Dahn Yoga Washington member’s blog

April 9, 2008

Before I started Dahn, several life events combined to create depression and a number of physical challenges.  I retired from a 45-year working career, my sister had a major mental break, and my aged mother passed away.  Arthritis, a couple of 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’d walk bent over from the waist for a few minutes before standing up strait.  The Chiropractor and I had standing appointments 10 days apart.  Activity always attracted me, but with pain and without a routine to follow inactivity took over, and I lost interest in life.  Even thought I didn’t do much, I was tired all the time.  The local senior center offered free access to physical fitness machines, but somehow I couldn’t get up and out the door by 10:30 a.m. to drive (not walk) 2 miles and take advantage of those machines.

It’s interesting how my membership came about.  Since the story is long, I’ll just say that on 3 different occasions the subject of Dahn Yoga came up.  The final was at a Body, Mind, Spirit expo where my girl friend and I signed up for an Energy checkup.  Interestingly, we both bought memberships and she went to just 1 class.  I am happily still with Dahn 3-1/2 years later.  The drive to the Kirkland Center is often an hour each way, but I’m able to get up and be there at least 3 times a week.

Within 2 weeks of beginning Dahn I noticed an amazing increase in my energy level.  I painted walls 13’ high from a ladder.  I felt alive again.  My many women friends asked “What are you doing, Leanne?  You’re glowing!”  I’d say “It’s Yoga”. There is no Dahn Yoga center near us, but now 5 of those friends are taking some form of yoga because they’ve seen how much Dahn did for me. 

On the physical level, I noticed an immediate improvement in my back.  I could get out of bed!  (I’ve been to see the chiropractor only 5 times in the past 3-1/2 years!)  Something, else, my eyesight improved.  I went from a 2.50 magnification to a 1.25 magnification.  I gained back 1-inch in height I’d lost.  Energy filled me up.  My body changed.  Weighing the same as I had 6 years before, I lost 19-1/2 inches in my arms, thighs, waist and bust.  I am wearing clothes I wore 20 lbs. less than I am now.

On an emotional, level traffic has always been a challenge for me.  I’d be angry or anxious, frustrated and impatient.  I mentioned a 1-hour drive.  Well, that drive is only 20 miles, so you can imagine how congested it is.  Before, I’d be mad and/or angry.  Thanks to Dahn something switched.  Now, it just doesn’t bother me.  I still move in and out and do my best to find the lane that’s moving, only it isn’t a contest or a personal insult any more.  I’m relaxed.  It’s just traffic.  It hasn’t changed, but I have.  A number of personal issues from long ago have resolved themselves, come full circle.  Thanks to the various programs Ilchi Lee created at Dahn, I don’t feel guilt or shame for not succeeding in some life choices a long time ago.  I carried those failures for years, and now I’m free. That freedom improved my self esteem to the place where I felt good enough to start internet dating.  I’m now in a serious relationship with a gentle, kind, thoughtful, funny gentleman.

Meditation calms and centers me.  I value the serenity.  Dahn practice teaches me that there are many ways to meditate, and the exercises we do in class take me right into a meditative state.  It seems that when I start my day with meditation, everything goes better.  Little things don’t bother me, and I handle big stuff better.  I was a typical Type ‘A’ personality, and now am a Type ‘B’.   

Leanne Garn

Dahn Foundation is hosting a HSP Outreach Instructor’s Training for Dahn members who want to reach out to the community. Anyone who is interested in volunteering in any forms is welcome. It will be at Harbor Steps center, 9am to 6pm. Some members are already reaching out by teaching a class to seniors, juniors, and kids, just the way Ilchi Lee started teaching Dahn Yoga at a small community park more than 20 years ago. The fee is $30, coming with t-shirts and a handbook and the money is a donation to Dahn Foundation, a non-profit organization supported by Dahn Yoga. If you are interested in, let your center instructors know~

The Vortex Training we had last Friday, Feb 8 and again during the Tao Healer’s Training last Sunday, Feb 10 were a lot of fun and very healing! Master Kim was an inspirational, funny, knowledgeable and amazing trainer and healer! We witnessed and experienced the power of okum and other healing tools. I bought 2 more okum powercards in addition to my collections and finally bought dokaibe that I’ve always wanted to have. The powercards were very timely for me to use for the goal I had set for my 21day Miracle training (meditation part) and dokaibe so beneficial for activating meridian points and sooo very relaxing. It always make me wonder how to use further all these healing tools available at the center, now I have a much more expanded knowledge which I will be able to share in healing others.

Thank you Master Kim for visiting Seattle once again. We look forward to your next training. We enjoyed your trainings very much!

DeliaMSN

At Kirkland center, 21-day miracle training is going very well. If you would like to read the participants progress, please visit www.Ilchi.com and choose Groups on the top, Select 21day miracle groups, and finally choose Everything is Possible!

One member shared she lost 8-9 lbs since she started this training less than 2 months ago and gained many insights along the way. One of her sharing can be found at the following page: http://www.ilchi.com/option,com_groupjive/task,showfullmessage/idm,1032/groupid,31/Itemid,90/

I hope many more participates and gain a self-confidence on achieving what they want. The trainings for the participating members will continue in January at 7 a.m. on Saturdays. This was initiated by Dahn Foundation. Great job!

The power of yoga

Stars do it. Sports do it. Judges in the highest courts do it. Let’s do it: that yoga thing. A path to enlightenment that winds back 5,000 years, yoga has suddenly become so hot, so cool, so very this minute. It’s the exercise come meditation for the new millennium, one that doesn’t so much pump you up as bliss you out. Yoga now straddles the continent — from Hollywood, where $20 million-a-picture actors queue for a session with their guru du jour, to Washington, where in the gym of the Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and 15 other faithfully take their class each Tuesday morning.

Everywhere else, Americans rush from their high-pressure jobs and tune in to the authoritatively mellow voice of an instructor, gently urging them to solder a union (the literal translation of the Sanskrit word yoga) between mind and body. These Type A strivers want to become Type B seekers, to lose their blues in an asana (pose), to graduate from distress to de-stress. Fifteen million Americans include some form of yoga in their fitness regimen — twice as many as did five years ago; 75% of all U.S. health clubs offer yoga classes. Many in those classes are looking not inward but behind. As supermodel Christy Turlington, a serious practitioner says “Some of my friends simply want to have a yoga butt.” But others come to the discipline in hopes of restoring their troubled bodies. Yoga makes me feel better, they say. Maybe it can cure what ails me.

The article above is from Time Magazine. I hope many people can benefit from Dahn Yoga. Thank you.