Author picture

Wendy Palmer (1) (1947–)

Author of The Intuitive Body: Aikido as a Clairsentient Practice

For other authors named Wendy Palmer, see the disambiguation page.

3 Works 100 Members 3 Reviews

Works by Wendy Palmer

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

from cover

'For Wendy Palmer, the martial arts mat is a laboratory of the human spirit, a place less for demonstrating perfect, invulnerable technique than for exploring the mysteries of imperfection, the uses of vulnerability.

'Now this scientist of the spirit has distilled her learning to date in a strikingly original book.

'The Intuitive Body is by no means just for marital artists, but rather for all those who want ot rediscover, in her words, a part of ourselves that is wise, kind, and capable of clear and powerful embodied action.'--from the Introduction by George Leonard

The Intuitive Body draws on the priniciples of the Japanese martial art aikido to present a unique method for cultivating awareness and attention. Wendy Palmer shows us through aikido exercises with a partner how we can become more aware of the body and trust its wisdom.

Using exercises from her Conscious Embodiment and Intuition Training program, Palmer connects ordinary movement, meditation, and breathing. Grounding attention in our physical movement can release fear, giving us choices in difficult situations.

Wendy Palmer is a 4th degree black belt in aikido. She co-founded and teaches at the Tamalpais Aikido Dojo in Mill Valley, California and currently directs the Prison Integrated Health Project, a women's program at Santa Rita Correctional Facility.

Contents

Acknowledgments, Foreword by George Leonard
Introduction--Embodying a Dream; Looking at the Foundations of My Perceptions; The Influences of Aikido Traditions in My Life; How the Videotape Supplements Work; How This Book Works
PartI. The Body-Establishing Our Ground
Chapter 1. Coming to the Path--A Reference Point and a Technique; Into the Present; Coming Into Sensation; Knowing the River
Chapter 2. The Elements of Basic Practice--A Centering Triad: Three Parts of Attentional Concentration; Utilizing Our Breath; Balancing Our Energy Field; Feeling Gravity; Practicing the Technique; Personalizing Basic Practice; Practicing and Accepting the Mystery
Chapter 3. Adding a Quality--Why a Quality; Identifying a Quality; Using the Body as the Teacher; A Centerpiece for Pracitce
Chapter 4. Energy and Stability--Energy Follows Attention; Embellishing Our Center Practice; A Spiral-Breath Meditation; Take Your Time
Chapter 5. Learning--Approaches to Learning; Interest versus Fear; The Grinch and the 'Yes...And,...' Technique; Pracitce and Training; Mistsakes; Filling in a Hole
Part II. The Mind-Shaping Our Concepts
Chapter 6. The Spirit of Inquiry--The Habit of Interest; The Fine Art of Questioning; A Buoyant State of Curiosity; The Don't-Know Mind
Chapter 7. Not-Knowing--A Journey into Emptiness; Timing; Mystery; Strength of Spirit
Chapter 8. Intuition--Working from a Stable Base; Not-Knowing: The Doorway; Creating Manageable pieces for the Process; Interpreing; Nonverbal Communication
Part III. Wisdom Arising-Ways Our Soma is Organized
Chapter 9. The Energetic Field--Shaping Our Field: Triangle, Square, and Circle; Practicing being Both Postive and receptive
Chapter 10. Attentional States--Dropped Attention; Open Attention; Ellipted Attention; Blended Attention; Training Attentional States
Chapter 11. Splits--Basic Splits in the Body; Disembodiment; The Observer; Three Centers: Head, Heart and Hara; Techniques Toward Unification: Healing the Split; Override; How Do I Know When I Am Unified?
Part IV. Embodied Action
Chapter 12. lrimi--The Spirit of Irimi; facing our Fear; Evolvoing by Manageable Percentages; Counterphobia; The Irimi of Questioning
Chapter 13. Different Approaches--The Masculine-Motivating Force; The Feminine and Non-Action; Balance: Integrating Masculine and Feminine; The Magical Turnaround; Disocvering Aspects of Our Being
Chapter 14. The Path Never Ends--The Dance of Clarity and Obscurity; Our Human Prerogative
Part V. Practice Guides
Utiizing Your Breath; Balancing Your Energy Field; Feeling Gravity; Evoking and Choosing a Quality; Basic Practice; Spiral-Breath Meditation; 'Yes...And,...' Technique; Positive/Receptive; Dropped Attention; Open Attention; Metta Meditation
… (more)
 
