Ilchi Lee

In today’s world, is it possible to achieve relaxation and tranquillity? Our everyday lives, after all, are endlessly busy, full of confusion and stress. How can we recover clarity and balance quickly and connect deeply with inner peace in uncertain and unstable circumstances?

 

Relaxation techniques can improve every aspect of your life, not just your Dahn practice. By returning to the tranquil center of your mind, you obtain the strength to remain calm, even while in the storms of life. Keeping your center will accentuate your individual growth process, stabilize your personal relationships, and increase the quality and productivity of your work. The following suggestions are tips for creating peaceful, tranquil moments inside and outside of Dahn class.

Take Time to “Off-load” Your Brain!
When things get overwhelming and you start to feel stressed out, your brain begins to lose function. In our world of information overload, your brain can become easily frazzled and over stimulated. In these times, you will not achieve anything without stopping to give your brain a rest. Give yourself some time to “Off-load” the chatter of everyday life. In other words, stop and quiet your mind. Try using a few minutes of deep and slow abdominal breath cycles to recharge your brain with peaceful energy, and observe the effect on your mindset and on your body. See your body’s tension slip away. In diving, the golden rule of underwater crisis is: “Stop, Think, and Act.” For times when you feel like you’re drowning in the crises of life, remember the “golden brain” rule: “Stop, Breathe, and Watch!”

Feel the Energy!
Through Jigam exercise in regular class, you have been taught how to switch your brain wave activity to alpha state at will. Your mind quiets naturally as you feel the ball of energy grow and shrink between your palms. If you want to relax anytime, use the golden rule above, and enjoy a couple of minutes of Jigam exercise feeling Ki-energy between your palms. You can practice anywhere, even in the bathroom if this is the only peaceful place you can find. Experience your brain activity slowing down and your mind clearing of unnecessary thoughts and emotions. Through Jigam, you can quickly and efficiently recharge your body and brain to resume your daily activities, free from stress and tension.

Create a Sincere Mindset
When arriving for class at your Dahn center, or when you begin practice at home, first prepare your mind. Commit yourself to being sincere at every moment and during every exercise and you will experience deep relief and relaxation. The best attitude is to prepare a joyful mind with a smile and the intention to be fully present during the time of your training. Try to keep 100 percent sincerity during the class, and observe your tension unwinding from your body as it is replaced by calm and serenity. With practice, you will feel the difference between completing a Dahn and Brain Respiration class with sincerity and letting your mind wander.

Focus on Your Body
Focusing your mind on your body is a good way to relax deeply. If you focus on physical sensations, there will be little space in your mind for random thoughts and for emotional blur that keep you away from deep relaxation. Focus on the sensations of energy in your body even when you practice Do-in (meridian) exercise. How much tingling can you feel in your fingertips when you twist your arms and shoulders? Is your breath light or heavy, shallow or deep? However, avoid thinking too much about what should be happening; just feel your body. You will discover a whole new depth of relaxation by using this tip.

Use Exhalation for Tension Release
When you have practiced focusing on your body, try feeling your whole body breathe. During your breathing cycle, you fill up with fresh energy when you inhale. The exhaling phase allows you to release all unwanted energies, including tension. To deeply relax, lengthen your exhalations and as you exhale imagine your body letting go. Feel your shoulders loosening up and dropping closer to the floor as you lie down in your Hang-gong postures. Imagine all your unwanted thoughts leaving your brain as you exhale, and feel your body getting lighter. Inhale, filling up your abdomen with energy, and exhale, feeling everything untangling and flowing freely within your body.

Avoid thinking about the stressful events of your day
When you come to your Dahnhak and BR class, try to leave your worries outside the training room. If you can empty your mind before you start training, you will experience deeper relaxation. Use your power of imagination to create a “dumping spot” before your enter the center. Stop at your spot a few seconds before your class, and make your own “memory dump” happen on your mental screen, just as you might on your computer. Let go of all the stress of the day right there, in that moment. Don’t come into the training room filled with stressful thoughts! Instead, invite peaceful thoughts into your mind. If you find yourself reeling with an agonizing fear or a depressing thought, notice the negative habit, toss it out, and use your creativity to develop a more positive outlook on the world.

Avoid spreading the stress of your day to others
When you think about something heavy and stressful, your thought creates energy that stresses your brain and prevents it from relaxing. Also, remember that our words and actions transmit our energies to the world. Refrain from spreading and cultivating your stress through complaint and negativity. This is particularly important as you enter into your training time at the center. Complaining about the “bad” things that happen produces negative tension around the brain. Try to share only the positive things that happen to you, and you will see your ability to enter into relaxation mode get stronger and stronger.

Don’t just understand, but FEEL!
Try to experience relaxation through your body, rather than through your mind. In your training, do not focus too much on trying to understand everything. If your mind is constantly busy with analyzing the situation and expecting particular results, you will not be able to experience effective levels of relaxation. Try to make your mindset as simple as possible and focus on feeling, rather than understanding.

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