I haven't heard about that in awhile, but looking forward to hearing more about it.

I have had extensive experience with Dahn. There are many many positives to the practice and the workshops. I have seen others and have personally experienced much improvement in my physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. Unfortunately, due to the expense of the program and running the business, the "sales" aspect can become overwhelming for "members."

Having been both a trained instructor and member of Dahn, I also sometimes am confused about their purpose. Bottom line though, the regular practice of Dahn Yoga, or any Yoga, can bring about great benefits. The additional benefit for Dahn Yoga is that the "regular" person can achieve great physical and spiritual benefits from the practice. There is not the initial intimidation of asanas as can occur in the more traditional forms.

I have taught and practiced both, and continue to combine both in my daily practice.

its pity ,in the name of yoga diffrent kinds of crazy stuff being taught to the people . yoga must be practice as YOG not as exerceise of cult .
i m surprised to know that yog have been dwongraded to such low level .

I went to a free Dahn yoga class offered in my hometown about a month ago. What I experienced in the introductory class was nothing like the yoga I have previously experienced (hatha, Bikram, vinyasa), lots of counting and chanting and not very much movement or focus on the breath. Just a lot of TALK about focus on the breath. The teachers made me incredibly uncomfortable, asking me what I thought of the class about every five minutes. Then, they asked me to pay four hundred dollars for three months of classes and tried to pressure me into paying a slightly smaller amount when I said no thank you. The room in which the classes were held was lit with fluorescent lights, which I don't really think facilitated relaxation, and we had to vocally participate in the class by counting our breath to a chant, as a group. This lasted for about ten or fifteen minutes. I felt like I was in the first grade. It wasn't the yoga for me. It did feel very cultish, to say the least.

Out of curiousity, I once attended a Dahn Yoga open house. It was mostly about marketing and signing people up for a variety of things - prerequisite: a $20 Aura photo - and selling vibrating "brains". I asked them to demonstrate or describe what type of yoga they taught. The fresh-faced instructor was unable to come up with a satisfactory answer (guess it wasn't in their script). I asked if they knew about Iyengar yoga, and they had no idea what I was talking about. Need I say more?

I just googled Dahn Yoga and it confirmed my suspicion. I was looking for a place to study yoga and tried their free introductory class. I had this creepy feeling all through the class. Like someone is telling me this is not yoga. They made me count, pressured me to sign up for a lot of money. I got out the place as fast as I could. This place is in my neighborhood for almost 15 years and I often wonder how their bussiness survive. I don't see a lot of people going in and out of their place.

I practiced Dahn Yoga for about two years before I become an Instructor. After that I've been a trainer for more then three years and I've seen Dahn Yoga (HSP Yoga or Brain Respiration) from a members, instructors, workshop trainer and center manager point of view.

As a philosophy and as a mind, body and spirit programme, Dahn Yoga is possibly the best, one possibly can find. It combines techniques like or similar to Yoga, Pilates, Martial Arts, Energy Healing, Acupressure, Meditation and many more. It also teaches Chi (Qi or Ki) sensitivity and other HSP (higher sensory perception) techniques which are literally priceless.

Unfortunately the Management of the centres puts a lot of focus on the financial aspect of the business. The management explains to the instructors and trainers that the money generated by the centres, is being used to open more centres to help other people, and matter of fact, I’ve seen many centres opening and many many satisfied members and customers. There are events organised by the Dahn Yoga centres to support Families, events to make people more aware about the state of our Planet and so on.
The whole concept basically is to make people more self aware and awaken their Healers consciousness, so people can improve their life, improve society and the planet.

A problem in the centres is usually a language barrier, most of the senior staff, which is about 99% is Korean. There is also a huge difference in mentality. I wouldn’t say that Dahn Yoga is a cult though there is a hierarchy with the masters (Jidojas) led by Dr. IllchiLee. That is something one can find in every company and especially with spiritual groups and organisations.

My suggestion is to try the Dahn Yoga training and to take on board what you think is useful. If the staff asks for big money memberships or trainings simply say “no” if you don’t feel like you’ll get benefit out of it.

I tried Dahn yoga once when I was traveling, since it was the closest studio to where I was staying and had a class at the right time. It was the weirdest "yoga" class I have EVER been to. First of all, everyone has their own uniforms they keep at the studio, reminiscent of karate uniforms. The "studio" was an office, complete with fluorescent lighting and linoleum tiled floors. Not only that, but there were lots of yoga-esque things that we did, like banging the bottoms of our feet together (presumably to open energy channels?) The teacher and other students were not flexible, either. Then, at the end, meaning for the last half hour of class, everyone lay on their backs while the teacher came around and 'healed' us. The goal of the class was clearly this meditation, but it was bizarre. He used energy from his hands and waved them around each of us. There were also medical-seeming charts on the walls detailing energy flows, etc.

