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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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Workshop Announcement
This workshop will offer you significant value if...
You are a therapist, coach, social worker, physical
therapist, consultant, or bodyworker, looking to
add to your current professional skills.
You are a spouse that would like to better understand
your partner.
You want to live your life with a greater sense
of vitality and passion.
You want to understand how to enter into fulfilling
personal relationships.
You are a parent that would like to understand how
to better nurture your children.
You are an individual yearning to join a warm spiritual
community of life long learners.
Learn how to identify and shift the somatic underpinnings
of limiting beliefs, health concerns, and debilitating
habits.
Please click on the title to find out more.
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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 Washington DC will be on February
3rd and 4th 2004. My private sessions in NYC will
be January 28th, 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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1. Starting Line
Today's newsletter is based on my conversation
with my good German friend Kirsten Hinrichsen, aka "Niedlich".
Kirsten is a talented healer.
Very recently, Kirsten has been volunteering at live-in facilities
for older people. She goes to visit these people with her
dog, who just so happens to have the name "Charlie."
To make it even more confusing, "Charlie" is a girl.
She tells me that the dog was named before she met me!
Recently, Kirsten visited a woman of 87, who was lying motionless
in her bed, suffering from both Parkinson's and Alzheimer's
disease. The woman had a totally blank look on her face, and
did not seem to respond at all when Kirsten and "Charlie"
entered the room.
Slowly and gently, the dog was placed on the bed next to
the woman, and after being told the German equivalent of "Good
girl" a few times, she settled in next to the woman,
and laid next to her, seeming content.
Then little by little, almost as if watching a movie frame
by frame, the most extraorinary change came over the woman.
Very subtly her breathing softened and became more rhythmical,
and the corners of her mouth started twitching, as if she
was at the very beginning stages of learning how to smile
again. In fits and starts, her cramped hand with her fingers
drawn and stiff, began to move towards Charlie. There was
a very fascinating series of actions that took place in a
divinely orchestrated manner. The woman's face and mouth twitched,
her hand inched forward in a lurching manner, and her fingers
also twitched as they softened and opened back up. Finally
after more than five minutes of effort the woman touched the
dog and her hand came to rest alongside his back. At this
stage the dog made a sound and a movement, like he was entering
into a sleep state, at which time the woman let out a sigh
of exhaustion, and upon exhaling her face became radiant with
a beautiful smile. Inde ed it was hard to recognize that the
woman was the same person who was lying in the bed when Kirsten
had entered the room fifteen minutes earlier. The woman was
not able to express herself verbally, but she had certainly
expressed herself somatically! Upon leaving "Charlie"
slept for two hours straight which is unusual for her to do
in the middle of the day, and the staff at the home told Kirsten
that the woman slept in great comfort as well.
Next week, Kirsten went back to visit the woman again, but
this time "Charlie" had little interest in laying
next to the woman. So, feeling a bit disappointed, Kirsten
took the woman's hand and stroked her arm as if she was lovingly
stroking her dog. As Kirsten sat there with the woman, she
breathed in a deep, relaxed manner, and she rocked herself
back and forth ever so much. Slowly but surely, without really
thinking about it, Kirsten began to tell the woman about walking
with her dog on a beautiful spring day. She talked about the
sparkling sun, the smell of flowers, the radiant colors, and
the wonderful feeling of inhaling cool, fresh air. Little
by little, once again, a fascinating series of actions took
place. The woman's hand and face twitched, and Kirsten followed
an impulse to duplicate the movements the woman's hand and
arm had made during the first visit. Finally when Kirsten
rested the woman's hand on her (Kirsten's) stomach, once again
the woman took a deep breath, her entire body relaxed, and
once again a beautiful smile appeared on her face. "Oh"
Kirsten thought, "Isn't it nice to know that I can help
the woman, just as well as my dog!" She thought to herself,
"It really is just a case of slowing down, opening one's
heart, and feeling into the connection we all have as living
beings." A simple yet profound truth. Such is the nature
of healing.
I thank Kirsten for sharing this story with us.
2. Main course
Part of the thought that goes into the creation of today's
newsletter is that numerous people have asked me to give an
explanation of what my workshops and private sessions are
like. I find that describing what takes place in my workshops
in particular, is a challenging task. Numerous students who
have been studying with me for as long as seven or eight years
often recount the same challenge. Often the story that a student
tells will go something like this, "I went back to work
and several people soon noticed that I was approaching my
job in a much more positive manner. When they asked me what
had happened to help me make such a positive change, I didn't
know what to say that would not make such a profound experience
sound trivial."
Kirsten's story makes a very nice opening for me to begin
to describe the atmosphere that I cultivate during my Seishindo
workshops and private sessions. My first aim is to create
a safe place, a sanctuary of sorts, for the client to rest
in. Once the client feels safe and respected, the next task
is to help them drop down into a felt sense of "self
and other" that doesn't require or use verbal language
in order to be understood. As I often say:
"I work to help people have an experience that comes
before words, before thinking, before judgment. Without words,
we cannot separate ourselves from others. Without thinking
there is no pain. Without judgment there is no right and wrong,
good and bad. When you are only here, only now, you can only
experience your core self, and feel at peace."
