Adapting, healing, and connecting to life

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. Introduction and Update

Inessa Rebeyko and I began the Seishindo website and newsletter a little more than two years ago and the response we have received from all of you has been nothing short of phenomenal. We now have 6,300 subscribers to the newsletter, and close to 20,000 individuals visit our site every month! This leaves us feeling very blessed as we get numerous emails every month from people telling us about the value they receive from our work. All of this activity has also led to more clients and a much heavier workload on my part. We are very thankful for all that has transpired. In order to keep up with my current workload of clients and continue to offer top quality care and service, while at the same time not spinning out into the ethers never to be found again... I have decided to change the publication format of the newsletter. Once a month you will receive the same basic newsletter as you have up until now. A second time a month you will receive a shorter version with the title perhaps being "Just a thought" in which I will share an idea that captures my imagination. In changing the newsletter format I am opting to maintain a healthy work life, and as a result I hope that the newsletters will prove to be as good if not better than before. We welcome any and all feedback on this decision, so please do write if you like.

If you have been considering starting your own website, or tweaking what you already have, Inessa is a truly fantastic person to work with. If you write her at inessa@seishindo.org she will be glad to try and help you.

Since this issue signals a change of gears, I thought I would also use this issue to talk a bit about the process of Seishindo, rather than my usual format of telling a story and then offering commentary. I will definitely get back to storytelling, but I feel that it is important to give you a better sense of where the stories come from. I want you to be able to understand the environment the stories incubate in.

I hope you enjoy this issue as much as all of the others. Please keep in mind that the Seishindo site offers a wealth of information in articles and Practices, so please come and visit us there, and take the opportunity to use the site as a knowledge resource.

I want to thank you for your support, and let you know that I look forward to continuing to be of service to all of you.

2. The Process of Embodied Presence

If we get down to elemental issues; If we go beyond fame, fortune, and finding the "perfect" mate, it seems to me that every one of us spends a great deal of time, adapting, healing, and connecting to the people and "life" that is all around us. Is this not what much of your life is about?

Doesn't it seem sometimes like the whole evolutionary process has sped up, and you are doing your best to not get left behind? Does it not often seem that the software that runs your life is still in beta testing, and numerous "bugs" keep showing up?

As much as you might often find yourself balking at the idea of needing to modify your current way of being, your ability to adapt to ever changing conditions sets the benchmark for your viability and health.

You can learn to cultivate greater health, vitality, and adaptability, by facilitating greater awareness of your somatic processes, developing and eliciting your ability to move with grace and ease, and experiencing the very real and palpable connection you have, to other human beings, your surroundings, and Spirit. When you are aware, flexible, physically balanced, and have a sense that you are tapping into "the power grid of life", your system is able to successfully process complex streams of information, and thrive.

The human potential discipline of Seishindo offers one of many possible models to help people live a healthier more fulfilling life. The basic components of this discipline are shown below. Hopefully what is written here will help you further discover the path that is meant for you. Keep in mind that many if not all of the "steps" shown, in actuality take place simultaneously and cannot be separated one from the other. Indeed it is important to say that the actual process described transcends the experience of the words written. The words offer a cognitive description of an emotional experience. The "steps" in this article when added together, are much less than the full experience of actually doing and being what is described.

DEVELOPING EMBODIED PRESENCE

1. Rest, rejuvenate, and heal, your physical body. Calm your somatic mind.
A. Begin to calm the internal mind of the body, by relaxing and releasing the musculature.
The first step in allowing the physical body to rest is to do away with unneeded muscle activity. Most people tend to have long term residual muscle tension, and this is most evident when the body is meant to be at rest. When your muscles are tense the flow of the blood, oxygen, and intrinsic energy of the body ("ki") is restricted. A calm body leads to cellular rejuvenation, a calm emotional state, and the feeling that everything is basically just as it should be.

A great deal of human suffering is caused by holding onto an excessive amount of energy. By relaxing the muscles, we create the capacity for greater throughput of energy throughout the system, and help to improve the flow and release of information, energy, and healing. The more relaxed your muscle system is when you are at rest, the greater throughput of information you are able to utilize and adapt to.

