Having Donna Eden as My Mom by Dondi Dahlin
Featured in “InnerResources” magazine in 2010
Many people approach me and ask me
what it is like to have Donna Eden as my mom. They especially want to know what it was like for me and my sister Tanya while we were growing up. It is a difficult answer for us to give because she is the only mom we have had. To me and Tanya, Donna Eden was a normal mom. Today, as an adult, I know she was anything but normal. Growing up with lots of little friends, I did experience the “normal” moms at their houses. While we sat around their dinner table with rules of how to eat, when to eat, what to eat and what to say, when to say it and how to say it, I would sit silently and realize just how lucky I was. As I got to know the moms of my friends, I saw and experienced the differences between their mom and mine and would usually be very relieved when our playtime was over and I got to go home...the differences were vast. I still remember being about 6 years old at Heidi’s house, my best friend in the whole wide world. I liked Heidi but I missed my mom. I was crying and Heidi’s mom told me that if I opted to go home and cut the weekend short I would never be welcomed back in their home again. I remember briefly weighing the option and there being no contest. I wanted to go home and be with my mom, even if it meant never being allowed in Heidi’s house again. Throughout childhood, I met two different types of moms. The moms that were controlling, and demanded things a certain way in their homes. And, the moms that didn’t care where we were, what we did, how we behaved or what we said. Maybe it was because we were in the midst of the 1970’s...that ubiquitous “me” generation in Southern California, a place that couldn’t get more “me.” I certainly felt that as kids, we were hideously in the way of most of the moms lives, their men, their yoga classes, their EST parties and their existence. So, after playing at other kids homes, it was always refreshing to come home to mom...a non-traditional but totally present mom. I thanked my lucky stars that mom was our mom for so many reasons. Today, more than ever I know how lucky I am to have our mom. It is something that
Donna and Tanya in Pacific Beach, CA 1968 (Donna is pregnant with Dondi) Tanya and I talk about often. Growing up with mom was the best. There were so many things that made it a enchanted journey. Three of those things helped significantly shape who I am today. #1. Mom didn’t judge us. Whether is was because of religion, rules of the household or parents trying hard set a morale compass for their kids, there was a great deal of judgment and control in other households of kids my age. I cant say that while growing up, I ever remember feeling judged by my mom. I had the freedom to be myself, do as I pleased (as long as I didn’t intentionally hurt anyone or anything) and feel good about who I was. Mom gave us unconditional support. There was support in whatever Tanya and I wanted and needed to do and be and she would create experiences for us to flourish, even at a very young
age. When I was around 5 years old and Tanya was 8, mom would take us down to the train station where we lived in Del Mar, California. It was an Amtrak that would travel up and down 1,500 miles of coastline. Mom would get Tanya and I all dressed up with our little purses and she would put us on the train...alone! It was so exciting! We would hug and wave goodbye to mom and then we were off! We were riding the rails! Our destination could be San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, even Canada... there was no telling! We sat in our train seats, Tanya holding my hand and both of us looking out the window as the world went by...flowers, surfers, hills, canyons, the Pacific Ocean, rabbits, birds, people and places. About 35 minutes later we would come to our first stop...Oceanside, California. And, there would be mom waiting for us at the station, smiling and as excited to see us as we were to see her. We got off the train so happy to hug her and tell her all about our trip, as if we had taken a long journey around America! Travel was a big theme in our lives. There were numerous times when I would be sitting at my little desk with other 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders and there would be mom at the door of the classroom telling the teacher that we decided to go on a trip. I would run to mom and jump in the car. All of our bags were packed. We would pick up Tanya at her classroom and off we would go...usually up the California coast sleeping at beaches and in the towering redwoods. Mom made us keep up with our intellectual studies by keeping journals of our daily travels and we would learn math by budgeting our whole trip on $5 a day. That was a
lot of money to us. Tanya and I EACH received $5!! Even after buying our meals, snacks and postcards we were always proud that we had a little left over at the end of the day.
