Daniela Renaud
I am a yoga teacher, sound therapist, and healing & energy coach with over 20 years of experience. Since 2017, I have completed comprehensive training in yoga (YTT200 & YTT300) as well as meditation and philosophy.
My journey began at the age of 18 when I attended my first yoga class. However, this experience wasn't lasting. It wasn't until I spent almost a year in India and Nepal, where I met Krishnamurti and Osho, that I discovered the depth and power of yoga. These encounters led me to intensify my passion for yoga and meditation while simultaneously working for 20 years as a journalist for Swiss television.
After completing my yoga teacher training with a focus on Indian philosophy, I developed my own style, which I call "Intuitive Teaching." Vipassana meditation is an integral part of my life, and I regularly attend silent retreats to deepen my practice.
I appreciate the transformative power of sound, noise, and movement. My most important spiritual teacher, Mooji, inspires me, and I am grateful for the wisdom he shares: “Life is much wiser and kinder than your mind imagines. Trust and be still.”
I invite you to join me on a journey – towards more self-love, inner balance and the discovery of your true essence.
YO-GONG and my journey to Costa Rica
My heart's calling led me to Florestral, a sound community in Costa Rica, where I have lived and worked since November 2023. Always accompanied by my gongs, I embarked on this journey and found my home in the jungle.
Playing the gong connects me with the elements, and so a dance begins with the energies of water, wind, sun, and earth. My body and voice follow the cosmic impulses. In February 2024, I had the opportunity to play the gong at the Envision Festival in Costa Rica, and that's when it came to me; YO-GONG was born.
YO-GONG is the journey – being on tour – with the energies of life and the universe. Being united with movement, stillness, and sound.
My life as a pearl diver
I would like to briefly describe my life experiences so far.
The long and short stretches of my valleys of fear and despair leading to joy and absolute trust in God, trust in the greater whole, the cosmos, the absolute, the All-One.
This would have been anathema to me not so long ago. Self-doubt would have held me back. What do you think you are! To take yourself so seriously and to accept that your life and experiences could be of interest to others.
Now I know with all my heart that these are all tormenting, self-destructive thoughts and energies that are not our true being. This litany of "You are not good enough and worthless" springs from our thinking mind, the subconscious. This mind feeds on our old patterns, thoughts, fears, feelings of guilt and powerlessness from childhood, school, the example set by our parents, the collective imprints of our current society, our ancestral lineage, and much more.
I have learned that as souls, we have given ourselves our own mission: what we want to resolve in this human life, what we want to grow from. We have chosen where geographically, with which parents, and in what environment we grow up.
And that's where it starts. As a teenager, I would have slapped anyone who told me I was the one who had chosen this climate of fear, insecurity, abuse, and alcohol. Absolutely NOT!
I grew up in Bern as an illegitimate child. Very humble circumstances. I don't know my biological father. He was Italian, I'm told. The love of my mother's life. An affair. He sees me as a newborn. My mother sends him away, shuts the front door in his face. I grow up as the eldest, with two half-sisters. My stepfather is an alcoholic. He can't cope with life. Unemployed.
I partly grew up with my grandfather. I was often alone. My mother worked. I looked after my sisters; my stepfather was drunk. He sold our beloved dog and ran around with clubs. He came home beaten up and toothless in the middle of the night. I cleaned up the blood. When I was five years old.
I learn quickly and effortlessly. I read books until my eyes burn. My homeland. I still have to visit a third man besides my father. Until my mother finally admits that she sent my biological father away.
It's just a huge mess. What's valid? What is truth? Who am I?.
As a child, I look into my own eyes and wonder: who is looking at me here?.
My sisters often think about suicide. I only do it subconsciously. Suddenly, unexpectedly, I run into the street in front of a car. Inexplicable. We were a group of first-graders, admiring the shop window with all the cool bikes on our way home. I turn around and jump. Just like that. The car drives down the opposite side of the street, down the stairs, and into a house. Fender bender. The woman gets out, runs towards me, and I immediately think, "Oh dear." The woman hugs me and says, "You'll never do that again, will you?" No further consequences. No visit at home. Just that hug. Today I know that was my guardian angel. I see him and thank him from the bottom of my heart. Subconsciously, it was too much of a challenge for me—what I—my soul—had set out to learn.
