THE DRAGON PROGRAMFOR PTSD, PAIN, TBI, AND INSOMNIA

WHAT IS THE DRAGON PROGRAM

• State of the Science treatment for problems stemming from combat

• Holistic model of recovery

• Requires full engagement

WHY DRAGON?

• Dragons are part of all cultures across the world

• They represent hidden truths, hopes, and fears of people

• Fighting dragons for warrior cultures encapsulates the highest warrior ideals

SOLDIER OR WARRIOR?

• Soldiering is a respectable and valuable job.

• Being a warrior is a choice to defend and embrace humanity. It is a chosen path and mindset. It is an ideal, a calling, and lifestyle.

• Warriors go beyond oaths, creeds, and uniforms. Warriors have no ranks. They fight for those who cannot fight for themselves and for the greater Good everywhere.

• Warrior has lost some of its meaning, like the word 'hero'.

• Warriors avoid violence at all costs because they know violence and pain personally. They never crave war and hate violence.

• Warriors do not fear themselves or others.

• This program is about embracing and walking the warrior path to gain sanity and wellness.

STEPS ON THE WARRIOR PATH

• Step 1: stop, sit, and quit moving (don't make long term decisions or do more damage). You found a safe place with good shelter.

• Step 2: learn to calm your mind and body (mindfulness), breathe

• Step 3: balance your life kit (eat right, drink right, sleep right, exercise, develop your spirituality, clean house, build healing friendships, quit avoiding pain and fear, etc...)

• Step 4: take control of what goes into your mind and body

• Step 5: rest and repair damage (be sad and angry then move on)

• Step 6: build shelter - develop a good heart and mind

• Step 7: now walk on the Good Path with a Good Mind

• Step 8: repeat whenever lost or on wrong path

REST, REPAIR, RECHARGE, AND RENEW

• What is still helpful and useful, what needs to be cast aside?

STEP 1 - STOP!

• You are here because of unbearable pain and anguish

• You need to stop moving for awhile to heal up

• Being here is a step toward the warrior path, but away from the Soldier path.

• You are here because you are a human who still feels and who has a mind

• You know something is wrong and have the guts to make it right

• You have earned the right to rest here

• The people are paying for you to heal as their debt to you. Your payment is to give your all to the healing process. Don't listen to anyone who says different.

• You are earning your pay. This program would not be funded if the people didn't want it.

• Don't talk about or think about disability or MEB. Shove it out of you mind because it distracts from healing and will set you up to fail.

MINDFULNESSTHIS IS A TECHNIQUE YOU MUST MASTER.IT IS THE KEY TO YOUR SANITY AND HEALING.

MINDFULNESS

• This is an ancient technique used by most advanced warrior cultures to achieve emotional and physical balance.

• It is supported by multiple experiments and research studies to control pain, ease anxiety, reduce stress, lift depression, gain emotional stability, improve attention, and lower blood pressure.

• It requires hours of practice to master and is a lifetime commitment.

• You must learn to focus your mind's attention on only one object, for one moment, over several minutes or even hours.

• With practice, and over time, you can learn to control your emotions again.

• You will learn to switch into a different mode of thought over time.

• You will need to practice several hours each day while in Dragon.

• Benefits can be felt within minutes and last for hours.

• You will build empathy and compassion through this mediation practice.

• The breathing mediation can be used in any situation.

BALANCE LIFE

• Sleep

• Eat

• Drink

• Purify

• Read

• Take in the positive, reject the negative

• Pray, remember, mourn

• Exercise

• Go to nature

• Use your heart, feel, laugh, cry, witness, learn

• Teach, support, care

• Make changes!

• Repeat and refine the balancing cycle everyday

• Define yourself and you core beliefs

• Create new routines and rituals

• Build gratitude and compassion

• Take care of yourself

CONTROL WHAT YOU TAKE INSIDE WITH YOU

• Everything you see, hear, feel and think alters you

• Limit news, violent tv, video games

• If you take anger, violence, or sadness it must be balanced out by positive, or it's opposite

• Get rid of anything that does not help you, feed you, or if it hurts you