The Call of Sedona: Journey of the Heart by Ilchi Lee was listed as number two in the Paperback Advice & Misc. section of The New York Times best seller list for February 26, 2012. It also recently reached number four on The Washington Post Best Seller list for paperback nonfiction and was included on the USA Today and IndieBound bestseller lists. Ilchi Lee is the first Korean to be listed on four bestseller lists simultaneously.

These sales were boosted by the concerted effort of the book’s author and its publisher, BEST Life Media, in partnership with Dahn Yoga & Health, Inc. and Dahn Yoga’s Body + Brain Center franchises. They were also the result of the efforts of over 300 meditation circles based on the book.

Ilchi Lee has engaged in a nationwide book signing tour for the past two months that saw about a thousand people attend and buy approximately 1500 books on the spot.

BEST Life Media also ran a Getaway to Sedona Giveaway through Hasmark Services from February 5th through February 11th. They offered three Sedona Getaways, five Experience Sedona Gift Certificate Packages, and a Personalized Calligraphy Artwork by Ilchi Lee as prizes. There were almost 840 entries to the Giveaway, in which entrants could participate in a live teleseminar with Ilchi Lee and receive bonuses from over 100 partners.

During the Giveaway period, meditation circle leaders around the country ran book talks and demonstrations of the ideas and techniques in The Call of Sedona at their local bookstores.

A week before the Giveaway, The Call of Sedona App was released for iOS and Android platforms. The app’s audio meditations, Sedona landscape images, videos, and inspirational messages bring the user to Sedona wherever they are and allow them to sample the Sedona spirit Ilchi Lee writes about in the book. For the Giveaway, the app was discounted from $2.99 to 99 cents by its developer, Infinity Brain.

While set in Sedona, The Call of Sedona is not a book just for fans of the area. “My hope is that by reading this book people will gain a fresh inspiration and a dream that will infuse vitality into their life, that they will take part in the beautiful dream Sedona gives through its profound connection with the earth,” Ilchi Lee said. “No matter where you are you can discover meaning and hope in life through a true encounter with yourself. As people come to love themselves more they come to love other people and the world more deeply. Each of us can make this world a better place.”

Lee donates 30 percent of his royalties from the sale of his book to three Sedona area charities: Camp Soaring Eagle, Yavapai Big Brother Big Sisters and the Sedona Community Center.

In a study appearing in Volume 2012 of Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a team including researchers from the University of London and the Korea Institute of Brain Science report the results of their assessment of the comparative effects of Brain Wave Vibration, Iyengar Yoga and Mindfulness training on mood, well-being and immune function.

Created by Ilchi Lee, this unique form of meditation is based in a combination of Korean tradition and modern understanding of the human brain. Brain Wave Vibration is a moving meditation involving movements of the head, neck and body and is designed to relax mind and body. It is considered most beneficial when practiced in combination with other yoga exercises.

A previous study showed how Brain Wave Vibration (http://www.ilchi.com/blog/new-research-on-brain-wave-vibration/) has positive effects on regulating stress, but the current study looks more deeply at the benefits of the practice. Participants in the University of London study practiced the method as part of a 5-week program and experienced mental benefits, comparative to Mindfulness training, and physical and emotional benefits, comparative to Iyengar yoga.

Brain Wave Vibration was introduced to many people with BEST Life Media’s 2008 publication of the Ilchi Lee book by the same name. Since that time many people have reported benefiting from practicing Brain Wave Vibration, which the study now documents and supports. For example, the researchers noted evidence of “[a]n improvement in sleep [that] has been a common anecdotal report by Brain Wave Vibration practitioners, as has increase in energy and vitality.” In effect, Brain Wave Vibration was unique in its benefits to depression and sleep latency in study participants. The researchers concluded that the results of this first controlled trial for this unique form of mind-body training were sufficiently provocative to warrant further investigation.

For more information on this study or the book Brain Wave Vibration, please visit www.brainwavevibration.com

About BEST Life Media:
BEST Life Media, an independent publisher dedicated to providing positive and supportive resources through which individuals can create happier, healthier, and more peaceful lives. Principle publications are books, CDs and DVDs on yoga, meditation, and holistic living.

Most Sedona residents are aware of the Sedona Mago Healing Center, Mago Café, Sedona Mago Retreat, Sedona Story, Dahn Yoga, and the BR Clinic, but most have not had much exposure to the man Ilchi Lee, who founded and inspired these local Sedona businesses and nonprofit entities. Last Saturday, August 20th, over 240 people took that opportunity in Sedona at the Creative Life Center as Sedona-based publisher BEST Life Media launched Ilchi Lee’s latest book, The Call of Sedona: Journey of the Heart, with a book signing event.

Besides a large audience of Sedona residents, guests traveled in from Phoenix and from the neighboring states of Nevada, New Mexico and California to meet the man himself. The event included a wide variety of some of Sedona’s most popular speakers, entertainers and musicians who graced the stage throughout the evening. The lineup included music duo Meadowlark, power drumming by Sedona’s Rhythm, singer Jeanie Carroll, and dancers Yolessa Lawrinnce and Hansori Keliikuli, while it was emceed by Shondra Jepperson of the popular entertainment duo Tom & Shondra. Sedona-based photographer and voice talent Bob Coates was on hand to read a few excerpts from Mr. Lee’s new book, The Call of Sedona, to the audience, and later Rev. Janet Kingsley of the Center for Positive Living Sedona took the stage to read one of the poems in the book. Dean Patterson, a spokesperson from Yavapai Big Brothers Big Sisters was featured with his own congratulatory message to Ilchi Lee. The program culminated with a music performance and talk given by Mr. Lee himself with his translator by his side. Directly afterward, Ilchi Lee took his seat on stage to sign books while the audience formed a line that extended all the way out into the lobby. He did not leave until he signed the books of every person in line.

During his talk, Mr. Lee expressed his love and gratitude for the gifts he has experienced in Sedona, a place to which he feels a true connection. Because he has a desire to give back to the greater community, it was announced that he is donating 30% of the proceeds from his book sales to three Sedona nonprofit organizations.

Lee stated that many people have come to Sedona drawn by its magnificent beauty, but they didn’t have enough opportunities to experience Sedona at a deeper level. He wished everyone could experience the true spirit of Sedona he has encountered here. Mr. Lee announced that the current Sedona Mago Healing Center at Jordon Road in Uptown Sedona had decided to become the nonprofit Sedona Meditation Center to provide a place where anyone can come freely and meditate in order to open themselves up to the Sedona spirit.

Jiyoung Oh, the publisher of The Call of Sedona said, “Sedona’s nurturing and restorative environment inspired much of Ilchi Lee’s art and philosophy and he wants to give back to the larger Sedona community that he considers his home.”

The Call of Sedona will soon be available at local bookstores and gift shops, and is currently available on the publisher’s website, www.bestlifemedia.com, and at Sedona Story and the Sedona Mago Healing Center.