Jill (New York)
My work as a Personal Trainer is an intimate experience for my clients as well as for me. It involves sharing what is good and beautiful about life as well as what is good and beautiful about the person with whom I am working. I need to feel physically and mentally up to the task to create beauty and positive feelings in my clients. It is my job to make them feel great about themselves.
Like many other people, I experienced severe depression over the loss of a loved one due to divorce. Here I was, a lover of all sports, a former dancer, a movement expert, paralyzed by depression. I gained fifteen pounds.
My therapist and I decided to try Prosaic because I feared I would lose my clients if I was not able to play the part I knew so well. I experimented with this antidepressant for the recommended six months. I knew in my heart the depression was there for a reason and could not be masked just to make sure I got out of bed every day. The six months came and went and, although I was helped, I was still not moving. A longtime friend and masseur recommended the training at the Dahn Center.
From my first visit five and a half months ago to this day, my progress towards finding my soul and the Self that the depression was pointing to has been remarkable. Added to my weekly schedule were three hours of classes at the Center and an outing to Bear Mountain on Sundays for a short hike. I was reminded of the joy I felt as a dancer. The Dahn Yoga classes involve music and movement from the self-expression. Love comes not only from the masters, but from the comfortable surroundings and other students as well. As a group we are taking the responsibility for our well-being, happiness, and health.
The three classes per week are structured into three parts. The first part involves simple and straightforward exercise to open the lines of Ki-energy or meridian channels. They are repeatable, easy, safe, and often relaxing exercises. We empty our minds and meditate on the healing Ki-energy. This is the Dahn Yoga Practice. It is the quieting of the mind to hear one’s true calling or voice and the loving atmosphere of trust that helps us reach that place. The hour ends with strength training exercises to continue to do Dahn Yoga Practice with less exertion and more mental relaxation. It is a glorious, simple practice combining the philosophies of many of the schools of thought I have studied over my 25 year career.
The results from the Dahn Yoga practice keep building for me to the point of experiencing genuine happiness and well-being. I smile more, attract more clients, concentrate on clients better, and have the energy to do more for them and for myself. My self-confidence and my ability to understand my behavior and that of others have increased so that I treat myself and others more gently. I have opened my heart to the possibility of loving and being loved again. I have begun to feel the way I felt as a girl, a lighter, more confident sense of myself. While I have gained this sense of emotional well-being, I have lost eight pounds.
