Share the bounty! ITPI Spring Newsletter 2019

Dear Friends,

Spring has more than sprung here in Northern California! Blooms abound and bodies are spotted biking, running and exploring nature on foot to enjoy the season. What's your body itching for as we approach summer?

Speaking of bodies, this newsletter showcases the physical aspect of the integral and ways to explore body-based fitness through our practice. Enjoy reading articles from our contributors on the power of Aikido, strength training, aerobics and ways to nourish the body. As Michael Murphy wrote, "The body is all time remembered." What a reminder of the gift of life and the bodies we inhabit!

Please join us at our upcoming ITP events - so many options available to support your transformation with our community. We are grateful you are on the journey with us!

Love and blessings,

Pam Kramer

ITPI President

My Earliest Lesson from Aikido

by Sue Ann McKean

Journey of Practice member

I was an athletic kid, swam on the swim team, surfed in the sea and was tetherball queen in the schoolyard. In high school, while living alone in a southeast Asian city and feeling the need to learn to defend myself, I took up Taekwondo. I lived in my gut instincts, was in perpetual motion and craved sensations generated by body movement: gliding through the water, flowing with the ocean waves, delivering a powerful kick or punch. Being unaware of KI or CHI, I was soon to learn that what I actually craved was being at one with life force energy. Soon after returning from Asia I found a truly profound path of energy.

Read More

For the Love of Strength Training

by Eric Carlson

Integral Leadership & Journey of Practice member

Of all the recommended practices in ITP, strength training seems to incur the most disdain from practitioners. This became apparent most recently in our Journey of Practice & ITP Leadership groups. As a long-time strength-training practitioner, I want to share some of my suggestions with our community. It is my hope to bring more joy and appreciation of strength training to your practice.

Read More

To Walk, To Run, To Be Human

An Excerpt from The Life We Are Given

by George Leonard & Michael Murphy

Walking is one of the most commonplace of human activities. It is also a great wonder - stately, graceful, and efficient, an essential mark of being human. The journey of our lineage toward the large brain, culture and consciousness took a decisive and irreversible turn with the evolutionary gamble of the upright stance and unique bipedal walking of our hominid ancestors. We are so accustomed to it that we are unaware of how marvelous walking is. To see this form of movement as if for the first time, use a lens that turns things upside down or (if you're willing to look a little foolish) lean over so that your head is upside down. From this perspective, a group of people walking toward you reveals an amazingly supple, undulating movement, an easy, liquid flow of energy unlike that of any other creature.

Read More

Practice Tips for Nurturing the Body

by Shu Liu

Integral Leadership cohort member

To keep the body in good health is a duty... otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.

- Gauta ma Buddha

What is the Body?

The body is made up of complex and interconnected systems. So much of what the body does is autonomous that it's easy to forget about it until something goes wrong, maybe in the form of an injury or illness. When we inquire what the body is and does, we see a deeper beauty and mystery: the interrelatedness of the body, mind, heart and soul. Our physiology affects the quality of our thoughts, the vibrancy of our emotions and our connectedness with spirit. In this article, we'll aim to develop a better understanding of a critical component in our body--the nervous system--and share some practice tips on how to engage with it for our optimal health and performance.

Read More

Spotlight on Dusty Niles

ITP San Rafael and Integral Leadership member

How did you become involved in ITP?

Roger Marsh taught me the Kata on the beach at Asilomar State campgrounds at the Center for Spiritual Living conference I attended there. About six months later, I went to Esalen for an introductory ITP workshop and found a home. I experienced what feeling grounded was all about.

What do you appreciate about the practice?

The practice keeps me grounded and opens portals to extend towards something beyond myself that I cannot comprehend.

What keeps you practicing ITP?

Having a community where I can show up, support others and be supported. It is a pragmatic path. Everything in life, for me, has a currency vibration, and I want a good return on my spiritual, emotional, physical and space/time investment.

I know deep in my bones that this practice supports me, even when I am not practicing.

Read More