I’m Dave Ursillo, a writer, 11-time author, Yoga Alliance certified yoga teacher (RYT-200) and professional storyteller. In my writings, workshops, online programs and teachings, I help everyday yogis, creatives and self-starters express themselves through their words, stories and daily practices. My life revolves around helping you thrive at the crossroads of “being your best Self” and making the world a better place.
I believe that everyone is capable of becoming a leader in one’s life, without conventional measures of career success like wealth, fame, acclaim, status or even followers. By sharing one’s own story, cultivating desires for a co-created future, and minding personal responsibility in deeds and words every day, we can each become a leader by example whose influence knows no limit.
In my past life, I was a political insider on a fast-tracked career path in the world of public service, writing policy reports at the White House Council of Environmental Quality in 2008 and helping run a Rhode Island state officeholder’s gubernatorial campaign in 2009. I dreamed of becoming a Presidential Speechwriter, and having my words recorded in history books.
But after working in 7 state and federal governmental offices over 8 years, I had fallen completely disillusioned to the world of politics. Ever since September 11, 2001, when I watched the Twin Towers fall from my high school library’s fuzzy television, all I wanted to do was help people: to channel my deep drive to give, serve, uplift and inspire into tangible outcomes that impacted lives for the better. Everywhere I looked in politics, I was told to wait my turn and to play the game - in an increasingly discontent, partisan, gridlocked system.
So I quit to live my leadership instead, with my love of writing to guide me.
Since abandoning my career path in 2009 to serve the world with my words, I’ve published over 435 essays on my online home, DaveUrsillo.com, while self-publishing 5 books since 2011 (and being published in 5 more). I’ve worked with more than 300 writers, professionals, change-makers and thought-leaders from 17 countries, while leading yoga classes and writing workshops on 3 continents.
My words and story have been seen across CBS News Sunday Morning, Psychology Today, INC., Forbes, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Zen Habits, and LeadershipNow Magazine, among more than two dozen others.
When I’m not conspiring change or developing learning programs, I spend my days drinking organic coffee, practicing headstands, and taking walks in the woods of Rhode Island. Born and raised small-town, I’m now an avid world-traveler and have visited 19 countries since 2013, including India, Turkey, Bosnia, Peru, Iceland and Costa Rica.
To learn more about my teachings and how we can work together, email me at
Hello@DaveUrsillo.com or sign up for my newsletter at
DaveUrsillo.com/newsletter. I’ll send you some of my most popular blog posts, a few stories from my travels, and even a free copy of one of my 5 books.