Shintaido North East invites you to join us at our Fall Gasshuku on October 5-6, 2019, at Senexet House in Woodstock CT. The theme for the event is “A Place of Peace.” This should indeed be a peaceful place; Woodstock is in Connecticut’s ‘Quiet Corner’ and Senexet House is located a short walk from Roseland Lake.
We are delighted to have Margaret Guay, Shintaido Instructor, as the gasshuku’s keiko coordinator. Our schedule consists of morning and afternoon keikos on Saturday and a third on Sunday morning; details can be found in the accompanying brochure. If you prefer to arrive on Friday, accommodations can be made at a slightly additional cost.
Senexet House has been operating as a retreat center for decades and is well known in the area for its hominess. In addition to its many guest rooms and gathering places, there are walking trails on the property and a large field for outdoor keiko. The chef provides delicious home-cooked meals and can accommodate any dietary needs.
Registration is now open. To register, follow the information listed at the end of the PDF link. We hope you will join us in October for A Place of Peace.
Shintaido of America (SOA) is offering a $200 stipend to develop and implement a Shintaido program for cancer patients and their caregivers. We are hoping to share Shintaido movements and extend our community outreach efforts. Suggested movements include, Kenko-taiso, Taimyo or other Gentle Shintaido curriculum
How: Submit a project outline that includes, audience, location of classes, curriculum and how outreach will occur to encourage participation by cancer patients and their caregivers. Suggestions include, collaboration with cancer centers, cancer organizations or other healthcare groups.
Who: SOA members with the rank of Assistant or above are eligible.
Timeline: Stipend is available until December 30, 2019.
Decisions: SOA board will approve the selection of the applicant.
Submit your application to Connie Borden – bordensheets@aol.com
Shintaido North East would like to save the dates of October 5-6 for their Fall Gasshuku. The gasshuku will be held at the Senexet House in Woodstock, Connecticut. Mary Foran and Roger Solomon are co-managers.
In June 2019, ten Northeast American retreatants ventured across the pond to Achill Island, a wind- tossed haven on the westernmost coast of Ireland. Led by Rev. Sue Foster (Roger Solomon’s wife) and Rev. Maebh from the Sacred Path Retreat Center, our quest was to explore how the wisdom of Celtic spirituality might enlighten our daily lives.
Ireland is renowned as a beautiful and hospitable land, and one that has experienced terrible hardships and suffering, but at times, it’s also been the center of Western civilization and culture. Their deep spirituality can be traced back to Druidic traditions, centuries before the arrival of Christianity. Like the Shintaido founders, the Celts were focused on developing an organic relationship with nature and connecting with the grace in all of creation, asserting the life-affirming aspects of our elemental existence. In contrast to the Roman church’s dogma of “original sin,” the leaders there promulgated the notion of “original blessing”.
Although the North Atlantic winds there are strong enough to blow your chi away, the natives feel a powerful sense of alignment with the sacred earth and sky. It’s a good place to develop Ten-Chi-Jin. (Ten = heaven; Chi = earth; Jin = self)
In 563 Columba came to the isle of Iona and established the first monastery in Scotland. One of the earliest centers of Celtic Christianity, they practiced a radical gender-neutral egalitarianism, sometimes being led by a female abbess.
Influenced by the ancient texts of the Wisdom Tradition and the writings of St. John (he who listened to the heartbeat of Jesus), this movement resisted the authoritarian, hierarchical Roman Catholic Church as long as they could. According to legend, young warriors would spend their final year of training living in the gender role of the opposite sex to seek a more attuned balance of life.
J. Philip Newell writes “The passion of the Celtic mission lay in finding meaning in the heart of all life, a sense of wonder in relation to the elements, to recognize the world as the place of revelation, and the whole of life as sacramental. The western isles developed a rich treasure of prayers that referenced the sun, moon and stars as graces, and the spiritual coming through the physical. God is seen as the Life within all life. The Celtic crosses, triangulated knots, and illuminated texts incorporated designs that symbolized the interlacing of God and humanity, heaven and earth, spirit and matter.”1
I see clear parallels here with the mystical and anthropomorphic aspects of Shintaido. Aoki Sensei quotes sword master Sekiun to the same point: “We call the highest level which could be attained sei or “holiness”. This realm is yuiitsu muni- just as the sun is one and the moon is one. It is the highest and the holiest.”2
Matt Shorten in Ireland–Photo by Rev. Sue Foster
As Michael Thompson Sensei wrote in the Introduction to the Shintaido handbook, “Where does the body end and the mind or spirit begin? He (the budoka) is a specialist of that invisible and yet very physical part of ourselves which our doctors have not yet discovered. His ‘treatment’ is to teach us to communicate with our deeper selves, with each other, with nature and with God through the medium of our bodies”.3
One of the sacred practices we did on the retreat was to walk a stone labyrinth, situated on a peaceful hillside between a towering waterfall and a pristine sandy beach. Unlike a maze, a labyrinth has only one way in and one way out, but is nevertheless replete with surprising turns and discoveries. As one enters, you set an intention, and then just perform the movement with sincerity, trusting that when you finish, a clarity will arise upon emerging. Or as Aoki Sensei has said, “The locus of one swing of the sword is itself a sign”.4
On the last day there, when our spirits were high, but our bodies restless after a long sitting meditation, I offered to lead the group in some uplifting movement. We did Ritsu-i-ju Meiso-ho (10-position standing meditation), wakame (seaweed), and aozora-taiso (blue sky exercise), all with beach and sky visualizations. Although some in the group were limited physically, our hearts were open to what was within and without.
1) J. Philip Newell, Listening to the Heartbeat of God, p. 3, Paulist Press. 2) Haroyuki Aoki, Shintaido, p. 31, Shintaido of America. 3) ibid, p. 12. 4) ibid , p. 35.
The cost for the three-day event is 250 €. But, if you register before the end of July, it is only 220 €!
Ula Chambers, from the United Kingdom, is the Director of Instruction from the event. Here is an excerpt from her, “Welcome message” from their home page:
During the November event in Reims, I invite you to discover for yourselves the vastness of the Shintaido field and the depth of this inner world: find out how familiar Shintaido techniques can be presented in ways to enable people of different abilities to practice sincerely together; how listening deeply to our bodies can enhance our own personal practice and meet the needs of a changing body condition or environment. We will study the essence and deep philosophy of Shintaido in unexpected ways so that you can share Shintaido with your friends, family and co-workers; with younger or older people adapted to their ability and understanding.
If you have questions about the event, please check their contact page to choose the proper person to contact.
