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Serving a community of private individuals and professionals
who have the desire to cultivate a life of clarity, compassion,
and creativity. Your feedback is encouraged. Please contact
us at seishindo@seishindo.org.
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Workshops Announcement
The Body of Tenderness–The Body
of Fear:
Finding the Wisdom of Love
As an individual wanting more from your life, or
a trained professional wanting to add to your current
professional skills you will learn how to release
excess emotional energy trapped in the body (be it
pain, sorrow, anger, or fear) and transmute this energy
into a loving presence that you share with the world.
The discipline of Seishindo offers you the best
of both Eastern and Western models of health and well-being.
A remarkable system that merges Oriental philosophy
with Western science.
Click on these links to find out about the details:
Seishindo
Life Coaching Workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico
April 5 - 6, 2004
Seishindo
Life Coaching Workshop in Washington DC
April 16-18, 2004
Use Eastern Wisdom to transform your life,
and thrive in the Western World
Learn how to utilize Aikido principles to develop
a sense of vital health and well being and cultivate
a compassionate, centered self.
Click on this link to find out about the details:
Seishindo
Life Coaching Workshop in San Diego
July 12-13
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1. Starting Line
What I try to do in these newsletters is realize and tease
out the extraordinary from the mundane. Animals, children,
old folks, and even plants, flowers, and weeds are all fair
game. The idea being to start noticing how life is always
there, ready to teach us a "special" lesson of some
sort or another, if only we would take the time to notice.
I want to offer you an invitation right now.
I invite you to discover a beautiful lesson in some aspect
of your life that you might initially consider to be mundane.
On the street I live on in Tokyo, a car can barely traverse
from top to bottom because the street is so narrow. Because
of this, a system for lining up everyone's bicycles on one
side of the street is necessary and important.
My wife, my daughter, and myself, park our bicycles and my
motorcycle across the street in front of my neighbor's house.
To me it seems unfair for my neighbor to have all this clutter
in front of his house, but so be it. My neighbor's house sits
one foot nine inches from the curb. Pretty cozy, isn't it?
Eight years ago, an innocuous looking weed-tree began growing
right next to where I park my motorcycle. You might think
that a single weed-tree growing where my bike sits is not
a big deal but let me explain, because initially I didn't
think it would be a big deal either.
This little weed-tree started life in a humble manner, sprouting
up in a crack between the sidewalk and the wall. Initially
it seemed too trivial to pay attention to or pull out, and
initially I even cheered it on while marveling at what a hardy
pioneer it was.
The little monster grew quite rapidly from day one, and after
about six months it was wrapping itself around the front wheel
of my bike and birds were coming to rest on it. All of this
activity led to bird droppings on my motorcycle seat, and
after wiping off the mess several times I took out my pruning
scissors and cut the darn thing down to about six inches above
ground level.
Ignoring the weed in the first place was my first mistake.
Cutting it down six inches above ground level was my second.
It grew back with a vengeance! In no time at all it had more
branches than before, and the base coming out of the crack
was more woody and less weed like. Foolishly, my approach
with this menace remained somewhat casual, and I watched it
grow ever more rapidly, with an amusement that lasted until
bird droppings started winding up on my motorcycle seat again.
This time around, needing hedge clippers to get the job done,
I cut the weed-tree down as close to the sidewalk as possible,
and I must say that I had a sense of "Good riddance!"
when I did so.
Well, I think it was the very next morning, or two days at
the most. I went outside and the bloody thing was clearly
sprouting new growth. This time I quickly dug away at it with
a small shovel, but without enlarging the crack I couldn't
unearth it. Sure enough, new growth quickly answered the call
to arms.
At this point I was beginning to concede a shift in the balance
of power. Regardless of my college education and specialized
training in negotiation and communication strategies, the
weed-tree was prevailing. Kind of embarrassing actually.
What to do?
I knew by now that there was only one viable course of action.
First, I found a new place to park my bike. Next, I went
out and purchased some plant food and liberally watered and
fed the weed-tree every day. My little beauty grew gloriously
and I soon began to lovingly bonsai it!
Some years later it is looking truly gorgeous!
Two questions come to my mind, and I wonder if they come
to yours as well.
1. Can a weed-tree that is
nurtured, praised, and pruned, still be considered to be a
weed-tree?
2. Isn't life much grander
once we realize that so much of what goes on is not under
our control?
I only hope my spirit, can be half as strong as the tree
that has offered itself to me.
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Private Sessions
If you would like to become better able to work wisely
with core issues such as your identity, deteriorating
health, a general sense of well-being, destructive
habit patterns, strained personal relationships, and
various professional concerns, please consider engaging
in an in-person private session with me.
My private sessions in Santa Fe, New Mexico, will
be on April 7th and 8th, 2004. My private sessions
in Washington DC will be on April 20th and 21st, 2004.
Read
more about what Seishindo sessions can bring you.
Read
what other people say about Seishindo sessions.
If you think you might be interested in a private
session, please contact Charlie directly at charlie@seishindo.org.
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2. Main course
It is important to note and be in touch with, the requirement
each human being has for "limbic resonance" or connection
to other life forms. We can for instance see this need for
connection in the relationship between a dog and its keeper.
Take a dog who has been living with his keeper for a while
and you will find that he is able to "tell time"
in a way that is uncanny. If his owner generally comes home
at 6PM, even with all of the clocks hidden, the dog will get
up from his nap and start pacing around at 5:45PM every workday.
