Dana Almo
I call them cages.
Most of us don’t know they’re there.
But the moment you see yours, something shifts.
“The level of vulnerability and honesty in this memoir is truly rare.
It feels like being part of the writer’s inner circle.
The book made me feel seen, understood, and hopeful.”
— Virag Barabas, Changemaker & Facilitator
I call them cages. And I found four.
The one that looks like safety.
The safe life you built that's quietly suffocating you. Everything looks fine from the outside — the career, the routine, the apartment. But inside, something stopped working, and the signs are no longer subtle.
You know what this feels like?
The one running the show from backstage.
The fears, masks, triggers, and beliefs shaping your behavior from the background. They keep you small. They keep you performing. And you don't even know they're there — until someone holds up a mirror.
What's hiding beneath the surface?
The one you didn't choose.
The reactive patterns running your life on autopilot. You keep ending up in the same place because the map was drawn before you could choose. Your mind does more of this to you than you'd think.
What if you could lead the moment instead of it leading you?
The one you've never questioned.
The reality you constructed without realizing it. Shaped by your early mentors, your environment, the media — a world that often pulls you to see through limiting lenses. What you think is "true" might just be a story.
What if reality is more flexible than you've been taught?
See the cage. Walk through. Find what's on the other side.
Start wherever feels right.
Breaking Cages
The Book
Part memoir, part guidebook. The raw story of leaving everything at 35 — three continents, 12,000 miles, and the invisible prisons I found along the way. Then the tools that helped me break them.
It’s not just a book to read — it’s an experience to walk through.
Read Breaking Cages →
What’s Inside
The Card Deck
48 cards. Each one holds a mirror and a key. Art, poetry, reflections — and a practical way to turn each insight into something real. I made it for myself first. Now it’s in the hands of women all over the world.
Pull a card. See what comes up.
Explore the deck →
D O O R S
The Room You Haven’t Entered
Three rooms. Twenty women. Amsterdam. The cages don’t just live in your head — they live in your body. DOORS is where you feel that, and where you walk through it.
Step inside →
My biggest worry as a young girl was that I’d turn into one of “those adults” — the ones drifting through life with no passion while time passes aimlessly.
Then I became one. Four years into a corporate career, after I’d mastered the presentations, hit the targets, and impressed the bosses, a ten-year-old girl inside me started asking me to wake up.
“Don’t live a life you’ll regret,” she’d say. “Stop wasting your time.”
So I bought a one-way ticket. One bag. No return date.
Stepping into the unknown was coming home.
A castle in France. Circling retreats in the Netherlands. Six months writing in LA and San Francisco. Then Costa Rica, where I met my partner at a beach party under a full moon — just before the world shut down.
Today I live in Amsterdam with my partner and our two kids. I’m still finding cages I didn’t know I’d built.
Read my full story →
“Reading Breaking Cages made me feel seen and less alone. Dana really draws you in and takes you along for the ride. It’s honest, true, and at times romantic and dreamy.”
“Dana shared her journey with vulnerability. The first part feels like having an intimate conversation with a friend, and the guidebook is a very useful learning tool.”
“The memoir is so magnetic that I couldn’t stop reading — you transported me to all those beautiful places around the world. Your exercises gave me new insights and I feel like I’ve cleared things that were still stuck.”
Walking Through is a community of women in the middle of something real. Sharing honestly. Seeing each other. That’s it.
Because the hardest part of transformation isn’t the breakthrough.
It’s the Tuesday after.
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It has been one month since embarking on a journey, most of which is unknown to me and is revealed while I’m on the move. A month during which I attended three unusual gatherings, each preparing me a little more for the next one, establishing a new pillar in my perception of the world and…
read moreI write like I talk — real, honest, sometimes funny, always from the inside of it. Short reflections on cages, courage, and the quiet work of becoming yourself.