The Progress Of Insight: Inner Map Of Meditation
An Online Workshop w/ Miles Kessler
Sunday, Feb. 25th, 2024
CLICK BELOW TO JOIN!

The post How To Cultivate Spiritual Resilience appeared first on The Integral Dojo.

“Real LIFE Facilitator Intensive: Active and Receptive Skills for Facilitators”

W/ Diane Musho Hamilton & MILES KESSLER
Oct. 12 – 15, 2022 | Stockholm, Sweden

There are a few spaces remaining! Click below for more information:

GO HERE FOR INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION

The post EMBODYING CONFLICT RESOLUTION appeared first on The Integral Dojo.

“MEDITATION FOR THE SPIRITUAL WARRIOR”
All New Course w/ Miles Kessler Starts Jan. 15th, 2022
CLICK HERE For More Info!

The post LOVE Embraces All Polarities appeared first on The Integral Dojo.

What if you could learn from your pick of ONE THOUSAND of the world’s top teachers, therapists, coaches, and thought leaders? Would you seize the opportunity? Well, this month is your chance! You can learn directly from some of the most inspiring men and women form the world of embodiment… and it is totally free. This is your chance to get a front-row ticket for The Embodiment Conference.

Yesterday I had a short chat with my old friend Mark Walsh, the creator of The Embodiment Conference. Mark and his amazing international team are hard at work in production for this global online event that was only 9 days away from when we did this interview.

Some of the amazing line up of presenters include Ken Wilber, Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, Nkem Ndefo, Gabor Mate, Bayo Akomolafe, Sally Kimpton, Charles Eisenstein, Tara Bach, Joseph Goldstein, Wendy Palmer, Dr. Dominique Cassidy, Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Janice Taitel, Teja Fudomyo Bell, Annette Rollig, Sam Taitel, Jan Nevelius, Malory Graham, Irene Lyon, Stephen Porges, Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen, and so many more.

Check out my interview with Mark below and hear more about The Embodiment Conference. You won’t want to miss this amazing upcoming event!

The Embodiment Conference – 14th – 25th, 2020 – FREE Global Online Event!

1000 presenters, 10 topics, all totally FREE! This is a unique chance to learn from me and many of the best-known teachers from the world fo embodiment. Deepen your professional expertise, reboot your own practice, and connect with people across the globe.

Get Your FREE Front-Row Ticket Here!

The post The Embodiment Conference appeared first on The Integral Dojo.

On May 22nd, 2020 Mark Walsh invited me back to the Embodiment Podcast to join a panel discussion in a series he is appropriately calling “Return Of The Plague Dialogues.” I joined Mark on the panel with Philip Shepherd, author and embodiment teacher, and Rafe Kelley, of “Evolve, Move, Play.” Listen below to our free-flowing discussion of how we coped with the pandemic lockdown, how our embodiment practices supported us, and how we assess things going forward.

The post Return Of The Plague Dialogues appeared first on The Integral Dojo.

It is no understatement to say that we have all been tested during this current Coronavirus and COVID-19 crisis. It is in times like this that you get to see both the depth and limitation, of your own inner resilience. Recently, I was invited to once again join my old friend Mark Walsh on The Embodiment Podcast to explore the question: what does it mean to have inner resilience during a pandemic?

Inner Resiliency

Inner resiliency is a capacity that we can develop over time through personal development, spiritual practices, and through life experiences. But what fundamentally determines the development of your resiliency is the attitude you hold in the face of life’s trials and tribulations.

In this podcast dialogue, Mark and I discuss our best practices for facing the pandemic lockdown and the all-important attitude to hold when these very practices take us to the edge of our comfort zones.

In the last 20 min, Mark invited me to lead my favorite integral transformation practice, the Big Mind process. In this process, Mark and I dive into the process, as well as invite the listeners to join.

Here are some of the topics we explore in this episode:

• What is Spiritual Resiliency?
• Best practices for coping with isolation.
• Connect with others online and “digital intimacy.”
• The 4 Noble Truths and the 4 practice attitudes
• How to establish a daily meditation practice
• Big Mind and Pandemic Practice

You can find the podcast episode on iTunes or your favorite podcast catcher. You can also listen to it on The Embodiment Podcast’s webpage HERE. Or listen to the youtube replay below.

Enjoy and leave your questions and comments below!

Free Meditation Lessons With Miles Kessler
Online Meetings Every Monday, Wednesday, & Friday
Click Below To Register

The post Inner Resilience During A Pandemic appeared first on The Integral Dojo.

If you are a reader of my blog then there is a good chance that you are into “embodiment” in one way or another. If you look out into the embodiment world you will very quickly run into the prolific work of Mark Walsh. This is why when he asked me to endorse his new book I wrote “No other person has had a bigger impact reclaiming “embodiment” for the mainstream as Mark Walsh.” Mark’s new book has just been launched so it felt timely to invite him to join me in another Dharma Discussion and a fun and free-flowing exploration of Embodiment – Moving Beyond Mindfulness.

