Shintaido of America

Welcome Shintaido of America Board Members!

By Tereza Soldátová March 20, 2024 No Comments

By Connie Borden, the Shintaido Of America Board President

Welcome Jim Sterling and David Palmer as new SOA Board Members! Shintaido of America board has had several vacancies in the past few months, so we thank Jim and David for agreeing to an interim board appointment until June 2025. Board members serve two-year terms and we appreciate that Jim and David would complete vacancies until our next board elections in August 2025.

Meet these two people:

Jim Sterling

Jim Sterling is ranked in Shintaido as General Instructor, Yondan Kenjutsu, Sandan Bojutsu and Nidan Karate. Most recently he has been serving as an officer of SOA as Editor of Body Dialogue and is a member of the SOA National Technical Committee (NTC) and International Technical and Examination Committee (ITEC). Jim has worked as a writer, consultant, and project manager in San Francisco for many years. Since Jim started practicing Shintaido in 1976 he has been a guiding force of the Pacific Shintaido group and interested in advancing Shintaido both through keiko and organizational structures.

Read this interview with Jim.

David Palmer

David Palmer has been involved with Shintaido since 1984 when he met H.F. Ito and asked him to critique the first iteration of his seated massage protocol. Both Shintaido and massage are movement forms, one active (you move yourself) and one passive (someone else moves you). The interplay of these two sides of the movement coin have been foundational to his professional and personal life.

Prior to entering the field of massage, David spent ten years as a developer and administrator of social service programs for nonprofit agencies in Chicago and San Francisco. His work included the creation of the first nationwide social service hotline in 1972, the National Runaway Switchboard. While working for the Wieboldt Foundation, in 1974, he staffed the development of the first association of private family foundations in the United States, the Donor’s Forum, a model that has been duplicated in major cities throughout the country.

David began his professional massage career in 1980. Before his teacher, Takashi Nakamura, returned to Japan in 1982, he prepared David to assume operation of The Amma Institute. The Amma Institute was the first school in the United States exclusively devoted to traditional Japanese massage. It was here that David first began experimenting with teaching his graduates to work on clients seated in a chair, rather than lying on a table. In 1989 David stepped down as Director of the school to focus full-time on the development of the Chair Massage industry.

Listen to the episode of the Shintaido of America podcast with David Palmer published on September 20, 2023.



Membership subscriptions are now open!

By Tereza Soldátová March 6, 2024 No Comments

Spring 2024


Greetings from the board of Shintaido of America! It’s time to renew your membership.
This past year has seen many changes for our organization. The most important were the loss of our beloved co-founder, Ito-sensei on 30 December 2023, and the sad passing of our Treasurer Brad Larson in November 2023.

As we move forward in a world filled with an urgent need for peace, we rededicate ourselves to our practice of Shintaido.

The annual membership subscription of $60 has not changed for several years, and it now offers more benefits than ever.

Electronic payment can easily be made at http://shintaido.org/docs/membership.htm

Alternately, a check for $60 payable to SOA can be mailed to:
Shintaido of America
426 Day Street
SF, CA 94131

We strive to support our community of practitioners by providing members with:

  1. Full access to the Shintaido of America Website. Check it out! New things are happening all the time! We now feature a media page that includes all our newsletter, YouTube and Podcast links.
  2. Body Dialogue is now completely digital and appears in real-time as postings on the website.
  3. The Shintaido of America YouTube Channel presents new videos every few weeks.
  4. Access to episodes of the Shintaido of America podcast. We are now in the third season of the Shintaido Podcast! The podcast is available on all the usual platforms such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and many others. On the podcast, producer and host General Instructor David Franklin hosts interviews on Shintaido-related topics with various people around the globe.

    General Instructor and SOA Board President Connie Borden hosts a monthly podcast discussion group on the last Tuesday of each month. Please contact Connie Borden at president@shintaido.org if you’d like to join in!
  5. Liability Insurance for instructors and students – so you and your students are covered no matter where you practice. This is available to members at no cost!
  6. Several senior instructors – from the UK and the US – hold regular classes on Zoom which members can attend. A full listing of these is available on the SOA website.

    Access to the most up-to-date changes to the curriculum, which continues to develop, especially the Kenjutsu curriculum.
  7. Support to our instructors and the National Technical Committee.
  8. Communication with International Shintaido Technical and Exam Committee (ITEC)
  9. Leadership by SOA and ESC as the organizing and sponsoring organizations for international activities.
  10. SOA examinations and SOA Diplomas.
  11. Access to grants for travel and education scholarships for Shintaido events worldwide. British Shintaido is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and hosting an international gasshuku in August in England. Grants are available from SOA to help with the cost of attendance at this significant event. Please contact Connie for details.

For ALL of the benefits listed above, your annual membership works out to only $5 a month, or 16 cents a day!

