Testimonials | Zhenevere Sophia Dao

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Willa Roberts - Zhenevere's Partner August, 2024 My name is Willa Roberts, and I am Zhenevere’s partner of three years, and friend and collaborator for 5. I write this follow-up testimonial in the summer of 2024. It has been a year and a half since I wrote my first testimonial (which remains available on this page, for those who are interested), describing in detail the events of Zhenevere’s defamation. Particularly, it describes the hateful, vengeful assault—both physical and verbal—on Zhenevere by her ex-partner when they discovered that, four months after the two of them had thoroughly and permanently broken up, Zhenevere and I had begun to see each other. (When I use the term, "ex-partner," I am referring to Zhenevere's recent ex-partner, not Zhenever's prior ex-partner who remains Zhenevere's friend). After the initial attack, this person then essentially re-launched an ailing campaign to slander Zhenevere’s reputation, originally created by a former student who was seeking revenge, after Zhenevere made it clear that this student had no chance of having a sexual relationship with her. I must admit that I cringe again as I describe these sordid melodramas. For Zhenevere’s dignity, purity of heart, and character represent an absolute sustenance to me in a world of superficiality, irresponsibility, manipulation, misguided power-plays, and weakness. The anonymous defamation campaign is in severely stark contrast to every aspect of Zhenevere’s being, and to the life that I know with her. My life with Zhenevere is saturated with beauty, immensity, and indescribably harmonious love. I need nothing more. Our personal life—our love and friendship—has only been fortified and tonified by her ex’s hateful attacks. We flourish; we have not been destroyed. Likewise, Zhenevere has not been canceled. Lies have an expiration date, and truth endures. Zhenevere has a robust student body that has experienced, processed, and emerged stronger for the horrific lies. Those studying with her are more sincere, and of the highest and most conscientious character. As a result, they are more prepared for the benevolent radicality of Zhenevere’s philosophy, and are empowered to find sustenance and strength in a world largely inhospitable to truth and beauty. And we are thankful for such human fortitude. For I can say with fierce emphasis that the accusations of Zhenevere’s defamation are a crime against humanity, a crime against nature. But I revisit this topic because the sustained malevolence of Zhenevere’s ex, and a few unfortunate and distorted allies of their nature, continue to attempt to hurt the culture of care, intelligence, beauty, and bravery that accrues around Zhenevere everywhere she presents, teaches, or creates. And it is strangers, who might profoundly benefit from Zhenevere’s existential and spiritual support via her teachings and philosophies, who suffer most at this point, as a result of the actions of this person. As detailed in my original testimonial, I witnessed firsthand—I was there—the unmitigated assault by Zhenevere’s ex on her, both physically—a lunging punch to her groin after they (her ex) hid and trespassed on Zhenevere’s property in the early morning—and then verbally, for many, many hours. The nature of the verbal abuse on Zhenevere was oriented around a brutal transphobia (a better term would be “trans-hatred”) in which they screamed, over and over, statements like: “I can’t wait to watch you die a shriveled old man in prison." They explicitly threatened, in front of my face, to outright lie about Zhenevere to the public, vowing to say that Zhenevere abused them, in order to destroy Zhenevere, and to destroy the trust that thousands of students have in her—when in fact their sexual relationship, of more than ten years, had been utterly consensual and deeply transformational for both of them. Zhenevere has overwhelming volumes of letters, art pieces, and emails from them to that effect. Throughout the day of the attack, in between schizophrenic outbursts of grief, and pronouncements of love, this person redundantly detailed the ways in which, chillingly premeditatedly, they planned to destroy Zhenevere’s life by lying about her in all the places that she is most pristine and most beautiful, and most needed in the world. They also enumerated repeatedly how they planned to troll the internet in order to prevent any opportunity for Zhenevere to teach, perform, interview, and generally share her gifts with the world. At the same time, they did everything they could to hurt me, including slinging racial slurs at me, such as, “You white fuck bitch,” and, “You white pussy,” and, “You white whore,” and many others. They seemed offended in the extreme simply because I am largely, but not entirely, of caucasian descent—a fact about which I have no more control than does anyone on this earth. This from a person who strategically paints themselves publicly as a staunch anti-racist activist. They also repeatedly degraded me for being a “straight girl,” an accusation as meaningless as it was—and is— absurd, for their jealous rage at me was precisely because I was in love with a woman—their ex-girlfriend. On the surface, three years later, Zhenevere’s ex-partner has partially achieved what they set out so vehemently to do. They have, indeed, done everything in their power to prevent Zhenevere’s free movement in the world as a teacher, interviewee, artist, and human being. Indeed, there is a single anonymous person, with an anonymous email address, who does troll the internet for any public announcement of Zhenevere—whether an interview, podcast, workshop, etc. This cowardly and obsessed individual then contacts the initiators of the platform and maligns Zhenevere’s reputation with utterly unsubstantiated lies. Then occurs a hinge moment—a cultural moment, I might say—in which that organization’s mettle is challenged for adherence to truth and justice, rather than cowardly fear. Some persons, organizations, and platforms find it inconvenient or risky to stand up for what is right and true in that moment, and they crumble under the lies and accusations of this unnamed person. It has been indescribably stunning to witness well-established organizations, who espouse exactly what Zhenevere represents—truth, beauty, original thought, spirituality, responsibility, and above all, bravery—simply cave under pressure from an anonymous avatar. Further, as we have navigated what can only be described as cultural tragedies, these organizations, going forward, act in a most cowardly and shamefully avoidant way, failing to account for themselves in any way. And these are people and institutions who claim to uphold the values represented by Zhenevere most steadfastly! Even people and organizations who actually know Zhenevere, and who have gushed enthusiastically about working with her, and who even already knew about the feeble defamation campaign, have caved and then become incommunicado. Truly, this has taught me much about the state of our world and the weakness of character that plagues the human race. It has been a most essential education. At the same time, because of Zhenevere’s indomitable spirit and capacity to alchemize hatred and trauma, many of her dedicated students may assume that this matter has run its course, for one would imagine a natural decay, in time, of the adamance of a personal hatred like this. But it turns out, in the case of Zhenevere’s ex, one cannot overestimate the sick entrenchment of vengefulness. Despite the fact that Zhenevere’s ex-partner has an ambitious and busy career, and has the highest aspirations to be a famous visual artist who is rewarded handsomely for their work, their campaign of defamation continues. Apparently, neither art, nor peace of mind and soul, are enough motivation to desist from the preoccupation of revenge and destruction of the one whom they had most loved. Ultimately, I write this follow up testimonial because, in fact, Zhenevere’s ex-partner has not succeeded whatsoever in their final mission. They did not succeed in destroying Zhenevere’s life, or my own. The havoc they have wreaked in our lives has served to make the power of truth resonate more clearly than ever before. It has separated the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, between weak, false people and powerful, true people. The weak ones have excused themselves from our lives, and our lives are better for it. Everything that has happened in the wake of the defamation has been touched with a miraculous kind of power. The prolonged attack has also served as a relentless crucible for strengthening the potency of Zhenevere’s philosophies, and the potency of our lived experience of them. Ultimately, the attack has led to a strengthening of all things good, most importantly the love that this incredible being and I experience for and with each other. To come through the fire, together, is unlike anything imaginable—to distill what really is, what really matters, what one lives for. The yield is immeasurable, and continues to unfold in the most mysterious and exquisite ways. Our life is clarified and purified. We are so grateful.

