Ilchi Lee Dahn Hak Yoga

The Big Leap Forward (Ilchi Lee):

I believe that we are presently on the verge of a great leap forward in human consciousness. They say that necessity is the mother of invention. Well, you might also say that necessity is the mother of evolving consciousness. The human race, and the Earth on which we rely, is up against a wall. At this point, it is a matter of evolve or die.

Too many people today have already accepted their limitations as permanent. They look at their lives and say, “This is my best. This is good enough.” They just follow blindly and emptily through a succession of routines and social obligations. They look at the troubles of the world and say, “There is nothing I can do.” These are the sleepwalkers of humanity. Unless they can wake up and realize their real potential, they are essentially already dead. The denial of one’s own infinite power is one of the greatest sources of misery in the world, and many people are tragically caught in the trap of believing in truncated, shrunken versions of themselves.

At times, it may indeed appear to your as though the world is spiraling downward. And in fact, it is not certain that we will ultimately make the right choices to ensure our collective survival. However, there is a tremendous amount of hope to be had. Humanity is awakening.

I know you are not one of the sleepwalkers. You are waking up, and you can see the vibrant beauty of the world around you, a world with which you are one, a world that you can also help create. But you must not sit in bed wondering what to do with your day. Get up and start creating your world. Your life is like one quickly passing day. You must get up and make the most of everything it offers.

Many teachers and visionaries are coming forward to help nudge us out of our sleepy state of being. I hope you an accept me among these as your teacher, for that is why i bring this book to you. I wish to stand among them as a teacher who, along with your own experience, guides you toward the wisdom you already possess inside.

You could say that one central message is coming forward: you are more powerful than you think. the remarkable worldwide success of the film The Secret shows how ready humanity finally is to hear this message. The trick will be for us to get past our self-limiting thinking, which so commonly blocks the expression of this amazing power that we hold.

I am here to teach you Brain Wave Vibration, which exists to reveal one simple fact: everything you need is already in you.

-Ilchi Lee

Brain Integration by Ilchi Lee unifies the disparate centers of your brain, restoring the flow of energy and renewing communication.  The process allows you to let go of the sense of self that depended on aspects of your life that have changed, and empowers you to create a new identity based on today - your new persuits, relationships, and passions.

Imagine being able to shed your outdated sense of self and to let go of the unwanted influence of other people and events. You become free to decide what parts of your new life will define you and to fully experience your emotions without fear. Brain Integration establishes new, robust connections between your three brain centers and the hemispheres of your brain-the linear and analytical left brain and the creative and intuitive right brain. You will be able to unleash your creativity, control your emotions, and approach situations from both a rational and intuitive perspective.

Instead of a brain fragmented by traumas during the aging process, you will find your lifetime of experiences and knowledge meshing like the parts of a wonderful machine, carrying you to new levels of insight, including:

*Expanded awareness of your environment

*A sense of the oneness of existence

*Greater self-awareness

*The developement of new talents

*Deeper, more satisfying emotional relationships

*Greater wisdom

Older individuals who practice Brain Integration frequently find themselves attracted to new pastimes and activities, discovering new life purposes, and healing their relationships with friends and family.  Who knows, you might discover a love for writing you never knew you had, decide to mentor a young scholar, or join a new circle of friends who are on the same life journey as you are. Brain Integration as Ilchi Lee states is challenging, but once you have completed the first three steps, you will be ready.

Brain Integrating is very self-reflective; it demands that you speak to yourself with total honesty. Building on your earlier BEST work, in which you learned to let go of previous pains and preconceptions, you will question your basic perceptions about yourself and about life.

You will ask fundamental questions about your Self, the conscious observer. As you silence your critical, self-doubting mind, you will begin to hear your brain speaking in an unfiltered way. This organ, as Ilchi Lee states, partakes of the larger truths of the spiritual world; it is your link to a greater, unified wisdom.

Once you are not trying to influence the flow of that wisdom by what you find socially, politically, or spiritually acceptable, you will see fresh truths. Not all of these truths will be comfortable. That’s all right. Change it not always comfortable. But approaching it with courage is the key to happiness.

In a way, your brain is three layered together. It has three distinct parts that echo our evolutionary past.  At the deepest level is the reptilian brain, or R-complex. This is the brain we inherited from our distant ancestors, long before there were human beings. This brain is home to our most primitive instincts: reproduction, movement, the fight-or-flight response, and territoriality. The reptilian brain tends to be very resistant to change.

Above the R-complex is the limbic system. The parts of this higher brain control learning and memory, the expression of emotions, and the linking of past events to strong emotions. So when you remember a traumatic breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend many years ago and feel the anger or grief again, that is your limbic system in action.  This center is also responsible for attachment and protective, loving emotions so it might be called the source of our emotional intelligence.

