My name is Denny, and I am privileged to know and experience Be Activated at such an early stage of my life
The story has 2 parts, first is the encounter with Be Activated and the young Doug on the USB, and the second is what happened after attending courses in person a year later.
It was days after Liverpool vs Real Madrid, 2018 European Champion League final.
One of my former teammates from college posted a question on Facebook regarding the warm-up drills Gareth Bale did during the match. (Bale is an elite star, and during the match, he went on as a substitute to score a bicycle kick) I got interested and went for google to find out it is something called RPR, widely used by athletes among US. When I dig deeper, I discovered it has been developed by Douglas Heel. The interesting part was even though I meticulously examine the website (DouglasHeel.com), I still had no clue what it was about. So I went for youtube, at which I saw some crazy things, flexibility increased for 50 degrees after less than a minute rubbing of ribs. That was almost scandalous in the perspective of a newly graduated physio. But since Bale did score an amazing bicycle kick, and I follow the principle of “knowing before judging”, I gave it a try.
I was lying on my bed, rubbing my ribs and sternum according to the video, suddenly some strange sensation felt during my first breath, like an electricity current from my spine all the way down to my broken right ankle, following a wave of coolness and breeze. After few minutes, I got off my bed walking only to find out that the swelling around my ankle has decreased significantly, and the mobility I had was somehow better than the past five years. I was shocked and intrigued.
After the incident, I kept trying the technique on myself, and after days I decided to attend the course in person only to discovered Douglas had just left Asia. So I bought the USB course instead. I watched the course while experimenting on myself and my client at the same time, and saw lots amazing things since it started from me, let’s say my ankle has significantly improved, I can play an intense futsal game without the price of “swelling for a week”, now it take maybe 30 mins to few hours for the swelling and throbbing to subside.
And then came the course.
I didn’t experience the mind-blowing ” oh my G” situation due to my one year experience practising the USB course, but I did have lots of questions. But Douglas didn’t answer them all. Actually he only answered few, and put me on the table to experiencing instead of explaining.
After the courses I felt reborn both physically and psychologically, with clearer ideas of what Be Activated is about and also an urge to explore the infinite possibilities, like a kid, everything is new and fascinating to the “new me”.
Now, a year after attending the course, I have grown from a kid to a teenager again. (of course, I mean what I felt) My body and mind have been reconnected, I have done things I would like to do but never had the courage before(asking a girl out during another workshop only to get her angry by asking questions about Psoas), and also saw the “life-changing” effect Douglas always talked about during the course, and experiencing the joy and happiness of doing my practice (activation) like I never have before.
I have always been a smart yet wayward kid among the class, I have a feeling that we as physio, collecting one technique after another yet without knowing how and when to apply which. It is like having a toolbox but without the guideline or philosophy to use it, so physios just take the one most likely to work to apply, and if not, take the next one, until it does something.
We try too hard to fix the problem, but unable to explain the most important question, why. Why does it happen?
For me, Be Activated is the best answer so far, it is simple with lots of ambiguity and space for further details, but at the same time provide the best explanation to all the pain, dysfunction, diseases, and the rest. In Be Activated I find the philosophy I am looking for, I am able to do the work, use different tools or technique according to the philosophy.
Human body taught by the school as segments and parts, but now IÂ see the human body as one beautiful creation.
And the most important of all, I find the fun and happiness in almost every perspective of my life by doing activation on myself and others.
This is my journey so far, and I am still experiencing and learning new things from the world as well as my body every day.
So I guess I am going to the uncharted land with curiosity and courage, knowing that everything would be fun and exciting.