Holiday

The Sennin Foundation Center will be closed on Monday, May 30. We hope you have a nice holiday.

Kevin Heard Receives So-shihan Certification

Recently, the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts promoted Kevin Heard to So-shihan in the Shin-shin-toitsu-do system of Japanese yoga and meditation. He received the same advanced teaching certification in this discipline’s related healing arts (yuki). This is the highest possible rank and similar to a PhD. Mr. Heard has been studying and teaching at the Sennin Foundation Center for nearly 30 years; he is the first and only person to have received So-shihan certification.  

On a related note, Mr. Heard was also recently promoted to rokudan, sixth-degree black belt, by the Shudokan Martial Arts Association Jujutsu Division. The SMAA is an international coalition of Japanese and Western martial arts experts. Mr. Heard is now one of the highest ranking members of the SMAA Jujutsu Division. You can read more here: http://shudokanmartialartsassociation.blogspot.com/2011/04/kevin-heard-receives-sixth-dan.html.

Mr. Heard earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. After working in the software development industry, he returned to the University to become Director of Computing and Information Services for UCB's School of Information. His professional interests include UNIX/Linux system administration, building information systems based on open standards, open source software, and privacy and security in the digital age. He is co-author of Mastering Netscape SuiteSpot 3 Servers (Sybex).

He regularly teaches Japanese yoga, healing arts, and martial arts to children and adults at the Sennin Foundation Center. You can read more at www.senninfoundation.com.

The Essence of Japanese Yoga

Four Basic Principles to Unify Mind and Body

1.     Maintain a positive mind.

2.     Train the mind to arrive at full concentration.

3.     Use the body obeying the laws of nature.

4.     Train the body progressively, systematically, and regularly.

Nakamura Tempu, founder of the Shin-shin-toitsu-do system of Japanese yoga and meditation

Mu

This artwork was commissioned by a Facebook friend in Canada, Ms. Angie Kehler, and it now resides in her collection of Japanese art. It is the character mu, "nothingness," painted by H. E. Davey Sensei in the abstract and cursive sosho script. The calligraphy was done on a traditional shikishi, a piece of stiff paper, roughly 9 x 10 inches, and used in classic Japanese painting and calligraphic art. (Click on the images to enlarge them.)

The artwork is hand painted and one of a kind. It arrived in Canada in a shikishi specific frame from Japan. Many examples of Japanese calligraphy in the West are not traditionally and correctly framed. Since they are not traditionally framed, they don't really look right; since they are often not behind glass, they don't last very long before they start to deteriorate. This is not the case with the artwork produced by Davey Sensei, Sennin Foundation Director, for his customers.

"The artwork is beautiful. The movement is both exquisite and powerful."

Angie Kehler

Free Japanese Yoga & Martial Arts Classes

On Thursday, April 7, the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts will offer FREE introductory classes in Japanese yoga and martial arts. The classes will start at 7 PM at 1053 San Pablo Ave., Albany, California. The teacher will be Kevin Heard Sensei, who has nearly 30 years of training in both disciplines. He will focus on principles of mind and body unification common to both arts. To attend these free classes, call 510-526-7518, and leave your name, phone number, and indicate that you would like to participate. Wear loose clothing and arrive 10 minutes before the classes start. Take a look at the text below for more information.

Japanese Yoga & Meditation

Shin-shin-toitsu-do is the form of Japanese yoga and meditation offered at the Sennin Foundation Center. Shin-shin-toitsu-do, "The 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.

Our Shin-shin-toitsu-do class 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. You, like many of our students, may experience greatly enhanced concentration, willpower, calmness, relaxation, and physical fitness.

Make a positive and life-altering decision. Consider adding Shin-shin-toitsu-do to your life, and discover a way of living rooted in health, happiness, and harmony.

Martial Arts

The Sennin Foundation Center presents instruction in 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 our dojo is one of few in the USA to offer authentic Japanese jujutsu.

