From The Japanese Way of the Artist

"Certain philosophical and aesthetic standards are shared by all Japanese arts. From the martial arts, to Japanese dance, to flower arrangement, distinctive artistic codes are held in common. These aesthetic codes have had a profound effect on the unfolding of the Ways."--H. E. Davey, The Japanese Way of the Artist

September Workshops

SENNIN FOUNDATION SEPTEMBER WORKSHOPS--SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23 

9:00 to 10:30 AM— Japanese Yoga for Adults (Notebook required)

10:45 AM to 12:15 PM— Martial Arts for Adults & Kids  

Fees

Japanese Yoga for Adults--$15.00 donation

Japanese Yoga & Martial Arts for Adults--$20.00 donation

Martial Arts for Kids--$15.00 donation

 

All fees are non-refundable. Please return the form ASAP.

 

Name_____________________________

                                  

___ I can attend the workshops.

___ I cannot attend workshops.

___ I cannot attend the workshops, and I would like to schedule a make-up class with H. E. Davey. 

Total amount enclosed $____________ 

We look forward to seeing everyone at this fun and important event.

 

September Sennin Foundation Workshops

On Sunday, September 23, H. E. Davey Sensei will be presenting workshops on Japanese yoga for adults and Japanese martial arts for children and adults at the Sennin Foundation Center. These special workshops will offer advanced training that’s different from our regular classes, and they will be helpful for your advancement in the dojo as well as in your personal life.

The Japanese yoga workshop will focus on the application of mind and body unification principles in sports. A number of famous athletes in Japan have used these principles to become champions, particularly in the fields of baseball, golf, and sumo. These are three of the most popular sports in Japan, and Davey Sensei will be teaching exercises designed to enhance performance in these activities. No prior experience is needed with these sports, and there is no need to bring any equipment with you.

What’s more, the principles he’ll be covering relate to calmness, relaxation in action, concentration, and coordination. As the result, these universal principles have application in daily life beyond sports, and these applications will be covered on September 23. The workshop will be valuable to athletes, but also to people that have no particular interest in sports.

The martial arts training will emphasize how mind and body unification can boost our performance in Saigo Ryu, a traditional Japanese martial art. The workshop will also focus on unique and advanced jujutsu techniques. No weapon will be needed for this workshop, and it will be suitable for everyone studying Saigo Ryu in our dojo. Saigo Ryu has an extensive variety of armed and unarmed techniques. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to see and try some distinctive and high-level techniques rarely shown to the average student.

Prices and times will be the same as with past workshops. Think of these events as “extra credit,” which can help you attain teaching certification more easily in Japanese yoga, and which can help martial arts students advanced in rank more rapidly. More importantly, view this as an opportunity to have some fun and learn new things that can help you in life. More details will follow in the next few days.

August Workshops at the Sennin Foundation

SENNIN FOUNDATION AUGUST WORKSHOPS--SUNDAY AUGUST 19

 

9:00 to 10:30 AM— Japanese Yoga for Adults (Notebook required)

10:45 AM to 12:15 PM— Martial Arts for Adults & Kids (Tanbo required)

 

Fees

Japanese Yoga for Adults--$15.00 donation

Japanese Yoga & Martial Arts for Adults--$20.00 donation

Martial Arts for Kids--$15.00 donation

Tanbo (18-inch Wooden Stick)--$9.12 (tax included)

 

All fees are non-refundable. Please return the form ASAP.

 

Name_____________________________

 

___ I can attend the workshops.

___ I cannot attend workshops.

___ I cannot attend the workshops, and I would like to schedule a make-up class with H. E. Davey.

___ I want to order ___ (number) tanbo.

 

Total amount enclosed $____________

 

We look forward to seeing everyone at this fun and important event.

August Workshops

On Sunday, August 19, H. E. Davey Sensei will be teaching two special workshops at the Sennin Foundation Center. We previously indicated August 26 as the date of these workshops, but we’ve had to change the date to the 19^th.

“Unlocking the Hidden Power of the Mind,” the Japanese yoga workshop for adults, will focus on Nakamura Tempu Sensei’s principles for strengthening the mind and realizing our full potential in daily life.  Concentration and the power of positive thinking will be just two important topics covered. 

