Ilchi Lee's Blog, page 44

A Conversations Between Generations

What would a seventy-year-old man and an eight-year-old boy ask each other? Could they find the meaning of life?

See the common ground formed by Ilchi Lee and an eight-year-old New Zealand boy in this delightful conversation.

“I hope you grow very healthy and happy. . . . if you ever need something while you live, I would give a hand to you. You’ve given me inspiration. You are a very happy and blessed person. I hope you always live happily and grateful. You are a lucky guy,” he said.

See the interview in this video:

Your Divine Light

[Source: @batoshka via Twenty20]

Thoughts, memories, and intellectual knowledge are what most people typically associate with the brain. However, the brain doesn’t only contain the artificial information that we’ve accumulated during our lives. There is a certain something in our brain that is original and fundamental. Before we had thoughts, emotions, experiences, or knowledge, there existed complete and pure energy and consciousness. We could also call this nature, the rhythm of life, or even the divinity within us.

This divine nature is the light that shines brightly in our brain. That light is called many things in different traditions—the source of life, divinity, God, heaven, nirvana, cosmic consciousness, the higher self, higher consciousness. It might be easier to say that it’s bright wisdom or information.

Because our divine nature resides in our brain, I see the brain as the embodiment of human character. We could say that the brain is the holistic expression of our physical, mental, and spiritual essence. Therefore, connecting our awareness to our brain means meeting with our essential nature. The part of the brain that acts as the channel to this pure consciousness and energy is the pineal gland, located in the central part of the brain.

The moment we connect with our pineal gland through meditation, we can clear away the clouds covering our inner wisdom and meet with the limitless energy and life within us. This is not only knowledge but a feeling—spine-tingling, electric excitement—for how powerful, beautiful, and divinely sacred our essential nature is. That electric excitement and pure poignance spreads throughout our brain, our heart, and our whole body, bringing fundamental change to our life and our world.

When we understand that the brain is the embodiment of our essence and our link to pure universal consciousness, we can converse and interact with it. We can ask it what we need to do and how to bring new possibilities to life.

That’s why I advise trusting your brain, loving your brain, and connecting to your brain.

 

Immunity Boosting Toolkit: Get Bright Breathing

[Source: @michaelmuchnij via Twenty20]

One of the biggest factors influencing our immunity is stress. The stress response suppresses our immune system so that all of the body’s resources are diverted to dealing with a stressful situation. As many of us know, in the short term, this response helps us deal with immediate dangers, while in the long term, it can do damage to our body. When we’re stressed, we can’t repair our cells and tissues, digest our food properly, get the rest we need, or fight infections efficiently. In this condition, our bodies’ natural healing abilities can’t work at their best.

Those abilities are maximized when our bodies are warm, our muscles are relaxed, our minds are calm, our body fluids are circulating, and our energy is flowing. But how often do we find ourselves in this state? The more we sit, stare at a screen, get stuck in traffic, or do some kind of repetitive action, the more our bodies and minds become cold and stiff. That sounds like the opposite of healthy and alive, doesn’t it?

In my Immunity Boosting blog series, I’ve introduced several exercises that warm up the body, loosen the muscles and joints, and increase immune system efficiency. They also reduce stress and release pent-up emotions, especially the negative ones.

The exercise in my Immunity Boosting Toolkit that I’d like to tell you about today is quite simple. It’s called Joongwan Healing; I also call it Get Bright Breathing because doing it makes you feel happier and lighter. It’s similar to last week’s exercise, Belly Button Healing, but it focuses on another point on the Conception Vessel Meridian (energy channel). In Korean, this point is called Joongwan. It lies on the midline of the abdomen, halfway between the bottom of the sternum and the belly button, around the solar plexus area. You can find it by putting your thumb where your solar plexus and sternum meet and putting your pinky on your navel. The place where your middle finger meets the midline is your Joongwan.

So what’s so great about this point that I devised a whole immunity-boosting exercise for it? Acupressure points are associated with different parts of the body, and their importance comes from their location. The Joongwan point is associated with your third chakra and lies over major organs such as the stomach and liver. The kidneys are not far from them, at the back of the body. These areas are associated with specific emotions, and emotions tend to build up in the body when we suppress them. By stimulating the Joongwan point, we can release these emotions that can cause havoc in our bodies or our relationships.

