Burnout, Stress
Burnout, Stress
MEET DONNA OTTEN
MEET DONNA OTTEN
I’ve spent years exploring the mind-body connection, through breath, movement, and the courage to look within. What began as my own healing became my life’s work: helping others find presence, peace, and the freedom to just be.
I’ve spent years exploring the mind-body connection, through breath, movement, and the courage to look within. What began as my own healing became my life’s work: helping others find presence, peace, and the freedom to just be.
The challenge
The challenge
I'll be honest with you, the path that led me here wasn't one I chose. It chose me.
I'll be honest with you, the path that led me here wasn't one I chose. It chose me.
I'll be honest with you, the path that led me here wasn't one I chose. It chose me.
Maya
Maya
The Journey
The Journey
In 2001, I was nineteen years old when I was in a head on car collision. Both cars were going over 75 miles per hour. I suffered brain trauma, multiple broken bones, and my right tibia shattered on impact. I was being prepped for amputation but a surgeon put in a metal rod instead. I spent the next two years in and out of wheelchairs, walkers, and crutches.
That accident is how I found Pilates. It was the first time I understood that the body could heal that movement, done with intention, could rebuild what felt destroyed. I got certified in 2013 and began teaching, and I thought I'd found my path.
But my body was carrying more than a car accident.
I also carry a history of sexual abuse, a home invasion, and rape. For years, I did what so many of us do I pushed through. I built walls. I stayed busy. I numbed what I couldn't face. And it worked, until it didn't.
In 2018, I was diagnosed with Lupus and PTSD. Doctors didn't really know what to do with me. I felt lost, confused, and deeply alone. I was spending most of my days in bed, depressed, in chronic pain, and nothing seemed to work.
Then I read The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk and everything changed.
I stopped waiting for someone else to fix me. I started EMDR. I deepened my yoga and meditation practice. I changed my diet. I committed fully to the work of actually feeling what I'd been avoiding for decades. Within two weeks, I started to feel better. Not perfect. Not healed. But alive for the first time in longer than I could remember.
I also carry a history of sexual abuse, a home invasion, and rape. For years, I did what so many of us do I pushed through. I built walls. I stayed busy. I numbed what I couldn't face. And it worked, until it didn't.
In 2018, I was diagnosed with Lupus and PTSD. Doctors didn't really know what to do with me. I felt lost, confused, and deeply alone. I was spending most of my days in bed, depressed, in chronic pain, and nothing seemed to work.
Then I read The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk and everything changed.
I stopped waiting for someone else to fix me. I started EMDR. I deepened my yoga and meditation practice. I changed my diet. I committed fully to the work of actually feeling what I'd been avoiding for decades. Within two weeks, I started to feel better. Not perfect. Not healed. But alive for the first time in longer than I could remember.
"Support begins when we stop forcing change and start listening to the body, the breath, and the truth already within."
"Support begins when we stop forcing change and start listening to the body, the breath, and the truth already within."
Maya
Maya
"Support begins when we stop forcing change and start listening to the body, the breath, and the truth already within."
Maya
That was the beginning of Mind Body Bliss.
Since then, I've dedicated my life to studying and practicing the modalities that brought me back — breathwork, mindfulness meditation, somatic practices, self-inquiry, yoga nidra, and sound healing. Not because they're trendy. Because they saved my life.
What I learned through all of it is this: the body keeps the score, yes — but it also keeps the wisdom. When we stop running from what hurts and learn to be with it to breathe with it, to feel it, to question the stories we've built around it something shifts. Not because we become someone new. But because we finally meet who we've always been underneath the pain, the walls, and the survival patterns.
I don't expect you to share your story the way I've shared mine. You don't need to have it figured out. You don't even need to know what you're looking for. You just need to be willing to get still, get honest, and show up as you are.
Because you are not broken. You never were.
I'm just here to help you remember that.
That was the beginning of Mind Body Bliss.
Since then, I've dedicated my life to studying and practicing the modalities that brought me back — breathwork, mindfulness meditation, somatic practices, self-inquiry, yoga nidra, and sound healing. Not because they're trendy. Because they saved my life.
What I learned through all of it is this: the body keeps the score, yes — but it also keeps the wisdom. When we stop running from what hurts and learn to be with it to breathe with it, to feel it, to question the stories we've built around it something shifts. Not because we become someone new. But because we finally meet who we've always been underneath the pain, the walls, and the survival patterns.
I don't expect you to share your story the way I've shared mine. You don't need to have it figured out. You don't even need to know what you're looking for. You just need to be willing to get still, get honest, and show up as you are.
Because you are not broken. You never were.
I'm just here to help you remember that.
Ready to find your path?
Ready to find your path?
If this story resonates with you, maybe it’s time to start your own. Therapy isn’t about quick fixes — it’s about meaningful change, one clear step at a time.
If this story resonates with you, maybe it’s time to start your own. Therapy isn’t about quick fixes — it’s about meaningful change, one clear step at a time.
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Trusted by 80+ clients
+81
Excellent 4.9 out of 5
TrustPoint
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