We recently connected with Danielle Hall and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Danielle thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

One of the most defining moments in my professional life didn’t start with a business breakthrough or a big opportunity. It started with a health crisis.

At the time, I was working in the commercial photography industry and had just won a major award among my peers. But while everything looked successful on the outside, internally, my body was shutting down. I was losing my hair, the enamel on my teeth, I had chronic migraines, digestive issues, brain fog, and I was constantly inflamed. I’d always been “the sick one,” and honestly, I’d accepted that as my identity. It never even occurred to me that I could feel better.

But then, during one particularly rough ER visit, a doctor looked at my chart and said, “Well, Ms Hall, if we don’t figure this out, you’re going down a really dark road.” That was the first time I was truly scared about my health. It was a wake-up call.

After that moment, I found a naturopath. Honestly, only because she had “Doctor” in the name, and through the elimination diet we discovered that all of my health issues were rooted in a severe gluten allergy. Removing gluten gave me a second chance at life. It was the first time I experienced what “healthy” even felt like. At 28 years old, I finally understood what it meant to have energy, clarity, and vitality. And that changed everything.

As my body healed, something else began to shift. I started getting curious, not just about food or wellness, but about everything I had dismissed or never been open to. That curiosity led me to try yoga for the first time. Then massage. Then acupuncture. And eventually, I stepped into my first sound bath.

And let me tell you… it was not a peaceful experience. I cried uncontrollably. I completely lost control of my body and emotions. But that moment cracked something open in me. I needed to understand what had just happened. Why had sound affected me so deeply?

I enrolled in a sound healing certification program, not because I intended to change careers, but because I wanted to understand. But within two weeks, I knew I had found my path. I realized that if someone like me, who was skeptical of anything “nontraditional,” could experience this kind of transformation, there had to be others who needed access to these tools in a grounded, accessible, science-informed way.

That’s when SoundEmbrace was born. It became my mission to create spaces and education that empower people to reclaim their health, their peace, and their lives, especially those who never thought healing was possible for them.

That scary moment in the ER changed the trajectory of my life and career. It reminded me that once we become aware, we have a choice. And I chose to become the person I needed when I was at my worst.

Danielle, 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?

Hi, I’m Danielle Hall, the founder of SoundEmbrace, a sound healing company on a mission to help people live a life they love waking up to every day. I’m a sound practitioner, educator, wellness coach, and community leader with over 13 years of experience in facilitating and teaching sound therapy as a tool for personal and collective transformation.

I didn’t begin in the wellness world. I started in the commercial photography industry assisting and co producing large-scale campaigns for agencies and brands. But after a serious health crisis in my late 20s, I was forced to re-evaluate everything. That health crisis, later diagnosed as a severe gluten allergy, sent me down a path of deep healing. Once I experienced what “healthy” actually felt like for the first time in my life, I became curious: What else have I not been open to?

That curiosity led me to my first sound bath. The experience was overwhelming, emotionally intense and totally unexpected. But it cracked something open in me. I needed to understand what had just happened, and so I enrolled in a sound healing certification program. I didn’t expect it to change my life and career… but it did.

What I Do Now

Today, I run SoundEmbrace, where I offer:

Sound Bath Experiences (in-person and online) for stress relief, mental clarity, pain reduction, and emotional release

Sound Healing Certification Programs to train the next generation of facilitators in accessible, trauma-informed sound therapy

Workshops and Retreats that combine sound healing with nervous system education, personal growth, and somatic practices

Corporate Wellness Programs that bring science-backed relaxation and resilience tools into high-stress environments

Custom audio content for meditation apps, wellness brands, and hospitals

I also recently launched a free sound bath membership platform offering 2-minute, 10-minute, and 30-minute sound experiences to support energy, focus, and sleep, because I believe everyone deserves access to healing.

What Sets SoundEmbrace Apart?

My approach blends science with soul.

SoundEmbrace doesn’t treat sound healing as something mystical and inaccessible. It’s grounded in nervous system education, brainwave science, and trauma-informed practice. My work is rooted in helping people retrain their nervous systems so they can regulate stress, reduce pain, improve mental health, and feel more at home in their bodies.

We’re also one of the few programs in the country with a comprehensive certification pathway (200 hours) that prepares facilitators to work across hospitals, therapy centers, corporate wellness, retreats, and more.

What I’m Most Proud Of:

Sound Healing Certification program where ALUMNI sound practitioners who are now serving in their own communities.

Creating partnerships with hospitals, universities, nonprofits, and wellness centers to bring this work to places it’s never been before.

