Dahn Yoga in the dentist chair? Maxine is a Dahn Yoga practitioner who uses Brain Wave Vibration and other exercises to help her patients relax before undergoing dental work at Johnson Dental in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.
Posts Tagged: Brookline
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Aug 10
Dahn Yoga in the dental chair? Yes!
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Aug 10
Amazing Women in Our Midst!
Caroline Grabner from the Dahn Yoga Center in Bethesda, MD shares her story with Dahn TV about overcoming cancer, then helping others through the journey as a volunteer instructor.
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Aug 10
Off the Mat. A new series on Dahn TV.
In ‘Off the Mat’, Dahn TV covers stories of Dahn Yoga practitioners pursuing training out of the classroom. We take a trip to Korea in this first episode, with folks from all over the country.
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28
Jul 10
If not me, then who? If not now, then when? (Part I)
Mike and Beth Houlihan and their children, twins Conner and Griffin, and older girls Ashley and Emma in the Summer of 2010
Mike and Beth Houlihan are yoga practitioners and parents of four young children. Recently, Mike left a successful career as a Chief Information Officer of a start-up company to take over management, with Beth, of “Roots to Wings”, a successful yoga studio in Newburyport, MA that combines the teachings of Dahn Yoga, Brain Education, and Hatha Yoga.
Roots to Wings Yoga and Healing Center was the first Hatha Yoga studio in the US to host Dahn Yoga’s Shim Sung Workshop in January of 2008. Since then, approximately eight Shim Sung workshops have been held with more than 150 people participating. Of these 150, approximately 20 people have taken Dahn Yoga’s Brain Management Consultant and other advanced trainings. Mike participated in the first Shim Sung at Roots to Wings, and is a BMC graduate. I was at that Shim Sung, and have witnessed the incredible journey that Mike and Beth have been on. I asked Mike to share his story for the Dahn Yoga Blog readers. Enjoy part 1 below!
~Genia Sullivan, editor, www.dahnyogama.com
During the last year, my wife Beth and I have drastically changed our lives to follow a calling to live and grow as Earth Citizens through taking over management of Roots to Wings Yoga and Healing Center, founded by Wendy Hall. Together with two of our classmates who also graduated from Dahn Yoga’s Brain Management Consultant Course, we teach all the classes and take care of all management affairs. We host and staff three Shim Sung trainings each year, and keep up with our own training as well. We have four children ages 5, 5, 7, and 9 who practice yoga, soccer, and hockey. How do we do it all, you might ask?
To be honest, it is not easy. We’ve given up a lot of things we used to do like weekends away, having friends over for dinner, my own hockey and prime-time golf. We focus on doing the most important things really well. For example, we just got back from 7 nights on the beach in Maine living in a tent with all the kids. Taking over the helm at Roots to Wings has created some strain in our family, but we are a happier and healthier family for it. Practice helps. We are taking a leap of faith in ‘Chun Ji Ki Un’ that if we put our full energy into something we love to do the rest will be taken care of. Why? I look inside myself and see the results. I know how I have changed and how I have grown. I have experienced what can happen when we have the courage to let go, while also understanding it is a life-long process.
If not me, who? If not now, when? This is our story, told from my perspective.
Part I – Pre-Yoga Daze
Author Mike and his two older children in 2007
Somewhere in my early 40s, what I now understand as past memories, preconceptions, and worries about the future began to catch up with me. I generally considered myself to be relatively healthy and successful. I’d gone to college, grad school, had a great job, a house, two kids, and no financial worries. I played golf and hockey, skied, biked, rollerbladed and I was really good at drinking beer. My whole life, I had a nagging feeling that something was missing, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I longed for the simplicity of a sunny day with a sweatshirt on and work boots that I remembered from my early childhood, but couldn’t find it in any of my successes; having grown up without a dad, I was insecure and deep inside thought I wasn’t good enough. No matter how much I had or how low my golf score was it wasn’t good enough and I always had this nagging belief that something bad would happen to me at the most inopportune time to prevent me from achieving ultimate success.
My job required significant travel and I began to feel torn about not being around for my wife and two young girls. Living on airplanes and away from my family was profitable, but not fulfilling. I was dying. Around that time I also began to get more concerned about my health. I was always self conscious about my looks, but this was more than just an inner tube around my waist. I would get dizzy, headaches, heart palpitations, and get a fat tongue and mess-up my words from time to time. With each ache and pain I had, I’d run to the doctor to make sure I did not have cancer or a heart problem. The things I did to make me feel better created more stress. I was truly a misguided seeker, as Deepak Chopra would say.