Our class features a wide variety of powerful throwing, pinning, and grappling techniques stemming from older methods (kobudo) 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 students have likened training in our dojo to "moving Zen."

Our instructors also teach methods for cultivating ki (chi in Chinese). Ki is the life energy that animates human beings, and an understanding of it is useful in both martial arts and daily life.

Instruction in the Shin-shin-toitsu-do system of Japanese yoga and meditation is included at no extra charge. Japanese yoga training makes it easier to master the martial arts, and it helps us to realize our full potential in other activities as well. Give us a call to find out how aiki-jujutsu can help you toward self-protection and self-perfection.

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

Our thoughts go out to our friends and teachers in Japan, which was recently hit by a large earthquake and tsunami. We hope all our friends are OK, and we hope you will donate to help people in Japan. If you’re not sure how to do this, you can go to http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/japan-earthquake-tsunami-relief/.

About The Japanese Way of the Artist

H. E. Davey combines a remarkable technical facility in the Japanese art of the brush with a deep understanding of its spiritual profundities. His book offers a marvelous practical introduction to Japanese calligraphy as well as insights into the essence of this art. It is a unique and fascinating presentation of a little-known art of self-cultivation.--Dave Lowry, author of Sword and Brush

An Amazon.com Review of Japanese Yoga

5.0 out of 5 stars

Much more than yoga

December 30, 2010

By David Orman

If you are interested in anything Japanese, this is one of those books that you will find yourself reading multiple times. . . and still learning per each read.

When I first read the title, I anticipated teaching on stretching and perhaps breathing and other elements associated with traditional yoga, albeit from a Japanese perspective. This book does include these aspects but so much more. From visualization to Shodo and a dozen other topics in between, this book covers more of a lifestyle vs. a how-to-do-yoga.

I found it extremely helpful and would highly recommend it.

Holiday

The Sennin Foundation Center will be closed on February 21. We hope everyone has a nice holiday.

Movement

Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul's weather. ~Martha Graham

The founder of Shin-shin-toitsu-do (Japanese yoga) also taught that the body reflects the mind, and that physical training can help us understand and develop concentration, willpower, a positive attitude, and other mental qualities. Learn more by reading Japanese Yoga by H. E. Davey, Sennin Foundation Director.

Hashimoto Tetsuichi

This is a recent photo of Hashimoto Tetsuichi Sensei, Sennin Foundation Senior Advisor. Hashimoto Sensei is a direct student of the founder of Shin-shin-toitsu-do, a system of Japanese yoga and meditation taught at the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts in California. Hashimoto Sensei holds the highest teaching certification in this art.

Hashimoto Sensei is over 80 now, and he is one of the teachers of H. E. Davey Sensei, Sennin Foundation Director and author of Japanese Yoga. This picture was taken at his home in Tokyo by his son Hashimoto Koji, also a friend and supporter of our dojo as well as a teacher of Japanese yoga.

Thoughts

A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.

Mohandas Gandhi

Both Gandhi and Nakamura Tempu mentioned this idea, echoing the sages of ancient India. To learn more about how the mind can create health and illness, fortune and misfortune, read Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation, which is based on Nakamura Sensei's teachings.

The Japanese Way of the Artist

To read more about Japanese art and meditation, check out The Japanese Way of the Artist. You can order your copy at:

http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Way-Artist-Living-Meditation/dp/1933330074/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=12926379...77&sr=8-1

Dream

All men who have achieved great things have been great dreamers.

Orison Swett Marden

Nakamura Tempu was the creator of Japanese yoga, and as a young man he was inspired by the positive thinking advocated by Marden's writings. To learn more, pick up a copy of Japanese Yoga at http://senninfoundation.com/davey_yoga.html.

A Positive Mind

Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.

Michael Jordan

Japanese yoga aims at the culitvation of a positive mind through autosuggestion and meditation. Learn the art of meditation. Pick up a copy of Japanese Yoga at http://senninfoundation.com/davey_yoga.html