From Self-Made to Spirit-Led with Danette MayFrom Self-Made to Spirit-Led with Danette May
The Awaken With Alyssa Podcast
Alyssa and Danette May talk about Danette’s shift from fitness entrepreneur to spirit-led guide, shaped by grief, legal upheaval and awakening spiritual gifts. Their conversation centres on intuition, soul writing and learning to trust inner wisdom after life-shattering experiences.
39:32•22 Sept 2026
From Hustle to Inner Guidance: Danette May on Loss, Intuition and Soul Writing
Episode Overview
- Changing how you treat your body through food, movement and meditation can quietly dismantle old relationships, beliefs and patterns.
- Deep loss and depression, while painful, can strip away people-pleasing and open space to ask what genuinely feels true.
- Spiritual gifts such as receiving messages from the other side may feel scary at first, but can become tools for support when tested and grounded.
- Fear of being visible as a spiritual teacher can stem from past religious conditioning and old ‘it’s not safe to be seen’ stories.
- Honouring intuitive nudges, especially around safety and relationships, is vital; ignoring them can come at a high cost.
“"Hard things that come into our lives can be the very thing – they're gifts wrapped in sandpaper."”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This conversation between Alyssa Stefanson and mentor, author and entrepreneur Danette May brings a very different kind of “success story” to the table – one that shifts from hustle to deep spiritual trust. Readers are taken through Danette’s evolution from leading booming nutrition and fitness programmes to stepping into more mystical work, helping people connect with what she calls the “divine being” within.
She explains how early programmes always included meditation, and how, as people changed their food and moved their bodies, old relationships and patterns naturally fell away – leaving big questions about purpose, truth and power. The heart of the episode sits in Danette’s raw honesty about grief, trauma and spiritual awakening.
She describes the loss of her son as a “gift wrapped in sandpaper”, sharing how depression stripped away her need to please others and pushed her to ask what actually felt true. More recently, intense legal and personal upheavals have left her questioning what’s real, yet also more committed to her own healing so she can eventually support others from a grounded place.
Things get especially interesting when Danette talks about her spiritual gifts opening up: receiving messages from those who’ve passed on, testing their accuracy, and learning that “I’m not walking alone”. She also speaks about the fear of stepping out as a spiritual teacher after a strict religious upbringing and past-life “witch wound” echoes – something many sensitive, sober-curious listeners may relate to.
Alyssa and Danette round things off by talking about surrender, asking spirit for help, and Danette’s new project “soul writing”, where people learn to access guidance from within rather than outsourcing it. If you’re rebuilding life after hardship and wondering how to trust your own inner voice again, this episode might be the gentle nudge you’ve been waiting for – what if your intuition actually does know the next step?
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