Brain Wave Vibration is an essential technique in Ilchi Lee’s Brain Education System Training (BEST), a self development system with many exercises and workshops organized into a five-step process. Brain Wave Vibration’s strength lies in its accessibility. It can be performed by almost anyone in any posture and does not take long to master.

The simplest form of Brain Wave Vibration involves moving your body to your own natural rhythm. It’s like dancing to a deep drum beat, but the music is coming from inside you. In the beginning of a session, however, many practitioners use drumming music to get them into the rhythm. In one sense, Brain Wave Vibration can be thought of as a moving meditation, because as you allow your body to move you keep bringing your attention to your physical sensations, or a particular goal or intention.

In fact, many people claim it’s easier for them to quiet their mind with Brain Wave Vibration than with stationary forms of meditation. The rhythmic movement and focus on the body release physical, mental, and emotional tension.

When you quiet your mind you can feel the natural “energy” of your body flowing through it. Cultures all over the world have recognized this life force of the body, though they’ve given it many different names. The most familiar name in the United States is chi, qi, or ki, as given by East Asian cultures. According to traditional Asian medicine, ki should flow unobstructed through meridian channels in the body. Blocks in this flow lead to disease on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. This philosophy is the basis for acupuncture, which receives growing support from the Western medical community.

According to Ilchi Lee’s book, Brain Wave Vibration: Getting Back into the Rhythm of a Happy Healthy Life , vibration as a healing technique has a long history. Michael Winkelman, a neuroscientist at Arizona State University who has investigated shamanic healing methods, has written that these methods integrate “unconscious or preconscious primary information processing functions and outputs… into the operations of the frontal cortex.” This means that our conscious mind becomes more aware of our unconscious processes such as those controlling our body’s physiological responses. Winkelman believes they achieve this integration by “physically stimulating systematic brain wave–discharge patterns.”

After traveling the world studying primitive healing customs, Bradford Keeney, Ph.D. noticed that the world’s many ancient native healing practices rely on having a deeply relaxed state. Rather than using stillness of mind and body through meditation, the most primitive cultures use ecstatic movement such as dancing and shaking.

Despite humanity’s long history of using vibration for healing, Brain Wave Vibration itself does not have much scientific support yet, although two Japanese researchers have performed preliminary studies. But evidence that meditation is beneficial has accumulated to the point where most people would not argue against it.

In addition, some studies on Whole Body Vibration, in which a person is vibrated by standing on an oscillating platform, have shown an increase in bone density, mobility, and muscular strength, especially in older adults. Researchers have theorized that the vibration increases the bioelectrical pulses in muscle tissue, thereby increasing the rate at which the muscle can gain strength and flexibility.

Although Brain Wave Vibration lacks direct and conclusive scientific evidence, it does have an ever-expanding body of anecdotal evidence, as represented on the website www.brainwavevibration.com. Brain Wave Vibration practitioners themselves have credited the practice with aiding their healing of various ailments from stress and tension to fibromyalgia and facial paralysis.

If you want to learn more about Brain Wave Vibration, please visit www.brainwavevibration.com or read Ilchi Lee’s book Brain Wave Vibration: Getting Back into the Rhythm of a Happy Healthy Life.