Twenty-one Sleepless Days and Nights

Ilchi Lee tells in book about dahn yoga that after bemoaning the fact that I was just a simple Ki energy technician, I went back into the mountain and vowed to never come out until I had the answers to the questions that I was looking for. I chose to test the limits of my physical and mental endurance by not sleeping for twenty-one days straight. Ah, the torture I put myself through . . .

I tried everything not to sleep, including sitting at the edge of a sharp cliff and wrapping my arms around a thick branch of a tree so that the fear of falling down would keep me awake. I think I pulled many clumps of hair out during that period. After a week or so of no sleep, a severe headache of the magnitude that I have never felt came over me. It had been building for a while, but it struck with full force after a week or so. Pain accumulated in my eye sockets and my ears until I couldn’t see or hear. As time went on, my brain seemed to shrivel up inside and start to desiccate. At the same time, my head seemed always on the verge of exploding. I knew that I would die soon. This was after about two weeks. I even received a fleeting temptation to sleep, drink, and even eat something in order to prolong my life a bit. I would have succumbed to that temptation had I not survived the training ordeal in the snow-covered field on that rezone day before.

Physical challenges and developing new skills

Posted by: Mr Ilchi Lee

The goal of strengthening the body should go hand in hand with the goal of strengthening the brain. Sitting behind a desk studying a book is a great way to gather piles of facts and figures, but it will do little to create new and stronger connections in the brain. Rather, this happens through overcoming physical challenges and developing new skills.

Make physical exercise a normal and natural part of your child’s daily routine. Children who spend the day watching TV or sitting in front of a computer monitor are being deprived of the chance to develop brain connections that will be much harder to develop later in life. Also, the sense of confidence and accomplishment that comes with physical strengthening will be invaluable to them in many areas of life.

More Ilchi Lee says the following exercises should be practiced daily during the twelve-week lesson plan. Record the child’s progress in a journal or notebook, and try to add more time or repetitions every day, creating goals that are realistic for your child’s physical condition.