Ilchi Lee Visits Bronx School That Has Embraced Brain Education

By Michela Mangiaracina

On Wednesday, September, 24, 2014, Ilchi Lee visited PS 001, a public school in Bronx, New York that has made his Brain Education method an intricate part of the school. Since Brain Education’s introduction to the school in 2008, it has been incorporated into classwork as well as many other areas. Brain Education-related signs and murals are present all around the school, and the school also has one whole day a year where the entire school only does Brain Education training. Even the school logo and mission statement explicitly mention the Brain Education goals of health, happiness, and peace.

The principal and many of the teachers at the school have taken the Brain Education Leadership course offered by Brain Power Wellness, in which they learned how to teach Brain Education to children and to incorporate it flexibly and effectively into a classroom. Brain Power Wellness, headed by Dave Beal, who also attended the school visit, is the company that teaches Brain Education for children in the United States through its school and afterschool programs and training centers.

According to Mr. Beal, Principal Jorge Perdomo credits Brain Education with “saving” PS 001. Since Brain Education was implemented there, the school’s rating has gone from a level “D” (unacceptable) to a level “A” (excellent). His once raucous school now has almost zero incidents of negative student behavior and all of the teachers and students truly love the school. They were even featured in the local news as an example of a school with a strong school spirit as they were able to ward off an attempt by the Department of Education to divide their building into two schools.

During his visit, which was his second to the school, Ilchi Lee spent time with Principal Perdomo, had a tour of the school, gave a lecture to 30 out of the 40 teachers, and spoke with a class of fourth graders.

In their time together, Principal Perdomo, a former music teacher, emphasized the importance of the arts, especially the value of music, dance (movement), and visual arts, and Ilchi Lee agreed that creative expression builds confidence and character and enhances the body’s natural healing ability. Ilchi Lee also shared that it’s his belief that creating humanitarian prodigies who have good character and strong integrity is the fundamental role of education.

After watching a video about PS 001, Ilchi Lee showed Mr. Perdomo a video about one of the students at his new Benjamin School for Character Education in Korea, an alternative school based on Ilchi Lee’s educational philosophy. The principal was very impressed by what he saw, saying, “It is amazing that you have created this online forum to deliver this spirit to the world.”

Ilchi Lee explained more of his educational philosophy to the teachers who gathered after telling them how he came about designing Brain Education and making it a curriculum in Korea, including founding an undergraduate and graduate university focusing on it. Lee said that the way most schools are set up right now, where students memorize a lot of facts and then take tests on them whether they are ready or not, causes stress and worry, which diminish brain power and make students who don’t have the particular talent of memorizing and taking tests feel not valuable. Lee said schools and teachers should remember that there are many types of talents and abilities, all of which need to be fostered by a fluid and respectful relationship between teachers and students. Rather than continually feeding students information, Ilchi Lee said students need to be made ready to receive it, which means they need to learn how to manage their emotions, recognize that they are valuable, and become passionate and motivated.

To do that, Brain Education focuses on enhancing three things:
1. Maximizing our natural healing power
2. Recovering our character and integrity
3. Developing our infinite potential and ability

All of these things occur when students become more aware of themselves—their bodies, their emotions, and their behavior—and gain tools to manage them, or, as Ilchi Lee said, to manage their brain well.

Accomplishing these three things does not need to be complicated, Ilchi Lee explained. They could even be achieved with one exercise, such as the Plate Balancing qigong exercise he demonstrated for the teachers, which is a simple whole-body exercise that relaxes body and mind, improves circulation, and increases energy.

He also gave them and the students sage, an herb whose scent would help them be calm and enhance their natural healing ability. And he donated 100 copies of his recent book, Bird of the Soul, to the school and encouraged teachers to take one home to their families.

The fourth grade students who met with Ilchi Lee had fun watching him dance, give a martial arts staff demonstration and play flutes for them. They also learned Plate Balancing Exercise and how humming can improve your natural healing ability.

The children had drawn handmade cards for Ilchi Lee, which they had hung on the walls.

Mr. Lee told them, rather than primarily focusing on grades or on receiving recognition from others, they should focus on the health and happiness inside. He said if they want to be healthy, happy, and peaceful for the rest of their lives, they can do three things:
1) Sing whenever they want to
2) Dance whenever they want to
3) Draw whenever they want to

When you’re happy, healthy, and peaceful, you can demonstrate your creative power and you experience love. This brings up your temperature, not only physically but energetically and spiritually as well. On the other hand, you become colder when you feel lonely, afraid, or angry, such as when you get bad grades. More than academics or grades, students first have to maintain the “temperature,” literally and figuratively, of health, happiness, and peace. Then, Ilchi Lee said, they’ll do really well. When you value health, happiness, and peace above all other things, that’s the measure of love and respect for all human beings. Without that, there cannot be successful education.

Leaving PS 001 with this message, Ilchi Lee encouraged the school. He told them they can be the hope for education in the United States.