Maria Thornton
Founder
What makes us unique is not our story—but how we choose to meet it.
My life has unfolded in fragments and chapters, each one shaping the work I do today. Through experience, I learned that none of the labels we carry truly define us—broken homes, broken relationships, broken seasons, broken identities. None of it is truly broken. What we often call broken is unfinished, asking to be understood, integrated, and repaired.
I have always been a creator. I love design, styling, fitness, and cultivating a healthy lifestyle—but what I am most passionate about is people. Healing. Understanding how we function as human beings through the body–mind connection: the brain, the nervous system, emotional regulation, and our relationship to ourselves and others.
For more than two decades, life in New York refined my resilience, perception, and ability to hold complexity. California later grounded me and gave me two beautiful children.
Becoming a mother cracked me open in the most honest way—requiring presence, humility, and discernment. It reshaped how I understand safety, leadership, and responsibility.
In 2008, I studied under the late Barry Green, PhD, founder of the Body and Mind College in San Diego. I was both a student and a client, immersed in therapeutic approaches including EMDR, somatic therapy, and body-based work. That chapter marked the beginning of the most meaningful internal shifts of my life.
Healing did not arrive quickly. It took years of unlearning, integration, and acceptance to arrive at peace.
“Healing is not linear—it is human.”
Alongside this work, I am a formal business owner. Building a venture from the ground up revealed my own capacity in a tangible way. Taking a vision from zero to a fully functioning business required discipline, resilience, and the confidence to lead through uncertainty. That experience deepened my self-trust, sharpened my leadership, and reinforced a truth I now bring into my work.
“Growth happens when accountability is met with acceptance, supported by commitment and self-awareness.”
About authntic
authntic was born from a deep sense of purpose and the pursuit of coming home to myself.
My professional training reflects both lived experience and evidence-based practice. I am a Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) practitioner, Elite Brain Health Coach, Therapeutic Yoga Certified Facilitator, and nervous-system-informed practitioner.
My work integrates neuroscience, subconscious re-patterning, and trauma-informed approaches—supporting individuals in understanding how their brain and nervous system shape daily life, decision-making, and long-term well-being.
This path is a calling—one I recognized quietly, long before I had language for it.
The work I do today is the natural convergence of experience, science, and a deep respect for the human capacity to adapt, heal, and evolve.
Your story will never define you.
It will show you where to go next.
Let it empower and illuminate the way forward—not hold you back.
Maria also shares personal reflections, transformation, and insights through the authntic blog.
Coming soon…