Dan Kleiman, Instructor

Certifications

Gods Playing In The Clouds Chi Gung - Basic Movements
Heaven & Earth Chi Gung - Level 1
Energy Gates Chi Gung - Level 2

Bio

BTC director Dan Kleiman has a student-scribbled note on his bulletin board to remind him of what he loves about what he does. Itsays, "This school is very helpful. It is nearby and helps me relax and loosen up after a long day. Thanks!" What differentiates BTC offerings from more typical stress relief-through massage or other ways to unwind -- is that this isn't temporary, he says. "What we teach has the potential to change the way your body takes the world in; you're retraining your nervous system to experience everything differently." He is speaking from direct experience. Between teaching and managing the business end, he has spent so much time at the school since BTC turned nonprofit in 2005 that he gets asked if he sleeps here. Dan attributes the confidence it took for him to take on the day-to-day business role while still in his 20's -- he is also BTC's youngest instructor -- to the impact of the arts BTC teaches. How to smoothly integrate things into is nervous system is what he has learned from chi gung and tai chi, he says. "Knowing these principles makes me feel like I can go and do anything I want." Dan's favorite part of teaching is when an entire class "gels." "I'm always amazed when we strike the right balance between individual introspection and group investigation." Everyone wins that way, he says. They learn from each other but also make it their own. The teaching/steering role is a natural draw. In high school, he captained the soccer team and in college tutored algebra. In the process, he found it a disservice to just fill in the blanks for people and learned instead to show them how to process things themselves. In the fall Dan will be teaching Levels I and II of the new Gods Playing in the Clouds chi gung curriculum in addition to tai chi Short Form II and III. He has been studying at BTC and with B.K. Frantzis workshops since 1998 and is certified to teach Heaven & Earth chi gung and approved by B.K. Frantzis for tai chi and Gods courses. For balance, he has recently taken up mixed martial arts-kick boxing, some wrestling, and jiu-jitsu.