School was my great refuge. I wanted to know, know, know. School holidays were anathema to me. Especially the summer holidays. Far too long. I longed for my desk. Wädu, the old neighbor's dog, came to live with us. Finally! He was my best friend. I found comfort and warmth in his basket. I often lay down next to him. When he died, my world collapsed. Only a few years later, when I was already an adult, did I have the strength to grieve for him. A deep valley. I hadn't realized it. Everything in its own time.
My motto was: Get away as fast as possible. I left home at 17. I trained as a nurse with the intention of disappearing abroad as quickly as possible. I only worked briefly in hospitals. And always this intense longing, this calling
I traveled through India and Nepal for a total of one year. I 'accidentally' met Osho and Krishna Murti along the way.
Start making radio programs and writing. Study media and communication science. Become a TV journalist. For 20 years. Develop and create various formats and programs with others. First women's magazine, new science magazine. I'm a presenter, a domestic correspondent, and become a producer.
And always this great longing, this calling
Becoming a mother. Wonderful daughter. My path to great liberation begins. Separation from my partner at the time. Burnout, depression. I'm incapacitated for six months in so-called society. Almost unbearable physical pain. A spinning, metal eel with spikes runs from my sternum right through my heart. I think I'm going crazy. No, you're not going crazy! it echoes incessantly inside me. You're a mother, you'll survive this and look after your daughter. You're not 'ill'. You're searching. I refuse to go to a clinic. I start psychotherapy. For seven years, weekly. Commuting from Bern to Zurich begins again. Picking up the child from daycare, cooking, career because the economic system—a mother can't afford to collapse again. And yet, I do….
Always this great longing and calling out
I'm starting a four-year yoga teacher training program. I'm immersing myself in yoga philosophy, this ancient knowledge about the soul and its calls...
Another burnout. This time shorter.
Training to become a Gestalt therapist begins in Berlin
I'm quitting my TV job without knowing what's next.
Sound finds me. Music and dance are my solace when it calls and hurts again.
I am beginning my training to become a sound therapist.
Shortly afterwards – out of the blue – came an offer from 2 NGOs to act as project managers for the production of fair mobile phones and computers.
My income is drastically reduced. I'm moving after 20 years in the cooperative. I'm getting sick.
I am rediscovering my energetic healing power from past lives.
The longing and calling remain. I resign from my NGO position. I start working in the innovation village. I become self-employed.
This time, Lyme disease, the Epstein-Barr virus, and electromagnetic radiation at my new location are almost driving me to despair. Conventional medicine says it doesn't recognize these symptoms. I'm speaking a different language, they say. I have to leave the house; the electromagnetic fields are too strong. I'm on the road again for six months. I can't hold down a regular job. I'm being trained by the 'cosmic family.' I call it an 'online mystery school.' Friends are taking me in.
I will become healthy, whole.
The calling and yearning has come to an end.
I have been working completely independently since 2019.
I have finally given up my inner resistance to my spirituality.
Spirit over mind. Heart over head.
And I know that all these experiences in my life so far are in the past.
They no longer have any meaning in the NOW. They only have the power over me that I give to the whole thing with my thoughts.
I am here to recognize this – to explore the origin of thoughts and feelings.
With all my courage, I stand up – to say YES to my true self. Growth is a constant process. There is no end.
We are light and sound. When we leave this earth, our cosmic family recognizes us by the sound of our soul. How beautiful.
I bow before my mother and my unknown father in this life.
I bow to my stepfathers
I bow before my daughter
I bow to my grandfather, my sisters, all my partners, and my girlfriends and friends.
I bow to Mother Earth & Father Sky
I thank my cosmic family
I am delighted to thank Mooji for the opportunity to meet him.
I thank you and all the people, animals, and plants I encounter daily who are my teachers.
Thank you, life.
Life is so much kinder & wiser than your mind imagines.
Trust and be still.
Mooji