I hope that even if you live for just one day that it’s the happiest day. Happiness is not something someone gives you, but something you create for yourself. We have the power to create happiness. That’s because inside of your brain you have God—a divine aspect with limitless creative potential. To feel the divine and become one with it is a very natural thing. Because it’s so natural anyone can become enlightened.

Just as there are applications on an iPad, we have the app of enlightenment inside of us. To launch that app, to launch the divine, takes not even one minute. It’s just like pressing a button. However, many people aren’t even aware that this app exists and spend years not knowing to turn it on. A new awareness and understanding of the brain is the beginning of enlightenment.

The most important understanding you need for enlightenment is that divinity is natural to the human brain. It may not be something you can see or prove, but it makes a world of a difference. What do you think would happen if you thought, “We all have divinity in our brains?” Don’t you think that everything would seem different—better? With that one idea, everything changes. People would tend to have more respect and compassion for each other I think. When a person is respected they gain strength and creativity. People who don’t respect themselves are not able to focus on the present moment or concentrate on what they are doing. They cannot access all of their apps and information, and their brains cannot function optimally.

Then how can you respect yourself? What does it take? You have to practice breathing. When you breathe, set the intention of experiencing the divinity in your brain. The mental attitude you need to do that is generated when you focus on your body.

That’s what we need to create a spiritual culture. We need everyone to believe that there is a divine, creative aspect to each person’s brain, and to treat each other accordingly. Don’t you think it’s worth believing? What have we got to lose?

By the Editor

The Power of Meditation tour that began in Chicago, Illinois continued in Albuquerque, New Mexico last Saturday, December 17, 2011. With 412 people in attendance, this Dahn Yoga-hosted event featuring guest speaker Ilchi Lee brought together many who wished to become better acquainted with meditation.

Ilchi Lee’s lecture focused on the need to control one’s emotions in order to manage one’s life effectively. He introduced simple breathing and walking methods as forms of meditation that can help people calm and let go of their emotions. However, he said in order to be in control of your emotions, you need to recognize that your emotions are not a part of you, but merely something you have and carry around with you. With that separation from your emotions, you can see them clearly and they are less likely to overwhelm you.

Ilchi Lee’s lecture was preceded by a special performance of “Nella Fantasia,” a song made famous by Sarah Brightman. It was sung by Solome, a long-time opera soprano. Next, five Dahn Yoga members and instructors treated the audience to a kigong form they developed themselves called “LifeParticle Kigong.” This flowing sequence of movements entranced the audience with its beauty and power.

The final performance was given by a Dahn Yoga member named Caroline, who sang and played the harp to a song she composed herself called “Heaven Chose You.” The song spoke of a mission that is waiting for each of us if we embrace it. Caroline was inspired to write it while attending Dahn Yoga’s Dotong Course.

On the day of the event, the city of Santa Fe proclaimed it was a city of Brain Education. Mayor David Coss sent a congratulatory note that emcee Michael Munson read part of during the Power of Meditation event. It expressed gratitude to Ilchi Lee for bringing Brain Education to New Mexico. An important factor in the proclamation was the teaching of Brain Education in Dahn Yoga centers in New Mexico for the last 13 years, and the 40 outreach classes being taught in and around Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

As part of his lecture, Ilchi Lee showed inspirational videos that demonstrated the power of meditation, especially Brain Education and its LifeParticle meditation. One video told of Albuquerque native Bette Castoria’s brain tumor reduction without treatment, which she believes is due to her Dahn Yoga practice, her positive mindset, and the love sent to her through LifeParticles from many people around the world. Bette was on hand to share her feelings about her experience.

The other video showed the hope and confidence Brain Education gave to students in El Salvador, where the International Brain Education Association (IBREA) has been teaching it at one of the schools. What started as a pilot program will now expand to eight additional schools in El Salvador, as well as three schools in Liberia and six in the Philippines.

After his lecture, Ilchi Lee was able to meet members of the audience personally at the book signing for The Call of Sedona. The event ended with an upbeat and happy atmosphere. Participants were able to share their experience with others in person, or on Facebook, where The Call of Sedona page posted updates about the event as it happened.

On December 10, 2011, I gave an outdoor lecture to a group of people from Korea doing a meditation tour at Sedona Mago Retreat. Run by the nonprofit Tao Fellowship, I founded this retreat center in 1997. Previously the land had also been used as a retreat center by Lester Levinson, who had developed the Sedona Method of meditation and personal growth. By the time Tao Fellowship acquired it after years of disuse, the center was very run down. Over the years they’ve made many renovations and improvements. One of them was a Healing Garden featuring a large lake.

