Meet Damodar Cordua | Relationship Coach, Life & Empowerment Coach, Yoga & Yoga Wisdom Teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Damodar Cordua and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Damodar, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I have been on a healing path for many years now. Through studying yoga, eastern wisdom, bodywork, self growth, relationship psychology, and coaching work I have been gifted the opportunity to bring many empowering tools, ideas, and wisdoms into my life.  These tools have helped me – and continue to help me – try to become a better human, a better partner, and get more empowered in my life. Most of us aren’t given a roadmap to life and relationships when we start moving forward into this world… and sometimes, even if we are given a roadmap, it may lead us down a road that doesn’t bring us the connection & potential we are REALLY looking for. Sound familiar? Maybe we get stuck in patterns that disempower us or settle for crumbs in relationship or lose our heart’s real purpose. I can say this one hundred percent for myself and my own life.

As a service to my own journey of becoming more aware in my own self + relationships, I started to feel that I needed to help others do the same & share in the tools I had been given. This was and is the central axis of my business: an opportunity for me to continue to grow and in that process be of help to others – allowing them to connect more fully to themselves, to each other, and to something greater. Therefore my business is more of a organic platform to spread these teachings to others in more and diverse ways – through coaching individuals and couples, through workshops + trainings, through my podcast, through social media, through speaking engagements, and -most importantly – through how I live my life & show up in relationship to myself & others.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I guide couples, other dyads, and individuals to create better connection & communication, resolve differences and conflict, move past roadblocks, nurture deeper intimacy, and build happier, more successful relationships and partnerships

I guide individuals to move through patterns that are keeping them stuck, empower their lives, become more emotionally intelligent + aware, find deeper meaning & purpose, calm & clarify the mind, cultivate purpose, and connect to something greater within themselves

I specialize in relationship, life, communication, emotional intelligence & empowerment coaching.  I am also a yoga + yoga wisdom teacher

What sets me apart? I have a unique style of teaching & coaching that is beloved & successful because it synthesizes contemporary, cutting edge relationship, self growth, + psychology ideas & tools with the knowledge of perennial ancient wisdom truths & practices.  My sessions & classes are down-to-earth, practical, yet profound & deeply transformative.

My current business was birthed from my own struggle, my own successes, my own failures and my own continual seeking.

A little about my story:  It had been 5 years, I was in an amazing committed relationship with a beautiful partner.  We inspired each other creatively, had great conversation + lots of fun, possessed mutual attraction, and a shared greater purpose. Not only had we built a loving romantic relationship but we had also built a thriving business together in the yoga + wellness industry. We were of service to many people in our life, in our relationship & in our business – holding space for others to connect, heal, and be together. We were also part of a community that helped us gain clarity, depth & greater connection in both our individual lives and our lives as partners.

But with all this bounty, all this love + connection, all these healing practices, and amongst this relationship that was very very happy, there were – nonetheless – these ongoing, sideways moments of what I will call “stuckness.” Certain conflict would arise and we just couldn’t gracefully move through it. We triggered one another in ways we didn’t understand. And at times, during these triggered moments, it felt like all the goodness, purpose, connection and togetherness just flew out the window.

At least that’s how it felt for me.  And frankly, it was disturbing.  It was scary. How could such an AMAZING relationship contain such landmines??

I realized that with all my yoga wisdom + spiritual practices & my life experience, I was still at a loss to improve things.  The tools & experiences had been powerfully helpful & transformative in my life, but at the same time were not providing the means with which I needed to navigate this space – in fact, ironically, at times they only acted as ways to bypass or rationalize bad behavior

Something inside of me was saying:
“you have lessons to learn here – this “stuckness” this conflict is present to teach you something about yourself, your patterns, about your own blind spots” – that this difficult time was actually a gateway into more awareness, if I could just see it as such.

But, on my own – and on our own – we just couldn’t see how

I needed help to see more clearly the patterns that I couldn’t see for myself.

This began the next crucial stage in my own journey

I decided it was time to reach out for help & to do some new work on myself.

Our relationships are our mirrors – they are calling us forward into our healing and into our next potential. I started finding coaches to work with, reading books, and eventually I dove into my own deeper education + awareness by taking numerous coaching trainings – studying with world experts in relationship + life wisdom – and setting on a consistent course of self-growth, introspection & accountability.

