Many of us move through life carrying a sense that something isn't quite right - that we're somehow disconnected from life itself, or that we can't fully trust reality. This often shows up as anxiety, depression, or a persistent feeling of being separate from the flow of life.
Yet there's a profound possibility available to us: developing what I call "secure attachment with reality" - a fundamental trust in life that transforms our relationship with every experience, even the difficult ones.
A Path of Unfolding
This work is about developing an unconditional relationship with all of life. While the journey goes deep, it unfolds naturally through honest presence, genuine connection, and moments of unexpected lightness.
In our work together, you'll discover:
- How psychological healing and spiritual development are deeply intertwined
- What it means to feel genuinely safe with your full experience
- How to move from defensive separation to intimate connection with life
- The transformative power of bringing everything into relationship
My Approach
At the heart of my work is creating a space of unconditional acceptance where your full experience is welcome. This establishes the safety necessary for deep transformation to unfold naturally and for developing secure attachment with reality.
My coaching integrates several complementary dimensions:
- Embodied Inquiry & Aletheia Unfolding - Working with direct bodily experience as a gateway to deeper understanding, allowing the wisdom within your experience to emerge naturally through felt sensing and somatic awareness
- Attachment-Based Healing - Using approaches like the Ideal Parent Figure Protocol to transform core patterns in how you relate to yourself, others, and reality itself, developing greater security and trust in life
- Philosophical & Conceptual Exploration - Drawing from traditions like CosmoErotic Humanism and other integrative frameworks to illuminate your experience with precision and depth when valuable, while ensuring concepts serve embodied understanding rather than replacing it
- Relational Presence - Creating a field of attuned awareness where even the most challenging aspects of your experience can be safely met, witnessed, and transformed
Rather than imposing solutions, my approach helps you develop trust in your own experience. When we feel truly safe to encounter whatever arises—whether difficult emotions, limiting beliefs, or profound insights—natural intelligence and wholeness emerge.
Each session responds to what's most alive for you, creating a balance between structure and openness. I serve as both mirror and companion, helping you navigate your inner landscape with greater clarity and compassion while building your capacity to trust reality more deeply.
Experience & Background
This approach emerges from nearly twenty years of intensive practice and study, including:
- Five years of residential training at the Monastic Academy
- Two years of cumulative silent retreat experience
- Certification in Aletheia Coaching (Levels 1 & 2)
- Circling SAS Facilitator Certification
My understanding has been deeply shaped by teachers including Soryu Forall, Rob Burbea, Steve March, David J Temple, Jill Nephew, and Daniel P. Brown, weaving together contemplative wisdom and psychological insight.
In addition to offering unfoldment work I also host the Emerge podcast and write on Substack under the Intimate Mirror and on Twitter/X as @dthorson.
Testimonials
“Daniel has an approach to coaching that is artful, heartful and intelligent. I’ve yet to have a session with him where I haven’t left more empowered, integrated and attuned to the richness of life.” ~ Sky Taylor
Working with Daniel has been one of the most transformational and beautiful things I have ever experienced. In just a few sessions he helped me look at, move through, and get unstuck from limiting beliefs, patterns, and ways of being that over a decade of traditional therapy did not meaningfully help with. ~ Anna Lockheart
“One of the most powerful experiences I've had with a coach. Everything was welcome from the deepest, most disturbing pain to incredible spaciousness. Together it felt like we could hold anything.” ~ Nathan Vanderpool
Working with Daniel is like embarking on a sacred journey of self-discovery. Through his uncanny attunement and gentle encouragement, you'll find the courage to step into your potential and live a more authentic life. ~ Jamie Alfieri
Explore Working Together
If you feel a resonance with this work – perhaps a subtle knowing in your body or an intuitive sense of rightness – I encourage you to honor that wisdom. Our bodies often know what we need before our minds can fully articulate it.
Let's have a conversation and see what emerges.
Coaching Services