In Full Bloom: A Brain Education Guide for Successful Aging [Paperback]

Ilchi Lee (Author), Jessie Jones (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0979938848 | ISBN-13: 978-0979938849 | Publication Date: February 20, 2008 | Edition: 1st

The truth about the aging brain is simple but extraordinary: people don t have to lose their mental acuity as they get older! This book bursts through the myths that surround the aging of the brain, encouraging older adults to take an active role in keeping their brains in top condition for life. Based on the five-step Brain Education method and the latest findings in neuroscience, it is a guide to getting the most out of the last third of life by using the brain to its maximum potential.

In Full Bloom celebrates the older brain and its unique capabilities, while offering practical advice to maintain and accentuate its attributes. This book will help you:
--- Improve attention and concentration
--- Expand imagination and creativity
--- Develop vitality and strength
--- Manage stress effectively
--- Gain inspiration for a positive mature identity

Editorial Reviews

Review

Ilchi Lee and Jessie Jones have skillfully combined knowledge from a variety of complementary and alternative domains to provide a highly readable and thought-provoking manual that link physical and mental activities into a holistic program designed to promote successful aging. Combining wisdom found in Western and Eastern philosophies, Lee and Jones provide practical and easy-to-implement strategies that will help promote physical and mental health and well-being. --Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko, Ph.D., president of the International Society for Aging and Physical Activity

Self-Help Dilemma: Am I Feeling Okay?

Ilchi Lee and Jessie Jones, PhD, our next team of authors, ask that you not passively accept outdated ideas of how our brains age. In Full Bloom: A Brain Education Guide for Successful Aging offers techniques aplenty for keeping your brain in top condition late in life. Lee and Jones are advocates of unifying the mind and body through Asian traditions like yoga and meditation, as well as gerokinesiology, the science of the ways in which exercise and aging interact. In Full Bloom is carefully worded and illustrated. The tips and techniques seek to improve concentration, imagination, and creativity through Lee s Brain Education System Training method featuring five steps: Brain Sensitizing, Brain Versatilizing, Brain Refreshing, Brain Integrating, and Brain Mastering.

The aforementioned seven projects are each remarkably well-written and worthwhile. If well-being on any level is the goal, these books deliver the goods.

--Review in May/June 2008 issue of ForeWord Magazine by Matt Sutherland

This book does a big favor for those of us who know we are aging! The philosophy and approach presented respects our aging brain, and in a comfortable, easy-to-read style tells us on how our brains should continue to work for us and make us perform at our best. The east and west influence of the exercises presented makes this approach special. I have personally practiced almost all the exercises described here and found many of them fun. These exercises speak to us and tell us that the sky is the limit!They have trully fostered by intuitive side. What could be more rewarding! --Mariam R. Chacko, M.D., Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

This book does a big favor for those of us who know we are aging! The philosophy and approach presented respects our aging brain, and in a comfortable, easy-to-read style tells us on how our brains should continue to work for us and make us perform at our best. The east and west influence of the exercises presented makes this approach special. I have personally practiced almost all the exercises described here and found many of them fun. These exercises speak to us and tell us that the sky is the limit!They have trully fostered by intuitive side. What could be more rewarding! --Mariam R. Chacko, M.D., Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

Self-Help Dilemma: Am I Feeling Okay?

Ilchi Lee and Jessie Jones, PhD, our next team of authors, ask that you not passively accept outdated ideas of how our brains age. In Full Bloom: A Brain Education Guide for Successful Aging offers techniques aplenty for keeping your brain in top condition late in life. Lee and Jones are advocates of unifying the mind and body through Asian traditions like yoga and meditation, as well as gerokinesiology, the science of the ways in which exercise and aging interact. In Full Bloom is carefully worded and illustrated. The tips and techniques seek to improve concentration, imagination, and creativity through Lee s Brain Education System Training method featuring five steps: Brain Sensitizing, Brain Versatilizing, Brain Refreshing, Brain Integrating, and Brain Mastering.

The aforementioned seven projects are each remarkably well-written and worthwhile. If well-being on any level is the goal, these books deliver the goods.

--Review in May/June 2008 issue of ForeWord Magazine by Matt Sutherland

About the Author

Ilchi Lee originated Brain Education System Training (BEST), which seeks to enhance human potential through a variety of mind-body training methods. As president of the Korean Institute of Brain Science and chairman of The International Brain Education Association, Lee has dedicated himself to the nurturance and development of the human brain.

