Libsyn Directory

Transformation Boundaries: Protect Energy And Design A Purposeful Life with Didi Selwa

Release Date: 12/11/2025

MCAS vs Histamine Intolerance Why Your Body Reacts to Everything (And You’re Not Crazy)

Dear body, I’m listening

“A reaction is not a moral failure— it's information. Your body is just responding to something, and right now it's giving you signals that it doesn't want that or it needs some extra help.” —Donna Piper When every meal feels like a risk and symptoms seem to come out of nowhere, it can start to feel like the body has turned against us. Many in the chronic illness community are stuck between labels like “histamine intolerance” and “MCAS” while still getting no clear plan or validation. This conversation names what is happening in the body and why it is not “all in...

Rest Without Guilt (When Your Worth Got Tied to Output)

Dear body, I’m listening

“Rest isn't a character flaw. It's what your body needs in order to heal from these invisible illnesses. And for some of us, it's also a grief process, because we're not just resting from task; we’re resting from the version of ourselves who thought we had to earn love through output.” —Donna Piper Ep 36 Shownotes: Podcast Platforms We talk about rest like it is simple, but for many bodies it brings guilt, fear, and shame. When worth gets tied to productivity, stopping can feel dangerous even when the body is breaking down. This conversation meets the tension...

Is It POTS? When Standing Up Feels Like a Trap

Dear body, I’m listening

“You're not making it up. You're not weak, you're not failing. Your body is working hard to keep you upright, and you deserve support that matches the reality of that.” —Donna Piper Standing up should not require strategy, recovery time, or mental math. When heart rate spikes, dizziness hits, and showers wipe us out, the hardest part is not the symptom. It is being told nothing is wrong while our body says otherwise. Donna shares lived experience with POTS, dysautonomia, and multiple comorbidities, blending physiology with trauma-informed insight. Her work is shaped by years...

Traveling with Chronic Illness: Germany Edition

Dear body, I’m listening

“If you're traveling with chronic illness, I want you to hear me. There is nothing wrong with you. You just have to prepare a little bit. You deserve to travel in a way that doesn't punish you, that helps you, that makes you feel good.” —Donna Piper Travel takes more out of the body than most people admit. For those living with chronic illness, the cost shows up before the suitcase is even packed. Energy drains through lines, noise, time pressure, swelling, and the fear of crashing far from home. Donna shares her real-time approach to spending a month in Germany while...

Pack, Move, Fly, Heal: Why I’m Choosing Germany for Lipedema Surgery

Dear body, I’m listening

“Movement and less pain is why I'm doing this and why I've chosen to go to Germany.” —Donna Piper Big life changes rarely wait their turn. When health decisions collide with exhaustion, logistics, and uncertainty, clarity matters more than certainty. Donna shares the personal and medical reasoning behind traveling to Germany for lipedema surgery while managing multiple chronic conditions. This episode traces how lived experience, failed conservative treatments, and the need for long-term care shaped a choice rooted in mobility, pain reduction, and nervous system safety. Press play...

Lipedema Surgery Vs. Non-Surgical Care… Do I Have To Choose?

Dear body, I’m listening

“Anything you choose is not weakness. It's the best for you… Instead of thinking surgery or no surgery, try this question: ‘What would make my next step safer?’... Safety is a step, not a switch.” —Donna Piper Pressure around medical choices can turn care into panic. When the body is complex and money, time, and fear are involved, certainty starts to feel like a deadline. This conversation slows that moment down and gives it room to breathe. In this episode, Donna shares her lived experience navigating lipedema and the long road of conservative care, research, and...

Hot Flashes, Heavy Legs: Lipedema Meets Perimenopause & Menopause

Dear body, I’m listening

“Lipedema is not a willpower issue. Shame is not a treatment plan. Late diagnosis does not mean late reality. It means late recognition. Your best advocate is yourself. There's nothing wrong with you. You've just been navigating a body that hasn't been understood by the medical world yet. Be gentle with your capacity. Meet yourself where you are.” —Donna Piper Bodies can change in ways that do not follow the rules we were taught. Pain, swelling, and heaviness show up, and the explanations never quite fit. Many women carry this quietly for years, assuming it is just weight or age....

How Trauma Rewrites Pain Part 4: Flare or Trauma Response? When the Body’s Signals Get Confusing

Dear body, I’m listening

“Flares and trauma responses often look the same because fascia remembers, the nervous system protects, and the immune system overreacts to help defend itself, and the body is trying to keep you alive, not confused. So your job isn't to decode perfectly. Your job is to offer safety consistently, because when the body feels safe, the symptoms soften, and when the symptoms soften, the story changes, and when the story changes, the healing becomes possible.” —Donna Piper The body can shift from steady to overwhelmed without warning, leaving confusion about what just took over. Pain,...

