Body

Body, mind, and heart interplay to inform our lives, for sure. But the soul speaks and lives through each of these aspects. This is the brilliance of the integral model we engage with ITP.

ITP honors the body as an amazing teacher and guide. Further, we believe that the body is capable of transformation in both ordinary and extraordinary ways. ITP includes several practices to enhance the health of the body, such as the ITP Kata, aerobic exercise, strength training, and conscious eating. The body is our foundation, our vehicle to express ourselves in the world, and it requires appropriate care to realize its fullest potential.

Josh Brahinsky is a Psychological Anthropologist, working over the past few years in Anthropology at Stanford University, Psychology at UC Berkeley, and now in Transcultural Psychiatry at McGill University. He joined a team of researchers to examine ITP and its effect on its practitioners. This project took him beyond academia.

Putting together all aspects of our integral being is a practice itself. Conscious, embodied integration of our many parts reinforces wholeness, balance, and integrity—much of what ITP promises for practitioners. Rather than focusing awareness on one aspect of ourselves, such as the heart with its vast array of feelings, the staying current practice prompts us to pay equal attention to all aspects—the totality of who we are – to mine our deeper truths for self-understanding, growth, and mindful action.

This exercise will allow us to bring vitality and awareness to our own integral parts of body, mind, heart and soul. It is meant to help us notice that we can connect with our different parts and sense into and awaken to the messages that they have for us. By attuning to each dimension of our being, we can shape the direction of our growth and the way we show up in the world.

In this audio recording, Cassandra Vieten, from The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), shares her deep knowledge of the scientific study of spirituality and transformative practices and the exciting results of IONS’ study of ITP.

Learn how to open your mind and heart to stay current with both yourself and others. In this guided exercise led by co-founder George Leonard, you’ll experience how the Crystalline State can provide a means for temporarily setting aside expectations and judgements to offer clarity. This exercise will help you to move with intentionality in a balanced and centered state of being.

In this spirited presentation, ITP co-founder George Leonard describes the reasons why we humans are wired to resist change and how we can negotiate with resistance in order to grow and transform.

Bring your entire being into balance during this guided ITP exercise led by co-founder George Leonard. Using the foundational practices of ITP and Leonard Energy Training, you’ll gain an understanding of why being centered sets the course for a harmonious and balanced life, and how to return to your center during life’s challenges.

In this excerpt from ITP's upcoming book, authors Christina Grote and Pam Kramer continue to explore new territory and more effective methods of transformation within our living, evolving practice. With what we are calling ITPx we intend to reconnect ITP to its founding vision— an adventure into humankind’s evolutionary frontier, a launchpad, as George Leonard called it, for places yet unknown.

In our life-long pursuit toward the further reaches of our potential, we must always proceed with that first step. I recently spoke with Bob about his own practice, particularly his extraordinary capacity to retain and recite poetry. As with so many special conversations we’ve had, it was a flow of wisdom punctuated with a poem.

The powers of body, mind, heart and soul which, when balanced and integrated, awaken us to infinite possibilities for greater life. While the Kata is an extremely effective way to integrate and support body, mind, heart and soul evolution, I sought to bring these quadrants of being together through another passion – exercise.

ITP Kansas group leader Cherri Harper has consistently focused on preventing osteoporosis, but when tests showed a sudden loss in bone density, she created an affirmation, “I care for others AND I care for myself.” Since then, she has increased her bone density twice in recent years. Here is her story.

This section is drawn from Chapter Four of The Future of the Body by Michael Murphy entitled The Supernormalities of Everyday Life. Included in this document, is an inventory that can help you bring to consciousness unusual events you may have dismissed without recognizing them as the glimmering of potential extraordinary capacities.

Committing to an ITP Kata practice requires discipline and the rewards are truly life-changing. There is a reason long-time practitioners shine their beautiful light upon the transformative nature of a daily Kata practice.

Ten-year ITP practitioner and ITP Tulsa group member, Ken Piper, shares his experience and unexpected ways he’s grown during these past few years, and how the Kata continues to be “brilliant by design” no matter the setting.