Ilchi Lee

According to Dr. Paul Ekman, a psychologist at the University of California at San Francisco, his research “suggests you can access a pleasant emotion by mechanically turning on the right facial muscle pattern [during smiling]…you can trigger feelings of enjoyment.”

In fact, researchers have found that we are able to produce the same changes in our brains that occur during real moments of happiness even when the smile is artificially produced. But here is the catch: it has to be the right type of smile—the “Duchenne smile.”

The Duchenne smile produces crows feet wrinkles around the eye and a subtle drop in the eye cover fold. To achieve it, raise your cheeks, separate your lips and let the corners of your lips come up.

According to Ilchi Lee, originator of the Brain Education System Training (BEST) and author of In Full Bloom: A Brain Education Guide for Successful Aging, “Emotions are the primary reason we place limits on our brain…Fortunately, it is possible to relieve your mind of debilitating emotions, but you must first learn to let go of them.”

Lee suggests practicing the following exercise, smiling meditation, to produce positive changes in your brain. Smile while doing this relaxing meditative exercise.

From Ilchi Lee (Excerpted from In Full Bloom: A Brain Education Guide for Successful Aging)

• Sit comfortably and shrug your shoulders up and down several times to relax.

• Breathe in and out several times, massaging your face to release the tension in your facial muscles.

• Breathe in, close your eyes gently, and breathe out while forming a slight smile. Breathe in and out deeply and naturally.

• When breathing out, combine your exhale with a widening smile. Repeat this several times, focusing on the motion of the smile on your face as a light breath escapes through your lips like a gentle wind.

• Slowly shift your consciousness to your brain and feel your brain become lighter and more refreshed when you breathe out with a smile.