Dahn Yoga on Media
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Manage Your Stress Through Brain Wave Vibration on ABC
Dahn Yoga on ABC10/10/2008 - www.sonoranliving.com - Click here to view the original article on ABC.com.  Stress affects us all, and right now with all the negative news on the airwaves and in our jobs as we worry about the economy and the election coming up, it may seem particularly acute. While no one can tell you not to worry, there is help for those who find the stress of their lives starting to affect their ability to concentrate or perform well at work. Dr. Sung Lee says there are some very simple, yet profoundly effective, exercises everyone can do at their desk, work or at school, that can help us all think better and improve the blood flow to our brain. Developed out of a Korean style of yoga called Dahn Yoga, Brain Wave Vibration is a technique that quite literally changes the brain waves we produce, enabling us to think better. Here are three exercises using Brain Wave Vibration techniques: 1. Breathing with the Brain. As you repeat this exercise several times, you can experience a sensation as though someone is pressing down from the crown of your head. Sitting comfortably in a chair, straighten your spine and relax your shoulders. Take several deep breaths as you relax body and mind. Breathe in as you focus your awareness on the point. Breathe in, imagining energy entering with the point open wide. Breathe out through your mouth; imagine the stale energy stagnant in your head leaving your body with your breath. As you inhale, imagine energy entering and washing your brain. As you exhale, imagine stagnant energy leaving through your mouth. Repeat this inhale-and-exhale cycle for at least three minutes. 2. Spread Arms to Open Chest. The longer you sit at your desk, the more your shoulders will start to feel stiff and your head will feel hot. This means that energy, unable to circulate through the whole body, is stagnating in the head. With this exercise, you will feel energy passing through your chest and spreading evenly to your whole body, so that new vitality will fill your brain. Stand comfortably with your feet shoulder width apart. Extend your arms to the front with your palms facing each other. Spread your arms apart as far as possible to open your chest fully. Maintain this posture as you focus your awareness on places where you feel a pulling sensation. Return to your original position. Inhale as you spread your arms, pulling them toward your back, and exhale as you bring them together toward your front. Repeat this at least six times. 3. Neck Rotations. Neck and shoulder stiffness hinders the upward flow of blood and oxygen to the brain, keeping you from having a clear head. This exercise will refresh your neck and spine, and stimulate your central nervous system by helping your flow of spinal fluid. Do sitting or standing. Keep your spine straight and relax your shoulders. When the exercise is done in a standing position, it's good to have the feet shoulder width apart. Hold your right shoulder with your left hand and turn your head to the left as far as possible. With your head turned as far as possible, maintain this posture and focus your awareness on places where you feel a pull. As you exhale, return to your original position. Now do it in the opposite direction. Hold your left shoulder with your right hand and turn your head to the right as far as possible. Repeat this exercise at least twice. Inhale as you start the movement, hold your breath for a short time while you hold the posture, and exhale as you return to the starting position. These are just a few of the many exercises that you can learn through Dahn Yoga. Along with physical movements that improve the brain-body connection and thus our brain health, there are also brain "teaser" types of exercises, which are very helpful to improve our creativity and keep our brains engaged and building new neural connections. Dr. Lee says, as we teach our brains to cope with stress and to build new, strong connections, we are actually helping to stave off the greatest fear most of us have of old age - dementia. According to Dr. Lee, these exercises have been proven to improve brain function. In fact, a few years ago while he was a practicing physician at Cornell University's hospital, he helped facilitate a research project with people using Dahn Yoga techniques - and after three months, the patients were showing a shocking 15.5 point improvement in a brain function test. The results were so stunning, in fact, that Dr. Lee decided to focus the rest of his career on this kind of research. The Cornell study was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. According to Dr. Lee, in the past five years or so, Western science has been prolific in publishing scientific studies that are showing that negative attitudes are critical factors in our developing disease and mental problems. He says, researchers are only now beginning to study this phenomenon from the other point of view; that is, that positive, hopeful attitudes help to keep disease from developing. However Dr. Lee believes that in the next few years we will be seeing a lot of these kinds of results, because of the studies being conducted, and the anecdotal evidence out of these groups and through centuries of observation makes it seem very likely that our attitude will affect our long term health, for the better and not just for the worse. One of the principles of Brain Wave Vibration is that in changing our brain waves, we are changing them towards this positive attitude that we all aspire to. We are improving our brain function by pushing stress out and good thoughts in, and while that seems simplistic, it is actually quite profound and effective. In fact, there is a book out, Brain Wave Vibration, by the founder of Dahn Yoga, Ilchi Lee (no relation) that explains these principals. Ilchi Lee took the techniques of ancient Korean yoga practice, Tai Chi and other martial arts, and has combined them into the Dahn Yoga practice we know today. His book is available through Amazon.com. You can also learn more at www.ilchi.com, Dahn Yoga at www.dahnyoga.com, and about Dr. Lee's organization, the International Brain Education Association, at www.ibreaus.org.   
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