Finally, at the top of the evolutionary ladder is the neo cortex. This is the youngest and largest part of the brain, the seat of higher thinking, writing, and language, our ability to reason and analyze, and our power to anticipate the future.

These three brains perform their own specific functions, but they are also deeply interconnected, linking thought, emotion, memory, and action in complex ways that make us human.  This network of nerves has the potential to make our brains agile and perceptive and our emotional lives rich and rewarding no matter how old we are. Yet as Ilchi Lee points out this potential is not often reached, because the traumas or habits of decades damage the flow of energy between these brain centers.

You are not simply your thoughts, habits, memories, emotional responses, triggers, and biases. That would be like saying a computer is merely a collection of microprocessors and disk drives.  But a computer, properly assembled, becomes a tool for writing this book, sending people into space, or changing the world.  So too are you not simply the sum of the three parts of your brain, but their combined potential.  It is possible to view the transition periods of later life not as crises but as opportunities to redefine the person you are.  Brain Integration - created by Ilchi Lee - fuels that redefinition.

Brain Integration heals the damage. This discipline makes it possible for you to more fully integrate your thoughts and your emotions and bring out your whole true personality.  The result? A healthy body, enriched emotions, and blooming creativity - you become the person you have always aspired to become.

In Full Bloom by Ilchi Lee & Jessie Jones, PHD

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.  -Lao Tzu

And so we reach the conclusion of our journey in this book, but the beginning of your own journey. It is a long but rewarding journey, and whether you decide to share it with us as part of our BEST coursework or proceed on your own path, your life will be richer as a result.

The journey is not without its obstacles. One of the most daunting is your ingrained way of thinking. By the time we have reached maturity, we tend to be set in our ways. Strong opinions color our emotions. If your mindselt is skeptical, regretful, or doubtful of your ability to change your brain, you will not succeed. Therefore, as a parting gift to you, we wish to share the most important state of mind to cultivate as you begin BEST - something we can the Jangsaeng ideal.

There are certain key characteristics of a person who has Jangsaeng, longevity not only of lifespan, but of mind and spirit as well. Through your life, I am sure you have met older, sometimes very old people, who still have an amazing amount of vitality.  These are people who never stop inspiring, never stop connecting, and never stop loving their time on this Earth. These are the Jangsaeng people…and you can be one of them.

According to Ilchi Lee If you really want to be Jangsaeng person, it is not a matter of luck or genetics. Rather, Jangsaeng is a light that continually pours forth from the inner world of these people that we so greatly admire and love. The BEST method is found on the notion that health, happiness, and peace are not traits we inherit, but choose.  These things are not out there somewhere waiting to be found by random chance, nor can they be granted to us be someone else.  Rather they are all right here, right now, waiting for our brains to open up to them. The ravages of time can do a lot to reduce the mechanisms of the body, but it can never do anything to lessen this kind of spirit.

Brain Education System Training is more than a program or course of study.  It is a way of living. Engage in it to the fullest and you will find yourself more aware and more aline than you ever thought possible. The power of successful aging lies within you.  It is about how active and healthy you are, how well you adapt to change, how connected with others you remain, how much you devote yourself to the welfare of others, and how you define your purpose in life. Generosity, kindness, compassion and patience are not only ethical choices; they are essential to successful aging. Live with love, live long, and live happy.

-Ilchi Lee

The Stress Connection

Looking from the Western perspective, Brain Sensitizing works to restore proper balance between two systems-the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. In other words, it works to relieve the effects of the stress response, which has been concretely linked to so many of today’s common health problems.

Stress is of particular concern in the area of brain health, due to its effect on learning and overall brain function. In small doses, the chemical cascade associated with the fight-or-flight response can be good for the brain, motivating us to act and keeping ut on our toes. But when we get a constant stream of stress hormones, as is often the case for people today, it can wear down on mental function, especially in the area of memory and mental acuity. Ilchi Lee states that over time, this can result in truly debilitating effects on brain performance. Through Brain Sensitizing activities, you can learn to regulate the effects of stress, returning your body and brain to the rest-and-digest state of being.

Creating New Pathways to Health

Brain Sensitizing consists of three key practices. The first involves stretching exercises of the kind often found in yoga, Pilates, tai chi, or martial arts. As each muscle of your body is activated in deep stretching poses, corresponding ares of your brain awaken, improving coordination and balance. The second practice, according to Ilchi Lee involves breathing methods combined with dynamic body positioning, again often part of meditative practices and yoga. Finally, there is basic energy meditation. This practice encourages you to view Ki energy as the link between body and mind, expanding your awareness and increasing brain clarity. Many practitioners find they are able to begin changing negative habits using this technique.