Laurie Brenner - Zhenevere's Mother August, 2024 As Zhenevere’s mother, I have watched with horror for years as a tiny handful of individuals have mounted a scurrilous, vicious campaign against her. It is time for me to speak. I have known my child since the moment “he” [as she was to me then] emerged, wailing, from my body, weighing only 4 lbs 2 oz. I was told my baby would be in the nursery for “several weeks” until [she], as I will refer to her henceforth—though during the time of her childhood she was always my “boy"—reached the requisite 5 pounds and could come home. Ten days after [her] birth, I got an excited call from the head nurse. Unbelievably, my baby had done the impossible, getting to 5 pounds faster than any baby had ever done before. The nurse told me that they had weighed [her] on several scales, because they couldn’t believe it was possible. You can’t keep a determined baby, or a determined woman, down! Then, as now, my child took an unfair circumstance, surmounted it, and moved powerfully on. Zhenevere is the kindest, most caring person I have ever known in my 81 years on this planet. Two small illustrations, among many possibilities: At age 5, decked out in [her] Baltimore Orioles cap, [she] sat in the stands at Oriole Stadium, tears raining down on the hot dog [she] was clutching. Why? Because while the home team was introduced to cheers and applause from the fans, the Minnesota Twins emerged to a chorus of boos and catcalls. Sobbing, [she] said, “I feel so sorry for the Minnesotas." Not the usual response from a kindergarten-aged fan at [her] beloved home team’s ballpark. But her philosophies, which center on the vulnerability of “the other,” were already seeds, there in that stadium. Years later, as an electrifying star of [her] high school soccer team, lionized by [her] classmates and their parents, Zhenevere organized a meeting at our house. The invitees were young superstars from the two high schools in town, each a hero in some sport, each with the immense power and prestige that comes with that role. The topic, at Zhenevere’s instigation, was: how can we, who have so much influence among our peers and their parents, use our celebrity to foster a culture of kindness, caring, and open-armed inclusion of everyone. Again, not the usual response of the high school hero. This characteristic of using her innate power to focus on the sacred well-being of others, which is a foundation of her philosophies, was already in incubation, there in my living room. Zhenevere’s defamation comes from a tiny handful of people, led by someone, Zhenevere’s ex-partner, whose unhinged vengefulness is as treacherous and harmful as her truly evil intentions. A couple of years ago, this individual actually texted me, Zhenevere's mother, out of the blue, with the absurd “information” that Zhenevere had been accused by twenty women of heinous humanitarian crimes for which she [Zhenevere] was in the process of being prosecuted. This could not be farther from the truth. Indeed, the distance between this horrific “information” and reality represents a schizophrenic breach between reality and egregious falsehood. Zhenevere’s thousands of students could, and do, testify to her impeccable conduct, over more than 30 years of teaching. I am an elderly woman, and the sheer evil of that text rocked me to my core, which must have been this truly cruel person’s intention. I have significant cardiac issues, as well as other health challenges. The cruelty and evil of that text, which remains with me, left me breathless then, and leaves me breathless now, as I recall it. As Zhenevere’s mother, I am here to tell everyone that I celebrate my child for her achievements, yes, but even more for her courage to claim her true self as a woman; to remain kind and loving and compassionate in the face of an unfathomable defamatory campaign. Indeed, I have watched her kindness and compassion increase in direct proportion to the cruelty leveled so unfairly, and so wastefully, against her. I have watched her take an almost mystical responsibility for not becoming in the least like her haters. The transphobic targeting of her, at a time when major elements in our culture threaten the very lives of trans people, is dangerous. Every one of us needs to fight back, with truth, decency, and determination—not only because I am her mother, but because so many others understand how important her truth, kindness, philosophy, and very being are for this world. Laurie Brenner

