Ilchi Lee

I was grateful for their energy and enthusiasm, and their courage to come to a foreign country to perform for six months. Because of their spirit and their mission, I called them the Young Earth Human Ambassadors for Peace. They are learning about Korean culture and sharing their culture with Korea. With every performance they give, they are spreading the spirit of “Hong Ik In Gan” or widely benefitting humanity for the sake of health, happiness, and peace.

I have just left South Korea to visit Canada before beginning a lecture tour in the United States, and I am glad this team of remarkable young people will remain in Korea for several more months, facilitating cultural exchange and inspiring the people of Korea. Below is a video they made themselves about the first part of their trip through which you can see their spirit, and the spirit of Korea.

If at the time I had thought, “Could I make difference in the world by simply helping a stroke victim?” and didn’t go to the park the next day, nothing would ever happen to make my vision come true. I needed to start somewhere. Instead I thought, “Okay. Let’s go step by step. If I can deliver health, happiness, and peace to one person at a time, then others can do it as well and the world will change little by little.”

If you have any awakening within you, the most important next step is to turn it into action. No matter how small the awakening is, if you can keep taking action, you can create something new, something valuable to you.

I have said many times that everyone has greatness within themselves. The same seed that made me wake up early and go to a local park exists within you. This seed is the seed of greatness. If you find it, please view it as the greatest thing, even though it may appear as a very tiny idea. If you criticize, “Oh, that’s not important. That’s not good enough,” and keep erasing these ideas from your mind, the seeds cannot grow.

Even if your first step doesn’t seem to make any difference, what if you keep doing the same thing for 10 years? If you keep planting trees, you will make a thick forest. One seed will become a wheat field.

The important thing to remember is “keep doing it.” When a silk worm starts making a cocoon, it is at first just a short thread. But after some time, she has made a beautiful cocoon, and finally a butterfly is born from it. That’s the beauty and power of all living creatures on the earth, and we humans have that same power.

If we believe in the life within us, if we believe in our greatness and keep acting on our choices, we can create something beautiful.

I learned from teaching in that park that even when we have a great dream and plan in our mind, the actualization of the big dream starts from a small action we can take.

Through a 21-day vigorous meditation on the mountain during which I neither ate nor slept, I came to realize that, “Cosmic energy is my energy and my energy is cosmic energy. Cosmic mind is my mind and my mind is cosmic mind.”

As I realized that everything in the universe is interconnected and exists as one, I felt deep compassion arise in my heart for the future of the earth and all humans on it. I felt moved by this feeling to dedicate the rest of my life for the good of the earth and humanity. That was my greatest and most powerful awakening and the most beautiful choice that I’ve made in my life.

Even though I had this great awakening inside, all of my external circumstances were exactly the same. Nothing had changed at all. I didn’t have money or help from other people to begin a large endeavor right away. When I returned home, all I had were an awakening and a choice. My awakening at Mt. Moak was just a starting point.

I'll post more thoughts tomorrow.

Inspired by the majestic beauty of the land, I began offering meditation tours for members of the Dahn Yoga centers in South Korea.

At that time I did all of the training and teaching myself. I really tried to inspire the people who came on the tour, to introduce them to the spirit of the earth that was so easy to feel in Sedona. In ancient Korean traditions, the earth is called “Mago”, similar in meaning to “Mother Earth” or “Gaia”. I taught them how to connect to Mago and to the deepest part of themselves that is one with Mago. These meditation tours are still continuing today, even though I no longer lead them myself.

Sedona’s natural beauty and people’s reaction to it, including my own, helped me to realize that the earth itself is the common denominator among all of the people living on it. I started to share this realization actively, knowing that the concept could help people understand my initial enlightenment, when I realized, “My energy is cosmic energy and cosmic energy is my energy. My mind is cosmic mind and cosmic mind is my mind.” The same is true for all people when they look deep inside themselves. They can experience the same sense of oneness with everything as I did. I think the idea of having the earth in common connects people, helping to eliminate barriers or differences between them.

While I was sharing these concepts I met some people with similar notions. These people, especially Hanna Strong, Morris Strong, Seymour Topping, and Neale Donald Walsh helped me to spread the idea of the earth being each person’s primary affiliation, and of a common vision of peace. I was very happy to meet people here who already had a vision of the world that was similar to my own, when I had just started to work in the United States.

