Whether it’s Tai Chi, Dahn yoga, or Kai energy training, the Dahn Holistic Fitness Center in Centreville Square Shopping Center has it all. That is what about a dozen participants at the Moonlight Yoga-thon came out to do on Saturday, July 21.
THE EVENT brought out yoga enthusiasts and people who simply wanted to participate for a good cause. All proceeds from the event go to St. Jude’s Research Hospital in Memphis. There were three ways to participate in the event: make a donation directly to St. Jude’s, participate in the Yoga-thon, or be a sponsor. The Dahn center is happy that it raised $882 for St. Jude's.
“We wanted to do something as a community because the Dahn philosophy is health, smile, and peace (HSP) and we wanted to spread HSP in the community and around the world,” said Linda Lockowandt of Fairfax, who is the head instructor at the Dahn center. The chose St. Jude’s because of its name recognition but also because it is a research hospital.
“St. Jude’s puts its money where it should go to — to research. The research they do is shared throughout the world,” said Lockowandt. “They treat children from the U.S. and around the world free of charge if there is no insurance. It is a very noble organization.”
Lockowandt has been an instructor for three years at the center and practicing Dahn yoga for four. The word Dahn means life energy and yoga means union, which both together creates a union between body and mind.
Kim Root of Vienna is the head manager at the center and has been practicing yoga for 25 years; Dahn for seven years; and teaching for six years. “There are many aspects to Dahn yoga and we focus on creating a situation where the person is in charge of their own body and mastership of your emotions and brain,” said Root. “Dahn yoga helps understand how the brain works and to have more abilities to direct your own life and be free.”
THE EVENING started off with breath work and Hang Gong, which allows the body to stretch, relax, and meditate. Participants were then taught T’ai Chi, vibration training — a form which sensitizes the body to allow communication with physical energy, and Ki energy training allows a person to feel the energy around them.
Later on in the evening there was a session on brain education which Lockowandt says "connects your physical and energy bodies and allows you to feel your brain through exercises ... It unlocks the power to 'change your brain' to create health, happiness and peace."
Towards the end of the night everyone started dancing and having fun. Afterward Lockowandt said that she was delighted that the fund-raiser was successful and that she and the other participants could spread the philosophy of Dahn yoga: health, smile and peace.