Close your eyes. Put your hands on your chest. Focus on your heart.

Ask yourself, “Who am I” “Why do I live?” “Why am I here?”

Keep asking yourself, until you get an answer from within. Through your answer you will know your true nature.

By realizing your true nature, you will gain genuine happiness and joy. True happiness comes naturally when you feel and realize the true you. For our true nature is like the sun that blazes brilliantly despite its dark spots. It is infinitely precious and valuable.

And that is enlightenment: making a choice to discover what existed originally, to uncover your true self and act for your true purpose.

Know how to praise and comfort yourself. Find every possible strength that you have, and admire your infinite potential. One of the best gifts you can give yourself is an honest compliment.

Because everything you say is an expression of your mind. To create a beautiful mind, give yourself beautiful messages. When your mind faces moments of doubt, make fists and shout to yourself three times, “I can do anything!” You are the one who needs to tell yourself, “I love you!”

For those who know how to comfort themselves can comfort others, and their heart is big enough to comfort the world.

By the editor

From Asia, to the Americas, and over in Europe, people are shaking it up to the rhythm inside them.

Why? Because, they say, it works.

As they let go and let their whole body vibrate, they begin to feel a release of tension and a sensation of something opening up inside their bodies. Their brains clear and suddenly they are in a much better mood.

“It may seem like magical thinking to believe that something so simple could produce such good results. But really, the healing is happening within you. Your brain already instinctively knows what your body needs for health and happiness. The method only helps you activate it,” explains Ilchi Lee in the book on his latest mind-body exercise, Brain Wave Vibration.

Soon readers of seven different languages will be able to catch the growing wave of Brain Wave Vibration. Publishers in five countries have bought the rights to Brain Wave Vibration: Getting Back into the Rhythm of a Happy, Healthy Life (BEST Life Media, 2008): Taiwan, France, Russia, Japan, and Germany. The Russian edition was just purchased the last week in February 2010. Besides in Korean and English, the book has already been published in Japanese and French.

The English version of Brain Wave Vibration was recently revised and expanded. It was released in November 2009. This edition offers more explanation of how Brain Wave Vibration can help you manage your thought processes and the information you feed them. A summary of the two preliminary experiments on Brain Wave Vibration performed by Japanese researchers, as well as additional testimonials from Brain Wave Vibration practitioners, were also added.

Readers can easily begin practicing this dynamic yet straightforward brain fitness method from the instructions in the book. But additional help is available through a guided training CD, as well as from classes at Dahn Yoga or Body + Brain Holistic Yoga Centers. Brain Wave Vibration books are available at these centers, as well as related products such as the music CD and an audio book for those who don’t like to read, or who are often on the go. They are also available online at the publishers’ website, www.bestlifemedia.com, or at amazon.com.

By the editor

One of Ilchi Lee’s dreams has now come true. On October 29, 2009, the (South) Korean Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology officially approved a new Global Cyber University, a 4-year online university that can grant undergraduate degrees.

Three departments will grant degrees in two majors each:

Human Services – Diverse Cultural Well-being, Well-being for the Elderly

Global Business Management – Business, Marketing

Korean Cultural Studies – Cultural Storytelling, Cultural Contents Design

The new university, which opened officially on March 2, 2010, was seeded in 2004. After five years of planning–designing the curriculum, setting up the technology, and recruiting faculty–the university started accepting applications in November 2009. Four hundred ninety students have enrolled in its first class. Its administrative offices are located on the same grounds as the University of Brain Education and the Institute of Traditional Korean Studies.

The Global Cyber University was one of six organizations that applied for approval to open an online university in South Korea last year, and it was the only one that received it. Now that the Global Cyber University has joined their ranks, South Korea has a total of 13 online universities.

One of the most interesting people admitted to the Global Cyber University is actually its oldest student. At 74 years of age, this student enrolled to fulfill a dream of becoming an essayist, a dream she’d had since high school. Although she’s had different jobs, got married, and now has four married children, this invigorated woman has not given up her dream. She said, “I am not young, but I have something the younger students don’t have—a lifetime of experience. I can pull from this deep well of experience in writing and storytelling to realize my life-long dream as an essayist.”

And that’s the president and founder, Ilchi Lee’s, hope—that the students who graduate from the Global Cyber University fulfill their dreams. He wants the university to instill in them the philosophy of Hong Ik, to widely benefit all humanity. He hopes that once they leave the university they will go out into the world and contribute as global leaders.

To learn more, go to www.global.ac.kr.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of Jangsaeng. Jangsaeng is a Korean word that originated from ancient Korean Sundo culture. It roughly translates as “longevity”. However, the word in English does not quite carry the same connotation. For many people, longevity primarily means long life in respect to passage of time. But the Korean word suggests not only living many years, but also living them in a truly vital way. Jangsaeng people carry a youthful vitality into their older years. Much more than just long lives, Jangsaeng people have fulfilling lives. They have a spring in their step and a twinkle in their eye that is an inspiration even to the youngest ones around them.

The Jeolmul Recreation Forest on Jeju Island in South Korea has a road called the Jangsaeng Woodland Road. This famous walking trail is easy enough even for the older adult. It is said that if you walk this road frequently you will have a Jangsaeng life.

I decided to visit the Jangsaeng Woodland Road to see what I could learn about Jangsaeng from it. I meditated as I walked and kept a heightened awareness. I’d like to share some of the insights I had as I traveled down it.

This harubang signpost is pointing the way to the Jangsaeng Woodland Road. Harubangs are traditional cultural icons of Jeju Island. I learned on my way that the cedar trees that grow here are very healthy because they are said to emit phytoncides, bactericidal substances that are very good for the treatment of atopy, a kind of allergy. In this forest, even the trees help you with Jangsaeng!

I found this unique and wonderful tree with three knot holes along the path.

When I saw this unusual tree I thought, “Despite any early difficulties, it did not lose hope. Through ceaseless effort, it managed to grow tall. It shows us that, with effort, anyone can be successful.”

This baby pine tree grows beautifully. It’s just beginning its path to Jangsaeng. I hope it becomes a tree that serves the good of all people (Hong Ik).

Here is the secret forest of Jeju Island, where many Japanese cypresses grow. These trees emit ten times the quantity of phytoncides as that produced by the cedar trees around the Jangsaeng Woodland Road.

This is Samhap Bigyeong Ravine, which is said to be the last place Xu Fu went in search of the Elixir of Life. Xu Fu was sent by Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, and was accompanied by a retinue of 5000 people. The rock visible at left is called “Grandfather Xu Fu.”

As I strolled down the Jangsaeng Woodland Road, I realized that in today’s world, many people have done much to promote longevity. People today are living longer and longer as medicine advances. But extended life span should not be the only goal. It is more important that we live more fulfilling, happy lives, not just long lives.

Personal and social success is clearly visible, but success in Jangsaeng is not. It is an internal success instead of an external one. Although you have to compete for personal or social success, you don’t need to compete for Jangsang. Not everyone can be successful in society, but all can walk the path of Jangsaeng.

Your mind is most important for living a Jangsaeng life. The mind of a Jangsaeng person is not negative. Instead, they have a strong conscience that shines through in everything they do. We can recognize and walk the path of Jangsaeng only if we listen to our conscience. Then we will have a good mind. Only when we restore a good mind do our later years become beautiful.