In order to create my vision I decided that I needed to start a training and retreat center in the United States as I had in South Korea. My favorite thing to do at that time was climbing to the top of Bell Rock to meditate. Bell Rock is one of the more famous rock formations in Sedona. I loved the feeling I had when I was there. I always felt more strongly connected to the earth. One day while I was meditating on top of Bell Rock I had a vision of a kind-looking Caucasian gentleman with white hair who I later discovered was Lester Levinson. Lester Levinson was the originator of the ”Sedona Method” of personal growth, and he had bought land in the middle of the Coconino National Forest near Sedona. He had run a retreat center on the land for many years before his death just two years prior. When he appeared to me he asked me to use his land to help many people heal and find peace.

This experience was strange but also very powerful. I was deeply moved by Lester Levinson’s sincere request. Because of the impression it made on me I investigated the land and the story behind it. Acquiring the land seemed like an impossible task, so I did not immediately act. Eventually, I decided we should use the land as Lester Levinson asked. With great effort, the land was purchased for the non-profit Tao Fellowship, to be used for events and educational programs that help people connect to Mago and find peace.

At first the retreat center was called Sedona Mago Garden, and as it grew and stabilized, it became the Sedona Ilchi Meditation Center. Its latest transformation into the Sedona Mago Retreat Center offers many more Brain Education programs that are accessible and interesting to people without prior Brain Education experience.

My experience with Lester Levinson and Sedona Mago Garden crystallized for me that no matter how truthful or powerful a message feels, one is nevertheless confronted with doubt and fear for the future. However, when you know the message comes from the source of life, then you have no choice but to accept it, however impossible it may seem at the time. I know of no other option. Following that message led to the creation of a place where anyone can connect to Mago and to themselves, where they can find a beacon of peace.

Surfers who ride great waves must first attempt riding small waves at least 300 times before getting a feel for them and attempting to ride the big waves.

I have found these conditions for surfing the waves of life:
1. Look far beyond the wave
2. Predict the wind and the wave
3. Hold on to your balance until the very end
4. Choose your wave with courage

If you are ready...
...catch a wave and from atop the ocean you will experience unimaginable bliss.

However, surfing at times is an attempt where you risk your life. Why do you brave such dangers in order to ride waves?

"Whenever the wave comes, my body becomes tense and I wonder whether I should wait for the next one but the experience beyond the wave moves my body."
- Peter Cole (Big Wave Surfer)

Those without courage will stay on calm waters or watch from afar.

But if the ocean is life... and a wave is an obstacle on the path to your hopes and dreams... will you run or ignore the wave because you are afraid? Or will you choose a bigger wave and ride it with joy? What will you choose when a wave comes?

I quickly lost the reins so I lied on my stomach on the speeding horse. The moment I got hold of the reins again, Su threw me off with all of his might. My body soared high and was dashed to the ground in a moment. I had trained my body with martial arts and exercises for a long time, so I was able to land safely, protecting my head. “Crack!” I heard my lower back say.

As people ran toward me, I heard them calling my name, surprised. Not being able to move my body an inch, I stayed flat on the ground. For a brief moment, I saw the sky and thought it was very beautiful. I was amazed at how mysterious and fascinating our brains are, considering how a part of my brain was able to notice the beauty of the sky, even while my body was in serious pain.

The doctor who came to see me later that day very strongly recommended that I lie still in bed for at least a month. However, as soon as he left, I thought about how I could move my body. While lying in the bed, I vibrated my body left and right very minutely. As the days passed, I expanded my movements to seated and standing postures. Through the various experiments I made with my body, I was able to develop Jang Saeng Walking. Jang Saeng is a Korean word meaning longevity or vitality. This style of walking helped me to heal my back.

In less than a week, I could walk again and had recovered from the fall to a certain extent. However, there was something I hadn’t overcome. It was a fear of horses. The shock I got when I fell down was so strong that my body seemed to remember it vividly. Just thinking of a horse made my body very tense. I thought if I did not overcome my fear, I would not be able to ride a horse again.

Against the wishes of the people around me, I decided to ride Su again. As I expected, I felt my body become nervous. At first, I just got on and off the horse repeatedly. Next, I rode on him, guiding him to walk sedately. I kept going for rides with Su until I was completely free from my fear.

What I learned from this experience is that we should take action in spite of our fear. Everybody has fear. We fear our future because it cannot be predicted. Those who have experienced a failure, feel scared because of the thought they might fail again. One cannot overcome fear merely by thinking. Fear that you haven’t overcome will remain fear, but fear you have overcome will become a beautiful experience that helps you grow.

