Personal Development

Healing the healer

Are you a caretaker? Are you at least partially responsible for someone else’s health, happiness, and peace on a daily basis? Chances are the answer is yes.

Mike Maple/The Commercial Appeal

Being a caretaker can be part of your career—as a nurse, teacher, or social worker to name just a few—or part of your lifestyle—as a spouse, parent, and increasingly as a son or daughter—or even be a part of your personality.

While being a caretaker is wonderful, all too often the last thing that gets accounted for is the condition of the caretaker him or herself.

Many of the individuals who find their way to Dahn Yoga Centers are caretakers. Oftentimes they have come with the realization that after years of trying to help their families, friends, coworkers or clients, they themselves are somehow lacking in health, happiness or peace.

Often these individuals have noticed mental and emotional symptoms such as anxiety and depression, or they have been diagnosed with what are still mysterious conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, or they simply have the sense that, despite their sincere efforts to love and care for those around them, something is missing.

When you start taking class at Dahn Yoga one of the first things you will notice is the emphasis to ‘focus on yourself.’

Focussing on yourself is an essential part of Brain Education—the process of awakening greater mastery of the brain and all its functions, including those for self-healing. At first it may seem unnatural or even ‘selfish’ to focus on yourself, but soon you will appreciate the class as a time to reflect on, relax and rejuvenate your mind and body.

Have you noticed the instructions on an airplane, “In the event of an emergency please secure your own oxygen mask before attempting to help those around you who may need assistance,”?

Or have you ever heard the saying “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll be able to eat for a lifetime,”?

Or how about Mohandas Ghandi’s famous quote, “Be the change that you want to see in the world,”?

These three different pieces of wisdom relate to the truth that it is through ourselves that we help others. First we need to make sure our own health and happiness is sustainable. Beyond that, we need to help others become self-sustaining rather than dependent on our help. Finally, in order to honestly communicate what it is that we truly want, we need to become the very change that we want to share.

This ‘win-win’ principle becomes fundamental to sustaining (or surviving!) the energetic responsibilities of taking care of others. Some people say all healing is self-healing. So if you find yourself feeling burnt-out or your condition compromised please take a deeper look at what you need in order to be happy, healthy, and peaceful. Because healing, like life, is a marathon rather than a sprint!

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30
Apr 11

Saving money starts with your good health.

Many of us have heard the saying “Health is Wealth.” But have you ever been guilty of putting aside the things that you know are good for your health because of not enough time and money?

In an online article entitled “Five of the Worst Ways to Save Money” on Moneyning.com, the number 1 worst way to save money is Neglecting Your Health.

Obviously, most of the time we don’t think about it as ‘neglecting our health.’ We often say… “I’ll do it when I have more time,” or “I want to take care of myself but I have bills to pay,” or ”My condition is not THAT bad, I’ll be ok.”

In a sense, all of these are true. We are often limited in terms of time and money, and it may seem that doing something to ‘feel better’ is a luxury rather than a necessity.

But the above article points out that discounting the value of our health in the long run can cost a great deal more time and money than what it takes to stay healthy through good diet and exercise. Lower working productivity, increased pain, fatigue or depression are just some of the possible long-term effects that come from ‘putting off’ doing something to feel better. And the longer these symptoms persist, the harder they may be to correct.

When someone decides to try a class at the Dahn Yoga center, they often come after some signal or event in their life. It can be as dramatic as being fired from a job, ending a relationship or losing a loved one, or as mundane as noticing a few more aches and pains in the body. Whatever the reason, the impulse to do something to feel better is an important one, and it’s worth listening to that voice in your head that says “I should really do something about this.”

If your time or your money are limited, try to find the way to balance your ‘outside’ responsibilities with your ‘inside’ ones- specifically your health and peace of mind. Treating health and happiness as responsibilities rather than luxuries is an important part of moving in a positive direction, and ultimately, maintaining your quality and length of life.

So the next time you’re faced with the decision of whether or not to spend time and money for your health, make your condition a priority. Find a way to take at least a small step forward, even while you manage the other responsibilities in your life. The choice between a small step and no step can make all the difference in the world!

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29
Apr 11

Choosing sunshine on a cloudy day…

According to meteorologist Tom Skilling of WGN in Chicago, we are on pace to have the cloudiest April in 118 years. With that comes a couple of things- rain, cooler temperatures, and for many people, an increased sense of fatigue and depression.

Of course, everyone can react differently to the weather. Some people seem to love nothing more than a rainy day. I myself enjoy thunderstorms, especially on a hot summer night. But extended grey cloud cover and rainy weather seems to get many people down.

This brings up the question, ’just how much depends on the weather?’ Or more generally, are we predominately influenced by outside factors—environmental and social—or can we choose our own feelings and outlooks? And how can we better create our state of mind the way we want?

Dahn Yoga classes incorporate exercises like stretching, breathing, core strengthening, and energy meditation to develop more ‘energy’ connection. Energy is the thing that connects the physical body with the non-physical mind. In fact, ’Dahn’ can literally be translated to mean ‘Energy,’ so the whole Dahn Yoga practice is in a sense designed to strengthen the energy, or mind-body, connection.

