Our Founder

For most of his adult life, Ilchi Lee has lived determined to complete his vision of a happier, healthier world. After creating several successful mind-body training centers in South Korea, he felt called to expand beyond his homeland. So, he set off in search of a location that could serve as a destination for healing and spiritual reflection people from around the world would visit.

In order for people to heal and to grow spiritually, Ilchi knew that people would need a place where they could withdraw from the rigors of the modern world. Famous for energy vortexes and spiritual awakenings, Arizona’s city of Sedona became the ideal choice. Through a series of serendipitous events, a story that he tells in detail in his New York Times best-seller, The Call of Sedona: Journey of the Heart, Ilchi’s search for a perfect destination led to the discovery of the land that is now Sedona Mago Center for Wellbeing and Retreat.

As the founder of Tao Fellowship, Ilchi’s primary objective is to help people experience and re-establish their connection to Tao, the essential, natural flow of life on Earth. His first name “Ilchi,” in fact, means “pointing the way to Tao,” and that has been the primary goal of his life for nearly forty years. Ilchi believes that a healthier, happier world is not only possible, it is necessary for the continuation of life on this planet. The key, believes Ilchi, is to re-establish connection to one’s true self—the natural, unadulterated self that is unaffected by the din caused by our thoughts and the outside world. The many mind-body exercise techniques he has created, which are practiced at Sedona Mago Center for Well-being and Retreat, are meant to hone that connection.

Ilchi’s brand of Tao wisdom, which is described in his Living Tao blog, is a practical application of Tao philosophy. Essentially, Ilchi helps people understand the nature of energy in all of its forms–physical, mental, and spiritual. Through the study of energy and the principles that guide the flow of energy, people learn about their own nature in the most fundamental sense, and they learn how to balance and complement others in relationships, as well.

Ilchi’s story began with just one student in a Korean park, a vision that eventually grew to include facilities all over the world. Instructors and healers everywhere are following in his footsteps, seeking to bring healing and peace to the world through the timeless principles of Tao. Sedona Mago Center for Well-being and Retreat is one example among many of the spiritual centers that have been inspired and informed by Ilchi’s teachings and methodologies.

He has authored more than 40 books that help people embrace Tao wisdom and live healthier, happier, and more fulfilling lives. Ilchi currently serves as the president of the Earth Citizens Organization and the International Brain Education Association.

For more information about Ilchi Lee and his work, please visit www.ilchi.com