The martial arts workshop for children and adults will focus again on Saigo Ryu tanbojutsu, the art of the 16-inch stick. This will be a continuation of last month’s tanbojutsu workshop, and Davey Sensei will be introducing more advanced techniques for nonviolent self-protection using the tanbo. Tanbo can be purchased at the dojo. 

Prices and times will be the same as prior workshops, and more information will be e-mailed to Sennin Foundation members in the near future. Please set aside Sunday morning on August 19 for this important event.

Free Classes!

On August 23, 2012 the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts in California will offer an introductory class in the Shin-shin-toitsu-do system of Japanese yoga and meditation, along with an introduction to Saigo Ryu martial arts. This event is FREE.

What You can Experience
Shin-shin-toitsu-do is the form of Japanese yoga and meditation that will be offered. Shin-shin-toitsu-do, “Th...e Way of Mind and Body Unification,” was founded in the early 1900s by Nakamura Tempu Sensei. Nakamura Sensei lived in India, where he studied the art of Raja yoga, the yoga of meditation. After studying medicine at Columbia University, he blended Indian meditation and health improvement with his background in medicine, psychology, Japanese healing arts and meditation, and Japanese martial arts. He taught for many years in Japan, authored best-selling books, and counted among his students a large number of Japan's top executives, politicians, fine artists, athletes, martial artists, and people from every walk of life. But few Westerners have yet been exposed to these extraordinary teachings.

Shin-shin-toitsu-do offers you practical forms of seated and moving meditation, breathing methods for health, stretching exercises, autosuggestion for altering negative habits, stress management, and self-healing techniques that are little-known in the West. Emphasis is also placed on the development of ki (chi in Chinese). Ki amounts to life energy, and its cultivation has a profound effect on mental and physical health. The goal is greatly enhanced concentration, willpower, calmness, relaxation, and physical fitness.

You will also have a chance to try Saigo Ryu aiki-jujutsu, a traditional and non-competitive martial art. While many Westerners use “jujutsu,” “jujitsu,” or “jiu-jitsu” to describe their art of self-defense, most of these methods bear little resemblance to the original Japanese jujutsu, Japan's oldest martial art. Both aikido and judo stem from jujutsu, and the Sennin Foundation Center is one of few dojo in the USA to offer authentic Japanese jujutsu.

Saigo Ryu features a wide variety of powerful throwing, pinning, and grappling techniques stemming from older methods originating in the Aizu-Wakamatsu area of Japan. Saigo Ryu is a sogo bujutsu, an “integrated martial system,” and it also features advanced training in the martial arts of the sword, spear, staff, short stick, iron fan, and others. It is unique and unlike many more well-known martial disciplines (like karate-do, kendo, and iaido). While training is vigorous, and the practiced self-defense techniques effective, the emphasis is on subduing an opponent without unneeded injury. Students improve their health while learning martial arts as meditation, which helps them to remain calm under pressure. Some practitioners have likened Saigo Ryu to “moving Zen.”

Saigo Ryu also teaches methods for cultivating ki. Ki, “life energy,” animates human beings, and an understanding of it is useful in both martial arts and daily life.

All You Need to Know to Participate
The classes will take place at 1053 San Pablo Avenue in Albany, California, right across the bay from San Francisco. The martial arts class is not required, and it will follow the Japanese yoga program, which starts at 7:00 PM. Since the Saigo Ryu aiki-jujutsu training will refer to principles of mind and body unification covered in the Japanese yoga class, everyone will want to participate in this first part of the evening. You can read more about both subjects at www.senninfoundation.com.

Wear loose clothing and bring a notebook. Pre-registration is needed and easily accomplished. Just leave a voice mail at 510-526-7518 or send e-mail to hedavey@aol.com. Leave your name and phone number, and then indicate that you would like to participate in one or both classes. Indicate if anyone else is coming with you, and then just drop by on August 23, 2012. Please arrive a few minutes before 7:00 PM for general registration.

The classes will be taught by Troy Swenson Sensei, who has been studying and teaching at the Sennin Foundation Center for several years. He has instructor certification in Japanese yoga and Saigo Ryu martial arts.

