My grandmother wasn’t a very active person in adulthood.  She was a bookworm, like me, and was always more interested in that kind of thing than stretching or participating in sports.

As she grew older this took its toll.  She stopped standing up straight and developed a bit of a curve to her spine.  Her health also wasn’t that great, as she would often come down with pneumonia and other illnesses.

My mom says that my grandmother started doing yoga for a little while, before I was born.  Apparently it made a great big difference in how my grandmother looked and walked: She started standing up straighter, and had more energy.  She was obviously the healthiest she’d ever been.

Unfortunately, my grandmother had a stroke when I was very little.  Not long afterward, a new type of yoga, known as Dahn Yoga, started to become popular in the United States.  Dahn Yoga’s creator, Ilchi Lee, drew from the principles of yoga, tai chi, and martial arts.

Since the first Dahn Yoga school opened in 1991 in Philadelphia, this form of excercise has spread throughout the United States and the entire world.  You can find Dahn Yoga in New York all the way to California.  Chicago Dahn Yoga has also gained in popularity.

Dahn Yoga has been cited as curing or alleviating symptoms of many maladies.  I wonder if my grandmother had had access to Dahn Yoga before her stroke, if that would have helped her recover more quickly.

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