Chun
I then asked myself: How can I best support this vision and grow my soul? Because my vision overlapped so much with Dahn’s vision – in articulation, encouragement, values, organization and resources – it was natural for me to want to interact with Dahn instructors and members as often and intimately as possible. I finally admitted to myself that I had found my affinity community, indeed a new virtual family. My first phase of making this real and even routine was to volunteer at the Dahn Center, for many hours a week. The longer the working hours, the more varied the activities (from welcoming to healing and from teaching to cleaning), and the stronger my heart connection with members, the more I learned and grew in terms of my body’s vitality, mind’s range, and soul’s awareness.
My next step seemed natural: To make a bigger commitment to Dahn’s vision and my soul’s evolution by taking the training in Sedona to become a Myungsah Nim – which can be translated as New Human Leader or Bright Spiritual Teacher. This new Dahn rank created a class of leaders who help the staff and members at the centers, and in addition reach out to the community on Dahn’s behalf. The Myungsah Training deepened my connection to Dahn in terms of becoming a disciple of Dr. Ilchi Lee, supporting the global vision of the organization as the basis of my action plan, and following the set of Tao principles as my guiding life philosophy. I was happy to accept these three treasures. In practice, I have found them to be profound forces in strengthening my will power and spiritual evolution. In returning to my region, I found myself more fully integrated into the Dahn leadership and taking on more responsibility regarding programs and projects. The synergy between what I was giving to and getting from the Dahn community had increased significantly.
The next step on my Dahn path came soon and seemed so right: I accepted an offer to work full-time at the Bethesda Center. In a tangible way, Dahn and I were making formal commitments to each other. A few years before, after retiring from three decades in university bureaucracies, I had said that I would never work full time again. Yet, here I was at Dahn – working, volunteering and training – up to 12 hours a day, and parts of weekends too. And loving it. I gladly revised my biography to feature my Dahn job responsibilities: supporting members’ holistic growth, teaching yoga to adults and children, training instructors and new employees, healing members, conducting energy check-ups and new member orientations, arranging organizational alliances, and developing marketing-related documents. Working full time at a Dahn center enables me to help grow the souls of its members by reducing their stress, facilitating their healing, opening their hearts, and awakening their souls. Whether teaching yoga classes, cleaning the center, speaking with members, or distributing brochures, I can keep my focus on being sincere and responsible. So much of the joy and fulfillment in my life comes from having worked at three centers so far. Getting to know a widening circle of staff and members has enriched my life and grown my soul.
My next growth experience came in the form of the 10-day Korea Meditation Tour. It exceeded my expectations in terms of pleasure, vitality and inspiration. Pleasure came from the smooth-run program, Korea’s cultural heritage, people’s warm hospitality, ruggedly beautiful landscape, and friendliness of 30 Dahn participants and dedicated staff. Vitality was heightened by creative, rigorous training exercises, made more relevant in the context of Korean culture and mountains. I felt inspired as I deepened my mind and heart’s connection to the historical source and traditional values of what Dahn is all about.
I now felt ready to participate in the six-day Chun Myung (Heavenly Light) Training. It was about getting to know deeply one’s soul, living according to its guidance, and coming to terms with life and death, which had long troubled me. I learned much about my essential spiritual nature. A major outcome of this program was my quieting a large portion of the chatter in my head, and even more importantly not speaking a lot of throw-away and distracting words to others. To mark the end of my ego-driven life up to now and the start of the soul-driven life for the rest of my days, I selected a new name: Chun Eum, meaning Heavenly Sound. Given my life’s orientation as a communicator, I shall strive to listen to heaven’s sound (inspiration, wisdom and insight) and speak with others from this place. Although okay with me if others still use my given name, Larry, I tell them that I would appreciate their reinforcement of my vision by calling me Chun Eum.
My two-year journey with Dahn has enabled me to live more fulfilled – with new training, health, work, vision and name. I have health and energy greater than when I was half my 62 years, the most peace of mind I have ever known, and an empowering vision of my contribution to the quality of humanity and the Earth for my remaining decades.