On the keeper's side, it has been a tough day at work and
she feels really drained. But the moment she opens the door
and sees her dear friend wagging his tail and showing joy
at her return, her tiredness quickly leaves her body and she's
ready to play. Indeed there is a significant amount of scientific
evidence to show that people who have a good relationship
with their pets, live longer and heal quicker than those who
live on their own. Our pets help us to rebalance our limbic-somatic
systems in a definite life sustaining way, and we do the same
for our pets.
Living here in Japan, it's amazing at times to run across
the bonsai displays of local people who keep their collections
as a hobby. Some of what I have seen is emotionally very moving.
One of my favorites is a collection of about one hundred different
chrysanthemum plants alongside a neighbor's house. Some of
the plants are quite old and quite large and have been growing
for years. Other plants are quite small, and also have been
lovingly tended for many years. When I happen by during the
flowering season I always feel a sense of awe in seeing such
beauty.
One crisp autumn day when I was not feeling emotionally up
to par with the weather, I happened by my neighbor's bonsai
collection, and for the first time ever I engaged the gentleman
in conversation. He is currently 81 years old and has been
tending his flock for about thirty-five years. I asked him
what motivated him to take on such an ambitious project, and
he told me he did so shortly after his son had been killed
in an auto accident. "The beauty of the flowers"
he said, "reminded me of the warmth of my son's smile."
"I truly believe that these flowers saved my life."
Such a beautiful example of loving and our need to find beauty
outside of ourselves, in order to help sustain our own well-being.
For me, I have found an important expression of love and affection,
in relationship with the tiny tree that grows across the street
from where I live. This tree is a metaphor of myself and my
life. It is very important that I nurture this tree, for in
the process I nurture myself. In giving time to care for the
tree, I give time to care for my own emotional well-being.
In trimming the tree I am adding to the aesthetic quality
of my own life.
How about you? Do you have a relationship that allows you
to express love and affection for self as well as "other"?
I hope so, because you emotional health and your physical
health, are intertwined with your expressions of love.
3. Practice
"Connecting,
and extending out into the world" is the name of
the Practice for this issue of our newsletter. This Practice
is meant to help you have a sense of how you are connected
to other life forms in the world. Friends, allies, colleagues,
loved ones, family members, people with similar interests
and concerns, nature, art. When we feel connected we tend
to feel more empowered and more at ease.
4. Links
http://www.resourcesinmovement.com/TonicFunction_Exp_Anatomy.htm
This site is a great resource for people interested in somatics.
Here is a workshop being offered by Kevin Frank &
Caryn McHose:
Tonic Function and Experiential Anatomy:
A Perceptual and Coordinative Approach To Structural Integration
A Five Day Course in Holderness, NH, June 18-22, 2004
Hubert
Godard's theories on Gravity and Tonic Function help body
therapists and movement teachers use gravity principles to
make changes in the way people function. The key to this way
of working is understanding that how we use our attention
before we move, completely changes the way we move.
Two of Godard's long time students are offering a class in
some of his more important lessons in perception and body
analysis. It will be held at their studio by a quiet lake
in rural New Hampshire. Don't miss a great chance to get an
in depth introduction to Godard's work, and come away with
insights into what makes movement changes possible.
5. Suggested Books by
Cindy Franklin
"Waking the Tiger. Healing
Trauma: The Innate Capacity
to Transform Overwhelming Experiences" by Peter A. Levine
Peter Levine's starting point is to ask why animals in the
wild, though often threatened, are rarely traumatized. He
illustrates how all mammals, including human beings, have
the instinctual capacity to heal trauma. He then goes on to
show how we as humans have lost this connection to our healing
power. We so often lose our instinctual ability to listen
to and follow our animal nature, our bodies' inherent wisdom.
This book offers illuminating validation of paths such as
Seishindo that allow us to cultivate our body-mind intelligence
and thus activate our own innate self-healing power.
6. Suggested Music
CD: "True Friend" Linda Worster
I mentioned this CD in passing before, but I just got to
finally hear it this week. For those of you who have already
fallen in love with the special Seishindo compilation CD
of Linda's music, will find this offering heartfelt and
haunting.
A lovely CD and you support the work of a wonderful human
being and long time friend, when you buy one. For more info,
contact Linda at:
Linda@lindaworster.com
or visit her website LindaWorster.com.
7. Endnote
Chitra writes:
I have been subscribing for the newsletter for three issues
and I find it has changed my thinking a lot.
I find the animal stories very inspiring and recently what
happened in our family prompted me to write to you.
We had a husky called Bingo, who after a brief illness died
last Tuesday-10th Feb, at about 5 a.m.
The next morning Sapper (his wife, if I can call her that)
who lived with my mother about 8 km away, and who had not
seen Bingo in the last few years, was found dead in the morning
around 7a.m. Death must have occurred around the same time
more or less as Bingo's the day earlier.
* * *
We 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 about your selections.
Let us know whether it is OK to have your name appear with
the information you share. We will do our best to address
most if not all input. Please
send all input to us.
8. Milestones
Dawn Martin, who is a Light Worker, Reiki Practitioner
and Energy Healer writes:
I have just gotten my web site up and running with more
additions and tweaks to come http://www.healerdawn.com.
We use this section of our newsletter to acknowledge and
honor various members of the Seishindo community. Graduations,
marriages, births, passings, new businesses, accomplishments
of all kinds. If you have information that you feel is appropriate
please
send it to us.
9. 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 may reprint, copy, or distribute "Pure Heart, Simple
Mind” (tm) 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.
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In attempting to block unwanted mail, your provider will
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