We sincerely hope you will consider renewing your membership, and join us as SOA moves into the future!

Connie Borden, Chair SOA Board of Directors
Robert Gaston, Chair SOA NTC
Sandra Bengtsson, Treasurer pro tem
Nancy Billias, Membership
David Franklin, Podcast
Michael Thompson, co-founder

Links

Proceed with the electronic payment of the membership here
http://shintaido.org/docs/membership.htm

The Shintaido of America Website
http://www.shintaido.org/

The Body Dialogue
http://www.shintaido.org/body-dialogue/

The Shintaido of America YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMF5wKhxvnO4_tj2bsZ8OvA/videos

The Shintaido of America podcast
https://linktr.ee/shintaidoofamerica

Liability Insurance for instructors and students
http://www.shintaido.org/membership/member-resources/

Kenjutsu study in France

By Tereza Soldátová December 5, 2023
Kenjutsu study in France

by Connie Borden

I travelled to France in early November 2023. HF Ito and Nicole Beauvois me for the first 5 days to enjoy their new house in Cuy France. The second half of the trip was to Limoges France to study Kenjutsu with Shintaido General Instructors and Yondan Kenjutsu Instructors Pierre Quettier and Mieko Hirano.

Cuy France is 90 minutes from Paris and near Sens and Troyes. We explored the Farmers Market in Sens and visited the majestic Cathedral. One day was spent exploring the historical section of Troyes France to see the architecture and have a splendid lunch at a French restaurant. I was fortunate to have a private lesson with Ito Sensei on Kenjutsu. Thursday afternoon, we did a Taimyo Keiko in honor of Brad Larson who recently unexpectedly died. Brad was a SOA Instructor and SOA Board Treasurer. The visit concluded with a dinner with friends of Nicole and Ito. 

Limoges France, about 4 hours from Paris, was the site for the Kenjutsu workshop. During the past 2021 and 2022 workshops, they explored Shoden no kata and Chuden no kata. This year, our study was Okuden no kata, the third in the trilogy. Eighteen people attended this workshop. Pierre and Mieko hoped for attendees to “cultivate their garden of practice with complete peace of mind.” Practicing in person after time apart allowed us to do Kumitachi with a variety of partners while also sharing a little of the Shintaido “breath of eternity”, as Pierre stated.

This year, in order to optimize the practice time on site, they offered preparation beforehand. I met with Pierre and Mieko by ZOOM to review my study of Kenjutsu. As a result, my homework for the 5 weeks before the workshop was to learn and study Goho Batto-ho, the 5 drawing techniques. I thank Robert Gaston and Sarah Baker for their time and guidance during these 5 weeks. Ito Sensei during my private lesson gave many instructions to refine my techniques with the focus to “keep your blade active”. 

Pierre presented a website to support our personal practices and serve as support for the goreĂŻ of Kenjutsu teachers. Pierre offers this website as a resource: Shintaido Kenjutsu Cyberdojo.

The workshop started Friday November 10th with a collegial keiko and meal. During our practice we studied Goho Batto-ho, known as 5 drawing techniques either with Bokken or Shin Ken. Saturday, November 11 there were two keiko. We divided into 3 groups based on level of practice. Mieko Hirano instructed Group A on Chuden no Kata and the first two Jissen Kumitachi. Alain Chevet assisted Pierre in teaching Group B and Pierre guided the practice Group C. We systematically studied the movements of Okuden no kata, often doing kumitachi applications of the movements. The repeated practice brought the kata alive to give a glimmer of it’s meaning. We then set a goal to study #1 to #11 of the Jissen Kumitachi, however for most of us we achieved practicing the first five kumitachi. 

In the evening we met to discuss the Kenjutsu curriculum. Pierre distributed his comprehensive documents on the Hagakure – the Trilogy of three kata (Shoden no kata, Chuden no kata, and Okuden no kata). We discussed teaching Kenjutsu, especially to the new students. The group of 18 people included Ula Chambers and Charles Burns from the UK, me from North America and students from across France. Many report the advantage of teaching Kenjutsu to reach new audiences. 

Sunday, November 12 was keiko 3. We continued with Jissen Kumitachi, now attempting to review #12 to #22!  The last part of our morning, we combined into one group so all could practice Dotoh and Ryuhi Kumitachi. Pierre led our group to demonstrate Okuden no Kata to Mieko’s group, then the full group did Shoden no kata and Chuden no kata multiple times to bring our movements and breath into synchrony.  After a meal, and the typical Shintaido goodbyes of hugs and kisses, we departed around 2 p.m.

I am grateful to Pierre, Mieko and Alain for their teaching and dedication to Shintaido Kenjutsu. I enjoyed the opportunity for kumitachi or partner practice in this focused workshop. While the workshop was located in France, our Shintaido study is the same art. The facility in Limoges provided comfortable lodging along with excellent French cuisine.