Niyonu Spann - Student; Friend; Colleague August, 2024 My name is Niyonu Spann, and I am a 68-year-old black woman, writer, organization development practitioner, singer-songwriter, and grateful mother of four sons. I am a committed teacher and student of philosophies, artistic expression, and practices that increase individual and collective well-being. During the challenging months of COVID isolation, I had the privilege of studying with Zhenevere Sophia Dao. Each week, alongside approximately 80 participants from around the globe, I engaged in what Zhenevere called Mythosomatic Movement. These sessions opened the most sensual, spiritual, and liberating pathways I have ever experienced. The healing I encountered was profound—intense heat and cool, rushing waters released deep-seated trauma from my life and, I believe, from my ancestral lineage. This experience was a testament to the power of body wisdom. When I first encountered the accusations against Zhenevere, I was overwhelmed with emotion, fearing I might lose a teacher who had profoundly impacted my soul’s journey. However, I chose to delve deeper. I researched the claims, spoke with fellow students, and reflected on the clarity and compassion Zhenevere consistently demonstrated in establishing boundaries during classes. Her commitment to creating a safe space allowed us to embrace our healing journeys and reclaim our power. As I examined the accusations, they did not resonate with my truth as a survivor of sexual abuse and an ally to others. They simply did not align with the woman and teacher I had come to know and respect in Zhenevere. I was later thrilled to invite Zhenevere to co-teach with me at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, where I had previously offered courses. However, when our course was promoted, defamation against Zhenevere was shared with the Kripalu organizers. I stood firm in my understanding of the truth and communicated this to Kripalu. The Kripalu administration, who knew absolutely nothing of Zhenevere personally, chose to adhere to these utterly anonymous accusations rather than to trust me, and ultimately decided to disallow the course to continue if I kept Zhenevere as my co-teacher. I made it clear: “If Zhenevere must go, so must I.” I found an alternative venue, and our participants enjoyed the transformative teachings of Zhenevere alongside my own. Since then, I have continued to study with Zhenevere and invite Zhenevere as a guest facilitator, including for an upcoming series in March 2025. My journey with her has been nothing short of extraordinary, and I am grateful for the wisdom and healing she brings to my life, our community, and the world.

Sunny Smyth - 14 Year Student of Zhenevere's; Teacher; Friend August, 2024 I have studied intensively with Zhenevere for fourteen years, literally attending every single class she offered including Mythosomatics, Sexuality, Yoga, and Post-Daoist and Neo-Romantic Philosophy, and excepting only the martial arts classes, logging, in total, over 2,000 hours of class time, as well as consistently teaching this work for the past ten years. I am writing because I know Zhenevere. I have studied with her more than any other human being on this earth. I have watched her in ten-thousand interactions with all manner of students. And I have come to understand her importance as a teacher and a being because she poses this most fundamental question, “What was the human for, and what is the purpose of our woundability?” Even though she acknowledges the failure of humanity to live up to our promise, she wholeheartedly affirms life. She offers radical perspectives on that essential question, a question which blossoms in her philosophy into countless other questions that bear intensely on our existence. For instance, what might it look like to have a more wholesome relationship to technology; to live both inside and outside of cultural conditioning; to reimagine power as independent from leverage or coercion; to recover our imagination, empathy, emotion, sensation and sensitivity as forms of intelligence? And what would culture and existence on the whole be if we understood that Eros, as Zhenevere defines it, is the most pure and most powerful force of life itself? If Eros was the longing to belong rather than the need to conquer? For Zhenevere defines Eros as the intense mutual need of all living things and the tenderness and risk that this need engenders and instigates. These conceptions and countless others like them have utterly changed and redirected the lives of hundreds if not thousands of students. I write this second testimonial, four years after my first one, to express my shock, sorrow and anger that one or two terribly distorted and wounded individuals, who wish to defame Zhenevere for inscrutable reasons, continue to troll the internet for any engagement that Zhenevere has been invited to participate in. They then contact the producers of these events in order to relay vicious lies, intending to have Zhenevere disinvited, when it was her integrity and the scope and beauty of Zhenevere’s work that inspired them to invite her to their platforms in the first place. The fact of the persistence of these few people’s evil vindictiveness in contradistinction to Zhenevere’s actual innocence regarding their unhinged accusations is heartbreaking to someone such as myself—and I know I speak for hundreds of others—who has always, in every single class, in every venue or environment, witnessed the absolute integrity of her comportment. Her passion for teaching and the care she expresses for the well-being of her students never, ever devolves into even the slightest feeling of sexual desire for ANY of her students (despite, and I say this with fourteen years of seniority and observation, the many, many who might have wished precisely for that kind of attention). Zhenevere’s sexual energy was and is ALWAYS reserved for her long-term private, intimate relationships. I do believe that the culture of the “me too” movement, which has been so terribly important in terms of the world hearing the stories of victims of abuse and taking account, has also unfortunately caused the pendulum to swing to a very dangerous, equally injurious place where almost any accusation, even from unaccountable, anonymous people of cruel and bitter intent, is believed. Sometimes, these few sick individuals, astonishingly, do succeed with their lies to sow doubt in the minds of the organizations of spiritual or cultural think tanks who have invited her to lecture or present. I don’t believe they doubt Zhenevere, for Zhenevere’s essence is undeniable to anyone moved by her being and philosophy. But they doubt themselves. So I am writing to call these organizations to account, and to express my profound distress, as a sincere seeker of truth, that these so-called spiritual organizations that cancel her don’t have enough grit, self-awareness, and trust in their own experience of Zhenevere to be activist warriors, and to stand up for what is clearly the truth of Zhenevere’s impeccability. It is shameful that even after knowing her, hosting her, learning from her, even befriending her—even after reading Zhenevere’s poignant and lucid explanation regarding the few individuals responsible for her defamation, that they still do not have the courage to stand up for their own, and others’ need of Zhenevere’s being and teaching. Is this the state of the world? Is it their inability to have honest, challenging conversations with members of their audience who might come across an anonymous website built on falsehoods? Or is it their fear of losing income that prevents them from actually walking their transformational talk? Or is it a larger, more ubiquitous weakness in the modern soul of humanity born from living in a sick culture that is the root cause of this tragedy? I am writing this with the hope that any future producer of an event who has been truly inspired by Zhenevere’s wisdom is bolstered by my and others’ words. I hope that these organizations and persons will be empowered to withstand the outlandish, vague, and spurious attacks. Why do I feel this is so urgently necessary? Because the wisdom that Zhenevere offers the world is desperately needed at this time. I know firsthand the profound impact she has had on my life. And I have personally heard hundreds of individuals spontaneously testify to the very same thing, namely that her teachings have literally saved them from feeling completely alone and misunderstood in this world, and therefore saved them from plunging into the depths of despair. So I am writing this with a passionate outcry to all of Zhenevere’s students who have benefitted so enormously from her teachings (and they number in the thousands). I am asking them to not merely stand by and shake their heads in horrified disbelief at the craziness that has occurred, the soiling and distorting of something so deeply pure, but that they also take the time to add their voices to this page. If we join together en masse to bravely support what is good and reliable in this world, we perpetuate even the potential for goodness and reliability. That is the fulcrum upon which we all stand. One of the many paradoxes within this situation on the whole is that Zhenevere is a living testament to her own teachings on how suffering and grief is necessary and transformational in order to live a soulful life. I am brought to tears by the following words on her website because I have personally and repeatedly witnessed her living them: “My love for these defaming individuals endures. For I did not—and never will—allow their cruelty to redefine my soul and my care, nor the history of love. The only way to negotiate evil without mimicking it—for the intent to cause great harm without accountability is evil—is to absorb it, alchemize it, and refuse its constitution. Their cruelty has birthed me into my fate. Everything is more terribly profound, more precious, and more beautiful because of them. And I am, still and eternally, heartbroken and thankful.”

