Ilchi Lee, mindbody master and founder of Change Your Energy teaches that the key to becoming what you want to be lies within your brain. But there's an important first step before you can harness the full potential of your brain—you have to make it your best friend.
How do you do that? Start with Brain Sensitizing. Brain Sensitizing is the first step of Ilchi Lee's
five-step method to upgrade your brain's operating system and optimize your life. Brain Sensitizing revolves around becoming acutely aware of your brain's significance in your life and establishing a strong connection between your body and brain.
Yoga, when combined with Brain Sensitizing, offers a holistic approach to unlocking your full potential. By nurturing the connection between your mind and body, you can achieve better physical health, reduce stress, create positive changes in your life, and ultimately fulfill your greatest purpose.
The yoga we offer at Change Your Energy naturally guides you into sensitizing your brain, but by understanding this concept more deeply, you can deepen any practice you take part in.
In this article, we'll delve into the concept of Brain Sensitizing and explore how it forms the bedrock for a more effective yoga practice, ultimately connecting your mind and body for a healthier, happier you.
The Body-Brain Connection
In the West, we’ve been conditioned to see the brain primarily as the house of the intellect and compartmentalize it as something separate from the body. But this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Your brain plays a pivotal role in everything that happens in your body, and your body and brain are in constant, dynamic communication.
Brain Sensitization, therefore, is not an intellectual exercise, nor is it confined to the physical brain inside your skull. Instead, it’s about experiencing your entire integrated self in a sensory way.
Components of Brain Sensitizing and How to Apply Them to Your Yoga Practice
1. Feeling the Body
While practicing a mind-body exercise such as yoga, you naturally awaken your body's senses through postures, movements, and exercises. Each muscle movement and nerve stimulation corresponds to different areas of the brain, ultimately enhancing balance, coordination, and overall physical well-being. Ilchi Lee often
emphasizes the importance of physical training for developing brain power.
However, it's common for our minds to wander during yoga. Remember that "where the mind goes, energy flows." This saying highlights the importance of focusing your mind on your body during practice, activating the body-brain connection to stimulate energy flow and enhance your results. Try to keep your attention within your body as much as possible.
2. Feeling the Breath
Your breath serves as another focal point to connect your mind with your body. Tuning in to your breath helps restore energetic balance, release stress, and enhance mental clarity.
Observe various aspects of your breath, such as its speed, depth, comfort level, and subtle qualities. Notice how your breath changes depending on your activities, emotions, or thoughts. Recognize that you have the power to control it consciously or allow your remarkable brain to manage it automatically.
3. Feeling Energy
By perceiving ki energy as the conduit of communication between your body and brain, you slow your brain waves and awaken a deeper energy sense.
Strengthen your energy awareness by pausing your thoughts and emotions and concentrating on
sensing ki energy in specific parts of your body. This requires a form of relaxed concentration. One effective way to achieve this state is through a meditation method developed by Ilchi Lee called
Jigam. With practice, you will become more adept at feeling energy at any time and in various areas of your body. Feeling energy is a prerequisite for being able to
move energy.
4. Feeling the Brain
Visualization techniques connecting you to your brain help you develop your brain sense. By noticing how your brain's energy and your body's energy change with various thoughts and emotions, you can identify patterns and regulate your thoughts and emotions more effectively.
Visualize your brain to assess its condition. Envision it lighting up and observe how it connects to your entire body during your practice. Also, pay attention to how your body and brain respond to your actions, thoughts, and emotions.
Feeling the body, breath, energy and brain might seem like a lot of things to be aware of at once. But keep it simple—you might want to choose just one of these Brain Sensitizing ideas to explore or practice more deeply. The more you practice, the more automatic the connected awareness of your body and brain becomes. Even those with lots of experience will say that there’s always a deeper level to explore and feel into, with no limits to your sensitivity.
The Change Your Energy Premium Membership has many classes and courses to help you sensitize your brain, connect deeply to your body, and improve your health on all levels. You can check out the Premium Membership and sign up for a free 15-day trial here.