My minister at my local church had been nagging me for a couple of years to meet with her, but I had always managed to escape doing it. I kind of knew where I needed to go; but I figured there’d be time for that down the road. I used to ask myself the question “What happens to people who know but don’t listen, don’t act?” Of course I was foolish enough to think I knew, but scared enough to know there was something out there that I still couldn’t put my finger on.
Author Mike Houlihan in his 'Pre-Yoga Daze'
Even before she asked to meet with me, I was immediately struck by Minister Nancy. Her blazing blue eyes seemed to look right through me as if she could see who I knew I really was. I felt she could also see my potential, and I was inspired by her sermons. I eventually gave in, and began meeting with her on a regular basis, and these meetings really were the start of the spiritual journey I began. She helped me experience that as we share deep truths about ourselves, we begin to access a part of ourselves that exists outside of space and time, and we begin to see things as they really are. It would take me a long time to learn that failure to see things as they really are is what causes suffering, and I am still learning that it is me who is doing it. While these practices were mostly temporal, they were tangible and I was starting to develop a stronger belief in my own personal transformation.
I became quite enamored with having peak spiritual experiences that were different and safer than other highs I’d sought through the course of my life. The problem was that I had not made any fundamental changes to how I was living my life. I still had a nagging feeling that I was running out of time and that something bad was going to happen. I still did not feel great physically, didn’t like the way I looked and was bored with how I was living my life. My wife Beth had started yoga at Roots to Wings Yoga Studio, a local Hatha Yoga Studio in our town, shortly after our twin boys were born. I began to notice she was calmer, stronger, and more focused; different somehow, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I was getting tired of gingerly walking down stairs after hockey games, nursing groin pulls, and going from one ache and pain to the next so I figured I’d give yoga a try.
Within five minutes of my first class I said to myself “Yes, Home!” There was just something about lying on that mat and gasping for air that had a quieting effect on me. I didn’t have much respect for yoga when I first went, and didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. I figured I’d take classes for a couple of weeks and would be in perfect shape again. I was so wrong about that it makes me shake my head even as I write this. Yoga tore me limb from limb for about the first six months of practice. I found it excruciating, but I loved it.
Come back on Monday for Part II: ‘Yoga Daze; Mike’s transformation through Shim Sung and decision to become a full time practitioner and yoga studio owner
Mike Houlihan operates Roots to Wings Yoga and Healing Studio in Newburyport, MA, with his wife Beth.
For more information please visit http://www.rootstowings.com.
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24
Jul 10
A Two Minute Tip- Relieve your wrist pain
This week’s Two Minute Tip address is the first part of two short videos that will guide you how to release tension in your upper body joints. If you have wrist pain, from sports, playing an instrument, or computer work, try this exercise once a day for relief.
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Jul 10
Say ‘ahhh’ and release your stress!
Although tapping on your chest and saying ‘ahhhhhh’ as if you were at the doctor’s office may gain you a few stares, it can also help you release stress. If you haven’t yet tried chest tapping and breathing out to get through your most stressful days, watch this video and start to try it.
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Jul 10
Meridians, Acupuncture, Do-In stretching……..what does it all mean?
Do-in, the formal name for the stretching postures practice during a Dahn Yoga class, means, ‘pushing and pulling’ of the meridian channels’. So, what is a meridian 
channel, anyway? We asked a local expert, acupuncturist William Kellar, to shed a little light on the subject in this article. He answered some of our questions below.
What is a Meridian Channel?
‘The human body has a lattice of meridians or energy channels that course through it. The meridians are responsible for moving the Qi (pronounced “chee” in Chinese) or Ki (pronounced ‘key’ in Korean) and balancing the Yin and Yang. Meridian theory assumes that disorder within a meridian causes disharmony and pain. For example, a disorder in the Stomach meridian may cause an upper toothache, because the stomach meridian passes through the upper gums.’
With this question answered, another basic one asked to be addressed. What is acupuncture? Why does it seem to help some people? Again, William Kellar:
What is acupuncture?
‘Acupuncture is designed to unblock stagnant Qi in the meridian channels and restore the body’s natural balance. The role of the acupuncturist is to observe all signs and symptoms and to determine what acu-points would best resolve the presenting disharmony(s) when treated. One of the oldest forms of medicine, acupuncture was first practiced in China over 3000 years ago. In modern times, acupuncture has been in the news quite a bit lately. As one of the fastest growing forms of complementary or integrative medicine, more people are learning about and responding to this form of treatment.’
What will I feel during an acupuncture treatment?
One commonly asked question I get is: ‘what do patients feel during an acupuncture treatment?’ Probably the biggest fear people have, getting stuck with a needle, is usually resolved upon the initial insertion. Because each needle is very fine, most people report feeling little or no discomfort. Many feel being in a state of deep relaxation during their session. Modern Western medicine can not explain precisely how acupuncture works. There are many theories, some supported by clinical research. But for over 3000 years, this medical protocol has helped people with a wide range of health conditions. In fact, the World Health Organization recognizes over 40 conditions for which acupuncture can be effective in treating.