Alnoor Ladha — Co-founder of Brave Earth (Tierra Valiente): Center for Applied Cultural Transition August, 2024 I have been studying with Zhenevere for the past 4 years. I invited Zhenevere to teach at our center in Costa Rica in 2023. We were honored to experience "Soma and Civilization" in person. Not only did we witness the highest levels of integrity, discernment, kindness and mastery, but the core group of participants unanimously agreed that Zhenevere was the most profound facilitator of group process that any of us had ever experienced. I personally decided not to teach for at least a year until I felt that I could start to approach her level of pedagogical sensibility and and metaphysical prowess. Through direct experience, I know who Zhenevere is, I understand why jealousy and projection is directed at her, I recognize it does not benefit the master narrative to have her teachings "popularized," but I also know the enormous benefit students and participants receive from her presence, wisdom and embodiment. The more people that can engage with Zhenevere's praxis, the more the world will resemble the possibilities of emancipatory futures we know are possible.

Lindsey Marie Stormo - Student August, 2024 All My Relations: Zhenevere Sophia Dao’s inspiring teaching, breadth of work, mythosomatic guidance and philosophic facilitation has been one of the top most integrous experiences of safety in my life. While studying with her consistently for the past four years, I have not once felt her waver from the reliability of her moral compass. She has earned my long term trust and I find the safety I receive in her personhood to be profoundly healing and life-affirming. I recommend her teaching, facilitation and cultural collaboration with all my heart. Within this community of students who have practiced with her long term, there is clear evidence in these testimonials that Zhenevere is innocent and has not harmed students, and that those accusations are fueled by a few distorted individuals, with horrifying intentions, bent on personal revenge. Within these letters of testimonial honesty, there is a powerful uprising in students such as myself, protecting the very deep morality of Zhenevere's personal integrity, teaching, and work. Her voice, perspectives and work in the world are necessary and needed, in the front row of global evolution - academic and artistic. This cannot be overstated. Given the unscrupulous, vengeful, and insidious ways of these few defamers, I invite anyone sincerely in pursuit of understanding to contact me should they wish to confirm my stance, or to ask me questions. Studying with Zhenevere has re-saved my life, in ways only poems had previously. She is undoubtedly worthy of your generosity of spirit, study and attuned time. True to my word. LMS

Bobbi Esmark - Student; Taiji & Qigong Teacher August, 2024 Gentle People: I write this testimonial to bolster anyone’s resolve should there be any complaints about Zhenevere that may arise due to publicity relating to any event, colloquium, podcast, or seminar in which she is featured or presiding. I want to believe that anyone who is interested in the depth and power of Zhenevere’s work, and who has read or heard the ANONYMOUS false claims and attempts to defame her, would be wise and resolute—that they would question the veracity of those who would choose such a coward’s path of personal vengeance. Let me tell you why I believe in Zhenevere’s work, and why I feel her teachings are so important. I came to my first class with Zhenevere having studied taiji and qigong for more than twenty-five years, and having taught these arts for eleven years. I am not an acolyte—nor does Zhenevere want one. She is not a guru, she desires no homage, proscribes no path. I am an elder, Zhenevere’s mother’s generation, and as such, one might say, I’ve been around the block a few times. Zhenevere’s original thinking, based on vast study of taoist philosophy and practice of Chinese martial arts, was a thrilling revelation to me. What struck most was her intelligence, and then her humor—wise, genuine and warm. I felt my prior years of study and practice were a well-hoed and seeded field for her teachings that were fresh water and sunshine, stimulating strong and fruitful growth, like an original phylum within the kingdom of Chinese martial arts. Beyond (and within) the martial, she has developed her own philosophy and her own forms, which she has coined, respectively, "Post-Daoism" and "Neo- Romanticism, and "Mythosomatics," a large body of mythopoetic movement art that transcends any genre. She is extraordinarily articulate in transmitting the potential for the use of these elements to reinforce and nourish those who long for connection to themselves, others, and the challenging world in which we live. For five years I studied with Zhenevere weekly, including two major intensives. Over the years I saw her teachings become an increasingly rich mosaic of offerings that spark thought, action, self-awareness and creativity. Zhenevere offers no panacea. She has expressive power and poetry, focused intention and attention, applied history and scholarship, and a deep commitment to care. She creates a space where those desiring to discover their essence can do so constructively with others also engaged in learning, understanding and becoming who they were meant to be. It can be stunning. It is always illuminating. I want to believe that Zhenevere can share her extraordinary brilliance in any chosen or offered venue with the many who seek an understanding of themselves, and who desire to find their way through this world with joy, love, beauty and strength. I want that experience for others. And, yes, I want it for Zhenevere, too, who, despite the self-possession of her vast resources that makes her sometimes seem inviolable and unattainable, is, in fact, deeply human.

