Dahn Yoga Tea Time (sharing is caring...or manipulation?)

After each Dahn Yoga session, a tea time is held with the instructor (aka, "master") and any students who hang around afterwards.

The tea time is a sharing and healing time that goes about 15 minutes. Depending on where the facility is, you are either led to a table or a tray is brought out with a kettle and small tea cups. The tea is incredibly delicious - nothing like I've ever had anywhere in the world. I wish I could buy the stuff in bulk! It tastes like a pleasant mix of ginseng, ginger, jujubes, and has a deep, woody aroma. Wonderful.

Around 3-10 people sit around the table or tray, and are instructed to sniff the aromatic tea to heighten our olfactory senses. Then we take sips and enjoy the complex flavors.

During this time, we share about how we felt during the Dahn session. Did anyone have any sharp pains? Experience any unusual or pleasant sensations? Able to reach and stretch further than usual? There was nothing creepy about the tea times, and I quite enjoyed them as they gave me a chance to meet and learn about my fellow students.

It was only the fact that the instructors take any negative information you share and end up using it against you in the future. For example, if you shared that you experienced greater knee pain when you held a certain pose, it's like that the instructor would eventually pull you aside and try to sell you supplementary training classes or healing sessions.

In a cult setting, it's IMPERATIVE to know that there is more going on behind the scenes than you think. I really hate to say this because it sounds incredibly cynical, but:

MOST OF THE TIME: People are not nice just for the sake of being nice.