By strengthening this energy connection it becomes easier to connect our thoughts and intentions with a corresponding feeling. For example, let’s say I have had conflicts with coworkers in the past. I know that getting upset does not help the situation, it only makes things worse and it actually puts me in danger of getting fired! Intellectually, I know I should try to remain calm and in control, but my ability to do this in a moment of conflict depends on whether I can watch my feelings and choose the one that I want, even when the external situation would otherwise make me upset. It is this watching power, or awareness, that is developed through the Dahn Yoga energy practice.

So if you’re looking for more power to choose a positive frame of mind, try a class at the Dahn Yoga Center. Because in life, as we know all too well in Chicago, we may be waiting a long time before we finally get that sunny day!

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25
Apr 11

Finding common ground from the inside out.

In an article entitled “The Science of why we don’t believe Science” Chris Mooney explains some of the social and psychological reasons why people seem to hold onto their thinking about the world even in the face of ‘damning’ scientific evidence to the contrary.

I found this an interesting discussion of the controversy around a wide range of topics, from global warming to President Obama’s religion and birthplace.

Briefly, the article points out that in the face of contrary opinions or evidence people often become even more entrenched in their point of view because reasoning is closely tied to emotional reactions. Having one’s beliefs threatened, or seemingly threatened, by new evidence elicits a fight-or-flight response not just in the physical body but also in thoughts and emotions. The result? Increasingly polarized opinions and arguments such as those that surround most of today’s hot-button topics.

I believe the abovementioned article provides some insight into the difficulty of reaching concensus on any controversial topic, wherein individuals or groups become increasingly irrational or defensive in their arguments.

How, then, can we go about making more peace and understanding so that we can move forward to greater prosperity?

In thinking about this question I was reminded of Dahn Yoga’s Shim Sung workshop (also known as Finding True Self or Self-Discovery Workshop).

An essential part of the Shim Sung workshop is the realization that “I am not my thinking, I am not my emotion, but they are mine.” This taking-ownership of our thoughts and emotions, as opposed to reacting without awareness, is an essential first step in being able to find common ground with those who think or feel differently from ourselves.

Often times our own unconscious judgments make us feel stressed even when intellectually we see no reason to be upset. This unconscious stress influences our emotions and reasoning, making patience and understanding increasingly difficult.

One of the key aspects of the Shim Sung workshop and all Dahn Yoga programs is awakening to the information that is contained within our bodies. By calming the mind and using the body, we gain greater awareness of our feelings and thoughts, and with that greater power to choose which ones to act on.

These days we have a world of information literally at our fingertips, but utilizing and sharing this information for positive purposes will require the ability to control our thoughts and emotions. As mentioned in the article above, merely presenting evidence to counter someone else’s opinion usually doesn’t change that person’s mind. Only by finding the common ground, the “True Self” that we all share, can we begin to understand and trust each other enough to overcome our own doubts about all things new and different. That, I believe, is a great skill to practice.

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31
Jan 11

Korean Tai Chi gave me Pain Relief

There is so much to say about Dahn Yoga and Dahn Mu Do, that I have to share my own story. I now teach Dahn Yoga everyday and find so much satisfaction in it, because I can see the benefits that I received ripple out to everyone else too. My own story is one that I hope will give people hope who have tried different therapies or treatments and nothing has worked.

I used to be a hardcore snowboarder and with that came some nasty spills and wipeouts. Although I had almost broken my neck, had a few concussions and generally rode as hard as I could, I really only had one complaint. I had a pretty nagging tailbone injury that never seemed to go away. I went to see a chiropractor, and I saw massage therapists, and also alternative therapists, and never experienced any changes.

It wasn’t until I began to practice Dahn Mu Do, the traditional form of Korean Tai Chi, that I noticed something different. In fact, it happened so softly, that I recall walking around one day, perhaps 6 months after I began training, and saying to myself, ” Didn’t I used to have pain in my tailbone?” I was so shocked, because I didn’t even notice when it had gone away! I was thrilled as you can imagine, but I noticed some other wonderful things that I didn’t foresee as well. The next winter when I went back to the mountains to snowboard, I was in a very different mind set and mentality about riding.

I no longer gravitated to the board park, or bombed the hill as fast as I could, trying to break the sound barrier. Through my practice of Dahn Mu Do, I began to noitice that I could FEEL my body so well, and through the curves and carves, I could gather energy in my body through rhythmic, flowing motions aligning with the snow. I realized that there are certain rules that govern nature, and when I align myself with these rules, I can go faster, with more connection and with more joy than ever before. I was no longer skimming over the snow like a hockey puck, I was one with the mountain, with nature and with the flow of life.

I can’t tell you how wonderful snowboarding became after I deepened the connection to myself. You can call it maturity, but I give the credit to my Dahn Mu Do practice, which taught me how to become one with myself and with my energy.

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