Sally Gottlieb August, 2024 Studying with Zhenevere has truly been one of the greatest gifts for my heart, mind and soul. Not only is her body of work nothing short of life saving for anyone who deeply and sincerely wishes to live a full and rich human life, but Zhenevere herself is a teacher of utmost integrity, humility, honesty and care. In her presence, I always feel an atmosphere of the deepest respect for the sovereignty, humanity and integrity of each individual in the space, alongside a fierce courage to transmit her teachings in their utmost essence. Teachings Zhenevere has most clearly spent a lifetime cultivating from a place of deep devotion and an unquenchable quest for wholeness and beauty. These teachings, which are inseparable from Zhenevere’s being, have been life giving and life saving for myself, and yet, I witness the courage and accountability this work asks me to hold within myself. As this work is deeply transformational, it can most definitely be unsettling, as it invites each of us as students to come into contact with our deepest nature, which will always inevitably shine a light upon the ways we must change our lives. And yet, amidst this beautiful confrontation, Zhenevere is a gentle guide and deeply vulnerable friend on this journey of transfiguration, softly welcoming each of us to become more deeply alive in the fullness of our humanity. Sadly, as it is with all teachers throughout history who are radically devoted to truth and beauty, these beings often stand adjacent to dominant culture, which naturally makes our most treasured teachers (who we so desperately need) too disruptive to the status quo, and therefore, often very unpopular (often to the point of attack and defamation). I feel an immense sadness imagining all of the beings whose lives would be so necessarily touched by this work, to miss out on the gift of learning with Zheverere, due to the ripples of hate and attack that are so rampant in our world today. And yet, despite all odds, Zhenevere continues to show up to her students with fierce love and passion, for which, I am most deeply grateful.

Kira - Student August, 2024 Zhenevere's essence is intertwined with her work, both of which are undeniably profound and therefore "dangerous"—dangerous in the way that all who challenge the status quo must be. Like those before her, she has faced targeting and persecution, yet remains steadfast in her unwavering commitment to infusing every space with courage. She embodies philosophy and poetry, daring us to be true to our most authentic selves. Her "danger" lies in her refusal to provide a blueprint for freedom, recognizing that no one can dictate what freedom is for each one of us, nor what we should do with it. Zhenevere’s charisma is free of manipulation; she challenges us to uncover the deepest expression of our essence, to become our own unique form of greatness. I’m neither a disciple nor a skeptic, just someone who finds her approach refreshingly free of dogma, New Age shenanigans, and cult-like behavior. I’m reliably drawn to her presence, which reminds me what it’s like to be among truly sane people.

Ashley Hansen - Student; Theater Teacher July, 2024 Poet. Scholar. Warrior. Phoenix. The breadth and depth of Zhenevere Sophia Dao’s teachings (movement and lecture, dialogues and dramatic works) are truly staggering. Her integrity, generosity, sensitivity, and skill infuse and inform each deeply-considered offering. Her eloquent and evocative use of language has brought me to tears. Tears because with precision and poetic sensibility she has languaged an interior experience . Imagine being met in the places you think no one else knows. Whether reflecting on paradox, transformation, beauty, death, sensuality, Zhenevere speaks a mother tongue of soul. Time moves differently in her presence. She is one of those remarkably rare beings who has sacrificed the comfort of assimilation for the courage of authenticity. Trustworthy, tender, and terribly important, if you are seeking a lifeline in an ocean of distraction and delusion, Zhenevere and her work are buoys and a majestic, island beach.

Jonathan Butterell - Theatre and Film Director. July, 2024 Zhenevere’s teaching and practice feels vitally important to me. As a storyteller who is looking at finding commonality in a fractious world, I have turned to Zhenevere as a teacher who profoundly expresses with clarity and deepest sensitivity a non dualistic approach to knowledge and learning. Her clases are awakenings. Awakenings to ancient teachings, to teachings that are grounded in classical philosophical thinking and yet feel immediate, accessible and applicable to our world today. She does this with strength, openness, kindness and with a joyful wit; listening with careful sensitivity to all voices that come to her class. Every major teaching institution across the world should experience all Zhenevere has to offer. - There are also a few leaders and decision makers who might benefit from a class or two :)

Mica Gillard

Student

July, 2024

My name is Mica Gillard. I am writing this as a student and friend of Zhenevere’s. At the time that I write this testimonial, it is midsummer of 2024, and I have been a student of Zhenevere’s for, I think, nearly three years now. I had been learning with Zhenevere online for at least a year and a half before I worked with her in person in Costa Rica and New Mexico last year. This means (amongst other things), that I have only ever been a student of Zhenevere’s since the defamation attempt, and have slowly unravelleda little of what this has meant for her and her student body these past years. It is a horrible thing, this attempt to defame someone - anyone. I am also angry and tired, because this project hurts everyone involved, and is the opposite of healing. The only thing that this world needs is healing, not more violence, and yet sometimes we end up perpetuating violence because of our own woundedness.

Diane Chase

Student since 1995

July, 2024

One of the rarest occasions in a person’s lifetime is to encounter brilliance, compassion, humor, wisdom, as well as deepest trust and admiration in another person. This is the case with my relationship with Zhenevere Sophia Dao with whom I have had the privilege of studying since 1995 when I met her as a teacher of Qigong and Tai Chi in Taos, NM. Ever since those beginning days of her teaching career, when I knew her as Daniel, I continue to be inspired by her creative genius. Those many years of study and training are an essential part of what buoys my life’s waves, my awareness and well-being. I attest and stand by my experience of Zhenevere as the most trustworthy and forthright of persons, and I know her teachings, speech, actions and demeanor to be of the highest caliber of integrity. Her presence is very magnetic and can fill a room or an auditorium with her eloquence and creativity and philosophical discourses and sharing of personal, meaningful life experiences. I have witnessed the evolution of this amazing person in so many ways and always, always, I know her to inspire so many people over the years with her deeply rooted teachings, instilling of trust, safety and compassion and understandings of the enormity of what it means to be human.

