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'Yoga Dan' Gottlieb does a mid-water headstand.

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Standing Tall

'Yoga Dan' Gottlieb finds strength,
healing and a career in ancient practice.

Robin Schwartz
I Contributing Writer

H

e says he earns a living by
simply breathing. But watch-
ing Daniel Gottlieb, 36, of
Detroit — also known as "Yoga Dan"
— bend, stretch and move from pose
to pose, it appears there's a lot more to
it than that. The 6-foot-8-inch former
college basketball player turned to the
ancient practice of yoga about 13 years
ago to help relieve chronic back pain
he experienced from degenerative disc
disease, spinal stenosis (narrowing
of the open spaces in the spine) and
other health problems.
Mile the conditions ultimately
ended his basketball career at Arizona
State University and his dream of
becoming a professional basketball
player, the strength, flexibility, healing
and peace of mind he found in yoga
led him toward a new career as a yoga
instructor. A friend with the Phoenix
Suns basketball team gave him the
Yoga Dan nickname.
"I was in a lot of pain:' Gottlieb
explains. "Doctors told me at one point
I had the body of an 80-year-old man.
But I was able to really heal all of the
ailments. Coming from an athletic
background, I was challenged and
intrigued by all of these amazing arm
balances and poses. When I became
aware of my breath, it gave me this
moment of clarity I had never really
experienced before:'
Gottlieb says yoga also helped him
overcome an addiction to prescrip-
tion painkillers. Now, he shares his
wealth of knowledge with clients who
sign up to take classes at the Detroit
Renaissance Center's gym or partici-
pate in one-on-one training.

"I love yoga, and it should be fun,"
he said during one televised "Get Fit"
segment on Fox 2 where he led a news
anchor through a succession of stretch-
es, poses, twists and turns. "Yoga is just
an opportunity to go ahead and feel our
bodies — tune into the breath:'
What Gottlieb makes look effort-
less and easy is really physically chal-
lenging and requires a great deal of
practice. He's trained in a variety of
different styles of yoga (power yoga,
slow flow, restorative yoga, Ashtanga
yoga — a modern-day form of classi-
cal Indian yoga, etc.) at One Yoga in
Scottsdale, Ariz., and other locations.
Dan Holka, 31, of Clarkston is a reg-
ular at the Renaissance Center classes
three days a week and also pays for
personal training once a week.
"I've lost 12 pounds. I've been doing
it for about four months now:' he says.
"Dan brings a combination of physical
strength and stamina and a relaxation
about the practice that calms me after
a long day at the office:'
Hokla adds that he has more energy
and feels less stressed as a result of
the classes. He enjoys Dan's workouts
because they're different each time.
"I don't want word getting out that
he's such a great instructor:' he said
with a laugh. "The classes will get too
crowded!"
Gottlieb is a newlywed. He recently
married Bridget Russo, marketing
director for Detroit-based luxury
watchmaker Shinola. He is participat-
ing in the sixth annual Talk to the
Hamsa event, a day of outdoor yoga,
Saturday, Aug. 23, in Windsor, Canada.
Go to www.yoga4hope.ca to learn
more. To learn more about Yoga Dan
or take a class, email him at info@ytc.
co.

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