All about Yoga

Courses in yoga, the union of body and mind, continue to increase in popularity in the United States. Many different yoga systems are available, although they usually share the features of stretching, posture, breathing, relaxation and meditation.

While most Americans think of yoga as coming the Indian cultural or Hindu traditions, there is a yoga with more-than-5,000-year-old roots in Korea, In its modernized holistic fitness training version, 30 years old, it is called Dahn Yoga and can be learned and practiced at the 120 Dahn Yoga & Health Centers in 15 metropolitan areas of the U.S. Sister Dahn organizations operate in Canada, South Korea, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, Russia and Brazil. Worldwide, there are 600 centers, with around 1,000,000 people using Dahn Yoga and related Brain Education methods daily. The originator of Dahn Yoga is Ilchi Lee.

Dahn Yoga is an integrated body-mind-brain system of exercises for improving the body’s health, the mind’s capability, and the spirit’s connection. From practicing Dahn Yoga, the results tend to be individual health. But it is natural for Dahn Yoga practitioners to share what they have learned, directly or indirectly, with others – family, friends, workplace, and community.

Here is a prime example of the dual set of benefits – self and others – that Dahn Yoga often produces: Linda is in her early 50s, a school teacher in the Midwest. She started to exercise at a Dahn Yoga Center in the Midwest, originally becoming a member to make her middle-aged body more flexible. But soon she found out that Dahn gave her many more benefits.

As Linda put it, “In the first year of practicing Dahn Yoga regularly, m life changed completely. Yes, I achieved my original goal – my body became more flexible. But in addition my overall health condition improved a great deal. Specifically, my headaches disappeared and my lower back stopped aching. My body posture became straighter and my shoulders more relaxed. I was feeling happier too. When I did not feel pain, I was still able to concentrate better on the tasks I was doing. My concentration improved tremendously. Projects at home and work were completed faster and easier.”

With work often being the most stressful place in people’s lives, the positive effects of Dahn Yoga are usually observable there. This happened to Linda, who stated, “Being a schoolteacher exposes me to a lot of stressful situations. But after practicing Dahn Yoga, I became better able to handle even high stress levels around me. I have learned to choose my emotions and am no longer overtaken by them. My reactions have changed. I am quieter and calmer. The relaxation techniques taught at Dahn Yoga have helped me to become a better teacher, co-worker, friend and family member.”

As if these individual benefits from doing Dahn Yoga were not enough, people like Linda often report that they feel compelled to share their new health and well being with others. For Linda as a school teacher, this meant to teach selected Dahn Yoga exercises to her students. As she explained, “I began teaching my students (6th and 7th graders) to have good posture and relax their bodies. Before class or tests, we would do a few minutes of exercises and their concentration is improved. Since doing these Dahn Yoga exercises, my students’ performance went up remarkably. I have taught my students to use more of their brain potential, which is more possible after they relax their bodies by doing Dahn Yoga techniques. Their confidence levels have increased as they were able to perform successfully after doing the Dahn Yoga exercises, many of them for the first time in their lives.”

Seeing in the workplace the positive results generated by everyone practicing Dahn Yoga can in turn elevate the self-confident and self-esteem of the instructor. According to Linda, “My confidence level was raised from sharing Dahn Yoga exercises with students and colleagues. I started much more to believe in myself. Speaking in public was always a challenge for me. Since practicing Dahn Yoga, my speaking anxiety has disappeared. I now actually enjoy public speaking because by sharing my experience I can help others. I have more to offer my students now that I have been doing Dahn Yoga. I have become a much better teacher.”

Another aspect of life that emerges for many Dahn Yoga practitioners is that they want to give more to the community. In Linda’s case, this led her to a unique volunteering experience. As she expresses it, “I am teaching Dahn Yoga exercises to developmentally disabled adults, as part of an outreach program organized by the nonprofit Dahn Foundation. This is a very rewarding personal experience. It feels good to share Dahn Yoga methods in order to add to people’s health and happiness. I have found something that I will continue to do when I retire – teach Dahn Yoga and spread health, happiness and peace to other people. Thanks to Dahn Yoga training, I have truly found my life purpose.”