The HSP 12 Steps training program is composed of 12 levels of physical achievement, starting with push-ups and ending by walking on their hands. See below for a short video clip of me walking on my hands.

I couldn’t urge them do what I couldn’t do, so I began practicing hand-stands. After succeeding with basic hand-stands, I decided to practice lifting my whole body directly from a head-stand to a full hand-stand.

Whenever I had free time over the next six months, I practiced by playing with my body’s abilities. However, lifting my body from a head-stand to straight up in the air was not something I could do yet.

One night, I dreamed that at last I lifted my body into a hand-stand exactly the way I wanted to. Even in the dream, I felt really joyful and happy.

Then I suddenly woke up. I ran to a wall right away. Without any trace of doubt, because I had achieved it in my dream, I lifted up my body. And guess what? My body easily rose up, as if it was on an elevator. Without any thought, I could accomplish my goal. It is not easy to express the joy I felt when achieving what I couldn’t do before.

Since then, I have been practicing push-ups using only two fingers of each hand. At first I felt severe pain and was concerned that I might break my fingers. However, now I can do more than 10 push-ups in this way.

It would be untrue for someone to say they can’t do exercises because they lack the time. It really is a matter of how strong your resolution and willpower are.

Most people have no idea how very big a difference even small, short exercises make when you do them sincerely and diligently – not to mention how great is the joy you feel.

The first thing I did was to get up at dawn and go to a local park. As the morning light dawned, I took a good look at those who came to Choong Hyun Top park in Anyang city. Some looked ill, some were out of breath, some walked with a very weak gait, others had poor posture — I could see so many issues in each of their bodies.

I approached them and asked if they were ailing anywhere in their body. “If you want, I am willing to help you.” Some threw me a doubtful look, and others rejected my forthright offer, cutting me off with a curt, “I’m fine.”

However I did not give up and returned at the same time every day. I wanted to help them. Seeing my constant and unwavering attitude, they began to understand that my concern was from the bottom of my heart. But still they didn’t dare to ask for help.

One day a middle-aged man held me by my hand. After suffering a stroke, he couldn’t move his arms and legs freely. He asked for my help very earnestly and desperately.

My first encounter at the Choong Hyun Top park in Anyang city began like that. Standing in front of him, I said, “You are in front of me, representing society and humanity. I really want to help you.”

I tried to focus on him deeply, and asked myself, ‘How can I help him?’ At that moment, my arms slowly began to shake by themselves. Naturally I began moving to shake stagnant energy off the body, stretching my arms side to side, bouncing my knees.

He began to follow what I did. It was an easy exercise that a stroke victim could do. Shaking his whole body gently made him feel refreshed, and released stagnant energy so he could feel warmer.

A smile began to linger on his lips. Hope for health and passion for life started to bud from his heart. My heart began to be impressed by the light of his heart.

Thus I approached people and they came to me. Soon there were many people in that park, exercising in the early morning air. We recovered health, shared happiness and created peace together. It was the very beginning of Dahnhak (Dahn Yoga) and Brain Education as formal education methods.

After 30 years, now, whenever I meet challenges and obstacles, I remind myself of this time in the local park. These memories are precious to me, of a time when I cut through waves of fresh dawn air fluttering with pleasant expectations, to see sincere people waiting for me in the park.

One day when I was searching with my students I found a beautiful area on top of Okgye Waterfall in Yeongdong. The spot I chose was not easy to get to, because we had to climb over the waterfall on rocky terrain. But I knew it was the right place.

Raising money to purchase this site was not easy and took some time. I gave lectures all over the country and gave healings to many people. Some of the funds came from the profit of the Dahn centers, which I still managed at that time.

Before we could build on the land, we first had to clear many rocks out of the area and make an open space. I was grateful to have the help of many of my students, both Dahn Instructors and Dahn center members, from all around Korea. We would gather on the weekends and work hard during the day. In the evenings we would sit around a campfire and I would teach them. Once they had retired for the evening I would spend the night meditating in a small dugout area I found on Chunmo Mountain.

By 1986 we had finished the first structures at what I named Chunhwawon, or “a place where you become one with heaven”. There was one small brick building and a training tent.

Today there are more buildings and thousands of people have participated in educational training there. It is a living example of what a group of people working together towards their vision can accomplish.