Ilchi Lee Educating Brain, Dahn Yoga

Dr. Ilchi Lee writes in his book that let us think about what our soul really wants. Let’s think about what could propel us to overcome our personal boundaries and engage in fulfilling work. We can formulate a vision based on a lifetime, for tomorrow, or for the coming week, and so on.

It is necessary to take the following conditions into account when deciding on a vision. First, a vision has to be “visionary” and bright enough to fill you with great joy at just the thought ot it. Second, a vision must provide unending motivation worthy of your undying time and effort. Third, a vision must require you to use your energy and abilities to their limits. Fourth, a vision has to be appealing and attractive enough to hold your utmost attention. Fifth, a vision must be beneficial to others in order to gain approval and support. Sixth, a vision must be realistic enough to be evaluated by concrete methods. Always ask whether this vision comes from your True Self or your False Self. If your vision requires changing the life that you have led up until now, it will entail doubt and hesitation. However, thinking and worrying will not make your decision any easier. Ultimately, making a decision comes down to one moment of choice.

The question is quite simple, actually. What is it you really want? What fills your heart with joy and delight? Ask your heart,ask your soul… for there is no one who can tell you whether the vision you have chosen is correct or not. You have your own conscience to decide that for you.

If your heart tells you what you really want, then ask your brain how to go about getting it. Talk with your brain, have a spiritual heart-to-heart with your own brain. The brain is the tool given to us to complete our journey of spiritual growth. Vision Meditation is a way to converse with your brain in order to access strength and ideas necessary to make your vision come true. Our soul uses our brain to deliver its messages to us. When in doubt, we can always ask our heart whether the message is genuine or not.

Read more articles about Brain Respiration and Dahn Yoga.

Ilchi Lee’s prayer at the Opening Ceremony of the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders in the General Assembly of the United Nations on August 28th, 2000.

And not even to the indigenous gods of many nations
But to the divinity within that we all hold inside
That makes us all brothers and sisters
To make us truly a One Family
In the name of humanity.
I offer this prayer of peace
To the cosmic Oneness that is our birthright
And our privilege
And our strength
That should we let it shine and show us the way
Will guide us to the road of peace
Not the Christian peace
Not the Jewish peace
Not the Islamic peace
Nor the Buddhist peace
And not even the indigenous peace of many nations
But the human peace
That has a place in the hearts of all people
To become the children of one humanity
To allow us to truly fulfill our divine potential
I offer this prayer of peace
To allow us all to realize
The truth of our existence
To allow us all to discover
The sanctity of our lives
To allow us to all to seek
The spirituality of our beings
Please allow us to experience
With all our hearts and our souls
The intimate connection to the divine
That we all posses inside
For our bodies are the temples of worship
And our souls the altars
Upon which we shall stand tall
And live out the true meaning
Of our existence.

I believe that a habit of good breathing can prevent much unhappiness. So, if you become emotionally upset, do not try to analyze your situation by thinking. Instead, focus on your breathing. This is much easier and more effective. Stop thinking for a moment and concentrate on your breathing. Deep breathing will quiet your emotions and enable you to better assess your circumstances.

Now, that is such a simple suggestion that you may just have read right over it. So please allow me to repeat it.

Ilchi Lee believe that a habit of good breathing can prevent much unhappiness. So, if you become emotionally upset, do not try to analyze your situation by thinking. Instead, focus on your breathing.

Now, I want you to consider something that you may never have conceptualized or imagined before. Thoughts are the breath of the brain.

Just as we take air into our bodies, we are also allowing thoughts to be processed by our brains. Breathing is mechanical. You do not have to think about breathing, and you do not have to make yourself do it. It is an automatic action of the body. Breathing happens by itself. It is what the body does.

Thinking is also mechanical said Ilchi Lee. You do not have to think about thinking, and you do not have to make yourself do it. It is a routine of the brain. Thinking happens by itselt. It is what the brain does.

Of course, how the body breathes is another matter. That is something you can control—although very few people do. And how the brain thinks is another matter. That is something you can control—although very few people do.

We have all heard the phrase, “She is like a breath of fresh air” or, “Let’s let in some fresh air.”

There is nothing like a breath of fresh air! Everyone loves it!

No one ever says “no” to a breath of fresh air. There is nothing like it to wake people up, to stimulate them, to get them going again. Ilchi Lee Prof suggest all that we need to do to stay physically healthy and mentally alert is allow the fresh air in and let the toxins out. That is all breathing is about. When we breathe in, we take in fresh air. When we breathe out, we release the toxins. In medicine, our in-breath is called “inspiration,” and our out-breath is called “expiration.”

As Ilchi Lee have said, respiration occurs naturally, whether we are aware of it or not. Unlike some other bodily systems, however, we can control it consciously, even though it is monitored by the autonomic nervous system. (You can also learn to bring your blood pressure down, lower your pulse rate, and even alter your brain waves, but not as easily as controlling your breath!)