What do you do when you have a chronic disease, feel pain nearly all the time, try various treatments, and get little relief from your symptoms?

For an increasing number of people in the United States and around the world, the last-resort answer is the holistic fitness training provided by the Dahn Yoga & Health Centers. Dahn Yoga consists of holistic health and brain education in the form of energy-training programs to individuals, families and communities. Dahn Yoga offers a wide range of innovative, highly effective preventive and restorative approaches, through its regular classes, special workshops and individual energy healing sessions.

Here is the case of Sylvia, in her 70s and living in the Midwest. She faced a chronic disease, which had defied for years any positive response to a variety of treatments. As she explains her initial condition, “In 2000. I was diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis, a painful and chronic disease of the bladder. I had been suffering with symptoms for five years, and was relieved to finally know what was wrong with me. The problem was that this condition is very difficult to treat; there is not one treatment that works for everyone. In the years to follow my diagnosis, I tried many medications and therapies. Though some of these helped, I was not able to find something that consistently helped with the pain I was experiencing. I had to take a year off from work, and then went back on a part-time basis.”

When Sylvia discovered Dahn Yoga, her hope of meaningful relief and a normal life again returned. According to her, “In 2006, I joined a Dahn Yoga center. I really didn’t know much about Dahn Yoga, but was looking for a way to exercise and hopefully improve my health. I was skeptical at first by the glowing reports of restored health I heard from other members, but I started taking classes regularly and scheduled private energy healing sessions”.

“When I started doing Dahn Yoga, I was taking a pain medication every morning, and sometimes again later in the afternoon. It was the only way that I could get through the day. I spent much of my free time lying on the couch with a heating pad on my abdomen”.

“In the first few week of my Dahn Yoga classes, I experienced the first signs that my condition could improve. I found that if I had pain at the beginning of class, it would be virtually gone when the class was over. I learned to accept my pain and to relax my body. I became aware of habits and negative emotions that were adversely affecting my health. After a few weeks of Dahn Yoga, I felt myself becoming stronger, both physically and emotionally. When I did have pain, I was able to work through it.

Eventually I attended the Dahn Healing System training and the intensive Tao Holistic Healing Program, both held at the Sedona Mago Retreat Center, in Northern Arizona.

“My health condition got much better, and still continues to improve on a daily basis. I no longer need any pain medication regularly. In fact, I have seldom taken any painkillers during the past year. Friends and family have commented on the changes that they see in me. I am now a healthier and happier person than I was even before being diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis. I truly feel calmer, centered, focused and better able to handle the inevitable problems that I encounter. My disease is not cured, but my condition no longer dominates and distorts my life. Dahn Yoga has helped to improve my health and my life in ways that I could only imagine before beginning this journey!”

Dahn (bright energy in Korean) is the symbolic manifestation of the sun rising at dawn, with its inexhaustible source of vitality. Dahn Yoga’s basic approach is to expand Ki-energy (core life vitality). In the model of Oriental health, energy affects the quality of the body (health, strength, flexibility and healing), mind (concentration, clarity, creativity and calmness), and spirit (meaning, purpose, vision and peace). Dahn Yoga is the modernized version of traditional Korean body-mind practices that go back more than 5,000 years. Ilchi Lee developed it, 30 years ago, as an expression of his vision of humanity enjoying health, happiness and peace.

Through the 600 Dahn centers worldwide – with 120 in 15 United States metropolitan areas – around a million people use its programs and methods every day.

We usually assume that getting older means a loss of energy, strength, flexibility, purpose and even hope. And in their place: one or more major diseases and several minor conditions. For more and more people in the United States and around the world, the answer is holistic fitness training. In size, reach and reputation, one of the leading training systems globally is Dahn Yoga & Health Centers.

