One aspect of Dahn Yoga that distinguishes it from everyday physical exercise is its practice of breathing.
In particular, the breathing practiced in Dahn Yoga is not merely the simple or basic breathing that transpires through the exchange of gases including carbon dioxide and oxygen, but ki energy breathing.
Dahn Yoga's "Level Up" system itself is designed to follow the depth of breathing performed at each level.
Any newly enrolled Dahn Yoga member will receive the following teaching from an instructor: "First, you have to release congested energy from your chest through chest breathing.
" If your chest feels heavy, tight, or congested, if your head is hot, or if you tend to be easily affected by stress, it is because the energy in your chest is blocked, which causes impairment of the overall energy circulation of the body.
That is why you start with chest breathing first by expelling blocked energy out through your mouth and fingertips to open up the energy pathways, or meridians.
In this way, when the energy pathways are opened and your energy "sense" is enhanced, your breathing gradually becomes deeper and you can feel energy sweeping in waves like a tide deep into your dahnjon, the energy center in your lower belly, and accumulating there.
And that is not all.
When you practice deep stretching in Dahn Yoga, because you inhale and exhale slowly as you combine the movement with your breathing, fresh air (oxygen) and energy are supplied to your whole body - from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet, and even into each part of your muscles and joints.
By unifying movement and breathing like this, the effectiveness is amplified.
In general, then, what you do is perform movements that involve using steady strength or you make large movements as you breathe in; then you release a posture or bring a movement back to its original position as you breathe out.
In Korea, death is described with the expression, "The throat breath is leaving.
" You have probably seen the belly of a sleeping young infant rising and falling as it breathed with its lower abdomen.
When we are young, we breathe naturally from our dahnjon like this, but as we grow older, our breath grows shallower and, in the end, when we are unable to breathe even from the neck, we die because the "throat breath" (life) has left.
The deep energy breathing of Dahn Yoga, which swells naturally like the tide all the way down to the lower belly, is indeed the symbol of health, longevity, and peace.