Ilchi Lee - Power Brain Kids: 12 Easy Lessons to Ignite Your Childs Potential

ILCHI LEE

6560 Highway 179, Ste. 114
Sedona, AZ 86351
www.healingsociety.com
1-877-504-1106

Copyright 2007 by llchi Lee

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

First paperback edition: June 2007
Library of Congress Control Number: 2006939644

ISBN: 978-1-932843-19-4

If you are unable to order this book from your local bookseller, you may orde through www.amazon.com or www.healingsociety.com.

To Bella, whose parents, Sung and Angela,
are my beloved students and partners

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Lifes longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you.

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you,

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,

and He bends you with His might that His arrows might go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archers hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies,

so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Kahlil Gibran, fromThe Prophet

W hen I was a child, I had a hard time focusing on whatever I was supposed to be doing. Because I was so curious about the world, my mind would wander away from my schoolwork and out into the wider world. After school, I would run to the hills near my home, sit down under my favorite tree, and play with my imaginary friends for the rest of the afternoon.

As a result, my grades suffered, and I frustrated my teachers immensely. Some even told me that I was a bad boy. However, I was not discouraged by their words. Even though I was very young at that time, I instinctively knew that there was something great in my mind and that I was not a bad boy at all. My father agreed and assured me that I would become something great someday. This self-confidence is the greatest gift that I have ever received. As parents and educators, we have the opportunity to give this same gift to the present generation of children.

If we are to instill genuine confidence in our children, we must first have confidence in them. I truly believe that every childs brain has extraordinary potential to create health, happiness, and peace in the world. Dont underestimate and limit your childrens potential with typical preconceptions and judgments. Greatness is not limited to those who perform well on standardized tests or to those who know how to sit still at age eight.

Learn to see your childrens struggles and difficulties as part of the natural process of becoming the uniquely talented people they are meant to become. Always believe in your children and help them to trust and respect themselves. Help them to discover the great gifts hidden beneath the surface. Let them know that they have great power to choose the conditions and circumstances of their lives. Remind them often that they can do anything that they choose to do.

We adults are responsible for providing the foundation upon which our children may build successful and fulfilling lives. I believe that the optimal development and function of the human brain should be at the core of this foundation. This is why I have dedicated my life to the development of the brain in the hope of uncovering its full potential. During this quest, I have examined everything I could find that has implication for the health of the brain, from the most ancient mind-body practice to the most modern scientific research.

The Brain Education (BE) system reflected in this book is the result of this multidecade search. However, the goal of BE is not to create ideal students and child prodigies. Rather, the intention is to help children gain mastery over their brains as they grow up, giving them an opportunity to fully use their minds toward the creation of their own happiness. As educators and parents, we must ensure that every child views the brain as a boundless resource, a best friend from whom they will never part.

I would like to extend my special thanks to the many BE instructors around the world whose experiences and inspirations have lent so much to the making of this book. Their passionate efforts to bring Brain Education to schools and communities are making the world a better place, one child at a time.

IlchiLee

Founder of Brain Education

PART I

W ouldnt it be great if we could guarantee our childrens happiness? Virtually all parents and educators want to raise children who become highly productive, culturally aware, and emotionally secure adults. Yet so many children head into adolescence and young adulthood filled with angst and doubt about the meaning and direction of their lives.

Realistically, there is no way we can guarantee anyones happiness, including that of our own children. However, we can provide tools to help them achieve greater happiness on their own. This book, which is based on the Brain Education (BE) training system, places the source of happiness in the brain, not in external things, such as academic or financial success. It is based on the notion that happy, confident people are more likely to be more successful in all areas of life.

Brain-based models of education are becoming increasingly popular, perhaps because todays children will be required to use their brains as no other generation before them. As the population has soared, the human world has in many ways shrunk, bringing people closer together through the technologies of communication and transportation. John Donne said long ago that no man is an island, but this may be truer today than ever before. In the twenty-first century, one could also contend that no culture is an island, as peoples merge and interact in ways unique in human history. This trend has brought great blessings and many challenges to the human condition.