I took the tour group down to the lake and spoke to them there. I told them that the meaning of that lake was choice and creation. I chose to have that lake made, and so it was made. Whatever you choose, it will happen.

But you must really choose it. If you hesitate after making a choice, you will probably feel miserable because of it. Your hesitation may lead to failure. It’s easy to blame a failure on an external situation. However, we are the only ones responsible for our successes and failures.

So how do you really make a choice? First you need to focus 100% on what you want. That’s the first step, but even if you do, there is no guarantee that you will be successful. If you really want to succeed, you also need to remain 100% positive. If you think negatively, you will fail.

However if you are positive and focus completely on your goal, you will meet the situations and people you need to succeed. People call this phenomenon the Law of Attraction.

This power of choice comes from our brain. It’s just the way our brains work, and the way energy responds to it to cause things to happen in the material world. You have a Brain Operating System that follows three rules:

1. If you choose it, then it will happen.
2. Pay attention; i.e. focus and remain aware.
3. Good news makes a good brain; i.e., positive thoughts allow your brain to function optimally.

That’s why we have the power to choose to make a better world, a world for the happiness and benefit of all. And we have the power to choose to make it in 2012.

Are you looking forward to fun and parties this New Year’s Eve? In the midst of all that, why not take a little time to bring a little true happiness into your life?

Beginning January 1, 2012, the energy of the world will shift, and it will be easier for everyone to expand their consciousness and experience awakening, connection, and oneness like never before. The wall tightened around our hearts will become thinner and the barriers between people will weaken.

Especially between 11 pm and 1 am this New Year’s Eve, as our calendar transitions from one year to the next, tap into your heart and listen to what it’s saying to you. It already knows exactly what you need. You can dance like no one is watching, intent on the feeling in your chest. You can even use your voice to call to your true self inside. Or you can simply breathe, and let your breath guide you back to yourself.

You don’t have to do it alone. Are there others in your life who are looking for something better—happier, more loving, more connected?

If we all take some time to find the true joy and love inside on New Year’s, I think it’s the first step for change in 2012. Remembering that feeling we find and recapturing it and applying it to our lives, we can gradually create a new culture based on health, joy, and peace for everyone. We can catapult ourselves into an amazing new year.

I hope you’ll join me in spirit on New Year’s Eve.

By the Editor

On November 20th, 2011 the first Power of Meditation workshop was held at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center with close to 1000 people in attendance.

Hosted by the Chicago Dahn Yoga & Health Centers, the event began with a ChunBuShinGong demonstration by local Dahn Yoga instructors and students. ChunBuShinGong is a special kigong form with one movement for every character of the ancient text, the Chun Bu Kyung. The flowing yet powerful form brought a unified energy to the event hall, deeply moving the audience.

This demonstration was followed by a performance by Chicago’s Power Drumming Team. As the throbbing and dynamic sounds of traditional Korean drums filled the hall, cheers erupted from the audience. Next a touching rendition of “Nella Fantasia” sung by Kaori Williams, a talented soprano, calmed and gathered the audiences’ minds.

Finally Ilchi Lee shared his wisdom and insight. He opened his lecture with a video clip depicting the power of breathing and meditation. Then he led the audience in feeling energy in their hands with simple motions and concentration. This jigam exercise was followed by energy dancing (dahnmu) and Brain Wave Vibration. One member of the audience, Hana Marek from the Dahn Yoga Center in Libertyville, Illinois said, “My body heated up so fast and so well with Brain Wave Vibration that upon stopping the vibration,” she felt great surge of energy inside her. Experiences such as these let the audience feel a state beyond their five senses.

Ilchi Lee described three powers all human beings possess: the power of self-healing, the power of insight, and the power of creation through the process of fusion. He emphasized that each of our brains have an unlimited capacity. However, we place limits on ourselves by taking our preconceptions as truth.

Finally, Lee guided participants to receive LifeParticles, aiding them with the tinkling of a high-pitched bell and images from a LifeParticles video.

Through all of these experiences, the audience tasted the shift in consciousness needed to bring about an era of spiritual civilization. Ilchi Lee said this era will arrive when enough people choose this shift. Beginning with the Chicago area, the Power of Meditation tour will bring many people the simple tools of breathing and meditation they can use to raise their consciousness beyond their normal experience, and bring about a new era of peace and balanced living.