ITPI Winter Newsletter 2020 - Affirming Inspiration!

Dear Friends,

What's alive inside of you as you awaken to this sparkling new year and decade?

Human beings are an inventive lot! We have the unique ability to envision new possibilities for ourselves through our conscious powers of intention and also to use our subliminal mind and inner knowing for a deeper flow of wisdom and guidance. How we tap into these fertile human capacities and keep them growing is another story worth exploring. By embarking on a path of practice for positive growth and healthy change, you can find the guideposts and support needed to awaken your potential and experience the full expression of your being in body, mind, heart, and soul - the whole you!

In ITP, practitioners are encouraged to step on the path of practice at their own pace and do what motivates and serves their whole being. Practicing with a friend or supportive community seems to accelerate growth and makes the experience of practice fun and joyful. Give it a try with a friend and let us hear all about it!

In this winter issue, enjoy reading vignettes about ITP core practices drawn from The Life We Are Given and articles submitted by community members about practices near and dear to their hearts. Whatever and however you practice, may it be with a spirit of wonder and offer you a wellspring of discovery for what matters most to you and our world.

Happy, fulfilling and hopeful new year,

Pam Kramer

ITPI President

ITP Integral Assessment

Use this assessment to identify your current condition in body, mind, heart and soul and where you would like to be.

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Affirmations

A Contract with Yourself

About Affirmations

Affirmations are clear, straightforward statements of positive personal change in body, being and performance. They represent a firm contract with yourself. They focus your best conscious efforts on transformation, while seeking to enlist powers beyond your conscious understanding.

Affirmations create an alignment in body, mind, heart and soul, which serves to integrate the individual, and create a whole being greater than the sum of the parts. In terms of the evolutionary vision that informs ITP, the infinite possibilities of Source were involved in the universe from the very beginning. Evolution is the process through which these hidden possibilities are revealed. Extraordinary life often emerges as a gift, rather than as the product of striving, because it is already there.

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The Nine Commitments

The Heart of ITP

About the Nine Commitments

The Nine Commitments are the heart of ITP. You will find that the commitments harmonize together to support your transformative growth. They help you to remember that the journey itself is what is truly important.

Through adherence to these commitments, you can move forward with grace and intention, on the road to transformation. The Nine Commitments help guide us in a positive, affirming manner and give us a foundation for further exploration. The Nine Commitments focus on personal responsibility, relationship, community, the ITP Kata, physical exercise, conscious eating, intellectual understanding and affirmations.

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Click the arrow above to experience GRACE

The ITP Kata

The Core of the Practice

About the ITP Kata

The ITP Kata is a series of movements that embodies the definition of practice itself: it is an activity that, for all of its benefits, is done on a regular basis primarily for its own sake, because it is the path upon which you walk.

The series of mind-body-spirit exercises comprising the Kata are the core of ITP. The movements are intended to articulate all the muscle groups and joints in the body and to offer an opportunity for deep rhythmic breathing, relaxation, transformational imaging and meditation. The Kata was created by Aikido sensei and human potential pioneer, George Leonard, as a daily practice, intended to tap our latent capacities and to provide the experience of living a vital, joyful and fulfilling life.

The word Kata (kah-tah) is Japanese and means "form." The ITP Kata was designed to be performed in 40 minutes, each element blending into the next, without a sense of haste. Its lineage can be traced back to hatha yoga, the martial arts, modern exercise physiology, Progressive Relaxation, visualization research and witness meditation.

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Leonard Energy Training

The Body As Teacher

Leonard Energy Training (LET) is a discipline developed by Aikido sensei George Leonard, and inspired by the martial art of Aikido, combined with western psychology, and physical theory. It teaches practical, alternative ways of dealing with life situations while enhancing the flow of vital energy. LET relies on the profound wisdom of the body. Once we are aware of its subtle power, the body becomes a sensitive antenna for tuning into nature and other people. A small, handy model of the universe, it is a royal road to the unconscious. All the books, computers, and electronic networks in this world contain only a minuscule fraction of the information it takes to create one human body.

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Harmonizing with the Intelligent

Energy of the Universe

by Roger Marsh

ITP Mastery teacher and GLEE co-coordinator

First, let's talk about energy. Energy is an interesting phenomenon since often it's something that cannot be seen. Usually it is the effect of energy that we can see or experience. I invite you to do a very simple, yet profound experiment: vigorously rub your hands together for five to ten seconds and then slowly move them apart several inches, then very gently pulse them toward and away from each other, see if you can sense anything between your hands. Most people experience some kind of heat, a magnetic repulsion or attraction, or some kind of tingling. There is something between your hands, that can be sensed but not seen. In physics, a field is a region in which each point is affected by a force. We could say between your hands is a field of energy, an energy of some kind.

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Staying Current

with Non Violent Communications (NVC)

by Shu Liu

Integral Leadership cohort member

What is NVC?

NVC is a philosophy, a methodology and a consciousness.

The philosophical foundation of NVC, developed by Marshall Rosenberg, is that all humans share universal emotions and needs. When we communicate and relate to each other, we're trying to get our needs met. However, a lot of communication, especially in times of conflict, focuses on our judgements and perceptions rather than our feelings and needs. NVC proposes that by focusing on and communicating our feelings and needs, we can come to a more harmonious outcome in our relationships.

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Spotlight on Charlotte Hatch

ITP Mastery & Integral Leadership Teacher

How did you become involved in ITP?

On Jan. 17, 1991, the US bombed Kuwait from ships and planes. This was the beginning of Operation Desert Storm, our attempt to expel Iraqi troops from the country. I was very depressed about this turn of events. That day George Leonard invited me to his house and explained that he, Michael Murphy, Annie Styron Leonard, and Eric Riswold were starting a weekly group called Integral Transformative Practice. He asked me whether I'd like to join. My whole being said YES! I felt so happy to embark upon a positive journey.

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