Ilchi Lee Educating Brain, Dahn Yoga

By inserting an acupuncture needle or practicing moxibustion on a response point, one can recover the energetic balance of the body and treat, as well as prevent, disease. In fact, most “disease” begins with a blockage or imbalance of the body’s energy.

When brain imaging techniques are applied to the study of acupuncture and moxibustion, the specifics of how this extraordinary process works will be more clearly revealed. I expect we will find that when moxibustion techniques are applied to the human body, they not only cause stimulation in the parts of the body to which they are directly applied, but they also stimulate the brain. I believe that acupuncture, acupressure, and moxibustion stimulate signals that are sent to the brain, telling it to begin repairing the body. Meridians, acupuncture points, and the body’s own endocrine system are all part of this signaling process.

Again, when an appropriate stimulus is applied at a response point, it triggers the brain to engage the self-healing mechanism of the body. In this sense, it is more accurate to say that acupuncture and moxibustion do not heal the body; they stimulate the brain to heal the body.

In order to enjoy the healing benefits of acupuncture and moxibustion, we must overcome the resistance that we naturally experience when confronted with something unfamiliar. It is ironic and paradoxical that many humans can be brave in their pursuit of cosmetic changes such as body rings or tattoos, but can become anxious in the face of a needle or heated pulp, even if they are for the benefit of health!

By overcoming our fears and treating ourselves with acupuncture and moxibustion Prof Ilchi Lee says, we not only gain enhanced health but also experience the truth: my body is not me, but mine. We gain the power of self-control. In that sense, acupuncture, acupressure, and moxibustion are forms of self-discipline!

Although some treatments can become complex when studied professionally, simple stimulation at the major points is usually enough to serve as useful treatment for minor injuries or as a preventative measure.

A major reason why acupuncture and moxibustion are not more widely understood is that bio medicine tends to take a reductive approach to health. Analyzing acupuncture or moxibustion as purely physical inputs cannot explain their treatment effects. If one analyzes these practices this way, an acupuncture needle is just a thin piece of stainless steel, and moxibustion will look like a pulp of dried leaves (mugwort) without pharmacological properties. The acupuncture needle or moxibustion pulp themselves are not doing the healing—they function only as keys to activate the healing processes of the body. And what controls these processes? Yes, the human brain!

The brain is connected to sensors all over the body, which manage its natural healing processes. When the appropriate signal is received at certain places, the brain initiates healing mechanisms, mostly triggered and controlled by hormones. The sensor locations are called response points or acupuncture points. In my native language, Korean, we call these Kyung-hyuls. They are gates on our bodies through which energy comes and goes; they are also energy storage and distribution points.

Prof Ilchi Lee suggests these lines to read and understanding carefully that meridians are the paths along which energy travels in our bodies. It may be helpful to think of Meridians as corporeal bus routes and acupuncture points as bus stations. Acupuncture points are points on the body, locations where water and tire can be controlled most effectively, at which a major response can be elicited by a small amount of energy. You could consider an acupuncture point as a strategic location, such as where a dam would need to be constructed to control the level of water.

After attaining awareness of this moment, meditation further entails separating ourselves from that. It constitutes observing yourself and looking at the moment you are living and saying, “This is not me. This is mine. I created this, but I am not this. I am the creator of it and the watcher of it, but I am not that which is being watched.”

This is knowing who you really are, and it is the aim and the result of HT meditation. It is the brain’s experience of “breathing deeply.” From a neural perspective, I believe that meditation is an expansion of consciousness to the unconscious realm. This means that consciousness escapes the exclusive domain of knowledge and the five senses, and that it penetrates the boundanes between the neocortex (responsible for higher thinking) and limbic system (responsible for emotions) in the brain. Ultimately, I believe it is possible to unlock and become one with the unconscious mind with full awareness. I have experienced this subjectively, and I hope one day that neuroscientists can explain it objectively.

Prof Ilchi Lee suggest that becoming one with the unconscious in an awakened state is one form of enlightenment. We awaken to our true essence and we become aware of our “oneness.” After having such an experience, it becomes possible to watch the realm of consciousness from within the unconscious. We are able to see things as they really are, without the filter of thoughts or ideas. This is called “detached watching.”

As a tool of HT, our most fundamental meditation practice combines Dahn-jon breathing with Ji-gam (energy sensitivity training). The interplay between the development of our energy sensitivity and watchfulness of our thoughts and breath allows us to quiet our minds and simply be in the moment.