Embodiment is all the rage these days. This is because as a practice it encompasses… well, everything. From Aikido and martial arts to yoga, sports, meditation, movement, performance, singing, playing, dancing, resting, sex, therapy, trauma work, non-violent communication, peace-work, and even just having a good old pillow fight with the kids (just finished one before I sat down to write this post).

Along with mindfulness, embodiment is the fundamental practice that applies to everything. Whatever you do, wherever you go, whoever you are, and however you do you, your body is always with you… and if not, then you need embodiment all the more. It is the bridging practice that brings your whole life together.

With its immediate accessibility and universality of application, the importance of embodiment in any developmental realm is clear. It leads to a fuller, better, and happier you.

Embodiment – Moving Beyond Mindfulness

Mark’s new book, “Embodiment – Moving Beyond Mindfulness” is a beginner’s guide that is both personal and relatable. He sums up the purpose of this book beautifully in this blurb:

In our frenzied world, it’s easy to lose touch with our bodies. Often rushing, feeling tense and off-balance, brutalised by overwork, lacking community, and hooked on technology; many of us find ourselves disconnected.

But something can be done about the numbing of modern life. This is where embodiment comes in. Beyond just being mindful, you can make friends with your body and feel at home again in your own skin. Your body can be an anchor of sanity in turbulent times, and give you Jedi-freakin powers beyond merely coping.

Feeling human again is catching on. A gentle revolution of returning home to the body is happening. The movement movement has begun. And you’re most welcome.

“ Beyond just being mindful, you can make friends with your body and feel at home again in your own skin. —MARK WALSH ON EMBODIMENT

Some of the things we touch on in our discussion:

• What is embodiment?
• Embodiment as a higher Path of practice
• Should you max-out your strength or work on developing your weaknesses?
• The benefits of cross-training
• Why you need to go into one thing deep
• The limitations of mindfulness
• The 3 levels of skill acquisition
• What have you learned from The Embodiment Podcast?
• Who should, and shouldn’t buy Mark’s book

Join Mark and I in the video below as we explore the interiors of Embodiment.

For more about Embodiment and the work of Mark Walsh check out these resources:

• To check his very popular YouTube channel The Embodiment Channel
• Listen to a wide range of embodiment teachers for downloading and streaming get The Embodiment Podcast
• Upcoming in 2020, The Embodiment Conference
• For a ton of free resources and Mark’s embodiment trainings check out the embodiedfacilitator.com

TO GET MARK WALSH’S NEW BOOK ON
“EMBODIMENT – MOVING BEYOND MINDFULNESS” CLICK HERE!

WHAT TEACHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT
“EMBODIMENT – MOVING BEYOND MINDFULNESS”:

“This book offers a comprehensive view of the embodiment territory. The stories and suggestions range from raucous and racy, to tender and touching. There is food for thought and a plethora of helpful hints for student and facilitator alike.”
– Wendy Palmer | author of “Leadership Embodiment”

“Classic Mark Walsh! A collection of decidedly irreverent pithy, probing critiques of our culture-wide dissociation from our bodies. Enjoy!”
– Roger Walsh (no relation), MD, PhD | author of ‘Essential Spirituality: The Seven Central Practises’

“Human development involves our full body, mind, and heart. Mark is completely committed to the fullest expression of who we can be, with nothing left out.”
– Diane Musho Hamilton | Zen Master, meditator, group facilitator

“This offering is less a book and more a string of pearls. It is a series of one-page essays and poems that explain how cruelties arise out of body numbness. Ironically, people often adopt disembodiment as a way of not feeling the pain caused by disembodiment. What is new and important in Mark’s book is his courageous description of his use of embodiment practises as part of his own work to heal his childhood traumas.”
– Paul Linden | Aikido 6th dan, author, founder of Being-In-Movement Mindbody Training

“Mark Walsh springs Embodiment to life with passion, irreverence, and grit. It makes a body want to celebrate!”
– Ginny Whitelaw Roshi | CEO Institute for Zen Leadership

“Mark Walsh is one of the most committed embodiment learners and teachers I know. This book is an authentic, heartfelt treatise and handbook for how to live a more embodied life. Highly recommended.”
– Curtis Watkins | Somatic Coach

“No other person has had a bigger impact reclaiming “embodiment” for the mainstream as Mark Walsh. In his new book, Mark compassionately shares embodiment with a dis-embodied world, in a way that is pithy, personal, and profoundly relatable. Mark makes embodiment as accessible as reaching around and grabbing your own ass with both hands. I say get this book and cop a feel!”
– Miles Kessler | Meditation Teacher, Aikido Sensei, Director of The Integral Dojoz 

The post Embodiment – Moving Beyond Mindfulness appeared first on The Integral Dojo.