Don't miss your chance to learn how Japanese yoga and/or martial as can help you realize better health, deeper calmness, and enhanced concentration in everyday life.

July Workshops

SENNIN FOUNDATION JULY WORKSHOPS—SUNDAY, JULY 22


9:00 to 10:30 AM— Japanese Yoga for Adults (Notebook required)
10:45 AM to 12:15 PM— Martial Arts for Adults & Kids (Tanbo required)


Fees
Japanese Yoga for Adults--$15.00 donation
Japanese Yoga & Martial Arts for Adults--$20.00 donation
Martial Arts for Kids--$15.00 donation


Tanbo (18-inch Wooden Stick)--$9.12 (tax included)


All fees are non-refundable. We look forward to seeing everyone at this fun and important event.

Japanese Yoga

"A positive attitude is most easily arrived at through a deliberate and rational analysis of what’s required to manifest unwavering positive thought patterns. First, reflect on the actual, present condition of your mind. In other words, is the mind positive or not? We’ve all met individuals who perceive themselves as positive people but don’t appear as such. Since the mind is both invisible and intangible, it’s therefore easier to see the accurate characteristics of the mind through a person’s words, deeds, and posture.

For example, if we say, “It’s absolutely freezing today! I’ll probably catch a cold before the end of the day!” then our words expose a negative attitude. But if we say, “The temperature is very cold” (a simple statement of fact), then our expressions, and therefore attitude, are not negative. Sustaining an alert state in which self-awareness becomes possible gives us a chance to discover the origins of negativity. In doing so, we also have an opportunity to arrive at a state of positiveness, so that our words and deeds are also positive, making others feel comfortable, cheerful, and inspired."
— H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

June Sennin Foundation Workshops for Children & Adults

On Sunday, June 24, H. E. Davey Sensei will present special workshops for children and adults at the Sennin Foundation Center. Please mark this date on your calendar.  

The Japanese yoga workshop will be for adults enrolled at our dojo. The subject will be “Awakening Intelligence,” and Davey Sensei will cover Nakamura Tempu Sensei’s ideas about the nature of intelligence and how it can be cultivated by anyone and at any age. For Nakamura Sensei, “intelligence” was defined in a unique way, a way that differs from IQ tests and SAT scores. Davey Sensei, Sennin Foundation Director, will also cover the following associated topics:

• Calmness in action
• Clarity of perception in daily life
• Good judgment
• Positive thinking that enhances creativity 

Instruction in related mind and body unification exercises, as well as forms of practical meditation, will be offered to workshop participants. 

Following Japanese yoga training will be a workshop for children and adults. It will focus on Saigo Ryu martial arts. Specifically, Davey Sensei will cover tanto dori, “knife disarming” techniques. A wooden training knife can be purchased at the dojo, and this workshop will be a continuation of last month’s kids’ workshop on knife disarming. The response to this workshop was so positive that Davey Sensei has decided to teach more tanto dori techniques to both children and adults. It’s a big subject to cover and an important one as well.  

Here are the times and costs: 

9:00 to 10:30 AM— Japanese Yoga for Adults (Notebook required)

10:45 AM to 12:15 PM— Martial Arts for Adults & Kids (Tanto, "wooden knife," required) 

Fees

Japanese Yoga for Adults--$15.00 donation

Japanese Yoga & Martial Arts for Adults--$20.00 donation

Martial Arts for Kids--$15.00 donation

Wooden Knife--$7.86 (tax included)

Please set the morning of June 24 aside for some fun and useful training at the dojo. Since Davey Sensei will be presenting information that will be new to most students, we hope everyone enrolled in our classes will be in attendance.

Quote

“Emotional baggage,” which is carried over from the past, colors our perceptions. Likewise, past conclusions and beliefs, based on reasoning that may or may not have been accurate, also tint our perception of reality. Retaining our capacity for reason is common sense, but definite conclusions and beliefs keep us from seeing life as it really is at any given moment.

Emotional reactions can be unreasonable, and reason can be flawed. It’s difficult to have deep confidence in either one, especially when they’re often at war with each other. But the universal mind exists in the instant, in a moment beyond time, and it sees the universe as it literally is. It’s the universe perceiving itself. It is, moreover, something we can have absolute confidence in, and with that confidence, we can maintain a genuinely positive attitude.”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

Great news! Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation is back in print with a new publisher. Michi Publishing is starting to release new copies of this landmark book to the public, and you should be able to order a special signed edition from www.senninfoundation.com very soon. 

The Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts is scheduled to receive Japanese Yoga on June 11, 2012. Check the website after this date to order your own personal copy of this meditation classic. Paypal and major credit cards will be accepted, and international orders are encouraged. 

Based on the eclectic Western-Eastern teachings of Nakamura Tempu Sensei, this step-by-step introduction to Japanese yoga (Shin-shin-toitsu-do) presents stretching, healing, and meditation exercises designed for mind/body integration. It is the only book in English to detail the life and teachings of Mr. Nakamura. In Japanese yoga, which is based on mind and body unification principles, the ultimate goal is enhanced concentration, calmness, and willpower for a longer, healthier, and fuller life. Author H. E. Davey Sensei also shows how Japanese yoga relates to various classical Japanese arts as part of a tradition of spiritual practice with spiritual and aesthetic roots in India, Japan, and the West.

Developed by Nakamura Tempu Sensei in the early 1900s from Indian Raja yoga, Japanese martial arts and meditation practices, as well as Western medicine and psychotherapy, Japanese yoga offers a new approach to experienced yoga students and a natural methodology that newcomers will find easy to learn. After a brief history of Shin-shin-toitsu-do, H. E. Davey Sensei presents Mr. Nakamura's Four Basic Principles to Unify Mind and Body. These principles relate the meditative experience to the movement of everyday living and thus make it a "dynamic meditation." Each of the Four Basic Principles is illustrated with step-by-step explanations of practical experiments.

Readers are then introduced to different forms of seated and moving meditation, health exercises, and self-healing arts. All these are linked back to the Four Basic Principles and can enhance performance in art, music, business, sports, and other activities. Readers learn to use Japanese yoga techniques throughout the day, without having to sit on the floor or seek out a quiet space.

Included at the end of the book are simple but effective stretching exercises, information about ongoing practice, and a glossary and reference section. Amply illustrated and cogently presented, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation belongs on every mind/body/spirit reading list.

Japanese Yoga was initially published in 2001, and it was the first and only English language book on the mind and body unification teachings of Nakamura Sensei. It still is, and Mr. Davey will personally sign your copy of this milestone work. Drop by www.senninfoundation.com after June 11 and order Japanese Yoga for yourself or your friends. 

"Will make many yogis feel right at home...

Davey's readable, friendly guide is definitely worth a look." - Yoga Journal

May Workshop for Kids

Special Sennin Foundation Workshop for Kids
On Saturday, May 19 the Sennin Foundation Center will present a special workshop for children. The workshop will take place at our dojo at 1053 San Pablo Ave. from 11:15 AM to 12:15 PM. It will feature instruction in Japanese yoga and Saigo Ryu tanto dori, which are Saigo Ryu knife disarming techniques. Students will learn coordination of mind and body, as well as calmness in action, by using a tanto (a wooden knife), which you can buy from us.

Both Japanese yoga and martial arts require ongoing repetition of fundamentals. Over many years of training, this repetition allows practitioners to develop remarkable levels of concentration, willpower, and perseverance. Young students, however, often initially have short attention spans, and boredom can set it when they study any serious discipline. Periodic special workshops featuring topics not covered in regular classes are one method we use to maintain enthusiasm among the children in our dojo. These workshops also allow us to go beyond what is covered in our regular classes. For this reason, they can be thought of as “extra credit” that frequently allows workshop participants to receive higher martial arts ranks more quickly.

Parents: Please return the registration form you received via e-mail ASAP. We look forward to seeing you at this unique event. All fees submitted are nonrefundable.

