[뇌교육 월드와이드] 뉴욕 콜럼비아대서 뇌교육 국제컨퍼런스 개최

IBREA Foundation 주최, '모든 세대에 필요한 건강을 위한 선택' 주제
세계보건기구(WHO), 유엔정신건강NGO위원회 전문가 등 300여 명 참석



건강이 단순한 개인의 문제 뿐 아니라 사회, 경제, 국가적인 차원에서 예방과 관리가 더욱 더 중요해지고 있는 추세이다. 건강에 대한 능동적이고 책임감 있는 접근을 통해 개인과 사회의 건강에 관한 문제점과 해결책을 모색하는 자리가 마련되었다.
 
아이브레아파운데이션(IBREA Foundation, 협회장 이승헌, 이하 IBREA)은 지난 2월 27일 미국 뉴욕 콜럼비아대학 알프레드 러너홀에서 ‘당신 건강의 주인이 되라(Own Your Health): 모든 세대에 필요한 건강을 위한 선택’이라는 주제로 대중건강 컨퍼런스를 개최했다. 유엔경제사회이사회(UN-ECOSOC) 특별자문지위 NGO인 아이브레아파운데이션이 주최하고, 세계보건기구(WHO)와 유엔 정신건강 NGO위원회가 공동 후원한 이날 행사에는 건강분야 NGO단체, 석학과 전문가 300여 명이 참석했다.

전 세계 건강 전문가, ‘멘탈헬스(mental health)' 중요성 앞다투어 강조

이날 컨퍼런스에는 뉴욕타임즈 팸벨럭 기자가 사회자로 나섰고, 세계보건기구 뉴욕 사무국장인 나타 메납드 박사, 뉴욕의대 트라우마전문가 글렌 삭스 박사, 콜럼비아 대학 부학장이자 할렘병원 의료 책임자인 모리스 롸이트 박사, 콜럼비아대학 님토템햄 교수 그리고 주최기관인 IBREA 이승헌 협회장(글로벌사이버대학교 총장)이 특별강연자로 나섰다.
 
강연자들은 청소년기에서 노년기에 이르기까지 신체건강과 정신건강이 외부 환경과 사회 시스템이 아니라 개개인에게 책임이 있고, 이를 스스로 유지하고 지속할 수 있도록 지역사회, 국가 차원에서의 실천 방향에 대해 논의했다.

WHO 뉴욕지부 사무국장인 나타 메납드(Nata Menabde) 박사는 '전 세계 건강 현황 및 유엔의 건강 목표를 달성하기 위한 신체적, 정신적 건강의 연결의 중요성'을 주제로 강연했고, 콜럼비아대학 부학장인 모리스 롸이트(Maurice Wright)박사는 '할렘 지역의 건강 상태, 환자 중심의 관심과 자연치유방법들의 중요성'을 주제로 발표했다.

또한 뉴욕의대 그렌 삭스(Glenn Saxe) 박사는 '트라우마 치료를 위한 약물과다복용의 문제성, 트라우마 치료를 위한 시스템적 포괄적 접근'을 주제로, 님토템햄(Nim Tottenham) 교수는 '건강한 삶을 위해 강한 정신력의 필요성'을 주제로 각각 발표했다.

이승헌 협회장, 건강패러다임의 혁신적 변화 필요

이날 컨퍼런스 주최기관인 IBREA 이승헌 협회장은 '건강에 대한 패러다임 대전환'을 주제로 현재 전 세계적으로 나날이 심각해지는 육체와 정신건강의 문제 해결을 위하여 기존의 건강과 의료시스템이 아닌 혁신적인 방법으로 패러다임의 대전환이 필요하다고 강조했다.

그는 "자신의 건강은 자신이 주인으로서 '내 건강은 내가 지킨다, 내 건강은 내가 소유한다'는 의식을 가져야 한다."며 개개인의 의식 변화가 중요하다고 말했다. 또한 이 협회장은 "미래의 건강한 자신을 위해 인생의 목표를 선택하고, 목표가 이루어지는 것을 상상하며 행동한다면 몸과 마음의 건강을 회복할 수 있다"면서 체온을 0.5도 높이고 면역력을 높이며 몸과 마음의 균형을 잡아주는 뇌활용법을 소개했다.

IBREA는 2018년 상반기 계획인 할렘 프로젝트로, 그동안 할렘 커뮤니티의 뇌교육 보급과 사례와 향후 계획에 대해 소개했다. 협회는 할렘종합병원 및 4개 할렘 시니어 센타에 이승헌 협회장의 베스트셀러인 '나는 120살까지 살기로 했다' 영문저서를 기증하는 전달식을 했다.

IBREA는 지난 2008년 미국에 설립된 비영리단체로 2015년 유엔경제사회이사회(UN-ECOSOC) 특별자문지위 NGO로 등록되었다. 전 세계 건강과 행복과 평화를 위해 인간의 신체와 뇌의 잠재력을 극대화하고 이를 실현할 수 있는 구체적인 방법으로써 뇌교육을 제시하고 뉴욕시 로컬 커뮤니티에서부터 글로벌 프로젝트까지 다양하게 이를 실현하고 있다.

글. 브레인 편집부 | 자료제공= IBREA Foundation

Own Your Health!

March 3, 2018  by IBREA  in Global Mental Health, Health, Leadership, Life, Live Your Life, Mental Health, Our Blog, Uncategorized, Well-being

We tend to see a doctor at the last possible moment – when we feel we’re too sick to brave the morning commute, or when we have to be rushed to the ER. If we’re feeling depressed, we usually just hope we can feel better soon…or may not give it any thought at all. Yet, our physical and mental health are much more closely intertwined than we think. What if we embraced this knowledge and took steps to stay healthy, to prevent sickness and despair before they happened?