Life is fundamentally creative. Yet, creativity does not happen in a vacuum. Be it the birth of a baby, the birth of a work of art, or the birth of a star, there must be a creative tension for this process to be activated. And of course, YOU have to get out of the way. This is the topic of discussion I had with Brooke McNamara in our Community Call on Zen & The Heart Of Creativity.

Creating The Conditions For Creativity To Arise

If you are reading this blog then there is a good chance that creativity is important in one or more aspect of your practice life. But creativity is not something you can just switch on and off when you want. In fact, when it comes to creativity, there is quite literally nothing you can “do” to make it arise.

The best that you can do is create the most conducive conditions, and then, as Brooke says, let go with the profound trust of what will arise from that process.

Poet, Mama, Teacher, Performance Artist, & Zen Monk

As a poet, mama, teacher, performing artist, and Zen monk, Brooke McNamara brings Zen & The Heart Of Creativity to every aspect of her life. These perspectives creatively and gorgeously come together in the below video of Brooke’s poem “Break.”

Community Call On “Zen & The Heart Of Creativity”

The below video is a replay from a Community Call I recently did with Brooke. It was a total joy to share in a creative dialogue with Brooke on “Zen & The Heart Of Creativity.”

We touched many points of this topic, such as the importance of meditation to the creative process, how to work with “creativity attacks” in meditation, the need for “creative tension”, and the exhausting of the ego so it will get out of the way.

Towards the end of the call, Brooke graciously shared her poem “Break” with all of us on the community call. Check out the below replay and enjoy or exploration of “Zen & The Heart Of Creativity.”

How do you work with meditation and creativity? Help co-create this conversation by leaving your questions and comments at the bottom of the blog post!

Join Brooke For Her New Online Course:

“Write to the Heart of Motherhood”
6-week virtual course with Brooke McNamara

Sept. 16 – Oct. 25, 2019

Click Below!

The post Zen & The Heart Of Creativity appeared first on The Integral Dojo.

What does it mean to “embody conflict resolution”? In the below “Darma Bite” I continue the series of Dharma Discussions with Integral Facilitator & Zen Sensei Diane Musho Hamilton. In this excerpt from our discussion, we talk about conflict resolution in the field of mediation as compared to Aikido, and how they are in essence the same thing. I’m sure you’ll enjoy this short excerpt on “Embodying Conflict Resolution”.

Diane kicks off this excerpt with a saying from Zen “A Zen master is one who unties knots and breaks down barriers.” This saying really resonates with the “spiritual warrior” aspect of Aikido. After all, one way to look at our conflict resolution practice in Aikido is the untying of knots and the breaking down of barriers.

“ A Zen master is one who unties knots and breaks down barriers. —DIANE MUSHO HAMILTON

Here are some of the points that Diane & I speak about:

• Exploring where are we fixated while in conflict
• The human tendency to repeat the past in conflict
• Acting through conditioned patterns perpetuates conflict
• Staying awake in the moment of conflict breaks fixations
• Conflict impacts us socially, verbally, emotionally, and physically

This short “Dharma Bite” is the 1st in a series of excerpts I’ll be posting here in the near future. It’s a great start to the series Enjoy!

Question: How do you experience “Embodied Conflict Resolution”? Join the conversation by leaving your comments below!

Join Diane & Miles for a 5-day retreat in Utah – May 15th to 19th, 2019 | Click Below For Details!

The post EMBODYING CONFLICT RESOLUTION appeared first on The Integral Dojo.

How often do you stop in life? Just stop. In the middle of the relentless rush of your daily life. To intentionally take a moment, a minute, an hour, a day… to stop acting and doing, and to just be in the stillness surrounded by the flow of things. And how often do you engage the movement of life as a flow? To effortlessly, selflessly, and elegantly align with the very movement that is the essence of living. Join me in this Facebook Live replay for a deeper look into the meaning of Movement & Stillness.

Movement & Stillness

What does movement have to do with stillness? What does it have to do with meditation? And what does stillness have to do with movement, with embodiment, and with the universal nature of change?

And what does any of this have to do with turtles? (hint: everything)

This post is the beginning of a series I’ll be doing for the next several weeks on meditation for my upcoming “Meditation For Aikidoka” 8-week online course. You are invited to join me with weekly teachings like the one below that will deepen your practice and bring your meditative heart and mind more into your life.

In this Facebook Live replay I teach specifically about the embodiment of meditation, including a short guided meditation which I a sure you will enjoy.

Question: How does “Movement & Stillness” relate to your meditation practice? How does it relate to your embodiment practice? Watch the above Facebook Live replay and join the conversation by leaving your comments below!

Join The “Meditation Discovery Cycle” Online Practice Community. Click Below And Discover Your Very Own Spiritual Resource.

The post Movement & Stillness appeared first on The Integral Dojo.