How Life-Saving Relationships Built a Wellness Revolution with Mike Dannheim

What if your greatest suffering became the foundation for healing thousands of others?

In this episode, Mike Dannheim, founder of Sensie, shares his extraordinary journey from a traumatic brain injury and suicide attempt at 19 to leading a groundbreaking wellness technology company. Through his experience with addiction recovery, meditation, and cutting-edge neuroscience, Mike has created a platform that predicts stress before it becomes a problem and generates measurable biopsychological resilience.

Mike reflects on the mentors and relationships that saved his life, shaped his path, and continue to fuel his mission to help people connect more deeply with their body's intelligence.

 

[00:03:54] What Is Sensie?

• Predicting stress before it's a problem and generating wellness

• Using smartphone sensors to assess micro movements in gestures

• Identifying sources of stress and providing precise techniques to alleviate them

• Breakthrough: measurable biopsychological resilience

[00:05:03] The Birth of Two Passions

• Leading consumer technology companies for 15 years

• Personal healing work and 21 years of sobriety

• Helping everyone from people with addiction to CEOs and professional athletes

• Wellness-based coaching rooted in recovery principles

[00:06:00] The Car Accident That Changed Everything

• Traumatic brain injury at age 19

• Out-of-body experience watching himself at the accident scene

• Retrograde amnesia: not knowing who he was or where he was

• Struggling with short-term memory recall and feeling like he was in hell

• Trying to take his own life at 19

[00:07:40] The Meditation Miracle

• Four to six months of meditation bringing his brain back

• Memory returning and life taking off

• Leading a $16 billion IPO and living around the world

• Life becoming "beyond my wildest dreams"

• Mainstream medicine in 2002 not understanding neuroplasticity

• Doctors believing he wouldn't recover

• Deep dive into neuroscience, consciousness studies, and Eastern spirituality

[00:08:26] The Power of Movement and Meditation

• Witnessing impact on hundreds of people's lives

• Techniques that compress 10 years of therapy into one session

• Transforming suffering into intelligence and wisdom

• Helping people show up more present in their lives

[00:11:26] Million-Dollar Relationships: Martin

• The man who taught Mike meditation and saved his life

• Going back seven years later to thank him

[00:12:00] Alessandro Anastacia: The First Believer

• First investor in Sensie, met in Tokyo during Groupon expansion

• Speaks five languages, sometimes all in one sentence

• Lives by Ubuntu philosophy: "For us, by us"

• Invested before any R&D, just to support two friends with good hearts

[00:13:40] Satya Raja: The Leadership Guide

• Vince Covino's partner and partner in Sensie

• Integrating enlightened leadership for over 30 years

• Found Mike in a really hard place, frustrated with support levels

• Helped Mike see himself and clean up his own energy

[00:16:01] The Life-Saving Impact

• Getting emotional reflecting on the question

• Helping a man who was trying to take his life

• Using techniques learned from Satya and others

• The man is now a close friend with four kids and a thriving art business in Miami

[00:19:00] Kevin's Story: Losing His Father

• Diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of ninth grade

• Passing at the end of 10th grade after a year and a half

• Not a word left unsaid between father and son

• The uncle who became a father figure and passed away in February

• The surprise family reunion with his last remaining aunt

• The power of honoring those still with us

[00:24:21] Final Reflection: The Body's Intelligence

• Research field called Interoception: neuromechanics of inner awareness

• Deeper connection to inner environment improves life across all domains

• Trust levels, friendships, contentment, fulfillment, even financial success

• Dr. John Coates' research: traders who could self-assess heartbeat had higher profitability

• The more we help each other connect to our body's intelligence, the better life gets

 

KEY QUOTES

"He invested in our company before we had done any R&D. He just wanted to support two friends. He didn't care, and put any pressure on us. He was just like, I know you guys have good hearts. Here's the money. Go do the research." - Mike Dannheim on Alessandro

"Grief is unexpressed love. May we not leave this funeral with any unexpressed love." - Satya Raja's message that Mike shared with his family

"By being able to grieve the death of my mother, I can still feel her in my heart. She's never left. She's here loving you, me, right now." - Mike Dannheim

"Instead of having to go through 10 years of therapy, you can get it in one session. There's very well researched techniques that can help alleviate suffering so it can become intelligence and wisdom." - Mike Dannheim

"The more we can help each other connect more deeply to our body's intelligence, the better this life gets." - Mike Dannheim

 

CONNECT WITH MIKE DANNHEIM

🔗 LinkedIn
📘 Facebook
🌐 Sensie.app
📧 [e-mail]

 

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