About Dao

How It Started

My name is Dao. I was born in 1994 and grew up in Vietnam. In 2024, I moved to Australia to get married and begin a new life and a new journey here. I studied Pharmacy and worked in the field for about 1.5 years. Back then, I wasn't someone who enjoyed exercise or physical activity. I was quite physically weak and easily exhausted. At the age of 23, after nearly a year of standing and working continuously in a pharmacy, I developed severe varicose veins. My body constantly felt heavy, my legs were painful and tired, I didn't want to stand or walk for long periods, and I often had night-time leg cramps. I had to wear compression stockings and take painkillers for about six months. Later, I experienced side effects from the medication twice, which made me stop and start reflecting seriously on my life and career. I also went through a period of being deeply anxious and fearful about my condition. I was afraid of the leg pain, cramps, and numbness that would wake me up at night and leave me exhausted. When I consulted doctors and researched further, I was told that this was a chronic condition that could not be completely cured. That made me even more confused and led me to think more deeply about my health, my body, and my life. After that, I decided to further my studies with the goal of opening my own pharmacy. I continued studying and worked as a pharmaceutical sales representative for about a year. But during that time, I began to have many thoughts and moments where I questioned myself: "What am I doing? What do I truly want and need?" I felt lost and disconnected. After that, I decided to pause everything and started traveling across Vietnam, from North to South. I had the opportunity to connect with many different people and lifestyles that I had never known before: yoga, meditation, macrobiotics, clean food, organic farming, returning to mountains, forests, and nature, and meeting people who had left the city to live closer to a more natural way of life. My mind gradually opened to things that felt natural and simple, things I had never truly understood or deeply experienced before. To me, that lifestyle felt strange at first, but also very real, meaningful, and aligned with what I was truly looking for in life. In 2019, I had the opportunity to attend a 10-day Vipassana meditation retreat. From that point, my mind began to change significantly. I started developing healthier habits: practicing yoga, choosing clean food, eating more mindfully, reducing the use of chemicals and industrial products, following Buddhist ethical principles, practicing meditation, connecting with people in organic farming, and learning more about balanced and natural approaches to nutrition and body care. I realized that I needed a job that provides a decent income but does not require me to work excessively; something related to health, flexible enough to allow rest when needed, aligned with meditation, and closer to nature. And so, I chose Yoga. A different turning point in my life.