THEORY OF DAHNHAK1 - DahnHak and Ki-Energy

"Ki" is the Korean word for cosmic vitality that is the true essence of every creation in the cosmos. Most people begin their understanding of Ki by experiencing it as bioenergy or the vital life force in the body. Ki is the connection between the physical body and conscious mind. When practitioners learn to control the Ki in their bodies, they begin to understand that they have control over their bodies. In the orient, people have known about Ki for thousands of years. Oriental medicine, such as acupuncture or acupressure, utilizes the knowledge of Ki-Energy by healing people through correcting the distorted energy flow in their body.

Ki-Energy: Cosmic Energy

Ki-Energy is another name for cosmic energy. It is the energy that circulates throughout the universe. As the poets have written, all human beings are made up of stardust and cosmic energy. This is the connecting thread that helps human beings understand that all beings in the cosmos exist as one. As many religious and spiritual traditions have tried to impart, all living beings residing on earth are individual components of the Oneness of the universal Ki-Energy. The concept of Oneness changes for practitioners from an intellectual concept to one of knowing, through actual experience, that Ki-Energy moves throughout the body.
It is overwhelming for human beings to imagine the immense power of the energy circulating through the vast universe. When people are connected with that universal energy, the Ki-Energy in their bodies actively circulates like the movement of the solar system.
To connect and interact with this energy is very easy: breathe. Everyone inhales and exhales whether or not they are conscious of this activity. Through the DahnHak breathing exercises, practioners become aware of inhaling as the taking in of universal Ki-Energy and exhaling as the releasing of used, dissipated energy back into the universe. This energy-focused respiration is called "Dahn-Jon Breathing."

Three Types of Ki-Energy: Won-Ki, Jeong-Ki and Jin-Ki

Knowledge of Ki-Energy is extremely beneficial prior to beginning the Dahn-Jon Breathing exercises. Ki-Energy flows through the human body in three different ways: Won-Ki, Jeong-Ki and Jin-Ki. "Won" means "innate," Jeong" means "stamina or strength," and "Jin" means "true or genuine."

1) Won-Ki: The first type of Ki-Energy is inherited energy. Human beings receive this energy at birth from their parents.
2) Jeong-Ki: The second type of Ki-Energy is acquired energy from nourishment. This energy source is replenished through diet and respiration.
3) Jin-Ki: The third type of Ki-Energy is received through pure cosmic awareness and is accessible through relaxed concentration.

Jin-Ki: Energy of the Mind, the Essence of All Energy

Jin-Ki is accessed through deep mindful concentration of the breath. Upon inhalation of breath, Jin-Ki, pure cosmic energy, enters the body. It is the power of the mental concentration which invites the cosmic energy to circulate throughout the body as Jin-Ki. Since Jin-Ki is an energy which is accessed by the concentration, it can be controlled by a person's will power. The following exercise demonstrates how will power can control Jin-Ki.

Place your concentration in the center of your palm. Concentrate on making that part of your palm warmer than the rest of your hand. After a while, compare the temperature in the center of your palm to another part of your body. The heat in your palm is the collection of the Jin-Ki, placed there by your will power. Wherever in your body that you focus, that is where the Jin-Ki goes.

The strength and quality of the Jin-Ki is dependent on a person's quality of consciousness, ability to concentrate and stability of emotions. Love, peace, hatred, jealousy, anger, possessiveness, greed, selfishness, or pride influences the type of energy accessible to the body. Positive ideas and emotions create positive energy, permitting the Jin-Ki to flow easily throughout the body. Negative emotions and ideas reduce the effectiveness of the flow of Jin-Ki. It becomes contaminated, heavy, and stagnant. Blockages in the flow of Jin-Ki cause disease and unbalance in the body.

Breath: Access of Ki-Energy

For most people, it is common for their minds to jump from one idea to the next. They believe that they have no control over what they think or how they feel. They have given up the power to control their mind. To creat positive energy, they have to have positive idea and positive emotions. That means they have to be able to control their minds and make them think positively. Taking back the control of the mind and its thoughts is very simple. The key is the breath. Learning to take control of the breath enables practitioners to control their mind and themselves. When this happens, they are able to become masters of themselves.

Every breath carries the same inhalation of life and exhalation of death. But the breath carries something more than life or death. It contains something in-between and beyond these concepts. Breath is natural, simple, easy, universal and priceless. To begin to understand the breath, a person must experience the breath as both autonomous and controllable. Since the breath is connected to both the autonomous system and the conscious mind, it is the bridge between the body and mind. With practice, the breath becomes the gateway to deeper layers of consciousness. Concentrating on inhalation and exhalation permits the Jin-Ki to enter the body and with that comes the realization that there is an invisible connection between the body and universe.