1. How did you become involved in ITP? And are you currently a member of any ITP group?
A short story:
It was Father’s Day Weekend 2002. I had just split with my husband at the time, and there was nowhere I would rather be than away. “Away” often meant “at The Esalen Institute.”
So, I headed to Esalen Institute, in Big Sur, California, on a beautiful June weekend, not entirely caring about what workshop I would attend. As fate would have it, I spent several days with George Leonard and Annie Styron Leonard in an Integral Transformative Practices Introduction Workshop. The class met in the historic Huxley room. The waves of the majestic Pacific Ocean were crashing outside. I took glorious hikes during the break times. George would come into the room while the participants were away and play the piano. The workshop group spent our lunches and dinners together, including George and Annie. It was magical! I was hooked.
Later, I discovered that I already had the Tao of Practice DVD (George’s instructional video on the Kata) at home in my DVD library!
Of course, I came back for a second retreat with George Leonard, this time with his protégée, Barry Robbins. I brought my partner, Jim Lee, who had intended to take a course on Golf in the Kingdom with Michael Murphy – but Michael had to cancel, and Jim joined me at the ITP workshop. A few years later, Jim and I married in San Francisco. Jim is now my husband of nearly two decades. He too still practices the Kata, still with the motivation of better golf!
Fun fact: Jim and I claim rights to the first “Kata baby”: Our son, James Davis Lee, was born in 2008. James practiced Kata “from the inside out” over the nine months prior to his birth.
In early 2004, I first became a member of the Walnut Creek, California, “ITP Unlimited” group. It was a phenomenal group and my mainstay for seven years. In 2011, I moved to Houston for work and joined the Houston ITP group for seven years. I returned to California in 2018.
Today, I keep my practice stabilized as part of the Mastery teacher group, taking part in the annual ITPI Challenge and serving as a workshop facilitator for Integral Leadership Mastery.
I am hatching plans to start an ITP group in Sonora, California, as I write in the year (gulp) 2025!
2. Within your practice, what insights have you experienced that have made the biggest impact in your daily life?
At my first workshop, George said, and physically demonstrated that, “We are stronger when we relax.” I had never heard of that idea before. I often applied pressure in life, rather than relaxing. Learning the power of relaxation was a major pivot for me.
The practice of relaxation, complimented by centering, grounding and reflection, has only grown in its importance in my life. I take time-outs called “personal Sabbaths.” One of my mainstay practices is scheduling time for “personal Sabbaths.”
My favorite ITP Core Practice Intention is CPI #1:
I take responsibility for my practice and for all transformations of my body and being that flow from it. While respecting my teachers and fellow practitioners, I understand that in designing and engaging in my practice I am my own authority.
3. What ITP practice resource/exercise/quote has been most helpful in your transformative journey?
The same quote has been said several ways, citing several sources, on the value of practice:
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“In times of great stress, we don’t rise to our level of expectations, we fall to our level of training.”
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“Under pressure, you don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to your level of practice.”
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“You don’t rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your habits.”
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From Chapter 1 of Atomic Habits by James Clear: "It doesn't matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path toward success. You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results."
4. Have you participated in any ITP programs and if so, what resources or teaching have benefited you most from the experience?
That is like asking me to pick my favorite child! I love every program I have attended.
ITP’s Nine Core Practice Intentions are the heart of the practice, and I steadfastly return to them for grounding and centering my life and my attention.
My favorite program right now is Integral Leadership Mastery, which I co-facilitate with Barbara Brown, because it integrates ITP’s Nine Core Practice Intentions with an emphasis on self-leadership and learning through peer coaching.
5. What is one affirmation you currently have/or had that has been particularly helpful in realizing your own extraordinary capacities?
My most precious affirmation stays private. I love this one equally: I remain Confident, Organized, Loving, Abundant.
I call it my “COLA affirmation.” Just declaring oneself as confident always provides a harbor of safety.
6. Do you have any favorite books, podcasts or newsletters that align with and support your practice? Please share with our community.
We have great ITP classics, such as The Life We Are Given and Living an Extraordinary Life. I learn new things each time I read them.
If there is one poet I recommend, that would be the Irish poet John O’Donohue. In To Bless the Space Between Us, he says:
May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.
7. What ways have ITP and this practice supported your work/engagement in the larger community and world?
I cultivate my own authority. Has there ever been a more momentous time to do so?