B. Balance the physical structure (posture) of the body.
An unbalanced physical structure leads to chronic tension and pain, and an unbalanced emotional outlook. The body and the emotions are one.

C. Adjust the flow of oxygen in the system.
In most instances this means that you will need to increase the influx of oxygen, by bringing the flow of breath down into the area of the pelvis. Inhaling requires activity of the muscles and organs. Exhaling is a simple act of release.

Breath is food for the body. Breathing is the body's way of "thinking", healing, and preparing for action.

D. Bring greater awareness to the micro-muscular movements and visceral sensations of the body.
Even when you believe that you are sitting or standing "still" your body is always making small corrective movements on a moment to moment basis. As well as helping you to maintain balance and the right amount of muscular tension, your micro-muscular movement is the "pre-movement" that prepares the system to act and think.

Your micro-muscular movements play a crucial role in determining your frame of mind, and your preparation for what you expect to happen next. Your micro-muscular movements "set" the direction and predisposition of your thinking. It is important to maintain an awareness of these movements as this will help you to monitor your state of readiness and your emotions.

The four activities above will lead you to feel calmer and more at ease than usual. When we calm our physical system (our "somatic mind") we calm our emotions as well. When we are emotionally calm the electrical activity in our body and our hormonal flow is optimized, and our system begins to rejuvenate and heal itself. When your body is given the opportunity it definitely knows what to do to keep you healthy and happy.

2. Calm your thinking mind.
In today's world many people have developed repetitive stress syndrome of the neo-cortex. In laymen's terms it is known as "My head hurts!!" or "I am feeling stressed out." It is the thinking mind that causes stress and headaches.
It is important that you create the opportunity to reduce the need to process information with the neo cortex by attuning to your body processes as described above, and learning how to think with your body. This is one of the main goals of most if not all martial arts.

3. Open up and respond to the intelligence that is immanent throughout your entire system.
Learn how to attune and appropriately react to, the communication of all four of your brains. (The enteric nervous system, the reptilian brain, the limbic brain, and the neo cortex.) The idea being, to increase the potential for systemwide intelligence by being sensitive to and honoring, the different perspective that each brain offers.

4. Entrain your brainwaves to support the task at hand.
It is well known in scientific circles that one's brainwave frequency at any given moment will either hinder or support the activities one is engaging in (be it sleeping or playing ping pong). We radically alter our ability to think, act, and feel, in a more generative manner, by learning how to alter our brainwaves. An excellent way to train yourself to be able to change brainwave frequencies is with the help of various brainwave entrainment equipment.

5. Connect to the "local mind" of your physical environment.
Expand your awareness of self to include your surroundings. The more connected you are to your local environment, the safer and more "at home" you will feel.

6. Connect to the "local mind" of supportive life affirming relationships, and a community of like minded people.
Every human being requires supportive life affirming relationships with others. Every human being needs to know "I am not alone. I belong!" When you have a sense of being in loving personal relationships, and belonging to a community of supportive like minded people, you come to realize that you have a rightful place in the world. It is important for each person to gently share their experience of life and love. This leads to an experience of compassion for self and others.

7. Connect to and move with the "non-local mind" of Spirit (as perceived by you).
No matter how magnificent you are as an individual, you will undoubtedly find times when you realize you are incapable of successfully managing and directing every aspect of your life. In order to truly belong and feel safe in the world, it is necessary to develop an ongoing relationship with the Spirit that animates and motivates all of Life. We need to join with, feel comfort in, and be directed by, Spirit, rather than always attempting to set our own personal course in life.

As you actively engage in the seven step process as outlined above you experience your self as entering into a state of "grace and flow", and you enhance your natural ability to rest, relax, heal, and rejuvenate your entire being.

In the first seven steps of this process of embodiment, you establish a system that is able to move in and out of balance while at rest, without the need of constant directives from your cognitive self. You develop the ability to react and rebalance without needing to think. By engaging in this seven step process you are also taking the beginning steps in training your system to heal, adapt, and thrive.