Dr. Jessie Jones is a Professor of Kinesiology and Health Science and codirector of the Center for Successful Aging at California State University, Fullerton. She has extensive teaching and research background in the area of successful aging, and has led senior health and fitness programs for over 25 years.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Best Life Media; 1st edition (February 20, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979938848
• ISBN-13: 978-0979938849
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #687,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My vision is to help people find greater health, happiness, and peace in their lives. In my writing and research endeavors, I focus on the brain because the brain is integral to all aspects of human life. I believe it is through the brain that we find peace within ourselves, and it is only through the brain that humanity will find a sustainable, peaceful way of life for our future.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars successful aging, May 4, 2008

By 

Steve (NYC. NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Full Bloom: A Brain Education Guide for Successful Aging (Paperback)

This is a short story about a `friend'. My `friend' spent most of his adult life as an unhappy individual. This `friend' hated the work he was doing but stayed with the same employer for 25 years. He didn't particularly care for his neighbors but is living in the same house for 17 years. He didn't want to keep in touch with friends or relatives unless he absolutely had to.
During his 30's and 40's, he was always complaining about his health and the aches and pains that conveniently kept him home from work and was also a good excuse to avoid keeping in touch with friends and family. He spent too many days going from doctor to doctor and hospital to hospital, throughout his life, only to get the same answers to all the tests he subjected himself to. The tests were all negative, but this `friend' was not convinced that there was nothing wrong with him.
This `friend' was living a self-fulfilling prophecy. He had used his failing health as an excuse for so long that he had convinced himself that he was really sick. Instead of being happy that all the test results were negative, he complained that the doctors could not find the problems, which made him feel sicker.
Finally at age 58, this 'friend' went to see a doctor who happened to be of Korean origin. After another round of tests with still negative results, this doctor told this 'friend' that he was in good health, in fact, he was in very good health. The doctor recommended that he should get into an exercise and diet program before long or his health would start to deteriorate. The doctor suggested that he should look into a Yoga program which is both physical as well as educational.
So this `friend' found a Dahn Yoga Center only a few blocks from his home. He gathered enough courage to go upstairs and speak with the Instructor. After a 20 minute initial exam, the instructor was describing all the ailments this 'friend' was experiencing, and he was right on. After an introduction to the Yoga exercise routine, this 'friend' attended his first Yoga class the same evening. Although he was always skeptical and doubting everything in his life, something about the Yoga class made him feel different. He continued with the classes and participated in educational programs called B.E.S.T.
The instructor recommended the he read a book named; In Full Bloom: A brain Education Guide For Successful Aging, by Ilchi Lee and Doctor Jessie Jones. This book helped this `friend' to understand how he was creating his own problems and how to start to correct his physical and mental balance back to a healthy body and mind.
If you didn't guess by now this `friend' is really me. At age 58, I am now able to realize that my negative outlook was causing my aches and pains. It all took place in my head. For over 25 years my constant complaining and whining brought myself and everybody around me down.
Just to be able to write this story shows how much I have changed. In one year I lost 14 lbs., my aches and pains have gone away, and my attitude has changed from negative to positive.
But writing this story serves another purpose. If anybody reading this story has the same or similar attitude, I urge you, I'll even beg you, don't wait for your life to pass by without changing how you feel. Get a copy of: In Full Bloom, and / or visit a Yoga center near you. You owe it to yourself to enjoy the rest of your life. It's never to late to change.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring "must-have" handbook on aging, March 12, 2008

By 

Ari Laquidara (Closter, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Full Bloom: A Brain Education Guide for Successful Aging (Paperback)

My dad is going to turn 70 this year (wow). So despite the fact that his health and mental clarity are currently great, the aura of fear around aging in our culture - especially regarding mental decline - has caused him and the rest of our family to become increasingly more concerned about ensuring his continued good health throughout his latter years. Yet when I read this book, it really helped me see that aging can actually be a very positive, empowering process. Ilchi Lee and Jessie Jones are a perfect match for this book: combining Lee's wisdom and spiritual know-how with Jones' years of expertise on the aging process. Together they've managed to create a compelling (and even reverent) case for a person's final years to be their very best, while maintaining a sense of light-hearted simplicity throughout. By presenting the latest scientific discoveries about aging (which challenge many preconceptions we've all had about aging and mental decline), providing helpful holistic exercises for body and brain, and delivering a powerful spiritual message about being in charge of your own health and wellness as you age, this book is sure to make its mark as an essential guidebook for anyone who wants to be at the top of their game until their last moments on this earth.

If you want another great read by Lee, check out this book: Human Technology: A Toolkit For Authentic Living

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beneficial for All Ages, March 11, 2008

By 

Michela Mangiaracina - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Full Bloom: A Brain Education Guide for Successful Aging (Paperback)

I'm still in my 30s, but I found this book very inspiring. It presents an overall approach to health and explains how the brain is the basis for our health and our overall quality of life. It really puts the responsibility on each person to take charge of their life and create a life and a world that they want. But the book doesn't just confer responsibility, it gives step-by-step directions on how to do it.

In Full Bloom's approach to health is very holistic, offering methods that anyone can use without taking medication. As part of the whole picture it explains some scientific basis, as far as it exists, for the concepts and techniques it teaches. It also debunks common myths about aging that makes getting older seem full of possibility and hope.

I am already taking advantage of everything I learned in this comprehensive and useful book.