The training I present below helps us reach a state of relaxed concentration very fast. We are able to learn a way to become present in the here and now by concentrating on the breath that leaves and enters our bodies and the subtle sensations of the body’s energy.

The key to meditation is to extend this state of relaxed concentration, creating a peaceful and clear consciousness of being, here and now. It is this state that we wish to bring to our every day lives.

Meditation is the brain’s way of “breathing deeply.” It is Dahn-jon breathing for the brain! Now, remember that the mind and the body are inextricably linked. And just as Dahn-jon breathing calms the mind, so, too, does meditation calm the body.

Meditation is a term that refers both to a state of consciousness in which a practitioner watches oneself, as well as a method for achieving such a state.

As a method, meditation means quieting the mind in order to more clearly see one’s self. That is something that most people know. But here is something that many people do not realize: meditation is a phenomenon that occurs naturally as our consciousness awakens.

Ultimately, meditation is simply self-watching from a different aspect of consciousness—a way of becoming selfless. This you can do while washing dishes, walking the dog, mowing the lawn, or making a meal. In fact, preparing a meal with love is a wonderful meditation.

HT meditation focuses on being here now. It means being fully present in this moment. It means being aware of everything that is or is not going on in this moment. The present is not tomorrow nor is it yesterday. There is nothing present except exactly what is occurring right now.

Spirituality is the perfect knowledge that we are all born with; it is enlightenment. We may call it divinity or conscience. Con­science is different from ethics or morality as taught in society, rather, it is an instinctive drive and will toward the truth. Conscience is an expression of our internal perfectness and divin­ity.

Spirituality is the bridge that connects us to the ultimate source of all existence, the sea of nothingness. Therefore, a spiritual awakening is reestablishing the connection to the source, discov­ering your own roots, in a sense. The first order of business that we must accomplish in order to know our roots is to know the root of our physical manifestation first and foremost: Earth, to know that your life and Earth’s life are not separate but one, that you are a part of the great biosystem called Earth.

To arrive at such a realization prof Ilchi Lee write, we have to overcome the psy­chological obstacles of nationhood, religion, and race. We have to realize that these barriers are artificial and temporary, more illu­sions than reality, and recover our sense of being of the Earth, for the Earth, and by the Earth. A person of Trinity is a person who has realized his own spirituality, acknowledged his inner enlight­enment, and overcome all prejudicial senses of group identity. This is an Earth-Human.

Despite the countless changes in external appearances, actors, and players, our civilization—this version anyway—has had a con­sistent philosophical base in duality. You and I, yin and yang, this and that, white and black, good and evil, god and devil, and so on. This duality is ingrained now, the glasses through which we under­stand and seek to understand everything in the universe. Competition and domination, the basic driving forces in our soci­ety, are offspring of duality. There are many experienced articles by Ilchi lee posted about duality to trinity.

What, then, is the alternative to duality? What can fill the gulf between God and Satan? What is the “middle” that we have for­gotten and need to recover? The answer is life, energy (Ki), and the Human, especially a new understanding of the Human. The human, instigator and protagonist of creation, is the key to over­coming the inherent flaw of duality. I choose to call this grouping Trinity.

In a world of duality, humans are no better than a passive part, ingredients that make up the material world. Throughout history, humans were slaves to gods; humans were victims or destroyers of nature. In economics or social studies, humans are defined as a commodity that follow a set pattern according to the forces of the market economy. In biology or anatomy, humans are a complicated collection of cells and organs. In none of these learned fields is the idea of spirit given any consideration.

Fairness must come first, before equality, for the reverse situation breeds resentment and contempt, leading society into a morass of inaction. Case in point, the old Communist system. Since everyone was artificially posi­tioned on an equal social and economic level, without regard to his or her respective contributions and talents, it was not a fair system. A fair judgment of the differences in ability, productivity, or situa­tion must precede achieving balance in the community. Otherwise it is the same as giving the identical amount of food to a child and an adult and expecting them to do the same amount of work. Not only will this waste food, but it will create unrealistic expectations.

Therefore, equality must be preceded by fairness. In a society, fairness and equality represent a clear delineation of roles and responsibility for one’s actions, followed by a fair judgment of the achievement or non-achievement of the individual. Only when this happens can we talk about honesty, diligence, and responsibility, the three mainstays of a healthy society.