The emotions and stress, the stagnant energy, that get stuck in the solar plexus area build up in the chest and head as well. When the Joongwan point is blocked, we feel stuffier in our chest, more emotional. Our breathing is also shallower. Our thoughts may race, or we may feel a little cloudy or confused in our minds. Getting rid of this blockage releases all these emotions and stress and lets energy circulate in the natural Water Up, Fire Down cycle it needs to in order for us to be healthy.

Just by stimulating the Joongwan point, we can release our stress and calm our minds. We turn on our bodies’ rest and digest functions. Our abdomens become warmer as well, helping our core body temperature go up.

Here’s how you do it:

[The Joongwan Acupressure Point]

You can do this exercise sitting, standing, or lying down. Start by rubbing your belly and bringing your awareness into your body.
Find your Joongwan point by putting your thumb where your sternum meets your abdomen and putting your pinky on your navel. Bend your middle finger until it touches the imaginary line running vertically down the center of your body, cutting it in half. Where your middle finger rests is the Joongwan point.
Then place the middle fingers of both hands on your Joongwan point. Gentle and repeatedly press in and out, finding a comfortable rhythm. Exhale through your mouth as you press to let out the stuck energy inside. It’s important to relax your neck, shoulders, and abdomen. Press for about one to two minutes. You can also use the tool I developed for Belly Button Healing to do this.
Then use either your two middle fingers or your thumb to press deeply into your abdomen at the Joongwan point until you can feel your pulse inside. (You can also use a tool.) Be careful not to press too hard. It shouldn’t be very painful. If you press with your thumb, put your other hand over the pressing hand to help you have the strength to press deeply enough. Exhale as you press and hold for a count of five.
Release the point and inhale as deeply as you can. Hold your breath for a count of five.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 for five or ten minutes.
Finish with another minute breathing without pressing your Joongwan.

Get Bright Breathing becomes even more effective if you follow it up with Belly Button Healing so that your entire abdomen becomes relaxed and warm. It’s an exercise you can do throughout your day to manage your stress and emotions. Learn more about Get Bright Breathing in this blog post on ChangeYourEnergy.com.

 

Time for Humanity to Awaken

I dream of a world where all are equal, with no one high or low, where the value of each and every person is respected. It’s the world of Earth Citizens.

For this world to come forth, a new system integrating everything is needed. Many people know that we need some kind of new system, but they don’t know what it is.

I think creating such a system begins with individuals. The souls of individuals must awaken. This is not about receiving teachings from someone or being pulled along a path created by someone else.

Long-standing institutions have been dragging people towards certain, established goals. But they have now reached their limits. The global environment has been severely damaged and is getting worse, and human value is being lost. Under the current system, many may wonder, “I don’t know what my values are. Are they money? Prestige?” And they’re wondering what values are being pursued by countries, companies, and religions.

Values that involve mutual confrontation and conflict are imperfect. Values that are about mutual respect and harmony are the values of nature. When we look at nature, we find countless trees and plants living together. There are no borders in nature. It’s humans and countries that have created boundaries. The earth didn’t divide us; humans fight with each other over borders they established.

But who is the master of the earth? Who is the master of nature? We have to ask this question. The master of nature is neither a person, nor a country, nor an institution. Nature existed before human beings and before countries. The master of nature is nature itself!

I feel we must know the value of nature and submit to nature. We need to respect nature. Why? Because everything we are or have came from nature. That truth, though, has not been realized in our lives, which is why the meaning of earth citizenship is important.

If each of us wakes up to a spirit of mutual respect and love for each other and the earth, if we recognize that we are nature and come from nature, if we realize our true value, shining like a star, then humanity itself can transcend the age of confrontation and division to unite as one. Politics, religion, education, and economics will become art that we can create freely to manage the earth for the benefit of all.