Another question I commonly get asked is, what kind of conditions can be treated by acupuncture. The most common conditions I have seen and treated in my seven years a practice are: Stress and anxiety, neck and back pain, arthritis and joint pain, migraine and other headaches, infertility, facial pain and TMJ disorder, insomnia, allergies and sinus problems, and mood disorders.
Have you tried acupuncture or meridian stretching? Did it help you? Share your experience below.
~Dahnyogama.com editorial team
Thanks to William Kellar, M.Ac., Licensed Acupuncturist, for contributing to this article.
Mr. Kellar’s acupuncture clinic is located at 42 Pleasant Street in Arlington Center.
To learn more about acupuncture or his clinic, please visit: http://www.HealingWithAcupuncture.com
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Jul 10
A Great Exercise for your Post-Holiday Weekend Body
Although enjoyable, sometimes a long summer weekend leaves the body feeling a little heavy from too much sun, resting, and drinking, or sore from intense physical activity. This gentle but stimulating stretch for the liver is gentle but effective in opening and relaxing your body.
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Jun 10
Dahn Yoga: Two Minute Tips (Foot Massage for Rejuvenation of Body and Mind)
This Two Minute Tip is soooooo refreshing, especially after walking around the city on a hot summer day. Try it today!
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Jun 10
Research Study Shows Practicing Brain Wave Vibration Has a Positive Effect on Regulating Stress
Brain Wave Vibration (BWV) is the signature moving meditation practiced at the Dahn Yoga Centers. Most people learn it within their first few visits to a center. Developed by Ilchi Lee (founder of Dahn Yoga), BWV is an easy-to-learn and practical meditation technique to relax both mind and body through natural rhythmic movements. BWV was recently the subject of a research study on the effects of mind-body training on stress and emotions.
The study was designed to assess the association between stress, positive and negative affect, and stress hormone levels in meditation and control groups. Overall the experiment found that people who engaged in a regular Brain Wave Vibration practice were less stressed and displayed more positive emotions. Stress factors such as depression, anger, and the manifestation of psychological symptoms in the body, were also significantly less in the meditation group than in the control group. These effects were similar to those found in experiments with other mind-body techniques.
It also found that there was more dopamine (DA) in the blood of people who engaged in Brain Wave Vibration than in healthy adults who did not. In subjects who had practiced Brain Wave Vibration for three years or more, blood dopamine levels were higher in those individuals with more positive emotional states.
Primary investigator Dr. Do-Hyung Kang from the Clinical Cognitive Neuroscience Center, Seoul National University Medical Center explained, “Now it is widely accepted that meditation has positive effects on regulating stress. This study supports similar results, but also gives us a clue that this can be by the regulation of the sympathetic nervous system [the system that generates the stress response], especially by elevation of DA level in this vibrative meditation group.”
This research was funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of South Korea and carried out by scientists from major national research centers in South Korea, including several institutes at Seoul National University, as well as the Korea Institute of Brain Science. Sixty-seven people who regularly engaged in Brain Wave Vibration for an average of 43 months were gathered and compared to a group of 57 healthy adults. The results were published in the June 2010 issue of the international science journal, Neuroscience Letters.
Brain Wave Vibration as a mind-body training technique fit the aims of the study well. The researchers described the technique as being “designed to relax both mind and body through natural rhythmic movements. It is intended to be a simple meditation technique, a kind of moving meditation that can be used to manage stress and optimize brain health. This technique is designed to quiet the thinking mind and release emotions, particularly negative emotions, through physical movements and focus on body sensations.” To learn more about Brain Wave Vibration, you can visit www.brainwavevibration.com.
For more details about the study, visit http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20546836 for the abstract and links to the full article.
How can I do Brain Wave Vibration? (see www.brainwavevibration.com for more information)
- Sit in a chair with your arms resting comfortably at your sides or in front of you on a desk. When sitting in a chair, do not lean your back against the chair, but keep your back straight.
- Close your eyes and breathe comfortably, relaxing your body completely.
- Begin gently shaking your head from side to side; take three seconds to shake your head from one side to the other.
- Follow a rhythm that feels natural for your body. The vibration becomes stronger and deeper. Your head may also go up and down or follow the shape of an infinity symbol as you go deeper into the motion.
- Focus on your brain stem, located at the point where your head pivots left and right. The vibration is spreading from your neck to your whole body through your spinal cord.
- Repeat this movement for five minutes. Slow down your movement and focus on your lower abdomen.
- Inhale and exhale fully three times.
[Reference] Brain Wave Vibration, Ilchi Lee, Best Life Media