By actively engaging in the state you have been generating so far, you are now ready to:

8. Introduce new and complex forms of movement and information into your system.
The hallmark of a healthy system is its ability to move freely, and process complex and seemingly contrary pieces of information, while concurrently managing the dynamic process of moving into and out of balance.

In this eighth step of your process you introduce "just enough" complex movement and information into your system to supportively wake yourself up to the potential of being fully alive, calm, and connected to Life. You learn how to process, move with, and adapt to, complex streams of information, while maintaining your ability to intuitively flow in and out of balance. You have the sense that who you are and where you are is "just right."

3. Practice

Whole Body Breathing
This is one of the core Practices of Seishindo. Working with this Practice can offer you a powerful way to begin to really connect to, and understand more about your "whole self." Many people have given us really lovely reports about their experience. Please do give this Practice a try!

4. Links

Carol Lankton is offering an eight day hypnotherapy training workshop in Pensacola, Florida on April 20-27 and again September 28-Oct.5 2005. The workshop includes clinical demonstrations, lecture, and experiential exercises to provide participants with a working knowledge of a strategic Ericksonian approach. It emphasizes diagnosis and treatment planning as an underlying clinical foundation for learning indirect suggestion, metaphor construction formulas, multiple embedded metaphor, and assignments for paradoxical prescription, skill building, and breaking down barriers to change. It is designed to facilitate mind body spirit wellness and personal development through hypnotic work.

Main Page
http://www.answerwithin.com/seminars.htm

Intensive 8 day Training in Pensacola
Hypnotherapy 2005: Promoting Mind Body Spirit Wellness
http://www.answerwithin.com/Avery8Day2005.pdf

Carol Lankton & Stephen Beck have announced their next Enlightenment Intensive - three day residential meditation retreat. This retreat provides an opportunity to come into conscious union with the truth of yourself, your life, and others. It combines age old practices of reflective contemplation with verbal communication in a structured and non-distractive environment.

Enlightenment Intensives
http://www.answerwithin.com/OregonEI.pdf
http://www.answerwithin.com/ECintensive.pdf

5. Suggested Reading

"Wisdom of the Body Moving" by Linda Hartley
This is perhaps THE best book I have ever read, in regard to understanding the wisdom of the body, and the process of somatic development that takes place from the moment of conception. Written in an easy to follow manner, you can gain a tremendous amount of insight into your life by reading this book and trying out the exercises that are suggested. Whether you are a therapist, body worker, or personal explorer, this book will give you much to think about, and a greater understanding of the process of living and being. Read this book! You will be glad that you did.

6. Suggested Music

"The Early Years Vol. 2" Tom Waits
How can somebody that sings so bad, be so good! Tom Waits makes Bob Dylan sound sweetly melodic. I love Tom Wait's music, AND his voice, and my goodness is he distinctive! Some of his lyrics remind me very much of Lyle Lovett. Some lovely homegrown poetry. This album is a compilation of some of his best.

7. Our subscribers' section

Terry Reed writes:
I have recently started a non-profit organization to connect other service-related programs, in order to help them work together and accomplish more in our community. So far we have a Prison Ministry, a Horse Camp for handicapped and underprivileged children, a Back-2-Work Program, Transitional Housing Programs for Men / Women / Young Adults, and approximately 10 other programs in the initiation stages. Please stop by our website to check it out and see what you can do to help - the long-term goal is to develop a system that is easily reproducible, so other communities can begin to step in where recent funding cuts have hurt the programs already in place.
http://stonesoupministries.tripod.com

Lauren Muney writes:
I would like to tell your readership about my business:
Physical Mind is fitness and wellness coaching, which typically addresses lifestyle issues and goals such as exercise, nutrition, stress management and time management. A holistic (whole-body) approach, the coaching usually begins with a perceived desire or goal (such as weight loss), and delves into the client's values and previous obstacles, to create a custom plan and custom motivation for achieving wellness on many levels.
http://www.physicalmind.com

Regards and thanks,
Lauren Muney

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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!

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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:
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B) Experiences that relate to the "Practices" presented.
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8. Copyright

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

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