Immunity Boosting Toolkit: Belly Button Healing

In my latest Immunity Boosting blog posts, I’ve written about raising your body temperature within the normal range in order to increase your immune system activity for better immunity. Many exercises do this, such as the Plate Balancing Exercise I introduced in a recent post. In this article, I’d like to tell you about an exercise I developed that has the added benefit of improving gut health: Belly Button Healing.

It’s said that about 70 percent of immunity takes place in the gut, which is filled and lined with immune cells and both healthy and harmful microbes that affect immune activity. Belly Button Healing helps to foster a gut environment that’s friendly to healthy microbes and promotes immune activity. It does this by helping food and waste move more efficiently through the gut.

So how does Belly Button Healing work? Simply put, you just press your navel. Your belly button lies right over the gut, as well as over important blood vessels and lymph nodes, two parts of the body that are key in immunity. Rhythmically massaging your navel with your fingers or a tool increases circulation of blood and lymph and helps push food through your digestive tract and waste out of your body. Doing this is especially important if you sit for a long time; our veins and lymph vessels depend on body movement to move fluid through them.

Those are not the only elements Belly Button Healing circulates. Stimulating your navel also increases energy flow through the energy channels of the body. In fact, the navel is an important acupressure point in traditional Asian medicine, which says that free and balanced energy flow is a key to good health.

The belly button also links to internal organs through connective tissue, which connects it to other parts of your body such as your shoulders, neck, back, hips, and knees. Pressing the belly button gradually unwinds tense fascia, freeing up your organs and letting your diaphragm come further into your abdomen so that you can breathe more deeply and give your body more oxygen. This also relaxes the body overall and puts it into a “rest and digest” mode, slowing down the brain waves and letting the body repair itself and fight infection.

The most important point in doing such a simple exercise lies in your mind. Think of Belly Button Healing as a way of loving and caring for yourself. If you press and massage your body with devotion and with gratitude for how precious it is, your body responds to that energy of love.

Have the intention of increasing your immunity before you begin, and keep your mind on your body throughout the exercise. Notice all of your physical sensations, as well as the thoughts and emotions that come up. Doing Belly Button Healing mindfully helps bring all of your brain’s forces to bear on making your body healthy.

Here are more specific Belly Button Healing instructions:

Sit in a chair or lie on the floor. When sitting in a chair, lean your upper body comfortably against the back of it.
Press your navel with the fingertips of both hands or a tool such as the Belly Button Healing Wand I designed for this exercise.
Relax your shoulders and press your navel rhythmically and repeatedly while exhaling in sharp, short breaths through your mouth or nose. The relaxing effect is greater if you emphasize your outgoing breath.
Do about 100 to 300 repetitions. This should take one to three minutes.
When you’ve finished Belly Button Healing, spend at least a couple of minutes focusing on your body while you breathe comfortably as you imagine life energy entering your abdomen through your belly button.
Try to feel what changes are happening in your body, from your belly and fingertips to the tips of your toes. Then, feel your breathing deepening automatically as you become more aware and relaxed.

The body is natural, not mechanical. It has a natural restorative power that is not completely quantifiable, but it is real. Belly Button Healing helps create an environment that strengthens and supports the body’s self-healing power.

You can learn more about Belly Button Healing from my book of the same name.

 

Why Do Meditation?

[Source: Get Bright Method.

I also suggest giving yourself a direction to move in by creating a goal. This will give you a reason to get up and motivation to keep going. If you simply make up your mind, choose, and take action, change will take place at lightspeed.

Having a vision you have to achieve and having a dream is the happiest thing ever.

Open your heart,

open your brain,

and speak your vision.

Meet with a new you every day.

That’s how you get bright!

Immunity Boosting Toolkit: Plate Balancing Exercise

Stress, inactivity, and poor eating and sleeping habits can all weaken our immune system, a component of our body’s natural healing power. Not moving enough can result in inflammation around joints, and stress is a big factor in most major illnesses.

Chronic stress can also lower body temperature, which lowers immunity. Decrease in muscle mass can also cause low body temperature, since muscles are our greatest organ for generating heat, especially those in our lower body. Overeating, cold food, excessive air conditioning, inadequate sleep, and frequent use of fever reducers and pain relievers are also culprits in making the body cold.