Date: Saturday, May 19. 2012
Time: 11:15 AM to 12:15 PM
What: Japanese yoga & martial arts
Who: Sennin Foundation members ages 5 to 14.
Costs: $15 per child, $7.86 per tanto (tax included)

Kindness

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again. ~Og Mandino

Sawai Atsuhiro & H. E. Davey News

Sawai Atsuhiro Sensei, Sennin Foundation Senior Advisor, has become the Headmaster of the Wakuwaku Hoshin Juku in Osaka. He was appointed to this position by the President of the new group Ikeda Hikaru Sensei. Wakuwaku Honshin Juku is devoted to the exploration of meditation and spiritual disciplines, with an emphasis on the teachings of Nakamura Tempu Sensei, the founder of the Shin-shin-toitsu-do system of Japanese yoga and meditation. Sawai Sensei was one of Nakamura Sensei’s closest students, and he has over 50 years of training in Japanese yoga. He is also the author of more than one best selling book on this subject in Japan.

H. E. Davey, Director of the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts, recently received the highest level of teaching certification from the Wakuwaku Honshin Juku. He has studied Japanese yoga and meditation in the lineage of Nakamura Tempu Sensei since he was a teenager, and he is the author of Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation, the first English language book on the original methods of Nakamura Sensei. (You can read more at http://japaneseyoga.blogspot.com/. )

Nakamura Sensei lived in India, where he studied the art of Raja yoga, the yoga of meditation. After studying medicine at Columbia University, he blended Indian meditation and health improvement with his background in medicine, psychology, Japanese healing arts and meditation, and Japanese martial arts. He taught for many years in Japan, authored best-selling books, and counted among his students a large number of Japan's top executives, politicians, fine artists, athletes, martial artists, and people from every walk of life. But few Westerners have yet been exposed to these extraordinary teachings. One of the goals of the Wakuwaku Honshin Juku is to rectify this situation.

Einstein

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
― Albert Einstein

Healing Arts at the Sennin Foundation Center

Nakamura Tempu Sensei, founder of the Shin-shin-toitsu-do system of Japanese yoga, also taught a method of self-healing and bodywork (hitori ryoho or hitori massage). His emphasis was on yuki, which is the transference of life energy through a massage-like technique.

In most aspects of life, it is vital to be able to throw 100 percent of ourselves into the moment at hand, and this positive mental... state is called Ki no dashikata, or "the projection of life energy." When our life energy freely exchanges with the life energy that pervades Nature, we're in our happiest and healthiest state.

We've all met exceptionally positive and animated individuals, people who project a "large presence." The intangible, but unmistakable, "big presence" an energetic individual is projecting can be thought of as universal life energy, and it is an indispensable aspect of yuki.

And in Japan, the universal essence that pervades all of the Nature has a name. It is called Ki.
Yuki means "transfusion of Ki," and it functions in a way that is not dissimilar to a blood transfusion (yuketsu). In essence, it is possible, by studying methods of mind-body coordination and Shin-shin-toitsu-do meditation, to learn to transfer Ki from the thumbs, fingertips, and palms to weakened parts of the body, as a way of boosting the natural healing process. Students at the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts can receive instruction in this unique art of healing.

"I've found the healing arts instruction at the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts to be logical, simple, and comprehensive. Of equal importance, I've been able to use these techniques to help heal my own injuries and illnesses as well as those of some of my friends."--A Sennin Foundation student.

“Realizing that our minds control our bodies while our bodies reflect our minds amounts to understanding the most fundamental aspects of ourselves. It further equals a comprehension of the relationship between our “tools.” And since the mind and body are interrelated, this understanding makes it easier to see why coordinating them is a practical way of using these tools to greatest effect—a way of using the mind and body to live our lives as art.”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

The Sennin Foundation Center will be closed on Monday, February 20. We hope all our friends in the USA have a nice holiday!

Quote

“While we can learn or study techniques for almost anything we might want to accomplish, real understanding is not the mere accumulation of knowledge. Understanding cannot be realized by listening or reading about the realization of others. It must be achieved firsthand via substantive, direct perception in the moment.”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

No art takes places without inspiration. Every artist also needs effective knowledge of his or her tools (e.g., does a certain brush function well with a particular kind of paint?). What’s more, artists need effective techniques for using those tools.

Likewise, to express ourselves skillfully with maximum efficiency and minimum effort, we need to investigate the most effective ways of using the mind and body since, in the end, they are the only “tools” we truly possess in life.

H. E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

Holiday

The Sennin Foundation Center will be closed on Monday, January 16. We hope everyone has a nice holiday.