Daphne Cushnie attended the University Hospital of Wales (Cardiff) to study remedial gymnastics and recreational therapy, becoming state registered in 1981, and subsequently practicing in the National Health Service (NHS). In the 1980’s, she set up dance movement groups in the community, working with different client groups, including adults with learning difficulties, adults with profound multiple learning difficulties, post-natal classes, and creative movement classes for adults and children. During this period, Daphne studied with Rudolf Stanger, Jabadao, Rosemary Lee and Miranda Tufnell.

She attended the Laban International Summer School and began to develop her practice through an integration of approaches to dance and movement. In 1990 she became a state registered chartered physiotherapist specializing in neurology. She later completed an honors degree in performing arts, focusing her studies on such pioneering figures in the field of somatics as Charlotte Selver, Elsa Gindler and Moshe Feldenkrais. In 2000, she returned to work in the NHS in Kendal, Cumbria as a neurological physiotherapist, setting up a community dance group for people with Multiple Sclerosis in 2002, and another group for people with Parkinson’s disease in 2005.