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Yoga Exercise — No Comments
01
Jul 11

Practitioner with brain tumor uses Dahn Yoga energy technique

Bette Castoria has a lot to be thankful for. Not only does she regularly relax with yoga in her own studio, but in June 2011 she reported that Dahn Yoga energy helped her relax after being diagnosed brain tumor.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nloi7qX9pUY

Castoria has been practicing Dahn Yoga for years. In February, she felt nauseated during a yoga session, and later she had difficulty seeing while watching television.

An MRI scan later, clinicians told her that she had an inoperable tumor deep within her brain. While she was devastated, Castoria got word from Kim, her regional Dahn Yoga director, that her life particle training might now come in handy.

As Kim explains it in the short video, life particle energy consists of the visualization of small, healing, golden points of light that pervade the universe. She states that one individual can send these particles to another through touch, prayer or even by Skype.

The CEO of Dahn Yoga himself "sent her life particles every morning at 9:30 AM without fail," another practitioner reports.

How lucky is Castoria? A second MRI in May revealed that the tumor was gone. She credited Dahn Yoga for helping her stay strong and positive during this difficult experience.

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Yoga Exercise — No Comments
29
Jun 11

Parkinson’s patients take yoga

For individuals with progressive, incurable conditions like Parkinson's disease, it can be hard to find methods of self healing that are gentle, soothing and simple to practice. Fortunately, yoga may help individuals with Parkinson's ease some of their nervous and muscular symptoms.

More and more yoga studios are offering classes for people with this condition, like one center in Roxborough, Pennsylvania. According to the Roxborough-Manayunk Patch, it is the first in the Philadelphia area to hold classes addressing the disorder itself.

"Because Parkinson's is a movement disorder, the mindfulness of yoga helps the brain re-learn as the dopamine neurotransmitters are dying off," said Theresa Controy, the studio's owner.

Several studies have explored the benefits of stretching, deep breathing and meditation for people with this disease.

One, published in the Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy, suggested yoga as a supplement to traditional physical therapy. Another, this one in the International Journal of Yoga Therapy, recommended combining aerobics, yoga, deep breathing and strength training for patients with Parkinson's.

As many as 1 million Americans suffer from the disorder, according to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation.

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Yoga Exercise — No Comments
17
Jun 11

Alternative therapies soothe unexplained symptoms

Often, an unexplained ache or pain can be minor enough not to warrant a doctor's visit, but major enough to be a constant bother. Such problems can be excellent reasons to consider mind-body therapies like yoga, tai chi, qigong or acupuncture, all of which taking a holistic approach to self healing.

Recent scientific inquiry, which appeared in the British Journal of General Practice, has found that the latter therapy may be effective in treating mild, medically ambiguous symptoms such as aches, fatigue and emotional problems.

Researchers at the British Institute of Health Services Research at the University of Exeter asked a number of middle-aged adults with chronic but medically unexplained medical issues to take a traditional five-element acupuncture sessions as part of their treatment course.

The team found that these participants tended to report improvements in symptoms and in mood, while those who took the most acupuncture often reported being the most excited about continuing the alternative therapy.

Such mind-body programs are increasingly being suggested by physicians as a way to augment traditional medical treatments. A study published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine found that almost 3 percent of U.S. patients are encouraged to take the mind-body path.

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Yoga Exercise — No Comments
13
Jun 11

Yoga mutes anxiety, insomnia, researcher says

Plenty of studies have examined the effects of aerobic exercise on mental health, but fewer have looked into the soothing benefits of mindfulness activities, like yoga, meditation, tai chi and qigong. That trend is beginning to reverse itself, however, as researchers all over North America test yoga-based self healing.

Researcher Jane McLeod of the University of Alberta lately took a holistic approach to quantifying the effects that yoga can have on the mind. She asked 90 participants to regularly engage in yoga, exercise or no intervention at all.

After several weeks of these therapies, McLeod used standardized mental health scoring – namely, the Hope Index, Mental Health Inventory and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) – to measure their benefits.

She found that individuals who practiced yoga scored highest on the GHQ and reported the biggest improvements in anxiety levels and the severity of insomnia.

Likewise, individuals who engaged in either intervention tended to experience increases in their internal levels of hope and optimism.

By taking gentle mindfulness exercises of the sort offered by Dahn Yoga, people under personal strain may feel less tension and more positivity. 

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Yoga Exercise — No Comments
02
Jun 11

Yoga stretch treats rotator cuff injury

The discipline of yoga has applications in many fields, from sports medicine to geriatric rehabilitation. Recently, a study published in the journal Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation found that a simple, yoga-based move helped elderly patients regain range of motion in their shoulders after experiencing rotator cuff injuries.

The rotator cuff is a group of tendons and muscles that support and move the shoulder. Tears in any members of this group can lead to pain and limited arm motion, especially in aging Americans.

