We-dentity

Serving a community of private individuals and professionals who have the desire to cultivate a life of clarity, compassion, and creativity. We warmly welcome our new subscribers. Thanks for joining! Your feedback is encouraged. Please feel free to contact us.

Workshop Announcements Join us to learn how to say "Yes" to life, by tapping into the wisdom and intelligence of your body, heart, and soul. Embodied Wisdom: Utilize the intelligence of your body to change the way you think and feel Seishindo Personal Growth Workshop with Charlie Badenhop and Dorothy Pietracatella Washington, DC, April 15-17, 2005 Embodied Intelligence: The Role Your Body Plays in Learning, Relationships, and Creativity Seishindo Coaching Workshop with Charlie Badenhop Calgary, Canada, April 22, 2005 Self Hypnosis for Self Renewal and Healing with Charlie Badenhop and Dorothy Pietracatella New York City, April 30 - May 1, 2005

1. A Story

Have there not been times in your life when you felt separate from much of the rest of the world? Many people report having felt very much like an outsider during various portions of their high school career. Developing one's identity during puberty can be a truly excruciating experience at times. Perhaps it was the sudden onset of acne, or the fact that your folks would not allow you to get your ears pierced like ALL of your friends. Being "different" is just not cool unless all of your friends are being different in the same way as you. In Japanese culture, many of the activities people take part in during the course of a day are designed to train people to intuitively think, feel, and act, with a "group consciousness". Feeling like you belong to the group gives one a warm sense of what I playfully call "we-dentity". Having you own separate way of doing things may give you a sense of independence, but it leads to a somewhat more lonely sense of being, that in the West is called "I-dentity". Let me give you a sense of how this process of "we-dentity" is fostered in an Aikido dojo.

Everyone is meant to show up on time for class. The slippers each person wears are neatly lined up at the entrance to the dojo, just like the fresh fish that are lined up one next to the other in the local fish store. If necessary, when you enter the dojo you tidy up any of the slippers that are askew. When the slippers are all in place it means the class is ready for instruction. One of the senior students will be sure to check that everything is just right, prior to the sensei arriving.

When the sensei enters, everyone stops what they are doing and bows to the sensei while offering a greeting. All of the students are meant to bow in unison. Group action leads to group mind and a sense of fellowship.

When the sensei is ready to start the class he bows, and each student is meant to start and stop their reply bow at the same time. If the rhythm of the group is off, the sensei is likely to bow again, thus requiring the students to better attune to each other, and better attune to the sensei.

When warm-up activities begin each student moves in unison, and voice is added to further meld the group together. "One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four." Little by little the group mind starts to coalesce. When the voice is added, the group starts to breathe in accordance with the rhythm of the counting. People that breathe together tend to think and act alike. Group breathing leads to group mind and a sense of safety.

At some point, with everyone standing more complex movements are initiated. Specific placement of the feet and soft circular movements of the arms are joined together with the counting and the breathing necessary to fuel all that is taking place. One, two, three, four, the voice counts as the feet and arms move. Everyone moving together, counting together, and breathing together. Everyone modulating their individual activity to match and meld with everyone else. As the energy of the group coalesces the mind of the group becomes one. "One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four." Movement, stillness, inhale, exhale, movement, stillness, inhale, exhale.

Each student begins to sense that:

"My energy feeds the others, the energy of the others feeds me."

"When I am whole, powerful, and in harmony with the group, the group is whole, powerful, and in harmony with me."

The boundary line between "self" and "other" softens and "I" become an integral part of "we."

"Your training adds to my training."

"I cannot improve without you."

"The spirit of your life adds to the spirit of my life."

At such times, there is no one left in the room to attack, because attacking another would be the same as attacking myself.

Having achieved this frame of mind, we begin to practice the art of self defense. Looking to protect "I" and "We" at the same time.

