Ilchi Lee - Training Methods

Training Methods

Ilchi Lee's training methods have been described as focusing primarily on the brain and its development. Although actual practices resemble yoga, martial arts, meditation, and other recognizable Eastern disciplines, they have been modified with the said intent of uncovering the practitioner's natural brain potential. Lee's Power Brain Kids book describes that these practices may also be combined with other games and activities intended to develop mind-body connection and mental acuity. Collectively, the techniques have been termed Brain Education System Training (BEST) (formerly known as Brain Respiration).

Lee categorizes all of his training techniques under one or more of the five sequential steps that comprise the BEST method. The focus of each step is as follows: 1) Brain Sensitizing: Stress management, awakening of the five senses, physical health, and brain awareness. 2) Brain Versatilizing: Enhanced learning ability through the creation of new synaptic connections. 3) Brain Refreshing: Emotional release, emotional control, and positive mental outlook. 4) Brain Integrating: Developing latent brain abilities and increasing communication between diverse parts of the brain. 5) Brain Mastering: Improved decision making and developing a clear sense of life purpose.

Lee teaches that while the brain is the primary focus of his training methods, the health of the physical body as a whole is of primary concern in the initial phase of training (Brain Sensitizing). Exercises and practices followed during this phase are heavily influenced by the notion of ki (기 氣) energy as it is understood in Traditional Korean medicine. This typically includes a variety of exercises that are said to be designed to open up the energy meridian system of the body. and work to open up the body's seven major energy centers, known as chakras.

Lee's Korean Institute of Brain Science (KIBS), which was granted UN ECOSOC "roster consultative status" and Lee's International Brain Education Association (IBREA) report that Lee's programs not only help children develop better memory and concentration but also certain supernatural abilities (or Extrasensory Perception - ESP) due to "Heightened Sensory Perception," as their studies find that children could identify colors, shapes, and letters while blindfolded. - although this ability was found by KIBS to diminish significantly with less ambient light and greater filtering of the viewed material. While Lee asserts that these findings are based on cognitive neuroscience, mainstream neurologists generally regard such conclusions as strongly lacking in scientific support

One of the mental and physical health enhancement techniques that Ilchi Lee created, Brain Wave Vibration (head-shaking), was used as a kind of moving meditation in a research study published in the international journal, Neuroscience Letters, in July 2010. Using two psychological questionnaires, this study suggested that regular practitioners of Brain Wave Vibration were less stressed and experienced more positive emotions and fewer psychosomatic symptoms. As well, regular Brain Wave Vibration practitioners had more dopamine in their blood than the healthy control group. The Ministry of Science and Technology of South Korea funded the research. Researchers from several departments of Seoul National University and the university hospital collaborated for the research along with the Korea Institute of Brain Science, of which Ilchi Lee is president.

Lee says that although the underlying philosophy has remained the same, he continues to "refine and improve" the methods. He recounts in one newspaper report that the techniques have evolved from breathing methods to meditation to its current emphasis on the brain. An early English-language book by Lee, Dahn Meditation, which was published in 1997, focuses primarily on Ki development through Lee's "practical and modern" version of traditional Korean Dahn Hak techniques and does not mention any exercises specific to brain development. The book describes stretching exercises ("do-in"), meditation for energy sensitivity ("ji gam"), energy dance ("dahn mu"), and energy building exercises ("haeng gong").