ITPI Winter Newsletter 2016

- Winter Newsletter 2016 -

Dear Friends,

The creative process is alive and well here in Northern California. Blessed by a rainy, late fall and now a sunny February, blooms and vibrant colors abound! As many of you know, creative sparks are built right into the DNA of our practice and ITPI's mission statement: " We aim toward the creation of a society dedicated to the greater realization of the human birthright to learn, to love, to feel deeply and to create."

Like the blooms proliferating all around us now, our ITP newsletter contributors - practitioners with their own flavor of creative genius - share how the creative process flows through them, aided by their practice. Enjoy this exploration, which includes poetry, art and creative interpretations of the Kata and Leonard Energy Training. Learn how even Mastery in the Heartland (beginning March 11 in Tulsa) is also an outgrowth of the creative process. Come see for yourself!

What creative sparks are lighting up inside you these days? Let us hear what you are finding on your creative path of discovery. Better yet, join us at an upcoming ITP event (there are many to choose from!) and tell us in person. We'd love to see you soon!

With joy and wonder,

Pamela Kramer, ITPI President

The Kata as Creative Act

by Tim Cleary

Mastery teacher and ITP San Rafael co-leader

At the 20th anniversary celebration of the birth of Integral Transformative Practice ^® (ITP), keynote speaker Jeff Kripal spoke to us of "authoring our own lives." He reminded us that by consciously taking control of the direction of our lives - lives that were previously guided by the shaping forces of society - we are given a chance to write our own script, one that serves our deeper, more authentic selves.

In ITP, we have the opportunity to author our own lives through the process of creating affirmations. Affirmations allow us to imagine moving toward a more desirable state of being, in effect, creating a template to aid us in the act of transformation. An ideal time to internalize our affirmations is during the practice of the Kata .

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Creativity with Empowered Imagination for Supporting our Affirmations

by Julie Perkins

Mastery and ITP San Rafael group member

"Man has no body distinct from his Soul: for that called Body is a portion of Soul discern'd by the five senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age." - William Blake

Michael Murphy opens Chapter One, "Possibilities for Extraordinary Life" in The Future of the Body (1992), with this fascinating quote. On page 27, Michael lists these possibilities in 12 sets of human attributes, which he says "herald a third evolutionary transcendence." Two decades later, during a lecture at an ITP gathering on evolution, Michael noted that he would like to add two more attributes to his book: that of memory and imagination. To me, this is creativity calling!

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Art by Rich Sigberman

The Creative Process

by Rich Sigberman

Mastery and ITP San Rafael group member

What does it mean to "be creative?" I believe we are all capable of being creative, whether in art or in the way we approach life. As an artist and illustrator since the early 80's, perhaps I'm qualified to at least share my perspective on the creative process. My first step on the creative path is to go inward to draw from my best and deepest place. This well could be an effective start for many and can proceed from there.

As I approach creating abstract art, the pieces that lack any set rules, I take a few minutes to stare at that cream-colored piece of watercolor paper that's looking right back at me. I may close my eyes a few times too, and start to dig down into my feelings, since this type of work is emotion driven.

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A Creative Collaboration:

Mastery in the Heartland

by Bob Doenges, Ken Piper and Lucy Piper

Mastery teachers and ITP Tulsa group leaders

Practices can nurture creativity and "help to catalyze new richness of awareness and broader repertoires of behavior. They help bring new enjoyment, beauty and creativity to our relationships and into everyday life." - Michael Murphy, The Future of the Body

Mastery in the Heartland is a beautiful example of "broader repertoires of behavior." The Mastery Program in the Bay Area drew ITP practitioners from Middle America and deepened the life experience of each participant in a way they never imagined. As a result, participants became committed to expand the richness of the experience to the Heartland.

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Poetic Reflections

by Sally Mahé

Mastery and ITP San Rafael group member

Inspired by a few days of quiet retreat she took over the New Year's weekend, Sally Mahé shares moments captured in words and images:

Winter Rose

defiant in the frosty morning,

still beautiful in late December,

this old rose was filled with love,

its fragrance drew me close

Gesture

grace comes in gestures,

a little bouquet of weathered roses, brave in the hard frost,

were given to me by the gardener as I passed by

The Creative Power of

Leonard Energy Training (LET)

by Charlotte Hatch

Mastery teacher and founder of ITP San Francisco

I remember the first time I realized the power of Leonard Energy Training (LET) as a physical framework for exploration into deeper motives and feelings. It was 1993, and I was a participant in the 2nd cycle of our weekly ITP group at Aikido of Tamalpais. Each week at our meetings, George Leonard led us in some LET. I thought LET was fun, but nothing too special was happening. Luckily for me, in the spring of that year, I had the opportunity to accompany George to Esalen and assist him in one of his workshops.

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The Dream that Named You

by Debra McCall

Mastery graduate and ITP Tulsa group leader

The Dream that Named You

When there is no choice you lie down in the mud

and make peace with it.

You pull your hands away from your eyes.

Shielding no longer serves you.

Images fall away as unsung love songs

and you're drawn into a circle of reckoning.

And all the memories you thought were your life

are scattered by a wind that comes from nowhere.

Spotlight on Georgie Weston

Mastery graduate and ITP San Francisco group member

How did you become involved in ITP?

I became involved in ITP as the result of a delightful presentation at our local Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) group meeting in late 2003. Pam Kramer, Barry Robbins and Stan Savage shared some of the theory and practice of ITP, and it was clear to many of us then and there that evening, that this was something special we wanted to explore.

After their presentation, about 25 people signed a list expressing interest in learning more about ITP. The Lafayette/Walnut Creek ITP group was then founded and started meeting in March 2004, with most of those original 25 as group members.

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