In one of my recent posts, I briefly introduced several immunity boosting mind-body exercises. These exercises serve to reduce stress and increase body temperature. They also promote a deeper connection to the body and maximize its natural healing power.

The first of these moves almost all of your muscles and joints, making your blood, lymph, and life energy circulate better. I call it Plate Balancing Exercise. You can think of it as a form of tai chi—one gentle movement flows into the next as you mindfully focus on your body’s motion.

You can follow this video to learn how to do Plate Balancing Exercise, or you can follow the written steps below from my book, The Solar Body: The Secret to Natural Healing. I recommend doing it several times a day—whenever you need to warm up and relax your body.

How to Do Plate Balancing Exercise

PLATE BALANCING WITH ONE HAND

Plant your right foot forward, about one and a half times your shoulder width from the other foot, with your toes pointing forward. Turn the left foot outward at about a 45-degree angle. Bend your knees slightly. Your stance should feel comfortable, balanced, and natural.
Balance a plate on the palm of your right hand and hold it at elbow height over your right knee. Rest the back of your left hand against your lower back. (If you don’t have a plate, imagine that there’s one.)
While leaning your upper body forward, pull your right hand (with the plate) in toward your body in a counterclockwise circle, pivoting around your elbow until your arm is straight out to the side and twisted so that your palm is still facing upward. Then continue the circle with your elbow straight by moving your shoulder until your arm is extended in front of you. Remember to keep your palm facing upward throughout the motion.
Begin the second circle of the figure eight by moving your arm counterclockwise over your head as you extend your upper body back as far as you can. Look back at your hand as it circles behind you. Bend your elbow as much as you need to in order to keep your palm (and your plate) facing upward. As your hand passes behind you and comes around to its original position in front of you, straighten your upper body.
Repeat this spiraling, figure-eight motion several times. Then reverse the position of your body and do the same thing using the left hand.
You can then move each arm in the opposite direction.

 

PLATE BALANCING WITH BOTH HANDS

Standing with your feet together and your palms facing upward, hold your hands comfortably at your sides. If you have trouble keeping your balance in this position, place your feet about a shoulder width apart. You can balance plates on your palms, or you may choose not to use them. You can also hold the plates in place with your thumbs.
Bend your upper body forward, bringing your hips back and using your lower back strength to keep your balance as you straighten your knees as much as you can. Keeping your knees straight will provide the most benefit to your back and legs. However, if you have trouble balancing in this position, you can bend your knees instead.
As you bend forward, slowly pull your hands toward the side of your body and pivot them around your elbows until your arms are out to the side.
Then with your palms facing upward, extend your arms out in front of you.
Raise your upper body, crossing your arms in front of you.
Leaning your upper body backward, move each hand above your head in the biggest circle you can make.
Then bring your hands back to their original positions. Repeat this figure-eight movement.

 

Next week I’ll tell you about another exercise in the Immunity Boosting Toolkit: Belly Button Healing.

How Can You Manage Your Thoughts and Emotions?

[Source: @olkakonecka via Twenty20]

Trying to govern your health only by exercise and by what you eat and drink, without controlling your thoughts and emotions, is like trying to keep your computer in good shape by managing the hardware but not the software. So it’s important to realize that your thoughts and emotions are things you can choose, not something outside your control. While thoughts may arise without your choosing them, the way you respond to them is entirely up to you. It’s not easy to control your mind as you desire, but it’s definitely not impossible. You simply need practice. There is nothing in the world that doesn’t get better with practice.

How can you use the power of your mind to control your thoughts and emotions? The most powerful means is by observation—the most essential and powerful ability that the mind has. By lucidly watching thoughts and emotions without chasing after them, or intentionally ignoring or denying them, the mind causes them to evaporate like fog in sunlight.

The most powerful change in perception we can experience through observation is that we can see ourselves as separate from our experiences. This means that we observe our sensations, thoughts, and emotions as objects, instead of identifying ourselves with them. The mind that quietly watches all the thoughts and emotions arising within it has the power to return everything to a state of balance—its natural state. In that state, you become able to make wiser, more considerate choices instead of acting in a way that’s dictated by a negative thought or feeling.

