■ Let’s imagine the experience of the audience at the first annual Brain Art Festival, a unique brain-focused grand concert at New York City’s legendary Radio City Music Hall on the evening of August 15, 2009. They will witness a foot-tapping, heart-pulsing and brain-awakening extravaganza that ignites the theater. More than just a dazzling spectacle of entertainment, the evening of music, movement, media and message will herald a vision of the brain at the center of our lives, and thus the center of the world.
__The aim of the festival is to leave the audience energized by the knowledge that the human brain possesses vast creative potential to enable every one of us to be a brain artist and to make his or her life a work of art. It is a profound and hopeful message for our troubled times.
Meet Ilchi Lee, Brain Educator and Festival Producer
The Brain Art concept and the Brain Art Festival are the creations of Ilchi Lee, a South Korean native who now resides in Sedona, Arizona, when he is not traveling the world speaking about Brain Education—a body-brain wellness system with a wide range of programs for learning, effective aging, health and more. Lee has been studying modern neuroscience and ancient Eastern healing practices to create his innovative methods over the past 30 years.
__For hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, Brain Education has been instrumental in unleashing their brains’ potential to create lives of health, happiness, peace and success. Brain Education is also dedicated to benefiting humanity and the Earth. New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg officially proclaimed January 8, 2009, to be Brain Education Day, in recognition of Ilchi Lee’s contributions to the city’s health, education and business.
__Besides being the festival’s producer and host, Lee is the founder and president of the International Brain Education Association (the festival’s main sponsor); the Korea Institute of Brain Science (an NGO in consultative status with the United Nations); the University of Brain Education in South Korea; and BR Consulting, which provides services for brain-focused businesses worldwide.
__Lee is the author of 31 books released in English and/or Korean, many of which have been translated into several languages. His latest book, Brain Wave Vibration: Getting Back into the Rhythm of a Happy, Healthy Life (Best Life Media, 2008), outlines a simple yet profound method that recognizes how brain waves can be normalized by rhythmically shaking the head and body. This technique has proven, quick and dramatic results that benefit people physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. During the festival, members of the audience will have a chance to creatively experience this method themselves.
What Happens at the Festival
The Brain Art Festival will stage a variety of fascinating art forms that both entertain and inspire. The performers are masters of their art forms; many of them are famous in South Korea and throughout Asia. The performers are adept at tapping deeply into their brain-body systems to deliver extraordinary and memorable performances that demonstrate and celebrate the brain’s power.
__The range of the Festival’s acts will include healing martial arts (Kikong), Korean drumming artistry (with healing benefits), Samulori traditional Korean drumming, Brain Wave Vibration (for body and mind), videos and animation on transformational themes, gravity-defying break-dancing, and moving musical performances.
__Whether watching the performances or interacting with them, the audience members’ brains will be activating and expanding their physical, mental and emotional energy. The goal of this experience is to instill joy, hope, healing and empowerment to all involved—prerequisites for reaching higher levels of health, wellbeing and success.
Brain Art for a Better World
Over the past 30 years, Lee’s message to “use your brain well” has been delivered through an evolving series of disciplines. Throughout these transformations, the principles of brain utilization have remained constant, with their roots in Korea’s traditional heath practices that stretch back more than 5,000 years.
__In 1985, Lee initially developed DahnHak (Korean for the Science of Energy; called Dahn Yoga in North America), a set of integrated movement, breathing and meditation exercises designed to unblock and enhance flows of energy (Ki or Chi) in the body and brain.
__He then created and founded the Korea Institute of Brain Science to study the brain and tap its ability to improve health, happiness and well-being. In 1997, this research culminated in the practice of Brain Respiration, a system of brain-connected physical and mental methods for improving brain functions.
__In 2005, Lee expanded Brain Respiration to become Brain Education, a comprehensive system of programs in which a person progresses through five stages in order to live daily as an empowered and complete individual.
__As Brain Education develops the new approach of Brain Art, to be debuted at the festival, Lee’s brain-utilization system is stepping into the broader cultural stage, and reaching out to more people who are interested in the creative, life-giving aspects of a holistic living program.