Sophie Burns

Student

July, 2024

Zhenevere’s teachings and transmissions have a unique ability to both call me forth to rise in action and responsibility and to tenderly reach back to the most hidden parts of myself, swaddling them in hope and the sweet nectars of truth. I have encountered few embodiments, teachers, orators, or stewards of life of the caliber that Zhenevere represents, and she so generously shares herself. It is an honor to study with her, to share space with her, to walk this earth knowing she too is here. Knowing she too feels the immensities of this life and participates in the romance of being is inarticulably reassuring.

Ursala

Student

July, 2024

Zhenevere is a singularly extraordinary human being. It is a fact that I am able to even attempt to live in this world authentically because of continual recourse to her philosophy and mythosomatic forms. I believe with all my heart that the world needs this work, but for its medicine to integrate, the eros of pedagogy must be taken seriously. In my experience, commitment to this work is transformational for the student who takes responsibility for the inspiration they feel surrounding it. Zhenevere teaches on how crucial this responsibility is over and over again and in her, the desire I possess for my life to be my own finds a true guide. Over the past three years, this recognition has brought me relief, joy and endless humility. I am most grateful for and to her.

Danielle

Stech-Homsy

Student

July, 2024

Zhenevere Sophia Dao is an essential luminary is these fundamentally fractured times, shining her very clear light on an experience we all have, but can rarely name with confidence - the internal separation of our being. She works tirelessly and in specificity with a true gift for language and mytho-poetic movement forms, to teach a way of healing this core rift, brought on by the guiding themes, and failures, of our civilization. She marries a deep love of western romantic tradition with decades of study in Taoist practice and philosophy, but what results is beyond tradition, it is the recognition of human inheritance itself and the technical means to engage with it. With tender openness and an ever mindful approach to her diverse student body, Zhenevere guides without contrivance or condesension, sharing from personal experience and enabling her ideas to find their own rootedness in one’s own experience. The great potential of her teachings is the retrieval of something essential, but almost forgotten: the miracle - and great task - of being a human in form.

Sherry Lewis

Student

July, 2024

As a Licensed Professional Counselor, working in the field for over 30 years, I've also studied with Zhenevere since 2019. I've found her work not only consistent, but insightful and leading edge with other training including trauma, nervous system healing, grief, shame and much more. Zhenevere takes any of these subjects to a profound depth that is uncommon. In my interactions and observations she has been exquisitely respectful, kind and ethical. Her work is a voice for sanity in this crazy world.

Kati Standefer

Student

April, 2023

The practices channeled and refined by Zhenevere, and the philosophies developed and expressed by her, are essential medicine for the culture and crises we are collectively living through. They have been transformative in my own life whenever I am brave enough to engage with them.

I have read the defamation testimonials. As a devoted student specifically of the Eros work between 2019 and 2021, I was in some of the rooms written about. I can state with clarity and peace that NEVER did the environment feel exploitative or unsafe or salacious. I formerly worked as a sexual health educator and currently help people write stories of trauma, so I have a tight radar for situations of disempowerment or mistreatment of this kind. Instead, our eros intensives felt warm, vulnerable, connective like I'd rarely experienced while also challenging in the way of a tonifying bitter medicine (I did a lot of necessary crying--and laughing--and uncomfortable reckoning--in those rooms). Zhenevere taught us to see each other and ourselves more truly and provided a space to encounter ourselves, others, and the world through exercises that were embodied but explicitly consensual and regulated.

Willa Roberts

Zhenevere's

Current Partner

December, 2022

I am Willa, and I am Zhenevere Sophia Dao’s current girlfriend of 1 ½ years; as of the publication of this testimonial in December of 2022, I have been her dear friend and artistic collaborator for over 3 years. Firstly, it is an honor to write alongside Therese Wolfe’s testimonial, for Therese and I share the same outrage at the attempt, by a few people, most especially Zhenevere’s recent ex-partner, to sully her reputation and to “destroy [her] life.” Therese and Zhenevere had a most beautiful, monogamous relationship for nearly 12 years, after which they carefully forged a dedicated friendship, which continues to this day, a 22-year relationship the depth of which is unique in all my experience, and which I admire greatly. After the incident with Zhenevere’s recent ex-partner, which spurred the need for this testimonial, and which I will describe in detail, Therese and I, having never met before, spoke on the phone for hours, across distances of space and time, in order to support each other and Zhenevere in the face of this incomprehensible vindictiveness. I am so grateful to Therese, and for her unflagging love of Zhenevere.

Therese Wolfe

Zhenevere's

Former Partner;

friend of 25 years

June, 2021

Let me begin by stating that I am very angry, outraged at the ludicrous, harmful, damaging and hurtful falsifications and outright lies being written, on an anonymous website, by certain persons, against Zhenevere Sophia Dao. In my opinion, the anonymity of these allegations is irresponsible and indicative of a total lack of accountability. I pray my testimonial takes all doubt out of anyone’s mind as regards this slander and libel.

I am Zhenevere Sophia Dao’s longest intimate companion. We were romantically together for nearly twelve years, from late 1999–late 2010, and we remained, and remain, deepest friends, until this very moment—a 22 year ongoing friendship. Having literally lived with her for eleven years, in America and in Italy, I simply can no longer sit by in pained silence in the wake of her defamation.

Monica Collu

Student

January, 2023

Hello everyone, my name is Monica and I want to give my testimony on this site to confirm the moral integrity of a person I met as Maestro Daniel, who is now Zhenevere Sophia Dao. (I am writing as an Italian, using a translator.) [She] and [her] teaching left a beautiful memory in me. [She] taught many years ago in Italy, precisely on a small Tuscan island, the Island of Elba. [She] left a very strong memory in all [her] pupils and a great sadness in our hearts when [she] left. For years I've tried to get in touch to continue learning tai chi, but it has never been possible. I was very impressed by [her] story, and [her] transformation.