I was relaxed afterwards, but it was really strange and felt cultish to me. However! It doesn't fit the requirements of a cult: living leader, members change lifestyle and give up contact with non-members, work tirelessly and without benefit to selves to support cult. It was oddly sexual though, but maybe that's just me.

I'm a Dahn Yoga Instructor currently working at one of the centers. I haven't studied Indian forms of yoga much, although I am interested in learning more. Dahn actually means "life energy" in Korean and is a Korean energy practice that, like Indian yoga, helps to increase a person's mind-body connection. Each instructor, center, and region delivers the exercise or runs a center a little differently, but the essence is always the same. Based on Eastern medicine energy principles, the idea is to get your chi/ki/qi energy flowing to improve your overall health. Some of the techniques, such as vibration exercises and energy meditation, are helpful even if a person is only capable of limited movement. It's always interesting to me to see how a person with previous yoga experience who tries a class for the first time likes it. I usually explain that it may be different from what they are used to. Some don't like it. Some love it. Some like it but say, "This isn't yoga!" One active member told me that it has a little bit of everything. To me all that really matters is that people get what they are looking for out of the exercise and that they are genuinely happy.

Eve, above, says: "It doesn't fit the requirements of a cult: living leader, members change lifestyle and give up contact with non-members, work tirelessly and without benefit to selves to support cult. It was oddly sexual though, but maybe that's just me."

Many people have reported that at the inner circle of the organization there lies a manipulative and deceptive cult that fits the description Eve provided. Proceed with caution.

I have been attending classes at a Dahn Yoga center in New York City since February. I bought a 6 month membership, which was costly, but by going 2-3 times a week, the price per class evened out to about the cost of other types of yoga. The cons are: I think the Dahn Centers use the word yoga loosely and the sales pressure is a bit much. I'm not that thrilled with the hugging that tends to go on when you enter the center. I'm there for the exercise, not the hugs. And the uniforms and the bowing are not my cup of tea but if you go to a martial arts class, you'll find that uniforms and bowing are not that extraordinary in these classes. The pros(which outweighed the cons for me): I felt measurably better after class. I became more aware and in touch with my body after being woefully out of shape. Although they told me I would likely lose weight, I don't think that the weight that I did lose came from the exercise, but from the better way that I felt about myself physically. I became motivated to start a serious diet. I am still ambivalent about the classes and the philosophy seems a bit "out there" but there is no doubting the fact that ultimately it has been good for me. After my 6 month membership I signed up for an extremely reasonable 40 class offer, which I'm half way through. After that is up I will probably move on to something else. I'm a very centered and grounded person and although there was a bit of discomfort with the sales pitch and some unusual practices, I do not let those things detract from the fact that this program has been very beneficial to me. I would not have been capable of doing Indian style yoga or much of anything when I started and I was motived to get into shape with this program and have done so.

I recently visited a Dahn Yoga center after reading "A Friendship With God" "and uncommon dialoge" at the end of the book it recommends Dahn in order to learn better breathing and meditation techniques. I loved it, I loved the Mind, Body, Soul, Universe, aspect, I just could not afford it. When a freind of mine mention "cult" and "price". It simply told her, just because the messanger may be corupt, that does not make the message corrupt. I am currently seaking a cheaper alternative of the same teaching. If anyone has any suggustions please email me. janinesemailaddress@comcast.net

I've taken classes in Tai Chi (starting in 1989) and Qi Gong and although I don't practice regularly, I really like Tai Chi.

However, my son is a yoga teacher in Montreal (it's his URL that I've given above)who tells me all the time that yoga is the way to go, so I've been trying yoga for the past 3 years. I've taken several beginner classes that include some Hatha, some Ashtanga, and some Iyengar, I watch classes on TV, and I have the big B. K. S. Iyengar book (and have followed some of the routines suggested in it).

When I first took yoga (a once-a-week lunch-hour Hatha class through the college where I teach), I found it very relaxing, but unsatisfying because I expected standing "linked-up" movements, like I'd learned in Tai Chi.

