Changing Emotions Like Magic

While leaving a comment on another brainpeace blog by Crispina, I found myself starting to go on a long preachy tangent, so I decided to redirect my tangent to my own blog for proper treatment. I’ll try to be less preachy or teachy though.

As I was writing, I started to think about principles of ki energy that I’ve learned from my Dahn Yoga practice. When I started to learn them and, more importantly, actually experience them in my body, it was a real eye-opener for me. When I realized how much my thoughts and emotions were affected by energy, and that I can actually change them by changing my energy, I was so happy. Before that I had felt like my thoughts and emotions were basic parts of me that were difficult to change or control. I could control my behavior or expression of my thoughts and emotions, but not my internal experience of them–except maybe by getting away from them all through quiet alone time or reading or watching TV. I thought my issues were very real and that it took a lot of work to get through them.

But when I did ki energy exercises such as meridian stretching (do-in), vibration exercises of any kind, or especially yeondahn, my thoughts and emotions would change automatically. It felt like magic! It was like my whole perspective just shifted without my thinking about it or trying to do it. I suddenly looked at the world through different eyes–more positive, hopeful, and strong ones.

This experience was even more dramatic after longer trainings or after healing sessions. In those situations I was able to go deeper, change more of myself and my energy, and overcome many limitations. They offered me the time, space, and help to do deeper “cleaning” of my energy than I could in  70 minutes of a regular class. It was wonderful to take some extra time to focus inside myself to give myself whatever I really needed at that time.

From my training I learned how to watch my body, mind, and emotions as a detached observer. I also learned how to feel the ki energy flowing in my body. From my observations, I noticed that as energy circulated, if it hit a part of my body that had an energy blockage, it would create a phenomenon such as a thought, emotion, or physical sensation such as shaking or pain. If I was thinking a lot, I knew it was because there was a lot of energy in my head poking around and making thoughts come out. If I was emotional, I could sense the energy that wasn’t moving in my internal organs such as my lungs, heart, stomach, and liver, which tend to store emotional energy. If I had pain at a particular acupressure point while holding a posture, I knew energy was trying to push through a blockage there. Therefore, if I didn’t want the particular phenomenon I was experiencing, I could change it with techniques to release the energy that was stuck in that part of my body. No problem.

Another energy principle I learned from my training was that energy goes to wherever your mind focuses, whether it’s inside or outside of yourself. If you are focusing on your emotions, energy is going to go there. If you focus on a person or a task, energy will go there. If you focus on your feet, energy will go there. And your feet are the farthest point on your body from  your head and internal organs. So focusing on your feet is an easy way to feel clear and calm as you’re walking.

Another helpful place to focus is what is called your dahnjon in Dahn parlance. Your dahnjon is an energy center in your lower abdomen–two inches below your navel and two inches inside your abdomen from your abdominal wall. When you focus your mind and energy in your dahnjon, it is purified–like a furnace burning up old papers you no longer need. It’s the center where you mind can go to feel “centered,” if you know what I mean. With practice, you can actually keep one part of your mind there all of the time, while the rest of your mind is focused on people and tasks. That way you can be centered throughout your day without needing to do ki energy exercises every five minutes

To be continued… It’s time for lunch.