What does “Thanks for sharing” mean for Yihan? What about the word “Privilege”?

Yihan supports aspiring entrepreneurs by guiding them through a self-discovery and discernment process. She believes that awareness is the first step to change and growth.

When we use language, we often mean different things because of different life experiences and life stories.

Darryl Lim  00:00

When it comes to the phrase THANKS FOR SHARING. What are your associations or things that come to mind when you say that statement or hear that statement? Yeah.

Yihan  00:13

So from my background as a yoga teacher, as a yoga teacher, when I step into a class to lead people through 60 minutes of a yoga practice, very often, we provide that space for them to go inwards. It is a time for them to connect with themselves. So at least from my perspective, I don't see it as a case where, oh, you know, because I have let you through this practice, you need to have an equal energy exchange with me. So when people actually come to me after class to share their own experience and their own reflections or things that they have noticed, that, to me, is a privilege, and I feel grateful that they are willing to share that part of themselves with me, which very often can be very personal. So that's my understanding of it, and it comes very much from the context of how I like to provide that space for people.

Darryl Lim  01:36

How you like to provide that space for people, and therefore you feel privileged whenever some sharing of any form comes your way?

Yihan  01:51

Sharing that is more personal, like personal experiences, reflections, or even experiences that you know that person might not easily share with others.

Darryl Lim  02:09

Okay, how did you come to this perspective of you being in a privileged position whenever someone shares something personal or very personal to you that they normally don't, according to you, share with others. How did you come to this realization or definition?

Yihan  02:30

A lot of the experiences that I've had with students, you know, when they come to me and say that, Oh, you know, maybe they were feeling a bit emotional in class, which could happen. We do see that quite a bit from time to time. It's, it's almost like an intuition. You will be able to sense that in the emotional release, a part of what they've been holding on to so tightly within themselves can finally find their way out. So when they come to me after class and say that, oh, this is what I experienced, they felt safe enough to release the emotion in a room with other people, I find that a very personal, a deeply personal experience. And it could be that, you know, I used to teach in Singapore, like CBD [Central Business District] area, lunchtime classes. You can imagine people working in offices coming to a 60 minute yoga class just to find some kind of release, whether it is, you know, like stretching it out or or, you know, a mental break or emotional release. It's almost like an oasis for them, yeah, so, so to me, that kind of exchange in time is rare, because in a society like Singapore, time is rare. It's a very finite resource, and yet they spend that time with you. They chose to spend it with you that in itself, I feel, is already some kind of privilege. And then on top of that, they were able to feel safe enough in your presence to have that emotional baggage or emotional release.

Darryl Lim  04:24

When you think of the word PRIVILEGE, what are your associations?

Yihan  04:29

There are so many layers to that word. It's a very big word from you know, of course, I used it quite loosely when I talked about the experience with my students, but privilege to me, also from a sociology background, has so many different layers that ties back into okay, this reminds me of a concept, or rather a difference in… definitions between equality and equity. You know, it reminds me of my classes in sociology, where we talk about how people were born with certain privilege just because of the way we look, just because of how our ancestors decided to live their lives. So it's, it's a very it's a word that has different connotations when used in different contexts. In a yoga context, it has some more positive connotation, which comes with responsibility, because I have the privilege, therefore I have the responsibility, to utilize it well for the benefit of other people. But when I think about privilege in society, very often, the first thing that comes to my mind is, you know, would be in topics like race, like gender? I wouldn't say it's a negative connotation, but it does entail some kind of unfairness. The way it is being used. So when people talk about, oh, you have a privilege, it is often thought of as that person has an unfair advantage [that] they may or may not use for the benefit of other people.

Darryl Lim  06:19

What are your personal experiences with regards to the more positive connotations of privilege and the more not-so-positive connotations of privilege. What are personal experiences that come to mind?

Yihan  06:37

Okay, so in terms of the positive ones I feel like, because as a child, I used to follow my mom to, kind of like, do charity work. So we would, every last Sunday of the month or something, we would send food to, like the old folks in the rental flats, I think it was in Bukit Merah or something, and that, to me, could happen only because we were in a privileged position right? As a child, you'd be like, oh, because I am lucky to already have food, and therefore I share this ability to have food with other people who are more in need of it, or who need some kind of care, because we can, because we can share, therefore we give, yeah, so that I feel might be one of the earlier memories of me coming into contact with this kind of concept, like my mom would be like, because you can give, therefore you should. In Chinese, she would say, 能给是福气 (neng gei shi fu qi), you know, because you can give, therefore it's kind of a blessing that you can give, you can share, yeah. So I would say that is the first kind of first contact with privilege. Then, of course, eventually these concepts continue to seep in, including with education. You know, my results from A Levels were quite bad, but yet I still got into NUS. And this, of course, is my assumption. I don't know how it works behind the scenes, but my guess was that the only reason why I could get into NUS was because that very year, the government decided to increase the quota for local students. So in a way, results aside, I got in because I was Singaporean. That, to me, felt like privilege, okay, oh. I mean, I don't know whether that is positive or negative, but yeah, for me, it was positive, right? Because I got in, it was a school that I was aiming for. So from a very personal perspective, I felt like, okay, lucky me.

At Split Arenas, we believe professional communication should be rooted in personal stories. When we look at the words people use, and the stories behind those words, we understand who they are, and we can build better relationships. To learn more about what we do, click here. If you wish to be featured in our Language Stories Series, reach out to darryl@split-arenas.com.