This also goes for the pains and diseases of the body. If I’m suffering from a tumor in my lungs, instead of identifying myself with a body that has a tumor, I can objectify my body. When I identify myself with my body, I may experience negative emotions about the pain and prognosis from the tumor, such as fear, anger, and frustration. Once I’m able to objectify my body, however, such emotions change into compassion, and the mind has sympathy for the one suffering. An energy of unconditional love toward the suffering object—the energy of fundamental healing flowing beneath all vital phenomena—starts to flow from this compassion.

I’m in the habit of advising people to repeat out loud these affirmations as a way to develop the mental power to observe their bodies and minds without identifying themselves with them: “My body is not me, but mine. My emotions are not me, but mine.” When your body causes you to suffer, when you’re confused and swept away by an intense whirlwind of thoughts and emotions, try to focus your attention and repeat these two affirmations. Try saying them out loud right now. “My body is not me, but mine. My emotions are not me, but mine.”

With practice, you can develop the strength to return to a calm, solid center even amid all the emotions of your life, the power to recover harmony even amid all the changes and uncertainties of life, the power to restore ceaseless passion and hope for life even amid all kinds of trial and error, failure, and frustration.

Peek Inside My Immunity Boosting Toolkit

Our immunity may be something we take for granted until we or someone around us gets sick. Eating healthy food and getting enough rest are important for keeping our immune system in top shape to protect us from foreign invaders. But there are simple exercises that can boost our immunity as well.

These exercises work because they do several things that improve our immune readiness:

Increase our body temperature
Reduce stress
Activate our parasympathetic nervous system
Slow down our brain waves
Improve our gut health
Open all the energy pathways (meridians) in our body
Create healthy energy circulation inside
Make a positive mindset

Bringing our brain waves down to a slower alpha level frequency than their usual active (beta) level and turning on the “rest and digest” functions of our parasympathetic nervous system takes our body and brain out of a state of readiness and stress. Then it has a chance to rebuild any damage, clear out any toxins, recharge our energy, and increase our immune power. It also helps us be more focused and mindful so that we take less actions that harm our body and mind.

This also helps improve our gut health. About 70 to 80 percent of the body’s immunity is found in the gut. This activity comes from our own immune cells plus the thousands of microorganisms living in our intestines.

Tied to these factors, and one of the most important, is body temperature. Keeping our temperature at the top of the normal range increases our immunity. The immune system is strengthened fivefold when body temperature increases just 1.8 degrees F (1 degree C). On the other hand, it’s weakened by 35 percent when temperature drops that same amount.

Blood and ki energy circulation also drop in the cold. Having a healthy body, including a strong immune system, depends on having healthy energy circulation. That means having enough warm and smooth-feeling energy traveling throughout the body. It also means our energy is flowing in a cycle called Water Up, Fire Down.

As you may guess, energy has different qualities and can move in certain ways. In Water Up, Fire Down, warm fire energy generated by the heart goes down the middle of the front of the torso and pools in the energy center in the lower abdomen, about two inches below the navel and two inches inside the body. If this energy center is strong enough, the warm energy gets sent up to the kidneys, which cools it. It then travels up the middle of the back to the head. In the end, the lower part of your body feels relatively warmer than the upper part.

Water Up, Fire Down doesn’t only improve your body’s immunity; it also improves your mindset. If you have this ideal energy state, you have a fire in your belly and can keep a cool head. It’s easier to be positive and courageous.

You could say that Water Up, Fire Down improves our natural healing power. Having this power doesn’t only mean having resistance to disease. It also means discovering the essence of who we really are—the bright and pure, unchanging and unending life force that is connected to the infinite life force of the cosmos. When we connect to our essence, our natural healing power can go to full force, and we can develop a self-reliant and self-sustaining perspective toward our lives. We can live as the masters of our lives, creating our own health and happiness and bringing meaningful lives into full bloom.