Dondi, Tanya and Donna together in 2007
Did mom know that because she believed we were strong and gave us opportunities to be independent, I became confident? Because I had unconditional support and mom believed in us, I in turn believed in myself. Is that where the root of self-confidence comes from? Does a child’s self-confidence initially stem from a parent or caretaker believing that the child is strong, good, smart and kind? I have been forced to ask myself this question in my career as a dance teacher. So many of my students ask me where my confidence as a woman comes from. It has not been easy to pinpoint. But, I have to suspect that it was born of my mom and dad believing in me 100%. Both of them always told me, “You can do anything you want. Don’t let anything ever stop you.” Plus, having wood element never hurts in the confidence department...
#2. Mom raised us healthy. When other parents were taking us and the other kids to McDonalds, mom was making homemade granola, baking sugarless chocolate, growing her own sprouts and giving us Bach Flower Remedies. She taught us that everything in the body is connected. I am sure the notion that everything in the body is connected sounds simple and probably even sounds trite to people who practice Energy Medicine. But, it is a fantastic and profound gift to teach a child. Also, it is an important lesson when we consider that we live in a country in which doctors still don’t honor the body as a web of connections, but instead separate parts and pieces that they have to find a problem with and then fix with medication. I remember the first time Mom ever ran my meridians. I was about 7 years old and we were staying with family on the Mendocino coast. Mom had just been to a “Touch for Health” workshop and finally found a system that interpreted what she always knew and felt. She excitedly came running in the door asking to run my meridians. I stood there and let her trace them in all of her jubilation. She then squealed, “How do you feel? Do you feel different? Isn’t it wonderful?” Honestly, I didn’t feel any different. I was already a high-energy, full-of-joy seven year old! I didn’t feel any different because I already felt great. However, it was the beginning of a journey for me. Because, as mom learned “Touch for Health” and talked about it out loud, she was teaching me that everything in the body is connected. She brought to my attention and pointed out that when I had a stomach ache I would then get cold sores. As I got older, she made me aware that when my liver was being taxed by poor diet or stress, I would notice my eyes hurting. And, when I was angry and frustrated my temples would be in pain near the gall bladder points. I am still blown away by these connections today. Just this last week was another epiphany for me. My 10 month old son, Tiernan became sick. Mom worked on his sweet, little rolypoly body. And, when she sedated Large Intestine acupressure points, his nose immediately cleared and he could breath easier. Immediately! It worked faster than popping a cold medication. His mouth closed and he finally fell to sleep after an hour of crying in pain and confusion. That is incredible to me and it
still makes me say, “wow!” I am almost 42 years old. It has been a long life of me being exposed to Energy Medicine and yet I am still in awe of it. #3. Mom taught us to trust. This is more difficult to write about because I still struggle with it today. I struggle with it everyday. Trust. My mom trusts everyone. She trusts that people are good...that all people are good. As a wood element, I am not even close to considering that all people are good. Perhaps it was because I was also raised by a father who trusted no one and who grew up in the Chicago syndicate, always watching his back. Perhaps it is because I am a wood, a visual sensory type and have a yellow life color. I am often silently watching people and how they operate, not always expecting the best in human behavior. But, thank goodness that to balance my suspicious nature I have a mom who has reminded me, since I was a little girl to trust. She helps to balance my wood, my yellow, and my visual tendencies. It makes me take pause. It forces me to step back, take a breath, find my spirit and see other peoples spirits. Her gentle nudging to not judge, not see the negative in people and instead see their good influences me everyday and helps me to stay in equilibrium. I wonder what type of a person I would be if I didn’t have mom’s positivity in my life. Mom often tries to convince me that I would be a kind person no matter what because I am also earth, kinesthetic and a blue life color. See! That is mom...seeing the good in everyone. :) So, when you wonder if it was unique, special, or amazing to grow up with Donna Eden as a mom, the answer is yes, yes, yes. Tanya and I feel very blessed. For even in difficult times (and there have been difficult times) it seems there has been magic in the air with mom around. And, this is just a wee article of a much bigger life with mom. Life with mom has been phenomenal for so many reasons including these three colossal reasons that shaped who I am as a woman today. I know just how lucky Tanya and I are and I never take it for granted for a moment that we are truly blessed to have Donna Eden as our mom.
Find out more about Donna Eden on her website: www.LearnEnergyMedicine.com Read more about Tanya at: www.AwakenDivineEnergy.com
Dondi, Titanya and Donna with the new member of the family: Tiernan Ray (13 weeks old)