In this posture you actually lie on your back with your shoulders, neck, and chest  relaxed. Raise your knees keeping your feet planted firmly on the ground, parallel to each other and hip-width apart. Then raise your hips as high as you can so that you make a straight line from your ribs to your knees.

While in this posture, do intestine exercises by pulling your abdominal muscles below your navel in toward your back and then out again as far as you can. Keep doing this with your breathing relaxed and natural.

Try doing 300 intestine exercises at first and then building up from there, adding another 100 when  you master the last. At Tao Holistic Healing we must have done them for half an hour, so you can’t really do too many.

Nowadays my legs are stronger and holding the posture is manageable, but I can still feel the benefit of holding it for extended periods of time.

This posture is what’s called in Dahn Yoga a “yeon dahn” posture, or a posture that you hold while breathing that clears the stagnant ki energy in your meridian channels and builds up energy that feels bright and clear. It also helps develop your muscles and is sometimes translated into “Hold for Strength” postures in English.

Sky Posture in particular helps you clear your shoulders, chest, and back. My mind always felt more clear when I would do it and I could feel the love in my heart.

A yeon dahn posture is also a form of meditation. While you are holding it you focus on your breath or on your lower abdomen, where the energy center known as your dahn-jon is located. Whatever bodily sensations or pain you feel, or thoughts you encounter, you let them pass and keep focusing on your dahn-jon. From this process you will develop more focus and self-confidence.

Once you are able to hold most yeon dahn postures, it’s best to do it for at least 20 minutes at a time. But once you are able to do 20 minutes, you can probably go longer without much problem.

So how do you do Sky Posture?

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and the outside edges parallel to each other.
2. Bend your knees at least 15 degrees.
3. Bring your hands over your head with your palms facing up toward the sky. Have the tips of your fingers point toward each other, but leave a few inches distance in between them. There should also be a few inches between your hands and the top of your head.
4. Bend your elbows slightly so that your arms are rounded. Relax your shoulders however.
5. Keep your spine straight and long from your tailbone to the top of your neck. You may need to tuck your tailbone under a little to do this.
6. Then hold this posture, being as still as possible, while focusing on your dahn-jon two inches below your navel and two inches inside your abdomen. You can start with 5 minutes and then build up from there as you are able to hold the posture longer. If any part of your body vibrates, let it do so while holding the posture.

Let me know what you feel after holding this posture. I think it is pretty amazing–a very refreshing feeling.

Try them out and let me know if you find them helpful:

4 Holiday Stress-Busting Moves

By Brynn Mannino Posted December 09, 2008

Ilchi Lee, founder and president of the International Brain Education Association, which promotes and develops brain education programs for organizations all around the world, teaches WomansDay.com readers four different ways to decompress, using breathing and body movements to promote blood and oxygen throughout our bodies. If you’re feeling stressed this season, take a moment to experiment with Lee’s techniques (which can be done anywhere) to help put your mind at peace. Happy holidays!

1. Abdominal Breathing: Using your abdomen, take several deep breaths to promote oxygen flow to your body and brain. This releases the spine’s tension, relaxes the central nervous system, fills the brain and body with vitality, facilitates digestion and eases drowsiness.

2. Brain Tapping: Starting at the temple and using the first two fingers of both hands, gently tap across the top of your skull, moving back to front and side to side at random. This very simple and gentle move is shown to increase blood flow to the brain and almost immediately improves focus on the task at hand. (It can also make some people slightly dizzy.)

3. Open Chest: When unable to circulate throughout the body, energy stagnates in your head–as it might for those of us with desk jobs. Try spreading your arms wide to pass energy through your chest and body to revitalize your brain.

4. Neck Rotations: Neck and shoulder stiffness hinders blood and oxygen flow to the brain and can lead to a muffled mind. Slowing rotate your neck in circles to refresh upper body and spine, which will help stimulate your central nervous system.

Ilchi Lee is the president of the Korea Institute of Brain Science, the founder of Dahn Yoga, Brain Wave Vibration and author of the newly released book Brain Waive Vibration Getting Back into the Rhythm of a Happy, Healthy Life.

Having the energy in your body circulating healthfully can help many illnesses and hormone imbalances, including type 2 diabetes. It also reduces stress, which exacerbates type 2 diabetes.

Someday we may have concrete scientific evidence about how Dahn Yoga helps heal physical illness, but for now we have anecdotal evidence. Here is one story submitted by John from California through the online form on www.brainwavevibration.com.

I have been practicing Dahn Yoga for about three years. I had noticed a sign for a center in Las Vegas where my family and I lived. I was looking for a way to lose weight and get some exercise since I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, which were controlled through medication prescribed by my doctor. I was taking six different medications daily!

My true feelings were that I knew I could help my body get healthier without so much medication. While attending the classes three days a week I have lost 46 pounds that will stay off because they were lost the right way. My blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol are all in excellent control and I only take half a pill a day. I have learned to relax and breathe properly so that I sleep much better and am able to control my emotions in stressful situations.

I would urge anyone feeling like they would like to help themselves become healthier and happier to try Dahn and its Brain Wave Vibration-based program. The power is waiting inside you–come and meet your true self.

Do you have your own Dahn Yoga success story? Why don’t you share it here?

This emphasis on the brain is reflected in an important part of the Brain Wave Vibration website: BrainTV. BrainTV is videos, videos, and more videos of news, tips, interviews, and success stories about Brain Wave Vibration, Dahn Yoga, and their founder Ilchi Lee. It introduces and supports the Dahn Yoga practice and can even warm and inspire your heart.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Currently there are 14 Body + Brain Centers, with many more planned.