To keep your your natural healing power at full strength, you can use exercises from my Immunity Boosting Toolkit:

Plate Balancing Exercise – a gentle, flowing exercise that rotates all the joints
Joongwan Healing – massaging and pressing the Joongwan acupressure point on the upper abdomen
Belly Button Healing – massaging and pressing the acupressure point on the navel
Brain Wave Vibration – vibrating the body to relax the body and brain
Toe Tapping – shaking the legs to tap the toes together

In the upcoming weeks, I’ll introduce each exercise individually and explain how and why to do it. If you want to start boosting your immune system now, you can click on the exercise names above to go to related videos. The most important thing to remember is to keep your belly warm and relaxed and to slow down your brain waves. Regular practice is what keeps the immune system at its strongest.

I wish you a strong immune system during this cold and flu season.

Peak Inside My Immunity Boosting Toolkit

Our immunity may be something we take for granted until we or someone around us gets sick. Eating healthy food and getting enough rest are important for keeping our immune system in top shape to protect us from foreign invaders. But there are simple exercises that can boost our immunity as well.

These exercises work because they do several things that improve our immune readiness:

Increase our body temperature
Reduce stress
Activate our parasympathetic nervous system
Slow down our brain waves
Improve our gut health
Open all the energy pathways (meridians) in our body
Create healthy energy circulation inside
Make a positive mindset

Bringing our brain waves down to a slower alpha level frequency than their usual active (beta) level and turning on the “rest and digest” functions of our parasympathetic nervous system takes our body and brain out of a state of readiness and stress. Then it has a chance to rebuild any damage, clear out any toxins, recharge our energy, and increase our immune power. It also helps us be more focused and mindful so that we take less actions that harm our body and mind.

This also helps improve our gut health. About 70 to 80 percent of the body’s immunity is found in the gut. This activity comes from our own immune cells plus the thousands of microorganisms living in our intestines.

Tied to these factors, and one of the most important, is body temperature. Keeping our temperature at the top of the normal range increases our immunity. The immune system is strengthened fivefold when body temperature increases just 1.8 degrees F (1 degree C). On the other hand, it’s weakened by 35 percent when temperature drops that same amount.

Blood and ki energy circulation also drop in the cold. Having a healthy body, including a strong immune system, depends on having healthy energy circulation. That means having enough warm and smooth-feeling energy traveling throughout the body. It also means our energy is flowing in a cycle called Water Up, Fire Down.

As you may guess, energy has different qualities and can move in certain ways. In Water Up, Fire Down, warm fire energy generated by the heart goes down the middle of the front of the torso and pools in the energy center in the lower abdomen, about two inches below the navel and two inches inside the body. If this energy center is strong enough, the warm energy gets sent up to the kidneys, which cools it. It then travels up the middle of the back to the head. In the end, the lower part of your body feels relatively warmer than the upper part.

Water Up, Fire Down doesn’t only improve your body’s immunity; it also improves your mindset. If you have this ideal energy state, you have a fire in your belly and can keep a cool head. It’s easier to be positive and courageous.

You could say that Water Up, Fire Down improves our natural healing power. Having this power doesn’t only mean having resistance to disease. It also means discovering the essence of who we really are—the bright and pure, unchanging and unending life force that is connected to the infinite life force of the cosmos. When we connect to our essence, our natural healing power can go to full force, and we can develop a self-reliant and self-sustaining perspective toward our lives. We can live as the masters of our lives, creating our own health and happiness and bringing meaningful lives into full bloom.

To keep your your natural healing power at full strength, you can use exercises from my Immunity Boosting Toolkit:

Plate Balancing Exercise – a gentle, flowing exercise that rotates all the joints
Joongwan Healing – massaging and pressing the Joongwan acupressure point on the upper abdomen
Belly Button Healing – massaging and pressing the acupressure point on the navel
Brain Wave Vibration – vibrating the body to relax the body and brain
Toe Tapping – shaking the legs to tap the toes together

In the upcoming weeks, I’ll introduce each exercise individually and explain how and why to do it. If you want to start boosting your immune system now, you can click on the exercise names above to go to related videos. The most important thing to remember is to keep your belly warm and relaxed and to slow down your brain waves. Regular practice is what keeps the immune system at its strongest.

I wish you a strong immune system during this cold and flu season.