Our bodies and minds are closely interconnected. Our state of mind is expressed in physical phenomena, and, conversely, physical phenomena reflect our state of mind. It is a two-way street. By controlling our bodies, we can change our state of mind. With sufficient awareness of our mind, we can more easily alter our physical experience.

Breathing can be used as an important tool to direct the mind. When we are emotionally agitated, it is difficult to use our best judgment. In such circumstances, we can make mistakes involving important issues. Or, without a complete view of our situation, we can cause “accidents.” When caught in the throes of emotion, we can avoid many mistakes or accidents if we just take three deep breaths. What is amazing is that nearly everyone knows this, but very few of us use this knowledge.

The diaphragm is attached to the lower rib cage and has strands extending to the lumbar vertebrae. When we breathe fully and deeply, the belly, lower rib cage, and lower back expand on inhalation, thus pushing the diaphragm down deeper into the abdomen. The same structures retract on exhalation. In deep Dahn-jon breathing, these rhythmic movements help to detoxify our inner organs, promote blood flow and peristalsis, and pump fluid more efficiently through our lymphatic system by Ilchi Lee.

Dahn-jon breathing can allow breathing to become natural and deep. But how can breathing become light? Our respiration becomes lighter if we breathe with a heart full of joy and gratitude. Thanking our bodies when we inhale and thanking earth when we exhale causes a smile to form naturally on our lips. Breathing becomes as light as a feather, all on its own. Easy!

Our emotional or mental states have various ways of manifesting themselves in the body. Some of these are body temperature, pulse, blood pressure, respiration, complexion, and brain waves. Of these phenomena that reveal our condition, respiration differs in character from the others.

If you take time to do this daily, soon your mind will do it automatically—it will simply become part of how you breathe. One part of your mind will do this deep breathing, while you focus on other things that allow you to move through your day. This approach is called Dahn-jon breathing.

Dahn-jon breathing is closely related to the movement of the diaphragm, a dome-shaped structure that assists in breathing and acts as a natural partition between our heart and lungs on the one hand, and our stomach, spleen, pancreas, liver, kidneys, bladder, and small and large intestines on the other.

When we breathe deeply, our diaphragm moves downward as we inhale and upward as we exhale. The more the diaphragm moves, the more our lungs are able to expand, which means that more oxygen can be taken in and more carbon dioxide released with each breath.

World-renowned scholars, thinkers and social activists came together in Seoul, Korea on June 15, 2001 to attend the First Annual ‘New Millennium World Peace and Humanity Conference.’ They met to explore ideas concerning the concrete influence that spirituality can have on our current political, economic and cultural makeup.

The New Millennium Peace Foundation is a non-governmental, independent organization, founded in 1997 by Dr. Ilchi Lee and Neale Donald Walsch. Invited guests included prestigious academicians, journalists, activists, and experts in the fields of religion, journalism, culture, environment and most importantly, human potential. Distinguished guests included; Dr. Ilchi Lee, president of the NMPF and co-host of the conference, and Neale Donald Walsch, co-host and the world’s best selling author of the ‘Conversations with God’ series and founder of the ‘ReCreation Foundation’. Other honored guests were: Maurice Strong, senior advisor to the Secretary General of the United Nations and president of the United Nations University for Peace; Seymour Topping, administrator of the Pulitzer Prize and professor of international journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism; Reverend Wyatt Tee Walker, senior pastor of Canaan Baptist Church, noted civil rights activist and former executive secretary to Martin Luther King; Jean Houston, world’s leading researcher on human potential and co-director of the Foundation for Mind Research; Hanne Strong, president of Manitou Foundation and an environmental activist; and Audrey Ronning Topping, a Pulitzer prize winning photo-journalist and author. The keynote speaker was former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, recently a visiting professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Ilchi Lee tells that I am honored and pleased to have had this opportunity to greet you through this book. This signifies that our paths have crossed and our souls have communed. As a token of my deepest appreciation, I would like to give you a most precious gift, a gift that you already possess but might not yet have realized. I would like to make a gift of the Earth. Now, open your hands wide and lift them to your chest. Imagine the bright, blue-green Earth slowly descending from the air and settling gently upon your hands. Feel the Earth in your hands. Feel the energy of the Earth. Feel your life energy reach for the Earth, mingling energy, and joyfully proclaiming your oneness. Feel the Earth in your hands become brighter, vibrating with joy and delight, transmitting this to you through your hands, arms, and heart.

Next, lift your hands, filled with the Earth, toward your head. Bring the Earth closer to your forehead. Feel the cool and comforting touch of the Earth on your forehead and gently and gradually guide the earth into your head. Inside your head, sense the spinning and vibrating of its’ awesome vitality and energy. Feel the light of energy and life shine forth from your forehead as your energy and Earth’s energy mingle in a dance of joyful oneness. You are now an Earth-Human, for you have just experienced Oneness with the Earth. How can you be anything less? You now have no choice but to express your love for the Earth, because it will be an expression of self-love. You are now a self appointed protector, keeper, and guardian of the Earth because you realize that your journey of self-discovery and spiritual completion begins and ends with the Earth. You are a child of the Earth.