Alexandra W

Student

May, 2022

Aloha, I had a strange urge today to look up what was happening in the mogadao community as its been some years since I have been in New Mexico to practice. What I have come across here has made me feel compelled to add to the testimonials of the absolute safety that was held in my time in practice there. First I have to say, thank you Zhenevere for clarifying this. It would have broken my heart to have checked into the community only to have heard that yet another spiritual guide had fallen to the same predictable traps of sex scandal. I probably would not have researched it more, as I have become sadly accustomed to seeing the falls of those entrusted to guide the seeking. I’m sorry that I likely would not have looked further, as I have grown weary of having to grapple with many of my teachers and guides committing the most heinous types of abuses. So by responding you are also preserving the strength of what I learned from my limited time with you.

Sunny Smyth

Teacher

May, 2021

From the moment I stepped into my first MogaDao class with Zhenevere eleven years ago, I knew I had found what my soul had been praying for: a careful, somatic practice of qigong and yoga that was infused with a coherent philosophy that would fully engage my intellect and spirit. From a young age I had been searching for sincere teachings that would integrate the power of my sexuality with my spiritual yearning. In Mogadao I found a practical methodology embedded within a unique atmosphere of both safety and exploration that enabled me to become more sensitive and sensually alive while connected to my inner truth.

Antonella Nardi

Student

June, 2022

Hello, I’m an Italian student/practitioner of Mythosomatic yoga, qigong, Daosim and Post-Daoist philosophy and Jing Retrieval for over 12 years, with the teaching of maestra Zhenevere, and thanks to her I can say that this has deeply changed my life and has given me the hope of a new world that is still possible! My experience in these years, also of sincere friendship with maestra Zhen, has enriched me in soul and spirit. The sacredness of the practice continuously supports me in my life,—also if it is 10 years since our maestra returned to Italy (after having spent 3 years with her in Italy). I just have to say thanks so much to our maestra for her dedication in teaching—serious and unique—and, with deep gratitude to maestra Zhen, I leave these few words to describe to all of you what my heart feels right now! An embrace for all, from Gubbio, Italy.

Thomas Jaggers

Teacher

I first began my study of taiji, qigong, and Traditional Chinese Medicine in England in the mid-1990's. Over the years I studied with various teachers, but never stuck with any of them. Without being able to articulate it, I always felt there was some depth and some deeper purpose to the practices that was missing. I met Zhenevere in 2012 when a friend recommended that I attend a men's workshop. Before signing up for the workshop, I went to a class at the Railyard to make sure that I felt the teacher was of integrity and had something to offer. From that first class I had no doubt - she was of the utmost integrity and most certainly had something to offer. What I had been missing in all my previous years of study and practice was present, and abundantly so.

Sherry Lewis

Student

I was beautifully surprised and brought more alive, brimming with joy after my first classes with Zhenevere. I felt like I'd come home to something I didn’t realize I was longing for; didn’t know existed. It felt magical and spoke truth to my body and heart.

The profound movements filled with archetypal wisdom, attuned to the body’s inner rhythms, fed my spirit while strengthening my body. The somatic shifting deep within leaves me more whole and in tune with my authentic, divine self. After decades of other personal growth; (physical, spiritual, psychological) Zhenevere's teaching now takes me further, in profundity and life-filling practice as it asks me to go deeper into my internal truth of who I am, what I’m here for, and how to live that truth honestly, with compassion and giving the gifts I was born for.

Eve Bradford

Teacher

The truth is really quite simple: I am more truly myself, and more fulfilled to be so, because of
MogaDao and the careful, care-filled guidance of Zhenevere Sophia Dao.

When I first came to MogaDao for a week long immersion, I was in a uniquely difficult, bordering
on crisis, place in my life. As I began practicing this Qigong, I could palpably feel trauma and
grief metabolizing in my body. By the end of the week,

Jaye Marolla

Teacher

My first experience of Zhenevere Sophia Dao, preceded her physical body, like so many others called to this tradition, and was initiated by my preliminary study of Qigong, afforded by a student's son who had studied with Zhenevere. The practices stayed with me, incredibly, for 14 years, until I had the opportunity to move to Santa Fe and begin study with Zhenevere in person. I knew through my very first conversation with Zhenevere that I had found a phenomenally unique individual, who encompassed an unparalleled and diversified knowledge of rigorous physical practice, original philosophy, embodied mysticism and deeply held integrity.

A. G.

Student

Real people don't fit on pedestals...where imperfections, guilt and limitations are unknown obstacles...real people wobble, tremble, make mistakes...and take a lifetime if necessary to know what their heart beats for... we are all flesh and blood, and we all seek an oasis in the deepest desert that lives in us, to cure our own thirst...we search for answers, and there are still those who are searching for the questions, knowing how challenging the enigma of Life is. Sometimes in the most distant and unlikely fountain the memories awaken, the paths narrow, and the mathematics of life that seemed to us a difficult equation to solve, becomes light and clear, and the keys begin to appear, opening doors to an inner autonomy, freedom and responsibility.

Carl Baccellieri

Teacher

My experience of practicing in the vast techne of MogaDao, of studying the emerging philosophy of post-Daoism, and of training personally with Zhenevere Sophia Dao has been transformational in my life. I’ve become more centered in my own authenticity; I’ve cultivated a nuanced and embodied self-awareness; I’ve come to see through limitations and into possibilities I’d nearly given up on. Have I been stretched outside of my comfort zone? Yes. Thankfully. And always within an atmosphere of encouragement to answer the call to become, in this brief and precious life, the human I feel I was born to be.

Ananda Zambrano

Teacher

Regarding the allegations against Zhenevere, I cannot but fall on my own experience at Mogadao and personal interactions with her. In 2019 there were multiple classes offered every day, at least 5 days a week for the entire year, taught by Zhenevere - I attended every single one of them. Throughout the whole year, my body would be taken over by an overwhelming feeling of being at the right place at the right time - I will never forget that new sensation of trusting myself so thoroughly. The orienting experience of coming back to myself as well as the disorienting experience of realizing I had forgotten myself in the past and I would continue to be disoriented as I brought my head to my body and heart. This experience would become a recurring phenomenon throughout my time at Mogadao, the reason I moved to Santa Fe.