During weekly phone conversations with my son, he would ask what asanas I'd learned/practiced in my latest class, and would tell me to keep practicing. I, in turn, would complain that I wanted something that was all standing and "linked up," like Tai Chi...he kept telling me to be patient, and so I have. But I still don't much like yoga. To compound my discomfort, my office mate, a man who's 2 years older than me, has turned into an absolute yoga FREAK over the past couple of years and, because he knows my son is a yoga teacher, he thinks I should be a yoga FREAK too. So I get "How's your practice?" from my office mate on a regular basis as well as "Are you doing any yoga, Mom?" from my son. :-(

(Bear with me...I **AM** going to get to the Dahn Yoga stuff eventually!)

I'm 54, overweight, a former smoker, and didn't do any form of regular exercise since I was...um...30, so when I visited Michael (my son) in Montreal in December 2006 and attended a few of his yoga classes, I almost died (I had never done Sun Salutations until I took a class with him!).

Anyway, I haven't done yoga for several months, and Michael was just home for Christmas and encouraged me to take it up again. Since New Year's (like many people), I've been thinking I must get involved in something...

Then tonight, my husband and I had supper at a Korean restaurant, and I picked up a brochure on our way out on Dahn Yoga, noting the studio is near our home.

I went to the Dahn Yoga website and got REALLY EXCITED!! The system looks like it combines my fave things--Tai Chi and Qi Gong with YOGA--I thought "Wow!! This sounds PERFECT!!"

But then I Googled "Dahn Yoga" (I usually research things I'm not familiar with) and read a lot of disturbing stuff, like how many studios pressure people to sign up for higher levels of membership and how they're like a cult.

I'm not worried about the cult thing, and can certainly say "NO!" to pitches for more money. However, I would hope that the branch near me doesn't put its main emphasis on milking money from people.

I just want to become healthier, and this combination of yoga (even if it's not traditional yoga), Tai Chi & Qi Gong (again, even if they're not traditional Tai Chi or Qi Gong) works, then I don't really care.

That's my 2 cents' worth,
Deb Bridge

Sorry

I have only taken one Dahn yoga class. Thought it was fine. However there was the pressure to sign up immediately for a lot of classes. I'm not too keen on that type of sales tactic.

I also know a couple of people who have taught there. Personally, I think they're kind of brainwashed. But they do seem happy.

Another one of my friends used to be a Dahn member (higher level) and left for the very reason she thought it was a cult.

As a former "master" of Dahn Yoga, I feel compelled to set the story straight. The exercises and some of the concepts are beneficial. I know many people who experienced health benefits. Each Dahn Yoga center will be run somewhat differently depending upon the headmaster of the center. So some centers may not have the standard Dahn sales pressure. A member's experience will depend a lot on their headmaster. Yet my experience is that the negatives far outweigh the postives with Dahn.

There are many masters out there who have great hearts and good intentions, in fact most started off this way. Unfortunately, the Dahn system is corrupt. The system is built upon disempowering the members AND masters so that they don't trust themselves. Members trust their masters above themselves and masters trust Ilchi Lee above themselves.

Regular members probably won't hear much about Ilchi Lee. The organization has gone through great lengths to separate his name from the business, and yet he still controls the organization. He tells the masters what they need to ACHIEVE every year. He sets the goals (the VISION) and masters are taught to have the mentality to "achieve your vision or die." This is why masters will do anything to get a member to sign up for programs and pay a lot of money. I've seen crazy unethical actions performed by masters, but done with the zealous belief that their soul and the member's soul depends on it.

Even if you just sign up to take "yoga" classes, the masters will always have a hidden agenda for how to save your soul through enrolling in Dahn programs. Dahn masters are encouraged to have a plan for each member and to focus on the members with the most "potential." Dahn yoga suffers from a case of spiritual arrogance. Ilchi Lee and Dahn masters truly believe that Dahn yoga is the only path for enlightenment. This is how they justify many deceptive and manipulative actions - the end justifies the means.

Don't buy into it.

I took three classes at Dahn Yoga before I realized something was off. It's kind of like Teletubbies meets TCM. They got me on a free class and hit me on a hard sell for a 3 mos membership, but I am seeking to get it back & am thankful that I didn't dole out a whole lot. I should have known; the classes didn't seem like regular yoga, or at least the yoga I tried at the Sivananda Center in New York. It was kind of like Baby Yoga. Even that's okay, if it helps, but if I am going to do that, I'll do it at the Y without all the mumbo jumbo. The Dahn "philosophy" struck me as a checklist menu--here's a little TCM, here's a litte EST, here's a little this or that. Geez, all I wanted was to increase flexibility and core strength. The sellling point was offputting.