Dahn Yoga Hawaii Member’s blog

As I rode on the rhythm of my body, all those negative feelings that were giving me a hard time disappeared.

After I experienced this, whenever I felt unpleasant I started shaking the negativity off immediately by doing Brain Wave Vibration. I decided to delete my negative feelings right away. In the beginning, it was not easy to do. But after I practiced several times, I could easily control my feelings by shaking my neck and body, even if just a little bit.

Recently, I began to actively imagine what I wanted my-self to be during Brain Wave Vibration. I visualize all the negativity and hostility being eliminated, which helps my body become even more refreshed and energized. I still may feel upset at an accident scene, but I immediately practice Brain Wave Vibration on the way back in the patrol car. My method is to rub my hands together and stroke my head with my hands, and then delete those unpleasant feelings by shaking my head. When my fellow cops have a hard time thinking of difficult memories, I shout at them and laugh, “Delete it!”

-Jin-hwan Kim, Korea

Information used to be held by an elite few, the scholars and rulers of a time gone by. But now there is an excess of information available for everyone. Every piece of information is like a calorie. The brain, which has a natural love for acquiring information, slurps up the information wherever it can be found. Soon the brain is overwhelmed by the vast amount of information entering it. Information in its own right is not bad, no more than food is bad. But too much is too much, especially when the quality is not good.

Like fast food, you can get a lot of information cheap these days. Your mind, like your body, gets heavy and clogged up quickly if you don’t make good choices about what you feed it. Brain Wave Vibration is meant to help you stop processing information, almost like temporary information fast, so that you can begin to take control of your information consumption.

It is evident in the quality of the relationships you have, in the emotions you carry, and in all the choices you make. Everything in your life is the direct result of your brain waves.

Information has the greatest effect on the health of your brain. You could almost think of information as food for your brain. Low-quality information is like junk food for the brain, while high-quality information is like highly nutritious, satisfying food. And just like the other functions of the body, brain waves suffer. If fed a consistent diet of low-level information.

The situation with mam’ people’s information consumption is not unlike the situation with food consumption. First of all, there is simply too much information being served up. We are constantly bombarded with facts, theories, arguments, advertisements, images, noise—the list goes on. Our brains cannot handle all the extraneous information.

So one day, I decided I would do something about the problem. I began to clear the garbage away, one piece at a time. When all the trash had been hauled away, I buried it in a hole that I had dug in the mountains. I then planted pumpkin seeds in the ground covering the trash. Soon, big, beautiful pumpkins were growing there.

This was a huge moment of discovery for me it came at a moment when I felt truly hopeless about my life. In my early twenties, I had failed the college entrance exams three times. I realized that all I really needed was the opportunity to do something positive for people, and that something positive could even come from a pile of trash.

True brain mastery is the ability to see possibility, even where others see only trash. Those pumpkins grew so well precisely because the garbage had been there before; the trash added nutrients to the soil.

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.

Here are some other widespread myths related to the brain and age:

Myth: Seri ous brai n decline is inevi table.

Yes, changes in brain structure and chemistry do occur with age. But they do not have to lead to a steep decline in mental ability. Writing in Newsweek, Gene Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., founding director of the Center on Aging, Health, and Humanities at George Washington University Medical Center, says that in his work designing games to improve the mental function of aging men and women, he has found that the brain’s left and right hemispheres (the left is responsible for linear, logical thinking; the right, for creativity and intuition) actually become better integrated as we age, leading to greater creative potential.

Cohen writes that it is becoming clear that with the proper lifestyle and challenges, the brain can in many respects become stronger with age.

Myth: I am getting dumber beca use my brai n ce lls are dying.
It is true that brain cells die as we age. Brain cells die and new cells are born throughout our lives. But for many years people have assumed that, barring excessive drinking during college, brain cells cash in their chips at a higher rate as we get into the retirement years. But as it turns out, that is not true either. It appears that we lose brain cells at a consistent rate throughout life, owing to causes that range from stress and nutritional deficiencies to environmental toxins. Also, some neuroscientists now believe that brain cell death may be a part of the brain’s learning process. The loss of some  cells paves the way for new connections to develop as we learn, part of the sculpting of the brain that occurs when the brain remains active and constantly learning.
Myth: The adult brai n cannot form new connections.

For many years, brain scientists were certain that the brain could not make new nerve cells to replace lost ones. But in the mid-1990s, researchers began to see evidence that indeed the brain can produce new nerve cells in some areas of the brain related to memory–a process called neurogenesis. This phenomenon is particularly responsive to regular physical exercise, meaning that working out is not just good for your heart, bones, and muscles, but good for your mind as well. Studies based on the work of Columbia University neurologist Scott Small and Salk Institute neurobiologist Fred Gage suggest that regular exercise delivers more oxygen-rich blood to the brain, as well as a chemical called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF . These factors and others appear to improve memory, learning, and other brain functions.

from the book “in Full Bloom” by Ilchi Lee

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

A performance by Master Namji Kim, who is also here in Hawaii to conduct DMD School over the next week.