This is the very state that Charlie the dog helped her client
to experience as she lay there in her hospital bed. Charlie
helped her client to feel her "dog consciousness"
so that she could speak to her dog to dog! Not yet having
had the opportunity to study with Charlie, this is exactly
what I also attempt to do. I reach down into my dog nature,
and I talk to my client with my breath, my eyes, my movement,
my touch, my serenity. Usually I sense that my non-verbal
dog nature communication is something along the lines of,
"You are loved, forgiven, accepted, and protected. You
are perfect just as you are." Understanding this communication,
this truth, at a level that is deeper than verbal language,
at a level that is common to all living mammals, is a healing
and sacred activity to be part of. At such times I feel myself
and my client enter into a state of grace, where we are both
blessed by the presence of God.
And when I use the term "God" I am referring to
the creative force that is the catalyst for all life and all
love.
The road is long, and the journey often arduous. It's very
healing, very comforting, to sense in our heart and in our
gut, that we always have a travel companion, that help is
always available, if only we would trust, reach out, and really
ask.
3. Practice
Today's Practice is "Breathing
with Grace and Power".
This is one of the core Practices in the Seishindo repertoire
and it will help you to feel into your primal nature.
This Practice is a primary part of the process I use to teach
people who are wanting to overcome chronic tension and stress.
The instructions are quite simple. The process can be quite
profound. Your unconscious mind, your core identity, your
dog nature, lives in your breath.
Please give this Practice a try.
4. Links
Today is a "double dip" day for Linda
as I suggest another one of her CD's later on in this newsletter.
Linda is a long time friend. She is a gifted artist and a
wonderful soulful human being. Her work is soulful, simple,
touching, and at times haunting.
Her brand new album is "TRUE
FRIEND." It is made up of all new - all original
songs. Linda Worster, guitar
and vocals; Reed Butler bass;
Eugene Friesen cello.
The cost of the CD is $20 for one, $15 for three or more.
Shipping for 1-3 copies is $3 per package.
Contact Linda at:
Linda@lindaworster.com
or visit her website LindaWorster.com.
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. Currently we have more than 3,600 subscribers
and our ONGOING growth depends on all of you. Please continue
to pass our newsletter along to others. Thanks so much!
5. Suggested Books by Cindy Franklin
"Emotional Anatomy"
by Stanley Keleman
This book offers practical insight into how motion, emotion
and anatomy are dynamically interrelated. Using both pictures
and verbal description, Keleman demonstrates how specific
patterns of emotional response tend to lead to specific body
shaping that is rigid, collapsed, contained, dense etc. He
further shows how the structure/shape of one's body tends
to perpetuate the very emotional patterns that were a major
catalyst in generating the body shape in the first place.
As a result of what we learn here, we come to understand that,
shifting the body's structure/shape can shift one's range
of available emotional experiences. One caution: The author
at times demonstrates a somewhat rigid, mechanistic, or negative
interpretation of various shapes and their corresponding patterns.
Nevertheless, this book is a very rewarding read.
6. Suggested Music
CD: Linda Worster "SONGS"
This is the CD that I use over and over again in my workshops,
and people are constantly asking how they can get a copy.
Linda's music is deeply moving and beautiful.
This is a limited track CD, with my six all time favorites
of Linda's work. The price of the CD is also "limited"
due to the limited number of tracks, and the special price
Linda sets for my students. Only $10 plus $1.75 shipping.
This music will touch your heart!
For more info, contact Linda at:
Linda@lindaworster.com
or visit her website LindaWorster.com.
7. Endnote and Invitation
Vaughn Brandt wrote in
and said:
"A classic book which I adore, on the kind of training
you reference in your last newsletter, is called "Don't
Shoot the Dog," by Karen Pryor. It was published in the
1970's, and the trainer and author works with all sorts of
mammals, including dolphins. The title refererences her theme
and yours, on the power of positive reinforcement, patience,
and kindness. She uses really good stories to illustrate the
point, too. I highly recommend it, if you are not already
familiar with her writing."
* * *
Charlie says:
I invite you to write in and tell us what you have learned
from animals. Email
us!
* * *
I want to thank the several heath care and therapy professionals
who wrote in asking for permission to reprint my dog training
stories for their clients. It is always a pleasure for me
to get such emails, and in this case, it is pleasing for me
to see that my background in animal training is appreciated
by people who are working to help other people. I am always
happy to extend my permission to reprint articles, as long
as my copyright is clearly shown. If you have an interest
in reproducing any of my articles, please write and ask.
* * *
I also want to thank my friend and student Julie for recognizing
my dog nature, and inspiring my dog training stories in the
first place. It is all of "you" as clients and friends,
who inspire my creativity, and help me to better understand
the nature of my intuition.
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.
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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you DO want to receive. If you are having delivery problems,
send a blank e-mail to delivery@seishindo.org
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