Transformation Boundaries: Protect Energy And Design A Purposeful Life with Didi Selwa

Dear body, I’m listening

“Move forward, take action. It may happen, it may not, but it's just about putting one step in front of the other— doing that is so important. When you go forward, you realize, ‘oh, that's not for me’, but in the process, you discover what is.” —Didi Selwa Drop the guilt of being stuck and discover a movement that meets your body where it is. Press play to hear how embodiment, faith, and small practical steps shift shame, chronic illness limits, and stalled dreams into forward motion. Didi Selwa went from a 25-year banking career to a Certified Transformational Life...

The Science of Feeling Safe: Gentle Practices to Regulate Chronic Stress with Ann Diment

Dear body, I’m listening

"We are the experts in our well-being and our own bodies, and it's important for us to advocate for ourselves. We're not defined by our past. Our past is gone. It's in the past, and the beliefs we formed about ourselves based on what we've been told by other people or experienced in the past aren't necessarily true." —Ann Diment Some seasons of life push us past our limits, and the body keeps score long before we understand why. Many of us try to outwork the chaos, yet the real shift begins when we finally question the version of resilience we were taught to admire. There is a quieter...

More Episodes

Drop the guilt of being stuck and discover a movement that meets your body where it is. Press play to hear how embodiment, faith, and small practical steps shift shame, chronic illness limits, and stalled dreams into forward motion.

Didi Selwa went from a 25-year banking career to a Certified Transformational Life Coach and Level Two TranscenDance Facilitator by following a mix of mindset training, embodied practice, and faith-guided risk-taking. Her work blends mind-body-spirit coaching with guided movement to help women reclaim confidence and take consistent action.

Press play to hear a grounded conversation about how to make affirmations actually work, how movement becomes a tool for trauma release, and why tiny actions matter now.

What transcenDance movement is and how it differs from a dance class
How to use embodied movement to release shame and trauma
Practical mindset tools to turn affirmations into real habits and visioning practice
Adapting transcenDance for chronic illness and low-energy days
The role of faith and spiritual practice in coaching and embodiment
How small, repeatable actions build confidence and creative momentum

Connect with Donna:

Website: https://www.donnapiper.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnapiper

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedonnapiper

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedonnapiper

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thedonnapiper

Episode Highlights:

02:38 Meet Didi— From Banking Grind to Life Coaching

05:49 True Change— Faith + Mindset

10:52 Why Transformation Feels Uncomfortable

14:31 Breakthrough Tools

18:16 TranscenDance— Healing Through Joyful Movement

24:40 Breaking the Mold— Trusting Your Body

31:05 Breaking Old Beliefs and Celebrating Yourself

36:07 How Affirmations and Manifestations Really Work

42:36 Creativity for Healing and Growth

48:53 Confidence, Action, and Letting Go

You're allowed to celebrate even the smallest wins—celebration rewires shame into momentum. Hear this episode for baby-step tools, repatterning, manifestation, and mind-body movement as Donna sits with Dream By Design Coaching Founder, Didi Selwa.

#DearBodyImListening #MCAS #Lymphedema #Lipedema #ChronicIllness #mindset #selfcare #movement #transcenDance #transformation #confidence

Quotes:

03:52 “Our purpose is there, we just don't uncover it. It's there speaking to us, and we're not listening.” —Didi Selwa

09:01 “You have to find what works for you, what speaks to you and your soul, in order for it to actually have a transformational impact in your life.” —Didi Selwa

12:19 “With transformation, it has to have an anchor— and it's uncomfortable.” —Donna Piper

13:05 “Just being you and being authentic makes people feel safe to do the same.” —Didi Selwa

25:26 “Transcendance is about moving to honor how your body wants to move in that moment. By doing that, you get more in touch with your body to what they need.” —Donna Piper

35:50 “Honor and love your body where you are and yourself where you're at, still giving yourself that freedom to transform it as well.” —Didi Selwa

36:17 “Affirmations and what you tell yourself 100% affect how you do your life. However, just by saying certain things doesn't always make them come true.” —Donna Piper

37:46 “There's more to manifesting than just saying these things and putting them up on your vision board. And what it really comes from is our energy, becoming a vibrational match to that affirmation. So, it’s not only saying the words, but also envisioning it.” —Didi Selwa

44:18 “I like to tap into the creative aspect, because spirit loves fun, our body loves fun, our mind loves fun. And a lot of times, we don't really give ourselves enough time to do that creative expression.” —Didi Selwa

50:38 “Move forward, take action. It may happen, it may not, but it's just about putting one step in front of the other— doing that is so important. When you go forward, you realize, ‘oh, that's not for me’, but in the process, you discover what is.” —Didi Selwa

Connect with Didi:

Didi Selwa is a Transformational Life Coach and Certified Level II TranscenDanceTM Facilitator in Los Angeles, California. Her life-changing workshops and programs help women break through their limiting beliefs, achieve greater results, and learn to live with passion and purpose.

Website: https://dreambydesigncoaching.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-selwa/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/didiselwa/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coachdidiselwa

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