In her early 60s, Sandra lives in the Midwest. As a Dahn Yoga practitioner for more than three years, her case is typical of people who improve their physical health and emotional state through regular classes, individual healing sessions, advanced workshops, and practice at home or the office.

With Arthritis, Sandra experienced a life of pain and limitations, and other related health problems. Here are her words, “Before I started Dahn Yoga,

several life events combined to create depression and several physical challenges. I retired from a 45-year working career, my sister had a mental

breakdown, and my elderly mother passed away. Arthritis, two degenerated discs in my back, and soft tissue damage from a car wreck 40 years prior made getting out of bed in the morning very painful.

“I had to walk bent over from the waist for a few minutes before I could stand up strait. I had standing appointments with a chiropractor every 10 days. Activity always put me in pain, and without a routine to follow inactivity took over, thus losing interest in life. Although I did not do much, I was tired all the time. The local senior center offered free access to physical fitness machines, but somehow I could not get out my door by 10:30 a.m. to drive two miles and take advantage of those machines.”

Then Sandra found Dahn Yoga. As often happens with new members, her health improvement was quick and dramatic. She reported, “Within two weeks of beginning Dahn Yoga classes, I noticed an amazing increase in my energy level. I painted walls 13-feet high from a ladder. I felt alive again. Many of my women friends asked, ‘What are you doing? You’re glowing!’ I replied, ‘It’s Dahn Yoga.’ Although the drive from to my home to the center is often an hour, I still go at least three times a week.”

Like many other Dahn Yoga practitioners, Sandra made progress in several physical health areas. As she put it, “I noticed an immediate improvement in my back. I could get out of bed easily. I have been to see my chiropractor only five times in the past 3-1/2 years. I gained back one inch in height. I felt full of energy. Then my body changed. Weighing the same as I had six years before, I lost 19 inches in my arms, thighs, waist and bust. I am wearing clothes I wore when I weighed 20 pounds less than I am now. Even my eyesight got better. I went from 2.50 to 1.25 magnification.”

As typically occurs with Dahn Yoga training, improvements in physical conditions lead to feeling better emotionally. According to Sandra, “Driving in heavy traffic has always been a challenge for me. I became angry, frustrated and impatient. Thanks to my Dahn practice, it no longer bothers me. Switching lanes is not a contest or a personal insult any more. I’m relaxed, thinking, ‘It’s just traffic.’ The traffic has not changed, but I have.”

“A number of deep personal issues from long ago have resolved themselves. Because of the various programs that I have taken, which Dahn Yoga’s founder Ilchi Lee created, I do not feel guilt or shame for not succeeding in some life choices made a long time ago. After carrying these failure feelings for years, now I am free. This freedom improved my self esteem to where I felt good enough to start Internet dating. I am now in a serious relationship with a gentle, kind, thoughtful and funny gentleman.”

In a total health program, meditation plays a key role. This is Sandra’s viewpoint, “Meditation calms and centers me. I value the serenity. Dahn Yoga has taught me that there are many ways to meditate. The exercises in class put me into a meditative state. When I start my day with meditation, everything goes better. Little things simply do not bother me, and I handle the big stuff better. After being a typical Type A personality most of my life, I am happy now to be Type B.”

Dahn Yoga provides holistic health and brain education in the form of energy-training programs to individuals, families and communities. Dahn Yoga offers a wide range of innovative, highly effective preventive and restorative methods.

Through the 600 Dahn centers worldwide – currently in the United States, Canada, South Korea, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, Russia and Brazil),

around 1 million people use its methods daily. In the United States since 1991, Dahn Yoga has 120 centers in 15 metropolitan areas.

Dahn Yoga improves one’s health by activating the energy system to maximize one’s natural self-healing power. It brings an experiential holistic balance to one’s life by awakening one to an integrative perspective toward life and the world. Through Dahn Yoga, one finds a way into one’s body, mind, and finally one’s self.