Injuries to this area of the body are quite common and can lead to serious reductions in quality of life. Between 1998 and 2004, more than 5 million hospital visits were made in the U.S. due to rotator cuff tears, according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS).

In the current study, the method of self-healing, called Triangular Forearm Support, involved placing the forearms on a wall, a chair or – in the case of advanced practitioners – on the floor during a headstand.

Researchers reported that the range of motion, in terms of flexion and abduction, typically doubled for patients given five sessions of the yoga-based treatment.

The AAOS states that non-invasive alternative treatments like this one have reduced the number of rotator cuff surgeries by 27 percent.

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Personal Growth and Development / Yoga Exercise — 3 Comments
01
Apr 11

Dahn Yoga classes focus on position therapy

Stretching and breathing properly can reduce stress and inflammation, and a new aspect of Dahn Yoga workshops aims to increase relaxation in just this way. Called position therapy, this enhancement of the traditional classes given by Dahn Yoga and Health Centers is being offered in Fremont, California, as well as numerous centers across the U.S.

At root, position therapy takes its self healing techniques from tai chi, yoga and basic meditation. To begin, an instructor – in Fremont, it will be acupuncturist Banya Lim – analyzes one's typical body positions.

Postures that cause aches or put stress on the skeleton or joints are gradually made up for through movements calculated to ease tension and account for bad positional habits.

The therapeutic workshop can help practitioners feel less stressed, concentrate better and access previously untapped creative resources.

Dahn Yoga has been practiced for thousands of years in one form or another, and its beneficial techniques currently include tai chi, guided meditation, stretching, deep breathing and brain wave vibration, which is a form of moving meditation that can help realign body and mind.

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Yoga Exercise — No Comments
29
Mar 11

Employment on the rise in certain regions of the country

The state of California recently accomplished a bit of self healing, as the Golden State recorded one of the biggest employment gains in the country in February.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released its state-by-state and region-by-region employment data, which revealed that California gained more jobs in the month of February (96,500) than any other state in the union.

In addition, California experienced the second-highest increase in employment with 0.7 percent. Delaware was the biggest winner in this regard, seeing a 0.9 percent increase in its employment.

Despite the gains made in the Golden State, it still has the second-highest unemployment rate in the country at 12.2 percent, although it declined 0.2 percent during February. Neighboring Nevada has the highest unemployment rate at 13.6 percent.

Dealing with unemployment can be a discouraging experience but staying positive and active in the job search is essential to succeeding. Dahn Yoga classes can help one improve his or her well-being and help get one's mind, body and spirit work together in harmony, which can have a positive effect on one's attitude towards the job search.

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Dahn Yoga Community News — 1 Comment
14
Mar 11

Meditation focuses on centering self, healing mind-body connection

In hundreds of nationwide centers that host Dahn Yoga, meditation, breathing and yoga postures speed the process of self healing. Some individuals may wonder about the intersection between yoga and spirituality. Centering and healing oneself through yoga is primarily a mental and physical pursuit, though it has a spiritual component.

Yoga has been in existence for thousands of years, during which time it has been adapted to the inner and outer movements of the the human body. In its most basic forms, yoga begins by addressing the body's natural flow of energy, called Ki. Many basic Dahn Yoga exercises act to unblock or facilitate the flow of Ki throughout the body, which restores physical strength and well-being.

These physical pursuits also have repercussions in the mind and the spirit. Practices in Dahn Yoga, like meditation, tai chi and deep breathing, loosen the restrictions placed on the mind and soul by everyday pressures and responsibilities.

Practicing yoga ultimately means reincorporating the tending of one's spiritual and mental contentment into the daily routine of living. By engaging in an occasional yoga session, a Dahn Yoga practitioner may begin to feel a healing process begin within the self.

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California Yoga — No Comments
02
Mar 11

Yoga instructor teaches classes for those with Parkinson’s

The ways in which the body goes about self healing are subtle and take time, so by using any sort of mind-body system, like meditation or Dahn Yoga, health may be restored that much more quickly. Of course, sometimes a condition is life-long, in which case the care must ease symptoms or reduce pain. With this in mind, one California woman has begun holding yoga classes for people with Parkinson’s disease.

Colleen Carroll, who lives in Topanga Canyon, regularly holds stretching and breathing tutorials for people with multiple sclerosis, stroke, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, according to the Pacific Palisades Post.

She told the news source that her students engage in exercises and relaxation techniques designed to facilitate self healing and to correct posture.

Of her members, she said that “they come into my class hunched over, shuffling, tremoring and walk out with a long stride and upright,” as quoted by the website. Carroll added that while she knows that healing is not the same as curing, she finds pleasure in helping people work with their disabilities. This is something she and Dahn Yoga health experts share, along with many other yoga instructors.

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