Helping people rediscover their voice, their worth, and their power. Often when they had given up hope.

But honestly, I’m most proud of the moments after a session when someone says, “I didn’t know I could feel this good.”

What I Want You to Know?

If you’ve been living with chronic stress, emotional heaviness, or physical pain, please know this: it doesn’t have to be your forever.

There are tools that can help. There are moments of peace waiting for you. And you can feel good in your body again.

If you’re curious, I invite you to start small: a 2-minute sound bath, a breath, a moment of stillness. You don’t need to know the “how”, you just need to take the first step. That’s how everything in my life changed.

And if you’re someone who wants to bring that kind of healing to others… I’d be honored to walk beside you in your journey to becoming a facilitator.

You can find everything at soundembrace.com
.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

One of the most defining moments of resilience in my career came when I made the decision to move back to Atlanta from San Francisco. At the time, I was fully rooted in San Francisco, running a sound healing studio, in a long-term relationship, and living in a place I called home. Then, within a few short months, all of it dissolved. My studio lease wasn’t renewed, my relationship ended, and I had to leave my apartment. It felt like life was clearing the slate.

When an opportunity arose in Atlanta to co-create a sound healing certification program, it felt divinely timed. I packed up my life and moved across the country, confident I was stepping into a new chapter of purpose. But shortly after arriving, my collaborator pushed back our timeline… and then dropped a bomb. They decided to move forward with the certification program without me. In that meeting, they said, “We’ll let you know if we need help with the business side.” My heart hit the floor.

They had chosen to work with someone else, an Ivy League professor. And there I was: a sound healer with an art degree in photography. I felt crushed. Who was I to build something like this?

The aftermath was brutal. I found myself without stable housing: couch surfing, living in my car, and storing my belongings in limbo. To keep my San Francisco contracts alive, I flew back regularly to fulfill them. Ironically, it was more affordable to be homeless in Atlanta and fly back to work than to live full-time in California.

To stay afloat, I took a job selling honey at farmers markets. It was humbling, and at the same time, beautiful. One day, I finally made enough “honey money” to pay rent. And when that happened, when my nervous system finally relaxed, I had a debilitating anxiety attack. I was sent to a cardiologist for testing. That was the moment I realized: I had been so busy surviving, I had abandoned the very wellness practices I teach.

It became a wake-up call. If I was going to keep walking this path, I needed to remember why I started. The “why” is what got me out of bed when I was sleeping in my car. It’s what helped me rebuild. And it’s what drives me today.

I went from homeless to homeowner, rebuilding my business from the ground up in a city that didn’t yet know my name. I leaned into faith, purpose, and grit, and emerged not only stronger, but more aligned than ever. And yes, I eventually did launch that certification program. On my own terms.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned on this journey is that I am not the voice for every space—nor should I be.

Early in my sound healing career, I was deeply committed to making this modality accessible. I said yes to nearly every opportunity to speak, share, or facilitate. My passion was sincere, but my approach was unsustainable and, in some cases, uninformed.

A pivotal moment came when a colleague I knew posted about an upcoming event where she’d be speaking. Based on the event’s description, it seemed inclusive, open to all. I attended with the intention of support and curiosity. But the moment I arrived, I could feel something was different. It became clear that the space was intentionally created for the Black and Brown community to hold deep and necessary conversations specific to their lived experiences.

As I was signing in, realizing this space was not about exclusion but intentional inclusion, my colleague came up to greet me. She was warm and kind, but the moment stayed with me. It was a wake-up call. A moment of humble learning. It wasn’t about whether I was welcome. It was about recognizing where my presence may shift the dynamic, even unintentionally.

That moment forever changed how I view my role in wellness. If I truly believed in the accessibility of sound healing, then I had to shift from being the messenger in every room to becoming the builder of bridges, and creating pathways for others to be the messengers in the spaces where their voices were not only needed, but vital.

This experience shifted my “why” I wanted to launch the SoundEmbrace Certification Program. Not to create carbon copies of myself, but to prepare a diverse community of practitioners who feel called to serve the communities they intimately understand. It reminded me that healing doesn’t come from one voice. It comes from many. And for sound healing to truly be accessible, we must uplift voices that have been historically underrepresented in the wellness industry.

That moment, and the lesson it offered, is something I carry with me every day. It wasn’t about unlearning. It was about waking up. Waking up to my privilege, to the importance of cultural humility, and to the deeper mission I now lead.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.soundembrace.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sound_embrace/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoundEmbraceHealth
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellehall/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@soundembrace

Image Credits

Nostalgia Media