Daniel Jay Millman(ড্যান মিলম্যান) is an American author and lecturer in the personal development field. He is best-known for the movie Peaceful Warrior, which is based on his own life and taken from one of his books.

Millman was born in Los Angeles, California, to Herman and Vivian Millman (both deceased), and he has an older sister Diane. Much of his early life included active pursuits such as modern dance and martial arts, and then trampoline, tumbling, and gymnastics. He attended John Marshall High School in Los Angeles, where he was recognized along with another student as a Co-Senior Athlete of the Year.[citation needed]

During his senior year in high school, he won the United States Gymnastics Federation (USGF) national title on the trampoline,[citation needed] and while a freshman at U.C. Berkeley, he won the 1964 Trampoline World Championships in London and earned All-American honors and won an NCAA Championship in vaulting. In 1966 he won the USGF championship in floor exercise.

He represented the United States in the 1965 Maccabiah Games, winning four gold medals in Gymnastics.

In September 1966, just prior to his senior year at U.C. Berkeley, Millman's motorcycle collided with a car. He suffered a shattered right femur, requiring surgical repair and bone marrow transplant with a steel nail inserted in his femur (which was removed a year later after the leg was healed). Millman actively pursued rehabilitation and was able to return to gymnastics as co-captain of his team which won the 1968 NCAA Gymnastics Championships in Tucson, Arizona. He was the last man to perform for U.C. on the high bar, and had a best-ever routine and perfect landing that clinched the team title.[citation needed]

In 1968 he was voted Senior U.C. Berkeley Athlete of the Year, and graduated with a B.A. degree in Psychology.[citation needed]

In 1968, Millman served as director of gymnastics at Stanford University, where he coached U.S. Olympian Steve Hug and brought the Stanford team to national prominence.[citation needed] During Millman's tenure at Stanford, he trained in aikido, eventually earning a shodan (black belt) ranking, and studied tai chi and other martial arts.[citation needed]

In 1972, at the invitation of the sports activist Jack Scott, Millman joined a program of athletic reform at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio as an assistant professor of physical education. At Oberlin, on a travel-research grant from the college, Millman traveled to San Francisco, where he completed the Arica 40-Day Intensive Training, then to Hawaii, India, Hong Kong, and Japan, where he studied various disciplines including yoga and martial arts.[citation needed]

In 1985, Millman began to produce audio and video programs, and to present seminars and professional keynotes. His work is generally connected to the "human potential movement".

Millman has authored 17 books as of 2015 which together have been published in 29 languages. In 2006, his first book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, was adapted to a film, Peaceful Warrior, with Nick Nolte, distributed by Lionsgate Films and re-released by Universal Pictures in 2007. Dan credits the inspiration for his first book to a gas station attendant he met who reminded him of Socrates and to whom he gave that name.

Dan Millman and his wife, Joy, live in Brooklyn, New York. They previously resided in San Rafael, California. They have three grown daughters and five grandchildren.