Integral Transformative Practice International

- Fall Newsletter 2014 -

Dear Friends,

As we shift into autumn in the northern hemisphere, nature shares her brilliant colors and abundant harvest. It's the turning of the season toward rest and renewal. Our practice encourages us to flow with the natural rhythms of life by bringing in more light and tenderness as we enter a time of more darkness. How is your practice supporting you to feel enlivened at this time?

In this issue, we focus on ways to nurture the body----to honor its wisdom and what it needs to recharge and be nourished. Please take a few moments to learn from our inspiring contributors about the interplay of LET and tango, sustainable fitness, integral practices in the field of sport and a special feature on the wisdom of the body by George Leonard. As Michael Murphy writes, "The body is all time remembered." What is your body remembering and wanting now?

Opportunities for practice abound-for those who live close by and far away----with Mastery Cycle 7 beginning this month and new cycles for ITP groups also starting this fall. Please join us in our celebration of body, mind, heart and soul and infuse your whole being with more light for yourself and the world.

Heartfelt blessings and gratitude,

Pamela Kramer

ITPI President

Golf in the Kingdom Marathon

This year's GKM was a tremendous success! Thanks to our amazing sponsors, participants and celebrities for making this event such a memorable experience. ITPI raised close to $60,000 as a result of all of our efforts. Click here to see photos from the event. Click here to see a list of our sponsors.

The Non-Negotiable Moment

of LET and Tango

by Tom Lewis

Mastery Member and Tango Teacher

There is a profound wisdom in the body, in the pulsing of the blood, the rhythm of the breath, the turning of the joints. Once we are aware of its subtle power, the body becomes a sensitive antenna for tuning into nature and other people. It can serve as a metaphor for every human thought, emotion and action. It is the royal road to the unconscious... - George Leonard and Michael Murphy from The Life We are Given

The man who dances tango is a polymorphous animal; he is a composite of the animals that historically
preceded him. His step is soft and energetic like an elephant. He glides like a panther, sensually transferring his weight to his hips. Like a cat, his back and neck are supple, as he projects his energy from his chest, making his stride long and dynamic. His upper body 'flies' like a bird. His glance is projected forward like that of an eagle, giving a precise direction to his steps. His arms entwine the woman's body like a serpent, in an embrace that is non-negotiable. -

Susana Miller, Tanguero

These two quotes exemplify for me the hidden and manifest qualities of the human potential. The body is our most powerful expression and our most direct link to the divine. Our bodies provide us with immeasurable qualities which when combined with intention can transform our entire being to levels of consciousness and activity only limited by our imagination.

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Your Integral Hygiene: The ITP Kata

by Roger Marsh

Mastery Teacher

Created in 1992 by human potential pioneers George Leonard and Michael Murphy as part of Integral Transformative Practice� (ITP), the ITP Kata is a proven portal into deepening and unifying body, mind, heart and soul. As one experienced meditator said, "The Kata is an amazing thing. I'm able to reach depths of peace and calm in 40 minutes that have taken me days to reach at meditation retreats." This is one of the things that makes the Kata so potent: it is incredibly efficient.

With ITP we are on a householder's path, which means we don't have all day to meditate, quiet the mind and connect with the divine. We have other important things to do, right? Well, yes and no. While we may have important things to do, consider that who you are being and where you are coming from as you do them is more important than what you are doing, far more important.

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Mastery Cycle 7: New Developments

by Max Gaenslen

Mastery Teacher

To learn is to change. If you're not changing you're not learning. - George Leonard

[Change] takes some sort of challenge, a challenge within an environment that allows evolution to take place.

- George Leonard

What spark of the divine within you is looking for fertile soil in which to grow? How does the deepest part of your being want to evolve and be expressed in the world? How does your practice, and your community, support and further this expression?

Something that has amazed me in watching the Mastery program evolve through the years is seeing how it succeeds at being both a deeply personal journey and also a profound experience of community. There is something about a group of people that holds its members in a place of recognition of the deeper potential and divine spark, actively seeks to interact in ways that brings forth that spark, allowing it to be seen and thrive, and, most importantly, walks its talk by engaging in practices to facilitate the further unfolding and expression of divinity in the world.