I was turning a corner – and in doing so I realized that if I was experiencing this call to learn and grow & move past roadblocks in my own self & in my own relationship – tons of others out there were feeling the same. My aim became to continue in my own journey (oh, and it IS an ongoing journey) and at the same time to give back to the others – individuals & couples – the tools that I have learned & continue to learn each and every day…

I also started to see how my experience teaching yoga, spirituality and the wisdom traditions could actually be dovetailed & synthesized into my relationship + life coaching offerings, deepening them profoundly & creating more space for my clients & myself to grow, heal & become empowered.

All things are connected – body, mind, spirit. What is internal is then reflected in what manifests in the external.

I help individuals & couples to gain more resource to journey within in order to flourish without – in the world & their relationships.. and I help them see more clearly that within their difficulty, hurt or struggle are the keys to their healing & potential.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Where I live, Tucson, is a great town/city. I call it a town/city because it has the benefits of some big city vibes, with the feel of a smaller town.

With the theme of my own work, I would first move from a healing space of connection & visit the sanctuary my wife & I run in Downtown Tucson called Bhava Wellness which is a wellness shop, a production space for our all natural herbal remedy line, and a healing services office/studio for my coaching work and for massage and herbal consultation. From there, I would go on a walk in the vibrant neighborhood around our space (I am from Philadelphia, a walking city, so I love that Tucson has a walkable downtown area)… take a yoga class at Yoga Oasis downtown on Congress St. or (if I or my guest is feeling a need to get more energized instead of relaxed), we could do a spin or strengthen class at Let’s Sweat right next door.

Afterwards we can get refreshed with a caffeinated (or uncaffeinated) drink at EXO or Presta coffee roasters – two great local coffee roasters in town. Luckily, our favorite pizza place is Anello, is also a few blocks away as are numerous other breweries, restaurants, & cafes depending on your lifestyle & desires.

From lunch or coffee I would drive my guest and myself out into the saguaro-spotted desert – to the Desert Museum, one of my favorite spots in Tucson – an indoor/outdoor museum showcasing of all the flora & fauna of the Sonoran Desert. From there, we could see a sunset at Gates Pass – one of best sunset spots around!

I would also ask my wife, an herbalist, to give us a special tour of the native medicinal plants in the region during one of our hikes.

After, in the evening, we can stroll back to downtown to the legendary Congress hotel for a drink or other refreshment and see some great live music.

Other days and evenings could include hikes at Seven Falls or Romero Pools or a day trip to Bisbee (a cool town outside of Tucson), food, fun & shopping at the the MSA & MSA Annex, amazing vegetarian food at Govindas, Tumerico, Beaut Burger, Substance Diner & so many other spots (I live a vegetarian lifestyle)… Authentic Mexican food on 4th Ave in South Tucson and amazing vegan burritos at Tania’s for a quick meal… Tucson has so many great places to eat and the climate for outdoor dining.  So we would eat “alla fresca” as much as possible!  Staying outdoors, we would take walks around the beautiful architecture of Barrio Viejo neighborhood, a trip to the Catalina foothills, another beautiful sunset somewhere in town, jazz music downtown, a walk around University of Arizona’s beautiful campus, a drive up cooler climates to Mount Lemmon, art gallery hopping in the Gallery District, and a visit to the “White Dove of the Desert” Mission San Xavier – a beautiful old Spanish style mission church.  It would also be important to include some history lessons from the indigenous Sonoran desert people, since this is their sacred land we walk upon… a sacred walk or storytelling from the elders.  I would love to begin or end there.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like mostly to thank my wife, Radha Cordua, and our partnership. Our relationships – especially partnerships – are like a mirror. When looked at through a viewpoint of self growth, awareness and humility, they show us where we need to heal, how we need to help, and the gifts we are meant to give in this world. They are here to support us AND challenge us. I’ve learned so much from her, and continue to do so, in ways that transform my ability to help others & learn more about my own potential… and all the stuff I need to work on in myself!

I would also like to thank the many great teachers in my life from the yoga, healing, psychology, relationship + self growth arenas. I’ve been blessed to study with some of the best and I don’t take that fact lightly. I hope my work with others is an honor & service to their expertise, their passion, and all they passed on to me (or at least all I am able to retain & integrate into my life!)

Website: www.empoweredconnection.me

Instagram: @empoweredconnection.me

Facebook: Damodar Daniel Cordua

Other: Podcast – “Empowered Connection Podcast” on all streaming platforms

Image Credits
Ryan Neal Cordwell