IBREA FOUNDATION’s seminar “OWN YOUR HEALTH: Making Mindful Choices At Any Age,” is a good place to start. Held last Tuesday, February 27 at the Alfred Lerner Hall of Columbia University from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., with a panel of speakers in the fields of mental health and neuroscience, the conference demonstrated how important good mental health is to our overall well-being. Featured speakers included the World Health Organization’s New York office Executive Director, Dr. Nata Menabde; trauma expert and NYU Professor of Psychiatry, Dr. Glenn Saxe; the Medical Director of the Harlem Hospital and Associate Dean of Columbia University, Dr. Maurice Wright; Director of the Developmental Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at Columbia University, Dr. Nim Tottenham; and as the keynote speaker, IBREA’s founder, expert in mind-body training methods, and New York Times best-selling author, Mr. Ilchi Lee.

The afternoon presentation, held amid unseasonably warm weather, shed some light on some of the more intriguing discoveries in neuroscience, and left its participatory audience an encouraging message on improving not only their lives but their communities as well. It provided insight and direct experience related to taking responsibility of our health and mental well-being from a young age to our elderly years. It’s never too soon, or too late, to take care of your entire well-being. That was the conference’s main take-away.

Dr. Nata Menabde opened the panel with some eye-opening remarks, citing some of the mental health statistics such as depression being a prominent mental disorder that is growing and in 2030 can become the leading cause of disability, and other severe mental health disorders such as schizopfrenia and bipolar disorder affecting almost 40% of the adult population. Most strikingly, she highlighted a steep correlation between mental disorders and premature death in developing nations, roughly 10-20 years less on average, though often due to other things like cardiovascular diseases, and more likely to die of unnatural causes such as suicide or homicide. “The linkage is clear,” she warns: “Without mental health, there is no other health”. However, only a a striking 3% of government budgets in average is dedicated to mental health. These findings were used in 2015 when the UN developed its current global agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals – not only Goal #3, which directly focuses on health and mental wellbeing, but all other goals focusing on other issues such as poverty, economy or environment – as they all find a link with health. The WHO, she emphasized, is prioritizing mental health, and has developed a wide variety of action plans. The year 2018 will feature “depression” as the main topic of discussion, against which WHO promotes not only pharmacological strategies but more importantly, socio-emotional, de-stigmatizing, and grassroots interventions.

Dr. Maurice Wright, MD, spoke of the importance that evidence-based medicine has on creating public policy. The director of Harlem Hospital Center, he has worked with city administrators to renovate and develop patient-centered methods and educational programs that address city health and hospital standards – a move he hopes will foster a family-like atmosphere where people take the incentive of taking care of each other and showing concern for each other’s health, encouraging people to eat healthier and exercise more.

Ilchi Lee, IBREA’s founder, whose latest book is titled “I’ve Decided to Live 120 Years”, delivered his presentation wearing a ball cap with the prominent numbers 120 on the brim. It’s how many happy, healthy years he plans to live and he urged his audience to do the same: think of an exact number of years you plan to live, and let that direct how you live your life and the choices you make. With a goal like that it mind, you’re most likely to wake up your brain and get it together, health being the primary focus. Mr. Lee emphasized how we can’t leave our health in the hands of the medical system, supporting Dr. Wright’s patient-centered approach. We have to take charge of our own bodies and minds. Exhibiting the “map of consciousness” developed by Dr. Hawkins, Mr. Lee explained how in a normal mental state, we would be level 200, and that the mental states which we consider to be problematic (mental disorders) probably lie around 100 or below, with emotions such as shame, guilt, apathy. He questioned how our current educational methods might actually be feeding those kinds of emotions, by administering constant tests and keep evaluating the students when many of them might not be ready for it emotionally. But since systems take time to change, what we can do, rather than focusing on changing the systems, is focus on individuals and their own protection from mental and physical distress. He emphasized how the key for us as individuals to stay awake and be protected from disease, is focus. In order to focus, we need to activate our energy and increase our body temperature by at least half a degree, and do this often – every one hour or so. He gave this “gift” or “magic recipe” for health to the audience and had them experience it by rubbing their hands fast and strong for a minute.

Dr. Nim Tottenham, PhD, who works at the developmental neuroscience lab at Columbia University, has long been fascinated by the development of the amygdala in prefrontal cortex as it alters throughout one’s childhood and adolescence. Using fMRI technology, she found a strong linkage between the development of these parts of the brain and early experiences – if her patients had a stressful childhood or if they were well-cared for. She has also studied the brains of parents as they developed – finding that limbic systems were healthier in the brains of caregivers.

Dr. Glenn Saxe, NYU professor of child and adolescent psychiatry found his calling when he worked with adult patients and imagined what it would be like if he were able to treat them for trauma they suffered in their childhood. As a result, he has studied post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition in which the brain feels it is constantly under attack, making it hard to live a happy and productive life. At the conference he discussed his method of treatment called trauma systems therapy, which focuses not only on the patient but the community in which they live and work – seeking to improve life for not only the individual, but for everyone they regularly interact with.

The event’s host, IBREA FOUNDATION, will be opening a Holistic Training Center in Harlem in Spring 2018, with an approach that will focus on natural, preventive and proactive ways so that members of the community can take ownership of their physical and mental health. At the event, IBREA also exhibited the results of the implementation of its brain based holistic education in a high school in Harlem, and the kids from the program confidently led the +300 crowd in the audience through some of the exercises. Their energy said it all: Stay woke, y’all! Own your health!

URL: ibreafoundation.org/own-your-health/