Ilchi Lee

A session for your mind and body

If you want to take more control of your life and become active in your own aging process—mind and body—simply become a yoga practitioner.

Toe tapping Stress is a response to events that upset our personal balance, physically and/or emotionally, and it can lead to headaches, anxiety and depression. Releasing the negative residue associated with stress can help you relax.

The neurobiological response to beauty In Indian art, there is a term, rasa, which has no literal translation but can be paraphrased as “the very essence of.” It suggests that the beauty of art is not necessarily in its form but in the way that it is experienced.

The shrinking word
There is one nine-letter word in the English language that, if you were to remove a letter from it, it would still remain a word…all the way down to one letter. Can you identify the word, and each of the words it will become after removing each letter?

Need a hint? It ends with you. Need another hint? Scroll down.

The word is an adjective, meaning to cause momentary fright, surprise or astonishment.

Need the “starting” point? Scroll down.

The word is: startling. Now see if you can reduce it to one letter, removing one letter at a time yet keeping it a word.

Scroll down for the answer.

Startling.
Starting.
Staring.
String.
Sting.
Sing.
Sin.
In.
I.

A healthy diet can lift your spirits Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a mood disorder typically associated with light. In the United States, it afflicts people from Florida to Alaska, mostly in the winter, and it manifests itself in depression and fatigue. It is a very real condition, and it is treatable.

Stereotyping is rooted in perceived differences
In 1964, 15-year-old S.E. Hinton began writing a book about class divisions after one of her friends got beat up at school. Four years later, the completed book, The Outsiders, was published, introducing to young adult readers what recent studies by Harvard scientists, published in Neuron, are now supporting with evidence—that stereotypes are often rooted in perceived differences.

Dr. Stephen L. Macknik, director of the Laboratory of Behavioral Neurophysiology at the Barrow Neurological Institute, writes of the Harvard study: “A forebrain area called the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) appears to predict the behavior of members of outgroups by employing prejudices about their presumed background—assumptions we make, in other words, based on what groups their various traits and contexts seem to put them in or out of.”

These assumptions are made, at the brain level, on how alike or dissimilar an “outsider” appears to us. The less people can identify with someone they don’t know, the more threatening that person becomes.

However, according to Henri Tajfel and John Turner’s Social Identity Theory, a person does not have one personal self but rather several personal selves, which are dependent upon three things:

1. How we categorize ourselves,
2. Who we identify with, and
3. How we compare ourselves, and those we identify with, to others.

Therefore, our ability to expand our own self-definition greatly influences the way we perceive others. In short, the more things we allow ourselves to be, or the less we categorize ourselves, the more connected we can become to everyone else and the less we will stereotype.

Test your neurobiological vitality
Lifestyle choices affect the quality of your life everyday. Cumulatively, these daily habits and health issues will determine how long, and healthy, your life will be.

According to Dr. Michael Roizen, founder and chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of RealAge, Inc., expert in longevity and a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, “there’s a real shot that within 15 years, it will be possible for us to conceive of a lifespan of 160.”

Roizen states that “you have an enormous power over how long and well you live.” Staying physically active, eating healthy foods and avoiding bad habits are among the top choices we can make each day to live a longer life.

More specific ways to lengthen your life or reduce your “real age” include:

• Take a regular daily vitamin. It adds six years to your life.
• Quit smoking: It adds eight years to your life.
• Laugh—a lot. It adds as much as eight years to your life.

If you want to determine your real age, take Dr. Roizen’s RealAge test (www.RealAge.com). Then read Ilchi Lee and Dr. Jessie Jones’ book, In Full Bloom: A Brain Education Guide for Successful Aging. The targeted exercises will help unleash a younger, healthier you.

Wide-awake walking

In 2003, Discover Magazine ran a feature article on neuroscientist Paul Bach-y-Rita titled “Can You See With Your Tongue?”

The article detailed a unique experiment in which subjects are blindfolded and cut off from all sensory perceptions except for those of the tongue.

The theory, according to Bach-y-Rita, is that the senses are only data sources. The brain is responsible for processing the data.

"We don't see with our eyes," Bach-y-Rita said. “We see with our brains. Clearly, there are connections to certain parts of the brain, but you can modify that."

The author of the article experienced just that. Through the use of a small video and the transmission of its images through electric currents to a grid of electrodes on his tongue, he was able to catch a ball rolled to him—without being able to see, hear or smell it.

Ilchi Lee, originator of the Brain Education System Training (BEST) and author of Principles of Brain Management and the forthcoming In Full Bloom: A Brain Education Guide to Successful Aging, writes: “people today are prone to rely on only one sense, especially visual stimuli, at the expense of others.”

Like Bach-y-Rita, Lee states that the brain’s ability to continually develop and rewire itself, otherwise known as neuroplasticity, gives us the opportunity to change the way we use our senses. We just need to open ourselves to the full range of experiences that life has to offer.

From Ilchi Lee (Excerpted from Principles of Brain Management)

Walking is a fabulous exercise for many reasons. Regular walking reduces the occurrence of many common diseases and contributes to a general sense of well-being. These benefits are probably no surprise to you, but did you know that walking is also good for your brain?

Many areas of the brain work together to facilitate this commonplace, yet remarkable, activity. Just the act of walking in itself is like a great wake-up call for the brain. In fact, many famous artists, philosophers, writers and musicians, including Charles Dickens, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Thomas Jefferson included walking as part of their method of finding inspiration. It seems that the complex mechanism of walking touches on many parts of the brain and allows ideas to flow in new and exciting ways.

So use walking as a way to awaken your brain and find inspiration for your life as well. As you walk, make a point of engaging all of your senses fully. Most of us tend to rely primarily on the sense of sight, so make a point of using your ears, nose and skin as well. Take in all the layers of sound, smell the many fragrant odors of the day and feel every part of your body as you move through the air.

Fork in the road
The mental puzzle “Fork in the Road,” challenges you to find a solution to the following scenario.

You’re traveling to a village. At some point there is a fork in the road. You could go two ways, but only one of them leads to the village. Lucky for you there are two men standing next to the fork. Unfortunately one of them always lies and the other always speaks the truth—but you do not know who is who. Since neither man wants to help you, you are allowed to ask one of them only one question. What question will you ask to get past the fork in the road and find your way into the village?

Scroll down to see the answer.