Tag Archives: life energy

Yoga Keeps Soccer Strikers in Good Health

Posted on by
Reply

As numerous Dahn Yoga books say, the key to good health is not to engage solely in strenuous physical exercise. Rather, one’s health benefits most from a holistic mind-body approach that stretches and works the muscles while addressing the brain’s ability to gather energy and center the self.

Recently, a UK soccer team adopted yoga as a new method for improving fitness and awareness. Dougie Freedman, who manages the Crystal Palace Football Club, told Yahoo! Sports that he has introduced yoga to the team members after Crystal Palace won just three of its past 12 matches.

Freedman, who previously scored more than 100 points as a player himself, told the news source that yoga helped him ratchet up his on-field ability during his days as a striker for Scotland.

“I introduced the yoga a few weeks ago, which was something I was taking part in towards the end of my career,” Freedman told the newspaper.

“We now do it twice a week and the lads are seeing the benefit of it. It is not just the physical aspect—it is also the mental aspect to take the pressure away and calm them down a little bit,” he added.

Maintaining good health means abandoning the one-sidedness of purely physical pursuits in favor of a holistic approach to well-being, like that which is laid out in Dahn Yoga books. Taking the opportunity to strengthen the bond between brain and body can have innumerable benefits for fitness and physical ability.

Related items

All My Stress Falls Away

Posted on by
Reply

Margrit H. (California)

My name is Margrit. For the past ten months, I have exercised three times a week at the Dahn Yoga Center in Bay Area, California and have advanced to Hang-Gong Level 7.

In May, 1999, I found the Dahn Yoga Center after thinking about finding a meditation practice for years. I had asked my friends about it and one colleague in particular. In spite of a heavy work load, this person always appeared calm and serene. When I asked him how he was able to stay so composed, he said that he meditated regularly. He then invited me to join him at his meditation class. But I didn’t go because it was held on the other side of town. However, I kept thinking about meditation. One day, as I was walking down Geary Street near my house, I saw the sign for the Dahn Center. Without a moment’s hesitation, I walked right into the exercise room, which I call, “the blue room.”

From the very beginning, I loved Dahn Yoga Practice. During my first class, I was thrilled to feel the sensation of life energy in my palms. After only a short training period, I learned how to relax my body and mind. It felt so good. As I progressed in my training over the next few months, both at home and at the Center, I felt my body and mind responding to the exercises. During the meditation period of the practice, waves of warmth would sweep through my body, cradling my entire being. From one meditation to the next, I yearned for this experience to return, which it did and continues to do.

At this point, I became more aware of my body. During the exercises, I consciously guided the flow of energy from my hands up to my wrists, arms, shoulders and chest. I imagined opening up my chest; just opening myself up. I felt a strange, wonderful tightness in the middle of my chest responding to my willingness to accept the cosmic energy surrounding me. Since then, I have been nurturing this sensation at the energy point in my chest and conversing with it as if with a friend.

During Gae-Hyol Exercise, I experienced the exhilaration of sharing Ki-energy. Working in pairs and sitting opposite each other, we focused our attention on our hands. Very quickly, in the silence, I felt connected to my partner. I did not know that I had this ability to make a connection with a stranger. I realized that “there is a Sacred Thread that connects us to one another and to our cosmic home.”

While the members of the Dahn Yoga Center lead their own private lives, when I am in “the blue room,” I feel like a member of a family. To me, the Dahn Yoga Center is like an island of peace. It’s a place where I can return to a loving and lovable Self. Here I am becoming whole again; free and connected at the same time.

Related items

Finding My Soul and the Self

Posted on by
Reply

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.

Related items