Dahn Yoga Hawaii Member’s blog

The phrase brain mastery probably makes you think of something slightly different than what I mean bv the term. Brain mastery does not mean being smart or being able to perform mental tricks. Rather, brain mastery is the ability to maintain a proper relationship between your brain and the outside world.

If you are a brain master, you have an almost uncanny ability to stay in the moment and to not be swept away by thoughts and emotions. You can control your attitude and keep a positive mind-set, regardless of the situation. And most importantly, a master of the brain never loses hope, no matter how dark the situation gets.

I remember one time when I was a young man there was a bridge under which people threw a lot ot garbage. The garbage just piled up week after week. People complained about the garbage, but no one ever did anything to change the situation.

Keep away from people who belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great.

Mark Twain, writer MY COMPUTER, I have two photos of two little boys, both about seven years of age. The pictures are very meaningful to me, although I don’t know either boy. One shows the face of a chubby little boy smiling blithely at the camera, and the other shows a picture of a starving boy sitting on parched earth with a vulture lurking in the background. These are pictures that represent the imbalance we have created in the world, an imbalance that reflects the incomplete use of our brains.

All the problems in the world were created by the human brain, and within the human brain lie all the answers. To me, these photos are symbolic of the root causes of suffering in the world. If all human problems result from the human brain, the brain can also solve them. Imbalance in the world is a reflection of the imbalance within our bodies and brains.

Sedona Mago Retreat celebrates its 10th anniversary with 300 guests

Sedona, AZ – June 5, 2008 - Sedona Mago Retreat Center held its all-day 10th Anniversary Festival, highlighted by Ilchi Lee’s “Brain Education for Successful Aging” lecture, May 25, 2008.

More than 300 people from Sedona and the Verde Valley joined this open-house celebration on the 160-acre site surrounded by Coconino National Forest.

What would Sedona look like if a city had not grown up next to its breathtakingly beautiful scenery?

The answer to many of the first-time guests at the Festival is Mago Retreat. Mago is a variation of the name that several Asian cultures give to Mother Earth.

With its unique beauty and vortex-energy Mago Retreat has created an ideal environment for the renewal, training, and healing, attracting people from around the world, in its first decade. Its natural setting features mountains, rolling hills, red rocks, gardens, a lake, and abundant plantings. In harmony with nature and based on green criteria, its facilities include meeting rooms, guest rooms, dining hall, meditation areas, pool-spa, horse stables, and water management system.

Many guests went on the guided walking tour of the healing garden, with its pathway between the rainwater-filled lake and colorful flowers and fragrant herbs. The guests lunched at the dining hall, enjoying an international vegetarian buffet.

 At the packed Mago Hall, the Festival’s entertainment consisted of performances with roots in Korea’s culture. The performances included a high-energy dance, two demonstrations by DahnMuDo (self-empowerment martial art) masters, and the traditional fan dance.

Opening the official 10th Anniversary ceremony, Tara Kim, Mago Retreat’s General Manager, explained, “Mago Retreat essentially exists to interact with and serve the local Sedona-Verde Valley community, as well as the global community of cultures.” She invited organizations and groups to look to Mago Retreat for a welcoming place for holding their programs, meetings and events.

The audience watched a video prepared specifically for the Mago Retreat 10th Anniversary, showing how the center has dramatically evolved since 1998.

Cottonwood Mayor Diane Joens gave a congratulatory speech, stating her admiration for Mago Retreat’s 10 years of accomplishments in creating an international retreat center neighboring her city. Messages sent to Mago Retreat by distinguished people – including the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea S.J. Kim and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano – were acknowledged.

As the founder of Mago Retreat, Ilchi Lee (www.ilchi.com) presented the main lecture of the day. He is founder and president of the International Brain Education Association and Korea Institute of Brain Science (a NGO granted consultative status with the United Nations). Of his 30 books, the latest is In Full Bloom: A Brain Education Guide for Successful Aging, coauthored with Dr. Jessie Jones.

In his lecture on “Brain Education for Successful Aging,“ Lee explained how the brain can remain fit long after 50 in order to produce physical health, mental functioning, and inner peace. He described how to shift one’s brain state from negative to positive. To be able to do this, he demonstrated several simple yet profound exercises – muscle resistance, longevity walking, and brain wave vibration.

 As Lee put it, a good brain operating system involves believing in God or the Creator, loving the Earth, and respecting one’s brain and soul. Realizing and applying these concepts through the brain wave vibration can generate hope and a can-do spirit to achieve one’s dreams. Beyond any personal success, one of life’s most valuable achievements is creating hope for others.

Lee contended that the brain is the source of our individual problems (depression and obsessiveness) and collective problems (terrorism and global warming). Most people want more and more, and deny that they cannot take it with them when they die. The source of solutions can be found in the brainstem, which is our path of return to a divine state or God. This is called Chunwa in Korean.

Lee affirmed that the hope for humanity in these troubled times is the better use of our brains. The start of this path is realizing that the gateway at the top of our head (brain) is the basis of our hope for growing our soul, and thus eternal life. This is the ultimate requirement of aging successfully.

For more about the Sedona Mago Retreat Center, visit www.sedonamagoretreat.org.

http://www.sedona.biz/sedona-mago-retreat-festival0208.htm