness, constriction, fear, or limitation around money.

When we are experiencing limitation in one area, whatever that area is, there are often creative solutions we’ve overlooked.

One way I’ve met this desire for simplicity in my life and work, is to run my business efficiently online. I can keep overhead expenses low, and also reach more people while enjoying greater freedom and levity in my environment. Other than when I’m leading retreats, I continue to run my business efficiently with monthly expenses totaling an average of $300.

I’d also love to draw awareness to how resourced we are as humans on an internal level. How much courage, love, beauty, natural gifts and talents we hold inside. And that this now moment is fertile ground revealing the doors that most want to open for us.

It’s important to remember that people around the world are struggling to meet basic needs- food, water, and shelter. May the hearts open to circulate the resources of this planet so all beings can feel the nourishment of life. May our art and our service serve the Whole.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Sometimes the process of bridging my art or my story out into the world can feel like an excruciating wringing-out process. It requires a level of honesty and depth in me that can be challenging to reach into while I juggle the rest of life- relationships, responsibilities, providership.

I recognize that the creative process is different for everyone, but the more I’ve talked to other creatives and artists the more I realize the shared experience of great art requiring vulnerability. The process can feel like a (sober) psychedelic journey, entering altered states of consciousness, meeting ourselves again and again. This is also while I’m in love with the entire process of it- it’s wildly stimulating.

Contact Info:

• Website: nectarhouse.co
• Instagram: @livingnectar

Image Credits
I own all images! <3