Hi,
We live in tumultuous times. Maybe, like me, your body carries the headlines, the deadlines, and the quiet weight of caring for everyone else. If you feel like your inner landscape is “cluttered” - heavy, loud, or perhaps just a bit numb - you’re not alone.
There are a myriad of reasons why your body might be in survival mode. Maybe an accumulation of fitful nights of sleep over decades, perhaps a “big T” Traumatic event from the past, or even just existing in the modern world. Regardless of where your body’s chronic survival mode originates from, they all have one thing in common:
Survival mode is activated when you don’t have a choice.
While survival mode as an acute setting is necessary, as a long-term strategy it leaves you depleted. So how do you shift from surviving to thriving? At the root of all the various methods, it’s simple: you nurture your capacity to choose. However, simple is often not easy. So let’s help each other out.
In Chinese medicine, choice is governed by 魂 the Hún or your Ethereal Soul. The Hún is responsible for dreaming, imagination, direction, planning. It is the energy of wood growing toward fire (the sun, 神 the Shén, your most pervasive, universal, and refined spirit). Much like a tree growing in a mature forest, the surrounding diversity can help you make informed choices about the easiest path to a bright Shén: to thriving. You might copy an elder, or you might have a function that’s completely opposite (albeit symbiotic) with your neighbour. You may choose to grow vertically, laterally, or just hang out under the canopy for a while.
Nurturing your capacity to choose is a practice that is not just supported by community, but enriched by it. When storms come, choosing the company of others is a key to surviving the short-term so that you can thrive in the long-term. Should you be so lucky, making intentional choices - in community and over time - brings you to the practice of elder-hood. Not elder-hood as a stage to get to, but elder-hood as a living, growing body of wisdom that is alive right now in your cells. Ancestral wisdom.
So when the going gets tough, where are the spaces you find choice? It may be as small as choosing to breath in a particular way. Or lay your hand on the trunk of a tree. And if you’re in this thriving practice for the long-term… how are you choosing to be in community?
Thriving as practice is finding micro-moments of choice.
Thriving as a long-term practice is choosing community.
When you choose community consistently, you offload problematic ideas of “keeping it together” or being “perfect.” Because choosing community means showing up in all of your states. The joyful, the sad, the tumultuous... It’s in these steady, continual spaces of community connection that you/me/we choose to forge new pathways of trust, embodiment, and humanity in an unpredictable world.
Cheering on your choices,
Kevin
These events are no-to-low-cost; donation-based with all profits going to Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society. National Indigenous People’s Day is June 21 in Canada.
Thursdays in June 7:30-8:15am Pacific Time
Zoom in from anywhere
Keep it simple. 45 minutes to breathe into your body with meditative awareness that invites calm and connection. Light guidance, no theoretical instruction. All bodies welcome. No cost, but registration required.
June 19, 5:30-7:30pm
Hybrid: The Nest Clinic in Vancouver or online through Zoom
A seasonal gathering in support of community. Cosy up to mythology + kirtan with Kevin followed by snacks + connection with friends. No cost, but registration required.
Register for Community Gatherings Now
June 6, 1-4pm
Land Studio, Chilliwack, BC
Immerse yourself in the complimentary practices of qigong + yoga for an embodied understanding of how to access more energy (qi, prana). Work smarter, not harder, so that you can move through life with power + brilliance.
Aug 31 - Sep 5
Hollyhock, Cortes Island, BC
🐦 Earlybird + Scholarship rates available until June 1
Healing is Not a Solo Project
How we heal changes when we are in a relationship with others who truly see us. From August 31–September 5, we are bringing together three distinct lineages of care at Hollyhock:
Kevin Yee-Chan: Blending classical Chinese medicine, qigong, and somatic therapy to help you return to your innate healing nature.
Rachel Athey: A Registered Clinical Therapist with 20 years of experience in trauma-informed mental health and domestic violence counseling.
Winchester Victor: Combining over two decades of traditional community healing with massage and somatic trauma therapy.
Together, we offer a space that bridges the gap between clinical safety and spiritual depth. This isn’t just about yoga; it’s about having a team of experts hold a spiritually-informed container for your nervous system.
Next Step: Meet the facilitators and view the full 5-day itinerary at the link below
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