If these rules are faithfully adhered to, then the community will function properly, no matter how small or large, from the nuclear family to the multinational conglomerate to the universe. If you don’t maintain your proper “orbit” by working in sync with the center, you will collide with others; if you don’t maintain a certain velocity to balance multi directional forces, you will fly off into oblivion; and if you don’t have a fair way to judge various inevitable differences in ability, productivity, and conditions, then you will not be able to maintain balance and harmony in a society. Read more article by Ilchi Lee.

This collection of information changes faster than your body. Although your body shape and your physical abilities change over time, they don’t change as quickly as your mind. Have you ever thought about how fickle your feelings of self-worth are? One moment, you are King of the World, a truly magnificent person. The next minute, you are in despair with feelings of inadequacy and weakness. You are full of life’s meaning and motivation one second, but succumb to despair and emptiness the next. If your body changed sizes as capriciously as your mind, you would change your clothes thousands of times a day. That is how unstable and fleeting information is.

Prof Ilchi Lee observe your body. It breathes. You breathe when you are asleep, when you are no longer conscious of your own ideas of self-identity. Who, then, is breathing? The collection of information that you mistakenly think is you is not the main protagonist in the activity of the breath. In fact, you are not breathing; breath naturally happens in you. You can purposely end your life, but you cannot purposely keep your life going. The expression, “my life” is actually an oxymoron, a result of ignorance and mistaken assumption. You don’t possess life; life expresses itself through you. Your body is a flower that life let bloom, a phenomenon created by life.

When you say, “My body is mine, but not me,” you have realized that the real “me” is a self-perpetuating, eternally existing process/entity called life. You can call it the Tao, true self, nature— it doesn’t matter. It exists without your understanding, beyond the realm of your information. It exists by itself, for itself, and of itself. When you say, “My body is mine, but not me,” you have realized who’s the true master of your breath, your life. I would like to call this realization “meeting the divinity within.” This is the second insight.

Life is suffering. Birth is suffering. As long as you are mired in the illusion that your body is you, life cannot be anything else but an endless cycle of suffering and pain. To know that life is suffering alleviated only by intense moments of happiness, is the first insight. To realize that a spark of divinity exists within you, in midst of suffering and emptiness, is the second insight.

The second insight that you need to experience is that your body is yours, but not you. My body is mine, but it is not me. When you feel yourself slighted and angry, when you feel your life is a sad joke, take a moment and ask who is this “me” who was slighted. You will realize that this “me” is a product, much like an appliance, packaged with various features such as age, job, religion, and hobbies. The “me” who was slighted is just a collection of information that you have gathered along the way. All the happiness, sadness, anger, and joy are generated by the mistaken assumption that your physical form is you. You are not unhappy. A phenomenon called the body and the layers of information that clothe it feel happy, sad, angry, or joyful. However, your body is never you, though it is yours.

What does this mean? If my body is not me but it is mine, who is the “me” that calls this body its own? If the entity that experiences my everyday life is just a phenomenon of a physical manifestation sheathed by layers of information, what is the real “me”?

To know that “my body is mine, not me” signifies that you know who the true master of your life is. The “me” that you have known throughout your life is just a collection of information that you started accumulating just after you were born. Your religious faith and your God are just a part of the information shell that you have constructed around yourself. Information did not cause your existence. Information started to form a shell around you after you were born, and this shell will disappear just before your body dies. It is akin to the programs inside a computer: all programs are closed before the computer turns itself off, read more article by Ilchi Lee.

We start asking about the meaning of life when conditions that produced our happiness disappear or when we realize that such conditions never last for long. At this juncture, we start asking questions: Why is this happening to me? What point is there to life? But when we are surrounded by happiness again, we forget about these questions and go merrily along our way. When “happy” conditions disappear once more, we start asking the same questions again, such as “How can this happen to me again?” When we have finally become jaded and distrustful of this thing called happiness, when we have finally seen happiness as the illusion that it really is, our questions start becoming more urgent: Who am I? Why was I born? Where did I come from? Where am I going? Read more Ilchi Lee’s articles.

As our questions become deeper, we start stripping off the layers of meaning that we had so carefully constructed around our lives, a process that leads to emptiness and loneliness. Most of us cannot bear this loneliness, and try our best to forget about the questions, yet we remain haunted always by their echoes in the back of our minds. However, if we wish to realize the truth behind life, we need the courage to look this emptiness straight in the eye. When you have realized that life is basically suffering punctuated by fleeting moments of happiness, when you are caught in that state of unbearable emptiness, you need courage and discipline to hold on to the questions that cry out from the depth of your soul. When you find yourself wishing, with all your being, to search for the unchanging truth, then you have taken that first step toward true freedom.