__By incorporating the brain with art, the concept of Brain Art goes beyond the realm of science. Knowledge from science regarding the brain can be formal, rigid and less accessible to some people. On the other hand, Brain Art is something all human beings can see, do and feel to awaken their brains’ immeasurable potential and create more fulfilling and rewarding lives. The Brain Art philosophy includes actively contributing to the benefit of others beyond one’s family and friends, embracing the wider community of society, humanity and the Earth.
__Lee hopes that Brain Art will become a culturally important concept for helping to guide people to improve their lives and the world. Brain Art will highlight the soul’s growth and completion as a new value in this life, harmony among civilizations as a new global culture, and community on Earth as the basis for a new world.
__Brain Art is accessible to anyone. It involves gathering and focusing the energy we all have inside of us to increase physical and mental vitality and improve our health and life. Regular use of Brain Art techniques can help anyone who is working toward increasing his or her overall creativity and mind-body wellness.
__Hopefulness is a quality encouraged as part of Brain Art, and it contributes to the success of the practitioner. People looking to increase hope in their lives can find it in Brain Art. Practitioners need to believe in their own success, which will lead to an increase in the positive energy they experience in their daily lives.
Empowering the Festival’s Audience and Beyond
The Brain Art Festival is a concert designed not just to entertain but to literally strengthen the brains of those in the Radio City audience. The purpose of the event is to enable those at the concert to better understand their brains and awaken to the significance of the brain as the life force we all share.
__Everyone has an artist within. Utilizing our brains better through art increases our creativity to be effective artists in whatever field we choose—from painting to music, healthcare, education and even business or government.
__Brain Art is about tapping into the body’s energy using proven body-brain methods. Participants can relieve stress and deepen self-awareness through these techniques.
Brain Art helps open creativity through methods that challenge and work the brain, thus developing sharper focus, increased levels of concentration and flexibility of mind.
__The brain is a finely tuned and complex instrument under its owner’s control. Through Brain Art, participants realize, “I am the master of my brain.” Brain Art is about training the brain through physical and mental activity that is proven to aid your brain health, focus and clarity.
__Using music, movement, vibration and meditation techniques, Brain Art provides a unique, proven wellness practice to America. It incorporates many techniques that are familiar to Americans who have experienced yoga.
About Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an especially fitting venue for the Brain Art Festival. On Radio City’s huge, iconic stage, there is history and space for the Brain Art message to be seen as a new and promising cultural contribution to America’s and the world’s health, harmony and peace.
__Established in 1932 by John D. Rockefeller Jr., Radio City is one of New York City’s most cherished historic landmarks, welcoming six million visitors annually. With an audience capacity of 6,000, it stands out as one of the world’s great indoor spaces. Top stars from Frank Sinatra to Sting have lit up Radio City’s stage. It is where large-scale events of the American entertainment industry are held, including the Emmys, Tonys, and MTV Video Music Awards.
__The goal of Radio City’s original designer Donald Deskey was to create a “palace for the American people.” Wall paintings and sculptures were used in the interior design. Deskey decorated the ceiling with gold foil and applied other decorative details that today still make Radio City a beautiful, proud venue for the performances given there.
Toward the Global Brain Era
The Brain Art Festival was conceived by Lee as a concert that could show how to make the brain healthy, happy and peaceful. According to Lee, “This event will enable the audience to genuinely understand the brain; awaken to the significance that the brain is indeed life, human history, and the Earth; and expand their life’s hope, dreams and power.”
__With the Festival occurring in New York City, often considered the cultural center of the world, New York may well become the heart of Brain Education, or Brain Education City. From there, Brain Education and Brain Art can become a recognized part of the American cultural landscape. Lee states, “The success of the Brain Arts Festival will mean an accelerated momentum for the globalization of Brain Education.”
__Lee views Brain Art as the path to achieving his ultimate goal of contributing to world peace—achieved by one individual at a time realizing inner peace. Brain Art has the capacity to bring hope and success to people who practice its brain-wellness-improvement techniques. So for many people, the festival will go on and on, long after the lights are turned out at Radio City, late on August 15, 2009. [bw]
