THE ADAPTIVE NERVOUS SYSTEM
Qigong and Somatic Regulation with Danielle Pashko Founder of Soulhakker™. The workshop brings together Danielle’s nervous-system education with Qigong and mind-body practices .
The Adaptive Nervous System
Qigong, neuroscience, and the practice of grounding for clear-headed focus
Work moves quickly. Attention gets pulled in many directions, and stress can make it harder to notice what we need in the moment. This experiential 60-minute workshop gives teams a chance to pause, move, and explore practical ways to reconnect with body awareness. Work moves quickly. Competing priorities, constant transitions, and pressure to keep delivering can make it harder to focus, make considered decisions, and notice when stress is building.
Danielle’s path to this work began during a period of serious illness. She used visualization to imagine herself as a martial artist, inspired by the films she watched with her father as a child. Later, studying Tai Chi and Qigong with Sifu Gary Tong gave her a practice that became part of her return to health. She shares that story not as a formula for anyone else, but as an invitation to explore how attention, movement, and a sense of possibility can shape our experience.
What the session includes
Gentle body tapping, light bouncing or hopping, arm movements, grounding, and breath awareness.
A short personal story and an accessible neuroscience bridge.
Guided Five Element Qigong.
Optional Wing Chun demonstration and explanation, shared from Danielle’s perspective as a student and through the lens of neuroscience.
Closing reflection with Q&A.
No previous Qigong or martial arts experience is needed. Movements can be done standing or seated, made smaller, or simply observed. Participants choose their own level of involvement.
Format: 60 minutes. Available for corporate meetings, team learning sessions, wellness programming, and retreats. In person or virtual, subject to space and setup.
Facilitator: Danielle Pashko is a functional nutritionist, health coach, yoga teacher, Qigong practitioner, and founder of Soulhakker, a platform exploring the relationship between nervous system awareness, movement, nutrition, and personal practice.
Bring this workshop to your team. Contact Danielle to discuss your audience, format, and event goals.
WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT EVENT HOSTED FOR APM MODELS IN NEW YORK CITY
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DANIELLE PASHKO, FOUNDER OF SOULHAKKER
Danielle Pashko is a functional nutritionist, certified health coach, author, and founder of Soulhakker™, a wellness platform connecting nutrition, nervous system awareness, movement, and traditional energetic practices with modern science. For more than two decades, she has worked in New York City’s wellness community, collaborating with physicians, developing custom supplement lines, and helping thousands explore nutrition, detoxification, and mind-body practices. Her training spans functional medicine, yoga, massage therapy, somatic healing, Tai Chi, Qigong, and internal martial arts.
Danielle’s approach is shaped by her own experience: losing her mother to cancer at 13, living on her own in Manhattan by 16, and later facing cancer, chronic Lyme disease, and post-COVID complications. Those challenges shifted her focus from optimizing health at all costs to the role of nervous system regulation, emotional healing, and practices such as Qigong and Tai Chi.
Danielle is the author of Smile at Your Challenges and Weight Loss Mistakes Even Healthy Chicks Make. Her work has been featured on FOX & Friends, CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, NPR, NY1, and PIX11, and in USA Today, Reader’s Digest, and The New York Post. She has held positions at The Sports Club/LA, Equinox, Exhale Spa, and The Peninsula Spa, and worked in clinical practice with longevity expert Oz Garcia. Today, she speaks on holistic health, the emotional dimensions of chronic illness, and emerging approaches to resilience and healing.
WORKSHOP CAN BE CUSTOMIZED FOR:
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Corporate Wellness Programs
An experiential approach to stress, adaptability, body awareness, and responding under pressure.
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Retreats + Wellness Communities
A mind-body experience combining martial arts, Qigong, movement, awareness, and regulation.
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Women's Groups
Practical self-defense, boundaries, confidence, situational awareness, and learning to trust the body's signals.
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Conferences + Wellness Events
An interactive session that gets participants out of their chairs and turns nervous-system education into a physical experience.
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Private Groups + Organizations
Customized workshops based on the needs, abilities, and goals of the group. A unique experience that brings people together through movement, awareness, and practical skills.
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Modeling & Talent Agencies
Build body awareness, confidence, situational awareness, and practical self-defense skills for navigating travel, castings, sets, events, and unfamiliar environments.
Participants will have the opportunity to:
Explore simple movement, grounding, and breath practices that can fit into a workday.
Learn a beginner-friendly Five Element Qigong sequence, including its traditional element, organ, movement, and sound associations.
Notice how focused attention and coordinated movement affect their own sense of steadiness and connection.
Leave with a short practice they can return to between meetings or during a transition in the day to prevent burnout.
Bring Qigong and Somatic Regulation with Danielle Pashko Founder of Soulhakker™ to your organization
FAQ
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The Adaptive Nervous System is an experiential self-defense and nervous-system workshop combining Wing Chun Kung Fu, Qigong, movement, breath, balance, and body awareness.
Led by Sifu Allan Horton of Alpaca Wing Chun and Danielle Pashko, Founder of Soulhakker™. The workshop explores not only how to physically respond to pressure, but how the brain, body, and nervous system work together when something unexpected happens. This workshop also instills confidence, mental clarity and better executive function.
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Martial arts requires the brain and body to communicate continuously.
Participants have to understand where their bodies are in space, maintain balance, coordinate their hands and feet, notice another person's movement, process incoming information, make decisions, and adapt their response.
Partner exercises also give participants an opportunity to notice what happens when they experience uncertainty or pressure in a controlled environment.
In other words, you are solving problems with your body
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The workshop can be customized for corporate wellness programs, women's groups, conferences, retreats, private events, wellness communities, talent and modeling organizations, and other groups interested in self-defense, movement, resilience, and nervous-system awareness.
The content and physical exercises can be adjusted based on the audience and setting.
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Yes. The Adaptive Nervous System can be adapted into an interactive corporate wellness or conference experience that explores stress, awareness, adaptability, movement, and responding under pressure.
Rather than simply listening to another presentation about stress management, participants have an opportunity to physically experience concepts related to attention, coordination, balance, reaction, and recovery.
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Yes. The format can be adapted based on the group, event setting, physical abilities of participants, and the goals of the organization.
Whether the emphasis is practical self-defense, women's safety and confidence, nervous-system awareness, corporate wellness, or an interactive conference experience, Danielle and Allan can tailor the session accordingly.
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The Adaptive Nervous System is available for organizations, conferences, retreats, women's groups, corporate wellness programs, private events, and wellness communities.
Contact us at info@soulhakker.com to discuss your audience, event, and goals, and we can determine the best workshop format for your group.
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Comfortable clothing that allows for easy movement is best. Participants do not need martial arts uniforms or specialized equipment.
Any additional recommendations specific to the location or workshop format can be provided before the event.
