November 7, 2008

Alternative Poses for Dahn Yoga Energy Breathing

[ad#ad-2]I’ve noticed many people have trouble with some of the Dahn Yoga Energy Breathing postures, otherwise known as Jung-choong breathing. So I thought it would be helpful to describe some alternate poses that you can do until you body is able to make the full posture.

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.

Comments (4)

  1. November 8, 2008
    Brian said...

    Nice posting. Do you know about these?

    http://www.YogaVidya.com/freepdfs.html

  2. November 13, 2008
    Michela said...

    Thanks for the link! I’ve heard of the Bhagavad Gita, but not the other ones. They look like sacred texts. I will have to look more closely.

  3. November 21, 2008
    Fawn said...

    Thanks for the link!

  4. April 24, 2011

    [...] Alternative Poses for Niijonda 5 Postures, Energy Breathing [...]

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