2. Commentary

Today's commentary will be simple. I suggest that you notice the movement and flow of people around you. Be it commuting to work, in your work environment, or when meeting up with friends. Notice the times when people move and breathe together in harmony, and when the flow of the group seems to be more helter-skelter. Experiment with moving and breathing with other people, while noticing when you feel a bond to the group, and when you feel separate. Maintain a soft focus on yourself, while also noticing what you need to do to flow with those around you. Talk less and notice more. Feel how the emotion of the group you are in at any one time ebbs and flows. Write to us and tell us about your experience.

3. Practice

Breathing Together, Becoming One
This is a very simple Practice, and yet it is one of the most powerful in the entire Seishindo repertoire.

This Practice requires at least one partner. You can do this Practice with a friend, a spouse, your child, a colleague, a fellow student. This Practice is fantastic to do with anyone you are in a committed relationship with, personal or professional. It is an excellent way to help people better understand and appreciate each other, from a heartfelt sense of being somatically connected to another human being.

4. Links

Peter Shepherd is a newly found colleague. He is a psychologist, living in France, and he runs the Tools for Transformation website.

His site has a lot of interesting articles and information.
Peter also publishes a free monthly newsletter in email format. Each issue offers informative articles about personal growth and life transformation, plus book reviews and recommended web sites. To subscribe, simply send a blank email to newsletter@trans4mind.com.

And last but certainly not least, Peter has written a personal growth home study course entitled "The Positive Approach". He offers this course at no charge to all those interested in his work. The course is intended to help you become more clear about your identity, what you want in life - your life vision - and how to consciously transform your life for the better. You will learn how your beliefs shape your life experience and become aware of exactly how you are creating your reality. Each of these lessons includes a practical element that you can apply during the week, so your life can genuinely start to improve and you make real progress toward manifesting your vision.

5. Suggested Music

"Call of the Valley"
Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and various other artists
This CD offers a unique experience of Indian music. To me, this CD captures the heart and soul of India's spirituality. The music is simple, unique, and magical.

6. Our subscribers' section

I want to thank so many readers for writing in sharing their appreciation for the last issue of our newsletter!

***

Every week new people are signing on as subscribers. We are very glad to meet all of you, and hope that you will feel at home with us. Our ONGOING growth depends on all of you. Please help us to spread our life affirming message by passing our newsletter along to others. Thanks so much!

* * *

If you have a business, hobby, group, or organization that you would like other members of the Seishindo community to know about, then please send us a short write-up (two or three sentences) here. You don't have a website? Then let us know how other members might contact you by phone, fax, in person, or in writing.

We also invite you to send in:
A) Questions and comments relating to what you read here.
B) Experiences that relate to the "Practices" presented.
C) The names of books/music/services/products, etc. you feel might be of interest to the Seishindo community. Please include a short write-up (two or three sentences) about your selections and send all input here.

7. Copyright

Unless otherwise attributed, all material for the newsletter "Pure Heart, Simple Mind"(tm) is written and edited by Charlie Badenhop ©. All rights reserved.

You are encouraged to send our newsletter in its entirety to anyone you think might like it.

If you would like to reprint our newsletter for other than your personal use, you are invited to do so, provided you: a. Receive our written permission (which is likely) b. Attach the above copyright notice to our material. c. Do not sell our material to others. d. Keep the content of our material intact without any editing whatsoever.

8. Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Delivery

Please subscribe or unsubscribe here.

Is our newsletter only arriving sporadically? Our "Pure Heart, Simple Mind" newsletter is meant to come to you twice a month, on or about the 1st and 15th of each month. If you aren't receiving every issue it could be because of the filtering systems your Internet Service Provider (ISP) uses to keep unwanted messages out of your inbox. In attempting to block unwanted mail, your provider will sometimes wind up blocking email like this newsletter, that you DO want to receive. If you are having delivery problems, send a blank e-mail to delivery@seishindo.org and we will send you a list of tips that can help ensure delivery. You can use these tips for other email as well.