For older Americans, the loss of cognitive abilities because of some form of dementia is a greater source of fear than even the possibility of a heart attack or a stroke. Yet most neuroscientists agree that the human brain has the capacity to function beautifully past our 100th birthday. Ilchi lee states that the difference between the eighty-year-old man who cannot remember his children and the woman of 102 who paints and writes poetry when she’s not competing in the Senior Olympics? Regularly exercising the brain’s “muscles” - the neural connections, of dendrites, that support cognition, imagination, and creativity. Brain sensitizing helps to counteract the mental decline associated with aging by providing natural stress relief and eliminating blockages of Ki energy.

“In Full Bloom” by Ilchi Lee & Jessie Jones

Here I want to share a very powerful message which reminded me of one of Ilchi Lee’s messages.

In the infinity of life where I am, all is perfect, whole, and complete. The past has no power over me because I am willing to learn and to change. I see the past as necessary to bring me to where I am today. I am willing to begin where I am right now to clean the rooms of my mental house. I know it does not matter where I start, so I now begin with the smallest and the easiest rooms, and in that way I will see results quickly. I am thrilled to be in the middle of this adventure, for I know I will never go through this particular experience again. I am willing to set myself free. All is well in my world.

The question, “Is it true or real?” has two answers: “Yes” and “No.” It is true if you believe it to be true. It is not true if you believe it isn’t true. The glass is both half full and half empty, depending on how you look at it. There are literally billions of thoughts we can choose to think.

Most of us choose to think the same kinds of thoughts our parents used to think, but we don’t have to continue to do this. There is no law written that says we can only think in one way. Whatever I choose to believe becomes true for me. Whatever you choose to believe becomes true for you. Our thoughts can be totally different. Our lives and experiences are totally different.

Ilchi Lee has delivered very similar messages during his lectures. Either you think you will succeed or fail, you are right.

To the mind steeped in Western science, the concept of Ki (also spelled chi or qi), of life energy, can seem archaic and even superstitious. Isn’t Ki just an Asian myth?  Hasn’t it been disproved by Western science? Such questions are natural, and it is important that you know the facts about this ancient concept before proceeding, since it is integral to the BEST method by Ilchi Lee. If you are skeptical, that is good. Open-minded skepticism is a sign of wisdom.

The concept of Ki includes the idea that all living beings contain a circulating life energy that flows through the body along meridians. From the viewpoint of traditional Asian medicine, disease and distress are largely the results of imbalances of positive and negative energies. Ki is the foundation of all traditional Asian medical practice.  But is it real, or merely a metaphor appropriate only to Chinese, Japanese, and Korean folk medicine?

Some scientists are quick to dismiss Ki as a concept that does not fit into any accepted models of how the body or brain works.  However, tightly controlled experiments have begun to demonstrate that Ki is a real force with real effects.  A rigorous experiment carried out in 2001 and published in the American Journal of Chinese Medicine shows that Ki masters and Ki trainees can produce changes in human blood cells. Other experiments have demonstrated the fact that Ki energy can be measured. A growing body of evidence shows that Ki is a very real force.

BEST (Brain Education System Training) sees Ki as the connecting element between mind and body. In other words, Ki is the thing that allows the mind to affect the body. The validity of the mind-body connection was confirmed in the 1950s when biofeedback researchers discovered that people could easily learn to change their heartrate, body temperature and other physiological functions.

The principles and practices of BEST (created by Ilchi Lee) depend not on belief, but on execution and dedication. Many people have experienced this energy presonally and benefited from its effects. As you progress through the work of BEST, you may use disciplines that will enable you to feel the power of Ki energy in your body. We advise you to trust these sensations rather than worry about whether they have been approved by Western science. There are many ways to know that something is valid; personal experience is one of them.

We respect science, but we also revere the personal journey of every human being. If you keep an open mind and approach this work with commitment and self-awareness, you will see results.

-In Full Bloom by Ilchi Lee and Jessie Jones, PHD.

Brain Wave Vibration:

We have a highly developed neocortex.  It is so dominant that it sometimes leads to suppression of the limbic system and the brainstem.  The best was to tone down the activity of the neocortex and maximize the effeciency of the brainstem is with a repetitive, continuous rhythm, as when you fall asleep to the monotonous hum of an air conditioner.

Brain Wave Vibration, developed by Ilchi Lee exercise uses repetitive rhythmic vibration to tone down the activities of the neocortex, activate the limbic system, and allow you to connect with the life energy that resides in your brainstem.

Brain Wave Vibration allows you to take initiative to ignite a vibrational reaction in your own body.  There are not any set or predetermined patters for self-vibration.  You just let your body go alont with the natural shythm of life.  If you like, play music with a strong, rythmical drum beat.  Release any self-consciousness that interferes with giving free rein to your movements.  Do not be upset when stray thoughts and emotions enter your mind.  Just let them pass.

