Yong Oh was searching for a refuge from his stress and negative emotions 13 years ago when he committed to Buddhist teachings.

It felt like I was being tossed and turned by my mind, said Oh, a teacher at the Durango Dharma Center.

Nationally, many are turning to meditation and mindfulness rooted in Buddhism in search of peace from internal strife, he said. The National Center for Health Statistics found late last year that 14.2% of adults were meditating in 2017, up from 4.1% in 2012.

In Ohs case, the Buddhist teachings have provided relief from self-judgment, self-hatred and worry.

The practice also helped him cope with tragedy. A car crash four years ago killed his father and left his mother with brain damage, he said. After the accident, he became his mothers caretaker and later took on an intense travel schedule to learn the Buddhist teachings.

There is no way, I think, I could have managed it without this practice, he said.

Oh, 47, now shares Buddhist practices with others at retreats across the country and as a member of the Dharma Centers spiritual leadership council. He also answers questions from meditation practitioners on Ten Percent Happier, a phone app for people seeking to improve their sleep, mindfulness and relationships.

He is the first new member on the Dharma Centers spiritual leadership council in eight years and was invited to join because of his deep level of training, said Erin Treat, the resident teacher.

Having Yong join our council means theres a deepened breadth and depth of local leadership, she said.

The Durango Dharma Center attracts about 130 residents to weekly Monday night meetings and is growing, she said.

Oh said he now enjoys teaching, but it was tough at first as an introvert something that had guided his life in the past.

Overcoming obstaclesAs an introvert, Oh was drawn to a career in acupuncture.

Previously, he worked as a graphic designer in New York City. He left the city in 2006 to practice acupuncture in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and dove into his Buddhist practice. Oh was born in South Korea, and his heritage may have influenced his interest in the practice, he said.

He loved the practice and eventually started teaching, but found it excruciating in the beginning because he was afraid of public speaking. At one point, on his way to teach a class, he remembered thinking: Maybe if I get into a car accident, I wont have to teach, he said.

But Oh kept saying yes to training opportunities to further his teaching abilities. He is now in a four-year program through the Insight Meditation Society, learning to lead residential meditation retreats.

At some point, I started to enjoy it rather than it being an ordeal I just had to endure and get through, he said.

He moved to Durango about three years ago and was drawn by the size and caliber of the Dharma Center.

Center board member and volunteer Kate Siber said she appreciates Ohs style of teaching and the example he sets for practitioners.

There is something about his presence that feels very calm and grounded and steady, and that can be very supportive to people, she said.

The meditation practice itself helps practitioners achieve greater resilience to stress and respond to life events from a place of balance and clarity, Siber said.

Mindfulness has the power to amplify the joyful things and the wonderful things of life and also seems to make the challenging things land more softly, Siber said.

To help more people feel comfortable at the Dharma Center, Oh started the People of Color Sangha over the summer. Sangha means community.

While Buddhism was practiced for thousands of years in Asia, the Insight Meditation tradition that Oh is training in was brought to the U.S. in the 1970s by American Jewish teachers who learned the practices while traveling in Asia. In the decades since, the practice has drawn many white, upper class practitioners, Oh said.

There have been people who have been attracted to dharma who havent felt welcome or safe, or its just been too intimidating to go into a place where they are going to be the only person of color, he said.

The new group at the Durango Dharma Center is intended to help those who self-identify as a person of color to find support.

The idea isnt that we are trying to separate ourselves out. Its a little bit of extra support for people who might need it, he said.

The center has also started a group for those who are gay, lesbian, transgender, intersex, queer and nonbinary.

The groups are intended to create deliberate spaces of belonging to encourage an environment of ease, relaxation and trust, Treat said.

Its a deeper culture of belonging and welcome, she said.

The groups also represent the growth of mindfulness practice and Buddhism in town, she said.

There is a group for nearly everyone who wants to participate, she said.

mshinn@durangoherald.com

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Buddhist teacher shares practical tools that relieved his self-hatred, worry - The Durango Herald