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mokenamessenger.com life & arts
the Mokena Messenger | January 17, 2019 | 17
Transformation Station owner works to inspire lifestyle changes
Megan Schuller, Assistant Editor
(Left to right) Michael Lim Master, pain practitioner at Advanced Pain Rehab; Darin Steen, owner of Transformation Station and the nonprofit
Transformation America; Dr. Ron Vaught, of Vaught Chiropractic; and John Tablerin, certified practitioner, pose for a photo Jan. 8 at Transformation
station. The group has partnered to help the community live healthier lives through Steen’s nonprofit. Megan Schuller/22nd Century Media
“What you say becomes your
mind set. Your mind set becomes
your actions, which then become
your lifestyle.”
This was a type of mantra that
owner of Transformation Station
Darin Steen said to me to challenge
my mind set as he showed me different
workouts to challenge my
body. Working out is one of those
things that I always avoided in
fear of an injury after having had
a spinal fusion at a young age. But,
while covering this story at Transformation
Station, I learned that
the thing I avoided was actually
what I needed the most.
Steen recently started a nonprofit
called Transformation America,
which will donate his 12-week holistic
training regimen to people
who have big dreams but have an
extensive physical challenge that
is keeping them from accomplishing
those dreams. Steen and his
partners combine conventional and
unconventional methods to work
on the mind and body in tandem
in both those with disabilities and
those without. He uses diet, targeted
exercises, breathing techniques,
mind fullness, light therapy and
scar release therapy as ways for the
body to self heal.
After doing speed walking
strides on the treadmill to warm
up, Steen had me do pushups off
of a barbell as I focused on specific
muscles and breathing deeply
with every slow repetition that I
did. Steen said that the slowness
of each repetition is the key to the
success of the program to “burn the
fat by feeding the muscle.” I didn’t
quite know what to expect from
each exercise, but out of curiosity
and for the sake of good journalism,
I decided to give each one an
honest effort try.
“The therapy is a 12-week natural
way to hit the reset button on
the client’s mind set,” Steen said.
“On the surface I am a trainer but
it’s so much deeper than that. I help
the client with their body and their
mind.”
Steen’s philosophy is that working
out is not about lifting weights,
it’s about doing and saying things
that empower an individual to be
successful. As part of this exercise,
I filled out a goal sheet to read to
myself every night as part of a motivational
self-visualization.
“We focus on a healthy lifestyle,
one workout, one transformation at
a time,” Steen said.
Steen’s first recipient of the
training course donated through his
nonprofit is Mokena native Brian
Swift, founder of non-profit Swift
Outdoor Accessible Recreation.
They met at Swift’s SOAR fundraiser
last year and Swift is in his
second month of the program.
“We both wanted to inspire
people to go to the next level,”
Steen said. “Nonprofits can do a
lot of good. We hope to get more
involved with local businesses.
We want to put a ripple effect out
there.”
Swift said that since he began
training with Steen he lost 15
pounds and feels more energetic
after small but ultimately drastic
lifestyle changes.
“My injury is the biggest
strength I’ve had,” Swift said about
the challenge of being bound to a
wheelchair for most of his life. “At
age 56, I needed somebody like
Darin to help push me [physically
and mentally to get into shape]. I
had to decide that this injury will
be my source of power.”
Steen created a partnership in alternative
holistic medicine, which
I also got to experience firsthand.
One of Steen’s partners, Michael
Lim, a pain practitioner at Advanced
Pain Rehab in Crystal
Lake, combines modern western
medicine with ancient Chinese
medicine to ease the physical and
energy trauma caused by scars. He
specializes in a scar release therapy
using a device called the Dolphin,
which works in a way similar to a
tens unit. The Dolphin unit emits a
noise, similar to that of it’s namesake,
as it transfers current from
one pen tip to the other through the
body.
Now, as a side note, I have had a
2-foot-long scar on my back from
my spinal fusion for more then half
my life. As he worked up my scar
along my spine I could feel the
current getting stronger and pass
through my body as a slight burning
sensation. The immediate effects
left me ache free, which is an
unusual thing for me to say.
“Beneath scars is stuck [stagnant]
energy which causes pain.”
Lim explained. “Western medicine
deals with the problem like a mechanic,
where Chinese medicine is
more like a gardener. Scars cause
a chain of events, but my job is to
see the bigger picture and what underlying
issues are caused from the
scar.”
Steen wants to do more training
of medical and business professionals
in the future. He wants his
business to stay local and to raise
the funds necessary to help people
and to one day grow.
The biggest takeaway I got from
this experience is the importance
of maintaining a positive sense of
confidence for myself as I work toward
the healthier lifestyle that is
right for me. I never thought much
about the interplay between things
like diet, exercise and mindfulness
in relation to how it affects my day
to day life on a subconscious level.
While I definitely “felt the burn,”
as the saying goes, I also left Transformation
Station without fear of
exercise after having accomplished
something as simple as pushups,
which I haven’t done in years.