Diane Chase

Teacher

Today, as I was preparing the paperwork to offer Mogadao Qigong classes at a local Senior Fitness Center a huge wave of continual gratitude came over me as I realized yet again how beneficial have been my 25 years of Qigong studyand training with Zhenevere Sophia Dao. My life has been completely inspired from our first encounter in Taos in 1995 to the present day of continued studies.

SueJ

Teacher

I began to study qigong with Zhenevere in 2005, in a precursor to today's school. When that school concluded, she asked us as a student body that if any of us were planning to continue the work, to continue to practice not because of her, the teacher, but because of the practices themselves. The practices have evolved into the richness of MogaDao Post-Daoist techne and philosophy. Zhenevere remains a focused, patient, and compassionate teacher. Even as the techne have multiplied and become more challenging to the body or the psyche, Zhenevere has created within class space and within workshops a respectful and safe container in which to make those personal inward or outward journeys.

Don Freeman

Teacher

I have known Zhenevere as a teacher since 2004, when I first began studying Morning Medical Qigong and Tai Chi in Portland, Oregon. I went on to attend almost every class that she taught from 2017 to 2020, including the Guan Teacher Training Program. The training at the MogaDao Institute was one of the most significant and meaningful periods of my life in terms of helping me to explore my life and relationship to my body so that I could find my own way. The classes in yoga, qigong, martial arts, poetry, meditation, sexuality, and philosophy were professional, intellectual, and physically demanding while always being conducted in an atmosphere of safety and integrity.

Willow Ruth

Teacher

I moved to Santa Fe in 2018, quite frayed from un-healed developmental and biographical traumas, low self-esteem, and a desperation to feel and be fed by my own life force and passion. Within a month of arriving, fortuitous winds swept me through the doors of the Mogadao institute. Meeting Zhenevere Sophia Dao and the teachings of Post-Daoism came as a surprise; I wasn’t looking for a teacher and I didn’t know how much my soul needed this intellectual, spiritual, and physical challenge. As a counseling/psychology graduate student, I fell in love with Five-Realms theory and this cyclical, elemental way of approaching pathology and harmony. Post-Daoism also offered me a unique lens through which to understand trauma and the myriad ways we become disconnected from our life force energy. Through devoted practice to the various Mogadao techne, I’ve been on a profoundly embodied journey of rebuilding the connection to my own procreative power.

Brian Roberts

Teacher

I stumbled into MogaDao at the beginning of 2019 during a deep depression—wrestling with debilitations from Lyme's disease (fatigue, nerve damage, brain fog)—disoriented in life. Years of spiritual study and practice seemed to have abandoned me in my crisis... even leaving me feeling ashamed of having the illness. Somehow, I had failed.

My first visit to MogaDao was a lecture on sexuality by Zhenevere. By the end of the class, I was awake in my soul. Zhenevere's ability to unwind the troubled territory of sexuality and spirituality filled me with hope. The clarity of what sexuality is with respect to the soul—coming from a transgendered women—allowed me to believe in something more than my cultural, bipolar view of puritans verses pornography (neither one felt right).

Mae Newcombe

Student

I first met Zhenevere Sophia Dao in the fall of 1997 right after I had moved from San Francisco to Taos, a casualty of the corporate world and on a search for something I could feel good about. I didn’t have the words for it then, but I was trying to find my heart and soul. I first met Zhen as Daniel Villasenor, an English teacher at UNM-Taos. Soon after, I learned she was also a Qigong teacher. I had no idea what that was.

I knew from our first phone call, when I inquired about her English classes, that something was different about her, and that I felt deeply seen during that phone call, even though we had not even met. Then her qigong classes rocked my world.

Chris Keller

Student

Zhenevere has shown me how to make my life so incredibly worth living. I have learned from her how to be a decent, kind and loving human being to a degree that I did not know existed before she showed me. Through her teachings she has shown me the imperative importance of how to not forsake how much we all truly need connection and one another; human-to-human and human connected to our Mother Earth. Zhenevere has shown me what a woman standing in her inviolable power looks like—Feels Like—and IS. She has graciously taught me how to whole heartedly embrace the paradox alive within me. Her teachings have liberated my life. Truly. I now, long to make love to my life and longingly anticipate my life making love to me. She has taught me how to be a decent, authentic human being who is not scared of her shadow, but rather embraces it with wide swept arms. I am now; thanks to her, a person - decent and true, who wants to LIVE a life worthy of the gifts that a sacred life brings. I wish to walk a life connected, intimately, with the sacredness of ALL.

David Borton

Student

I first became aware of MogaDao in 2017, enrolling in a depth sexuality series for male-identified people, who happened in this case to be all cisgender. I have lived a sheltered life in this dimension, so at first I had some questions and hesitation about “what goes on in there.” But my worries quickly evaporated as I found that teacher Zhenevere Sophia Dao, and her students, who were all men of rare integrity, intentionally maintained a relaxed environment free, of any kind of pressure to say or do anything. This class was of great value to me. I still have a keen interest in MogaDao’s Depth Sexuality work and have participated in various intensives and classes, but I have branched out into the other MogaDao “techne” which all feed each other in a well-balanced orchestration. I have derived particular benefit from the Qigong, Yoga, and martial arts practices. I have always been interested in mysticism, comparative religion and philosophy, and I find the thinking and methods to be sensible, insightful, fresh and profound. And they are inspiring!

Emilie Brough

Student

“ How am I to train the Power in me”
Chuang Tzu—The Inner Chapters

I was fortunate to study qi gong, depth sexuality, yoga and meditation with Zhenevere Dao while the Mogadao Institute was still held in the Railyard Performance Center. Not only did these practices regulate my physical health but they deepened my abilities as an acupuncturist to see and treat my most complex patients. Most memorably, Zhenevere gave a definition of illness as “the death of unconscious health” in a workshop that I have since shared in countless encounters with both patients and students in my integrative palliative care clinics and trainings.

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