Ilchi Lee (* 1950) is a South Korean author and the founder of a variety of mind-body training methods, including Dahnhak, Dahn yoga, Brain Respiration, Brain Education, and DahnMuDo.
Lee began teaching his methods in a park in the 1980s, and since that time the practice has developed into an international network of for-profit and non-profit entities.
Because he was plagued by nagging questions about the meaning of human life and the universe, he set out in his early thirties to engage in rigorous solo training in the wilderness of Korea’s Moak Mountain. He writes that through this training he gained enlightenment and deep insights that would provide the philosophical underpinnings of his methods.
This book presents a toolkit for self-reliance management of the core issues of life: health, sexuality, and life purpose.
Ilchi Lee believes that the greatest tool we have for healing our lives is ourselves. For him wisdom is knowledge applied. Every human being is created to be totally self-sufficient, self-healing, and self-sustaining and completely capable of total self-realization in a single lifetime.
He recommends to ask ourselves if the way we are living is the best way.
He criticizes pill-dependency and explains it as a disconnection from our body and its wisdom.
He believes that those who engage in a sincere search for their life purpose will choose a life that realizes the highest, most profoundly social human values – Love, Compassion, Harmony and Peace – and will aspire to make a positive, lasting contribution to their community.
He believes that in some ways we have traded our internal sense of judgement for systemized knowledge and that we should instead take responsibility for the lives we live.
He points out that we may not be able to control all events but our responses to everything that we experience.
If we take care of ourselves and are in charge of our lives we are saying that we are worthwhile.
He explains that disease can result from an imbalance in the body and that health in all dimensions has to be seen as energy circulation, physical conditioning, mental and emotional well-being, as well as social health. He maintains that there is a close correlation between depth of respiration and health. As a base principle, respiration should be deep, light, and natural.
By controllin our bodies, we can change our state of mind. When caught in thethroes of emotion, we can avoid many mistakes or accidents if we just take three deep breaths. Deep breathing will quiet our emotions and enable us to better assess our circumstances.
He recommends meditation to quiet our minds in order to more clearly see ourselves. Meditation focuses on being here now. It means being fully presents in this moment. He is convinces that it is possible to unlock and become on with the unconscious mind with full awareness.
He further talks about the meridian system of the body in this book; the harmony between the two primordial elements, fire and water and addresses the attitude and experience of sexuality. He states that sex education must take place at home before children reach puberty.
He explains sexual energy as a special form of life-energy and that concentrated sexual energy can be used to heighten our overall vitality and passion for life. He sees sex as an energy exchange, rather than a simple urge to be managed.
He also emphasizes the necessity to teach our children about responsibility, dignity, caring and concern, acceptance of differences, and courage in the face of adversity, and doing what we say – all values that make life worthwhile, harmonious and fun.
In addition, the book explores the purpose of life. It discusses three stages: reflection, awakening, choice and being.
Something is continually speaking within us. We become preoccupied with how to survive, rather than why. We senses that there must be something more. There must be some reason for it all, some purpose behind it all. There has to be something more thant just day-to-day survival.
A wanderer does not know where to go, while a person on a journey has a specific destination in mind. When we have a clear idea of who we are and why we live, our lives become a journey.
Life as a physical body is suffering. We do not normally bother ourselves with the meaning of life when we feel happy.The conditions that make us content do not last forever. When we have realized that life is basically suffering punctuated by fleeting moments of happiness, when we accept that fate of unbearable emptiness, ten we will know that we are on the path of the soul.
Our experiences in life are transient and relative – only death is certain. We are manifestations of transience.
We should treasure each moment and endeavor to do our best but not in order to become attached to the feeling of jy. Moreover, we will come to feel deep compassion and love for those around us who have not awakened to the truth; that every moment and every experience is a blessing.
All attachment and pain are born of our belief in the reality of “I”. Our goal should be to awaken to egolessness.
He explains that one may choose to live as the inner voice directs. Following the path of the soul’s purpose can be rewarding and joyful, and it can b overwhelmingly difficult. Our soul knows when we are faithful or not.
The realization of our soul’s purpose will be apparent by the dissolution of choice. Choice disappears when we pursue our purpose with total passion. We become one with out purpose, and the possibility of moving otherwise no longer enters the mind. Our passion is reflected by the spark in our eyes and the lightness in our steps, propelling us beyond any obstacle, through any hardship, until we breathe our final exhale with a smile on our face. In living out or life purpose with passion, we discover unimagined treasures.
He goes on to explain that the actions we take are important and have to be consistent in actions and words.
He emphasizes that it it important that we have a definite goal to become masters of our life and he ends by explaining that if we redefine ourselves as earth humans, the chains of names, religions, ethnicities and nationalities and their associated preconceptions will not limit us.
Many of his teaching are also addressed in Self-Healing, Yoga and Destiny by Elisabeth Hatch, in Heal Thyself by Edward Bach and other books.