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The Journey of Mastery

by Charlotte Hatch

Mastery Teacher

In my life, I've had the opportunity to travel to foreign lands and explore the world. I've enjoyed different cultures, tasted new foods, met new people and seen exotic locales with fresh eyes. I feel excited and adventurous while traveling. Who knows what strange situation I might encounter? I need to be strong and courageous.

When O Sensei, the founder of Aikido, said that he was the universe, he believed that each of us is also the universe. All of us have a vast, rich universe within us, as well as the one outside. We can travel to foreign countries within; we can feel the nuances and yearnings of our inner world, our body, mind, heart and soul. Like actual travel, this inner exploration takes fortitude and courage, because we may also end up doing and feeling the unfamiliar.

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The Transformative Practice of Core Centering: Hara, Peak Performance, and the

Integral Movement
by Barry Robbins

ITPI Vice President

Published in Sports, Energy, and Consciousness:

Awakening Human Potential through Sport

Sports, fitness, and exercise programs in the United States continue to evolve as athletes of all types, both professional and recreational, seek to achieve higher levels of performance. In doing so, athletes, coaches, trainers, and sports psychologists are embracing some of the concepts of the Integral Movement, in order to attain elevated states of athletic functioning and heightened awareness. These somatic mind/body practices integrate both Eastern

and Western principles, philosophies, and exercises to achieve optimal results. Michael Murphy, who, along with George Leonard, has introduced the first coherent integral practice

in the West----Integral Transformative Practice� (ITP)----has

coined these approaches "Transformative Practices" and

defines them in Future of the Body (Murphy, 1993) as a complex and coherent set of activities that produce positive change in a person or a group."

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Sustainable Whole Body Training
by Sheri Pate

Mastery Member and ITP Group Leader

I was inspired by my ITP visioning process and affirmation, community to join with trainer Robert DeLeon to create Sustainable Whole Body Training (SWBT), an evidenced-based training program. SWBT combines mind-body training, strength building and education to attract flow states and specifically for improved athletic performance and greater joy and meaning in life. Flow state, coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, is a mental state in which a person is fully immersed in the moment, effortlessly performing, seemingly with supernormal ability.

In a SWBT session, we usually begin by lying down and utilizing intentional breath and body awareness accompanied by an educational component, then we move into correctional exercises and strength building. Finally, we end with a period of recovery.

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Flesh, Spirit, and Emptiness

Chapter 3 from The Silent Pulse: A Search for the Perfect Rhythm That Exists in Each of Us by George Leonard, ITP

Co-Founder

The subtle dance of the body joins us to the world. But what is this body? Of what is it made?

The distinction has always seemed clear enough: flesh is that chunky, solid stuff that is heir to ills, desires, ultimate decay. Spirit provides a contrast, having no odor, taste, or feel, no appetites. Flesh is substantial and vulnerable. Spirit is elusive and everlasting. Seeing the two in opposition, philosophers and religious leaders have had no hesitation in taking the spirit's side. For Plato, the world of matter and flesh was only a pale copy of a higher realm of Ideal Forms. Manichaeism, an early Persian religion that profoundly influenced St. Augustine, saw the whole universe as divided into two kingdoms. God ruled the kingdom of spirit, while Satan held sway over the kingdom of matter. The human body, being a gift of Satan, was totally evil. Thomas � Kempis referred to the body as "that dung heap." St. Francis vacillated between denigrating the body and reluctantly cooperating with what he called "Brother Body" or "Brother Ass."

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Spotlight on Sheri Pate

Mastery Member and Group Leader of ITP Thousand Oaks

1. How did you become involved in ITP?

In 2011, Bobby and Marianna Clampett invited my husband and me to the ITPI golf fundraiser Golf in the Kingdom. As we delved deeper into ITP and the community, we realized that ITP would become our practice and community as well.

2. Why is ITP important to you?

The comprehensiveness of ITP brings many of my interests together into one practice. I'm especially drawn to Leonard Energy Training and enlisting the body as a teacher. ITP is most important to me because it has taught me how to more fully realize my hopes and dreams.