Brain Wave Vibration (developed by Ilchi Lee) - Standing Posture

1) Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.  Let your hands hang at your sides in total relaxation.

2) Begin by slightly bouncing your knees up and down.  Let this movement expand through your whole body, until every part of your body is shaking up and down in unison.

3) Gradually let the natural vibration of your body take over.  Let your body create its own rhythm.  Feel everything in your body, including your lips, tongue, eyes, and skin. Your breath with naturally become sychronized with your movements.

4) As you continue to vibrate, imagine your brainstem, located at the base of the skull, glowing with energy. Imagine this energy slowly spreading up into your brain, down your spine, and out through your nervous system until every cell of your body is bathed in energy.

5) Your conscious awareness will disappear as you become aware of only the vibration.  Once your body feels relaxed and loose, slow your vibration gradually and sit quietly.

6) Observe your pulse, breath, and mind.  calm your breathing and focus your mind on your lower abdomin.

7) While sitting and resting, focus intently on your pulse, breath, and mind. Feel gravity pulling your body toward the Earth, and feel the circulation of energy throughout your body.  Focus on your abdomin to pull the energy toward your body’s center.

Emotional intelligence - the ability to perceive, assess, and manage your own emotions, as well as to deal with those of others - is one of the most valuable skills of the mature individual.  Then we are adolescents, adult passions appear in our minds unbidden: sexual longing, risk taking, the desire to acquire expensive, beautiful things. 

But because our prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that lets us make social judgements and develop foresight about the possible outcomes of our choices, does not mature until the age of about twenty-five, emotion and passion can overwhelm us when we are young.  Many young people lack the emotional intelligence to understand or control their powerful emotions.  Instead, they are often on autopilot, led by their hormones and desires.

As we age, too many of us, unfortunately swing to the opposite extreme.  Because of some trauma in life, we shut our emotions down and divorce ourselves from them out of fear.  We live in terror of admitting to our emotions.  But this is not living. 

Despite the Western emphasis on the intellect, ancient wisdom shows us that people are complete only when they are ruled by their emotions as well as their intellect - when their passions and their judgement are given equal weight.  But many adults, as ilchi lee states especially as they age, become afraid of their feelings.

This is why so many seniors seem shut off, deaf to love, exultation, and joy.  They cannot face what they have left behind. We consider this a tragedy since the senior brain possesses the potential to be something quite the opposite.

In the book “In Full Bloom” by Ilchi Lee asses that emotional intelligence is the ability to asses one’s emotions as they occur, to understand why they are occurring, and to manage their effects in real time.  This is a deep level of self-awareness that is accessible through Brain Refreshing.

The human brain has an extraordinary ability to reflect on its own functioning, and people with strong emotional intelligence can identify pessimistic feelings as they occur and put them in the proper perspective. 

Imagine being able to perceive your feelings of irritation when speaking with a friend who taxes your patience, as if you were an outside observer.  You still experience the feeling, but you have the presence of mind to know where it is coming from and remind yourself, “He doesn’t really mean to be irritating; it’s best to let that feeling go.” This enables you to set aside such unhelpful emotions and retain your positive outlook toward other people.

You’ve probably heard that some people, like old wine, mellow with age.  As it turns out, this is true of all of us because of the way our brains age.  Researchers have discovered that older people generally have better emotional control and a more positive outlook on life. 

They theorize that the human brain is designed to shift from a more aggressive, competitive mode in youth to a more cooperative mode in later life.  In the past, this may have been biologically advantageous as old people, no longer of reproductive age, shifted their attention to suppor of their kin, which indirectly assured survival of their genetic information.

Brain scans have revealed that older people simply process emotions differently, which may account for the improvement in emotional control.  As Ilchi Lee write in his book “In Full bloom” In the older people, more areas of the brain are shown to be active during the experience of emotions, especially in response to negative emotional stimuli.  This finding suggests that life experience may provide additional brain connections to help neutralize negative emotions more quickly.

Overall, older people are healthire mentally than younger people.  Incidence of neurosis decreases, and older people are less likely to report feelings of despair and worthlessness.

That being said, mental health is not automatic for older people.  In fact, depression is common and the occurrence of suicide is more common among older people than it is among middle-aged people, especially among older men. Just because the older brain is better equipped to deal with negative emotion does not mean it is immune to emotional difficulty.  After all, there are many aspects of aging that are difficult to handle, including death of friends, one’s own physical decline, and the sense of aimlessness that can accompany retirement. It is best to prepare yourself with a strategy for emotional well-being in order to make the most of your brain’s natural wisdom as you age.

-Excerpt from In Full Bloom by Ilchi Lee & Jessie  Jones, PHD.