ITPI-NL-banner-new-2022.jpg

Quarterly Newsletter | Winter 2022

News, articles and resources to connect us

UPCOMING EVENTS

Check our events page to see what's coming up in the next few months at ITPI. View print calendar.

QUARTERLY INSPIRATION

Get inspired with this quarter's featured articles and media

PRACTICE RESOURCES

Explore our featured materials to support your practice

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Get to know this quarter's featured member & new ITP group

Give a Gift

Perhaps we'll never know how far the path can go, how much a human being can truly achieve, until we realize that the ultimate reward is not a gold medal but the path itself.


― George Leonard, Mastery

May2020_Kata Song copy.png

WELCOME

Greetings from Pam Kramer, ITPI President

How do you stay engaged in the arc of hope, possibility and practice in times of uncertainty? What ways do you find yourself adapting and evolving to create space for clarity in action? 


George Leonard's often-shared quote, "Expect nothing, be ready for anything," couldn't be more fitting as 2022 unfolds. Our practice offers abundant resources to embrace this integral mindset. There is something powerful about the ebb and flow of challenge and opportunity when we approach life in the context of a larger narrative.


This first issue of our 2022 quarterly newsletter touches on the theme of personal, community and global evolution. Our integral transformation inevitably inspires a ripple effect to include our relationships and beyond. As Rachel Hamilton shares in her article found in this issue:


"I love that ITP is creating curriculum to foster human relational skills like cooperation and how to listen to our soul. Where else are we going to learn that? By being able to ground and center ourselves, I think ITP can be a place to practice skillful communication and learn to stay engaged with people with whom we disagree."


In this issue, read about the many ways we can adapt to the times and find inspiration in the ongoing evolution of our collective practice. As we ease out of the winter season and look ahead to Spring, let's honor both the hidden and emerging possibilities that await us all.


Thank you for your presence in our ITP global community and for the gifts you give to yourself and the world. 


Blessings of peace, beauty and love,


Pam Kramer

ITPI President

QUARTERLY INSPIRATION

Seekers-Sages_Rachel-Max.jpg

Rachel Hamilton

ITPI Board member

Yes And... What Improv Can Teach Us About Navigating These Wild and Wooley Times

Rachel Hamilton, member of ITPI's board of directors and active practitioner, shares the importance of an ever-evolving practice inspired by her 25 years experience as an Improv directer. An alumna of The Second City in Chicago and an accomplished actor, improviser and Emmy-nominated writer and director, Rachel touches on how she's applied these techniques to her own personal practice and her vision for the ITP community in the year ahead.

READ MORE
MEDITATION-BLISS.jpeg

Michael Murphy

ITP co-founder

Using Pleasure as a Guide in Our Meditation Practice

During the 9 Commitment Challenge online gathering with ITP co-founder Michael Murphy, the question was posed: “Is a blissful experience while meditating something that happens more often as we deepen our practice, or is it a nice by-product that appears occasionally?” Michael shares how we can use pleasure as an indicator we are on the right path, and how we can continue to let go of this easy state of relaxation and be faithful to our practice in pursuit of ever-evolving transformative experiences.

WATCH THE VIDEO
path_tree_stream_green copy.jpg

Ursula Le Guin

Poet/Author

Come to Dust

Spirit, rehearse the journeys of the body

that are to come, the motions

of the matter that held you.

Rise up in the smoke of palo santo.

Fall to the earth in the falling rain.

Sink in, sink down to the farthest roots.

Mount slowly in the rising sap

to the branches, the crown, the leaf-tips.

Come down to earth as leaves in autumn

to lie in the patient rot of winter.

Rise again in spring’s green fountains.

Drift in sunlight with the sacred pollen

to fall in blessing.

                                   All earth’s dust

has been life, held soul, is holy.

PRACTICE RESOURCES

5.1-KenPiper.jpeg

Ken Piper

ITP Tulsa member

Learning from an Evolving Community Kata Practice

Ten-year ITP practitioner and ITP Tulsa group member, Ken Piper, has been guiding the online community Kata for the past two years since the start of the pandemic and their shift to Zoom gatherings. Adapting to an online gathering for their weekly meetings and practice, Ken has learned much from this evolving way of coming together and participating in the Kata. In this video, he shares his experience and unexpected ways he’s grown during these past few years, and how the Kata continues to be “brilliant by design” no matter the setting.

WATCH THE VIDEO
Screen Shot 2022-03-02 at 4.22.19 PM.png

Charlotte Hatch

ITP teacher

Balancing & Centering - from the Leonard Energy Training Video

Clip from the ITP Leonard Energy Training video on basic centering. This exercise provides an easy path to somatic balance and awareness of center. In the ITP world-view, a change in the condition of the body, mind, heart, or soul affects the whole person and so it follows that a balanced body leads to a balanced life.

WATCH THE VIDEO
Esalen_pool_ocean_250px_SQUARE.jpg

Pam Kramer

ITPI President & ITP teacher


Donita Decker

ITP Group Leader & teacher

Honoring the Past and Celebrating Our Potential for Growth in 2022

The beginning of the year is a natural marker to reflect on transformative progress and challenges. Inspired by the January 2022 GLEE call program led by ITPI president Pam Kramer and ITP San Rafael group leader Donita Decker, this practice guides you in setting and aligning with your vision for the year ahead by celebrating your growth and learning from challenges from 2021.


Practice Resource: Reflection and Visioning Questions

WATCH THE VIDEO

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Screenshot 2022-03-02 at 11.56.20.png

Michael Choy

ITP Palo Alto Group Leader

ITP Community Spotlight on

Michael Choy

Michael Choy, Mastery teacher and one of the founding members of ITP Palo Alto, shares how ITP has nurtured his ongoing transformation, how their collective practice has evolved within their group and what he is looking forward to most about co-leading the ongoing series, The Magic of the Integral.

READ MORE
1200px-Hagen_Hohenlimburg01.jpg

Arnd Cort

ITP Germany Group Leader

Welcome to ITP's Newest International Group in Germany

A special welcome to our newest member to the international ITP community, located in Hagen, near Dortmund in Germany, with other members joining virtually from around the country. They officially launched in October 2021 and currently have 9 members. 

 

Leading the group is Arndt Corts, who helped the group develop out of a TaiJi / QiGong group meeting within their worship community.

READ MORE

The health of a given organism is in direct proportion to the number of its perceived options.

George Leonard


ITP International

P.O. Box 544

Corte Madera, CA 94976

Phone: 888-366-9213



www.itp-international.org

Facebook  Instagram  Pinterest  Twitter  YouTube