Their website www.bodynbrain.com tell you how you can open your own center and gives a list of some center locations:

Anaheim, CA

Body + Brain in Anaheim, CA
1401 S. Anaheim Blvd,. Suite 103, Anaheim, CA 92805
714.721.4665

San Ramon, CA

Body + Brain in San Ramon, CA
2551 San Ramon Valley Blvd #223, San Ramon, CA 94583
925.552.9834

Atlanta, GA

Body + Brain in Atlanta, GA
2900 Peachtree Rd #214, Atlanta, GA 30305
404.841.9995

* North Potomac, MD

Body + Brain in North Potomac, MD
14321 Platinum Drive, North Potomac, MD 20878
301.251.8963

* Albuquerque, NM

Body + Brain in West Albuquerque, NM
2228 Windward Dr. NW , Albuquerque, NM 87120
505.839.1759

Cedar Crest, NM

Body + Brain in Cedar Crest, NM
12198 N. Hwy 14, Cedar Crest, NM 87008
505.286.3535

Lynbrook, NY

Body + Brain in Lynbrook, NY
288 Broadway, Lynbrook, NY 11563
516.612.3737

Lake Oswego, OR

Body + Brain in Lake Oswego, OR
15110 SW Boones Ferry Road, Suite 380, Lake Oswego, OR 97035
503.744.0043

Cypress, TX

Body + Brain in Cypress, TX
13203 Fry Road, Cypress, TX 77433
281.213.8484

* Home-based centers

As you can see, some of the centers are run out of these qualified instructors’ homes. Opportunities to teach Dahn Yoga have grown a lot this year with the addition of outreach instructors (unpaid volunteers), BEST Instructors (formerly known as HSP Intructors) and Body + Brain Centers.

I hope your Dahn Yoga practice is going well. If you have not yet tried Dahn Yoga, besides this blog you can go to www.dahnyoga.com to find a center near you. The site www.brainwavevibration.com will show you how to do the core Dahn Yoga exercise, Brain Wave Vibration. You can also find interviews and lectures there by Dahn Yoga founder, Ilchi Lee.

Ilchi Lee recently discovered an acupressure point that makes laughing easier. He describes it in his journal on www.ilchi.com. I think it’s pretty amazing for someone to be pressing points on his body and discovering a point that helps you laugh more easily. He says he’s

“always experimenting with my own body, trying to uncover new ways to heal and grow, which is how I invented Brain Wave Vibration and Jang-saeng Walking.

“This point is behind the ears and, like most acupressure points, is often painful when pressed. But if you focus on the sensation there after pressing it and then laugh, the laughter flows more easily from you.

If you keep focusing there and let yourself be free, the laughter can turn into a form of Brain Wave Vibration. In fact, I’ve discovered this exercise has all of the benefits of Brain Wave Vibration, but on a much deeper level. Once you feel relaxed and happy from this exercise, you can smoothly transition into just moving your body as it wishes by letting it flow with its own internal energy [Dahn-mu].

I believe that we are in charge of making ourselves happy.”

And this exercise is one way to do it. I like how Ilchi Lee doesn’t just say, “Let’s all be happy,” but also keeps trying to find ways to accomplish this seemingly difficult task.

This “happy acupressure point” is behind the ears at the bottom of the skull bones. There is a little dent. Press this point toward the front of your head instead of inward toward your neck. Ouch!

Now laugh for no reason at all

Posture No. 2:

1. If you are in Posture No. 2 and are having too much trouble, pull your knees in toward your chest.
2. Grasp your knees with your arms and touch your chin to your knees.
3. Breathe in deeply, and then exhale as you release your knees.
4. Return to the correct posture or hold your knees slightly more toward the chest. Repeat step 1 as needed.

Posture No. 3:

1. From Posture No. 2, straighten one leg and lift it up 90 degrees from the floor (or as close to that as possible). Hold on to your calf and pull gently back on the leg. Your other leg can remain bent with your foot on the floor. Keep you head on the floor at all times.
2. After about one minute, switch to the other leg. Continue alternating legs. As you gain flexibility, move your hands farther up your legs. Eventually, try straightening both legs at once.

Posture No. 4:

1. Begin with Posture No. 3–your legs straight and your hands clasped onto your toes. If the “correct” posture is difficult, hold lower on the legs and allow your knees to bend slightly.
2. Lift up your head and hips and begin to rock gently back and forth.
3. Continue until your spine gains more flexibility.
4. Once your spine feels more relaxed, try holding a partial posture with the legs parallel to the ground. Return to rocking if the posture becomes uncomfortable.

Posture No. 5:

1. Instead of crossing your legs as you  come down from Posture No. 4, place the bottoms of your feet together and let your legs rest comfortably on the floor.
2. You can also put your feet on the ground about hip-width apart, keeping your knees bent and your back flat on the ground.
3. If either posture becomes uncomfortable, return to Posture No. 1.

Both the article and the movie made me think more about what a practice such as Dahn Yoga can do in the face of fear and negative information, whether legitimate or not.  It shows me how important it is to be rooted in your own center, your dahn-jon, and to hold your own vision for your life and for the world no matter what the circumstances. As Lorna DiMeo is quoted as saying in the Summer 2006 issue of body & brain magazine, “Whenever I get sidetracked by a problem, I make sure I hold my vision in front of me. Staying focused on it helps me to rise above almost any crisis. Think of a compass and keep directing your ship back to your vision and the fact that you have mastery over it”

For this reason, among others, I am very grateful for my Dahn Yoga practice.

Have you seen the movie? What are your thoughts?