xOrigin of the Korea Club

When Neenah Payne, the Founder and Coordinator of the Korea Club, joined Dahn Yoga in September 2006, she noticed that each trip to the Brooklyn Heights Dahn Yoga Center was like a mini-trip to Korea because we bow, use a few Korean words, and have tea sitting on the floor -- none of which is an American custom.

   
Brooklyn Heights Dahn Yoga Center        Tea ceremony after class (Maryland)       Neenah Payne

Neenah realized that she knew little about Korea other than it makes great cell phones and cars! She wasn't even sure exactly where it was in Asia! When Neenah checked the map, she was surprised to see that Korea is on the mainland of China and very close to both Russia and Japan. She wondered how Korea had been able to survive in such a tough neighborhood! So, she decided to get some books and videos to learn more about Korea.

To make a long story short, the more Neenah learned, the more she fell in love with Korea -- the awesome movies coming out of Korea now, the language, the food, the music, the heroes of Korea like King Sejong and Admiral Yi Sun Shin, etc. Over the course of the next few months, Neenah began to learn the Korean alphabet and a few Korean words with the help of Master Jo Mi Lim and Instructor Kee Nam Kim of the Brooklyn Heights Dahn Yoga center. Linguists say that the Korean alphabet is the best in the world for several reasons. It was created by King Sejong, perhaps the best monarch in the history of the world for his many accomplishments and pristine character. Admiral Yi is considered the world's best admirals. With just 13 ships, he defeated 330 battleships of the Japanese navy! In 21 battles at sea, he never lost a fight -- the world's best record. He also created the world's first armored battleships. Admiral Yi was also a man of sterling character -- an inspirational and powerful man who led by example.

Response to Student Interest

In March 2007, the NY Diamond Sutra Recitation Group gave the Brooklyn Heights Dahn Yoga center several copies of their new book called King Sejong The Great. In 2006, the NY DSRG released a book about Admiral Yi Sun Shin, the first in its annual series about Korean heroes. When Neenah noticed that Zaida Concepcion and Christina Zureta, two of the Brooklyn Heights students, were deeply impressed by the book and the life of King Sejong, she wondered if they and other students might be interested in the things she had discovered about Korea. Neenah proposed the idea of the Dahn Yoga Korea Club to Master Jo who immediately endorsed it. Over the next two months, they designed and promoted the club.

The Korea Club continues to be shaped by feedback from Dahn Yoga and by contributions from the DSRG and the Korean Cultural Society. After the DSRG gave the club a CD by Hwang Byungki, a traditional Korean musician, Neenah discovered that he would be performing in NYC on June 2 (the date of our second club meeting) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art! Regional Director Dahn Hwa Jeon graciously rescheduled an important regional meeting to allow Dahn Yoga masters to attend the concert!

When Instructor Michelle Gavin asked what the symbols on the Korean flag mean, information about the flag was included in the club. When Susan Lane, one of the students, said that she and her husband love HanGawi, the organic, vegetarian Korean restaurant, it was selected as the restaurant for the club's trip to Manhattan's Koreatown in August. Yusef Hassan, a student, expressed interest in learning Korean -- and two DVDs on the Korean alphabet will be shown at our August meeting. Those videos are also linked to from this site under "Korean Language" in the panel on the left.

When Instructor Kee Nam Kim joined the Brooklyn center and said that she was from the city of Miryang in southeaster Korea, Neenah discovered that Miryang is known for its version of the Korean folk tune called "Arirang". Kee Nam and Master Jo agreed to teach the tune to the Korea Club to make it the theme song of the club. Kee Nam worked with Roberta Holder Mosely, a student who is a professionally-trained singer, so Roberta could help those of us who can't carry a tune! Wilma Forrest was the first student to sign up for the Korea Club and offered her continuous and enthusiastic support in promoting the club! That is really appreciated because the Korea Club can exist only if Dahn Yoga students come to the meetings. It has been the wonderful collaboration on the part of so many people that has made the club possible and so much fun.

We welcome your comments, suggestions, and questions. Let us know what your interests are and what you think. If there is something that you particularly enjoyed, please let us know. If there is something you want added or think needs to be changed, please clue us in. Talk to Master Jo, Kee Nam, or Neenah. You can also email Neenah at Neenahep@aol.com.

See the story of our amazing May 5 opening meeting.

See our plans for the June 2 meeting.

This page was last updated on: 06/10/2007.