Ilchi Lee, Healing Society

The spirit of giving back

Dahn Yoga for MS is an initiative inspired by Cathy Downie. Cathy suffered with MS for 13 years and is now volunteering her time to spread Brain Education System Training (BEST) principles and tools in the form of Dahn Yoga to people who are suffering from the symptoms of MS.

As a member of the Glendale Dahn Yoga Studio in Arizona, Cathy was able to alleviate her MS symptoms through various BEST programs including Dahn Yoga, Dahn Mu Do, Dahn Tai Chi, and Dahn Healer School among others.

The Dahn Yoga for MS program consists of stretching, breathing, and self acupressure techniques. The various poses open the joints and improve the overall blood and energy circulation throughout the body. The results are not only a reduction in muscle pain, but also spasticity, and fatigue while boosting energy and stress management.

1. Return to your breath and body as tools for your health.
2. Breathe slowly, deeply and lightly, especially when you are upset.
3. Keep a fire in the belly and a cool head.
4. Celebrate your sexuality with purpose and responsibility.
5. Listen for the voice of your soul until you find your passionate life purpose.
6. Embrace suffering and emptiness as the foundation of enlightenment.
7. Live as your soul directs with honesty, integrity, and diligence.
8. Train your body so that change feels better than habit.
9. Smile and be at peace for no reason.
10. Recognize that you are what you choose and what you act.
11. When you need an answer, ask your brain.
12. Remember to exhale at the moment of death.

The great news is that you have infinite power to change and refine your brain. A few decades back,  scientists thought that people could have very little influence over their brains.

It was assumed that by the time people reached adulthood their brain connections were permanently and indelibly in place. In childhood, one might be able to exert some influence over the development of the brain, but for the most part these things were genetically determined.

It was thought that the old adage “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” was literally true.
More recently, scientists have discovered that the opposite is true. There is a quality to the brain called neuroplasticity that allows you, right up to the end of your life, to restructure and adapt your brain according to your needs.

You can learn new things and adapt to new environments, even inextreme old age.

from “Brain Management” by ilchi lee

You can look at your brain as a microcosm that contains everything you have been and holds the potential of everything you will become. The brain is unique when compared with other organs because it is the only one that exerts influence on the world outside your body as well as inside your body. It is also the only organ that can be used to understand itself, and it is the only organ that can modify itself.
You already know that your brain holds and stores many experiences from your past. Even if you are eighty, you probably still retain some strong memories from your child-hood, and even if you haven’t ridden a bicycle for many years, you probably could ride one today without much trouble.

Yes, some things are forgotten, but there is no doubt that the experiences you have had in the past and the things you learned long ago all have played a role in shaping your brain and making you who you are today.

from ‘Brain management’ by ilchi lee

For a better life, we need to master our brain, which means we should control the nature of the brain waves. What does the brain waves to us? Do we even know what our brain waves are like at the moment? Many people don’t know what kind of brain waves—alpha wave, beta wave, etc.—we can have. Even more people have never had their brain waves checked with sophisticated medical devices on their head.

Then what affects our brain waves? How can we measure our brain waves? What decides them? The author of Brain Wave Vibraion, Ilchi Lee says on Information management. According to him, information is number one factor in deciding one’s brain waves which are directly related with their physical, mental and spiritual health. Food is to the human body as information is to the human brain. There is too much information being stuffed up to the brain. The brain makes mostly passive choice which information to process and save inside.

Ilchi Lee emphasizes about positive thinking. Given a similar situation, one’s life becomes totally different depending on what kind of thoughts she has on her mind. If she interprets the situation in a good, positive way, her face will have a smile all the time. Naturally people will like her and unexpected good things may happen to her, because people around her were impressed. But let’s say she took it a negative and discouraging way. She will complain about the situation and be unhappy. Naturally she becomes depressed and low energy all the time. She might even take the frustration out on others. Many kids have been affected by their parents negatively. When depressed, some adults want to take it out on others, and kids are usually very good targets because they are weaker than grown-ups, and kids listen to what their parents says.

Having good relationship with others is very important. We should build up interpersonal relationship. Human relationship is a skill and talent. We should develop it to have a better life. Let’s have hope. Find hope quotes and get inspired.

Ilchi Lee says the brain lives on dreams one has.

The earth has lots of problems. Ask your brain. Who can and will solve the problem? Who will do it? Does your brain say “yes?” If so, you have lots of hope and possibility. You should ask very seriously and with all your heart. If your brain says “Yes. I will do it,” then that’s when a significant change begins to take place in your life. But the thing is how serious you and your brain is. Only when your brain has dreams, then the brain wll show a great deal of power.

The thing boils down to “How do I keep the optimal status of the brain? Emotions are created by brain waves and emotions. What transforms the brain? It’s belief and conviction, not knowledge based education. It is a very simple idea, but, at the same time, a very radical concept. We are expected study hard when we were/are students, because our parents and teachers think that the more knowlege one has, the better life will they got. But according to Ilchi Lee, it is belief and conviction that transforms the brain, rather than the brain.

From Ilchi Lee’s book Brain Wave Vibration

I believe that everything in human existence is part of the great unfolding of consciousness in the universe. All the saints and sages of the world have been giving essentially the same message that contains a plea to return to oneness. Even the sciences have moved us in that direction. For example, Einstein’s search for a unified field theory, his elusive “theory of everything,” can be seen as this same yearning for oneness in scientific form. It is a defining characteristic that science separates and labels, hence the classification system into which living things are divided—phylum, class, order, and so forth. But quantum physics, as represented in books like The Tao of Physics and in films like What the Bleep Do We Know!?, shows that when we divide things into smaller and smaller particles, everything is just energy. We eventually come back to the same conclusion as the ancient sages did long ago—form is illusion and all are one.

I believe that information comes to us in three important forms, and together these elements have amazing power to transform brain waves—as well as lives and ultimately our entire planet.

Take a quick look at the list of words Ilchi Lee presents and figure out which words are positive and which ones negative. You’ll see that it doesn’t take a second to tell a specific word is positive or negative. You can tell by instinct. That’s how our brains work. Not only the brain but also muscles in our bodies know.

We should really watch what we think in our daily lives. Be careful what you wish for too. The brain doesn’t tell imagination from the the reality. Whether it is fact or just an imagination, doesn’t matter to the brain. Knowing it’s not real but a movie, the brain feels sad with a sad movie, scared with a scary movie. That is why what we think and what we imagine is important.

Happiness, honesty, loyalty, love, hope, gratitude, appreciation, etc. We should use this kinds of words a lot.

Ilchi Lee says that brain stem is the core part of the body, which plays the crucial role in keeping our body equilibrium status.

If you say, “I did my best. This is good enough. I can’t do it any more or better.” Whether you say I can do it or not, you are right. If you take your limitations for granted and think of the limitation as permanent, you will never be able to overcome them. Brain stem does lots of things to keep the body alive. Our brain has three layers. Neocortex, limbic system and brain stem. Neocortex is only for primates and human beings. This is what Ilchi Lee calls the thinking brain. This part is what differentiate people from other animals. Animals don’t have the ability to think or reason. Next one is the limbic system. This is called the emotional brain. This is what mammals have and reptiles don’t. The last one is brain stem. This is the brain of life.

Which one of the three is most important? I don’t know what is most important, but am sure that brain stem is the most fundamental and basic. Without it, the other two brains cannot exist. When we believe in our innate power and focus, we can demonstrate our great potential power. We should trust our power and keep move on. Let’s not say too easily, “This is good enough.”