Flagged
AikiBib | 1 other review | May 29, 2022 |
from dust jacket

Drawing on the poetic wisdom of the Tao Te Ching, American sensei Wendy Palmer translates the powerful teachings of aiido for use in everyday life-all wothout practicing the vigorous exercises of this martial art itself. With poignant reflections on her own life, including her Conscious Embodiment work and teaching inmates in a women's federal prison, she describes how we can lose our sense of freedom, vitality, and integrity when under the duress of life's 'attacks.' She explores a process that responds to the question How? How do we transform our negativity into budo, or love, and how do we move from reactivity to freedom?

The Practice of Freedom is invaluable not only for students of aikido and other movement and martial arts, but also for those who seek to live with confidence and self-reliance, to establish clear and compassionate boundaries, and to deepen their capacities for relationships.

Wendy Palmer, a fith-degree black belt and cofounder of Aikido of Tamalpais, in Mill Valley, California, has been teaching aikido since 1974. In 1980, she developed Conscious embodiment, which uses aikido principles as a way to study boundaries, relationships, and leadership. She directed the Prison Integrated Health Program from 1990 to 1997. This is a volunteer project that provides classes in behavioral medicine at the Federal correctional Institution in Dublin, California, and serves as a model for health promotion programs in prisons throughout the United States. She is the author of The Intuitive Body: Aikido as a Clairsentient Practice (North Atlantic Books, 2000), and teaches Conscious Embodiment in its companion video.

Contents

Foreword by Jack Kornfield
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One: Initial Stages
1 Anarchy
An Early Sense of Anarchy
Pushing the Boundaries
Separation from Unconditional Love
Trapped and imprisoned
Staying Positive in the Face of Difficulties
Experiencing Resistance
Pain
Acceptance of Limitations
Emotional Pain
Physical Pain
Chronic Pain
Pain of Separation and Isolation
Facing and Accepting Our Pain
Impoverishment versus the Larger View
Achievement as a Sabotage Pattern
Movement Toward Etiquette
2 Etiquette
Etiquette as Form
Maai
Social Etiquette
evolution
Learning to Fall
Historical Etiquette
Contemporary Etiquette
Aikido as Etiquette
Etiquette as a Codependent Web
The beginnng of Morality
3 Morality
The Difficulty of Knowing What is Right
Centering and Opening to a Deeper Truth
The Gap Between Belief and Action
Choosing the Good
Discipline Leads to Fulfillment
Right Livelihood
Paying Attention to Our Thoughts
Saints and Mystics as Hints
Our Moral Compass
Respect
Exploring Our Fear
Ordeals: Testing the Perimeters of Our Development
Readjusting to Increased Abilities
Responsiability
Responsibility to Self
Responsibiility to Others
4 Compassion
Nurturing the Seed of Compassion
Cultivating Openness under Pressure
Kindness
Building a Reservoir of Positive Feelings
Extending Ourselves to Others
The Qualities of Compassion
Compassionate Leadership
Responsiability and Ambition
Mindfulness
Repetition fo Pracitce
Relationship with Ourselves
Form and Improvisation
The Present I an Acquitted Taste
Practicing Loving Kindness
Working with Prayer
Part Two: Refinement
5 Cultivating Virtue: Inner Stillness
Shugyu
The Foundation of Virtue
Relaxing under Pressure
Training
Breath
Stillness
Seeing from Another Point of View
Learning to Be Effective
Cultivating Stillness
Moments of Stillness
Three Levels of Practice
Circulation
Finding Balance
6 Cultivating the Way: Surrender
Surrender
Differeing Views of Ego and Spirit
The Ego's View of Surrender
Surrender as Empowerment
Surrendering to a Different Way of Life
Surrendering to Etiquette, Morality, and Compassion
Surrendering to a Teacher
Teachers as Catalysts
The Responsibility of Teacher and Student
Experiencing the Presence of a Living Teacher
Surrenderint to a Teaching
Surrendering to Internal Conflict
Truth Brings Strength and Energy
Voluntary Surrender
7 The Open Door to Freedom: Nonresistance
A Feeling of LIquid Flow
Internal Practices
Redirecting Energy
Levels of Nonresistance
The Power of the Circle and the Triangle
Working with Shapes
Faith and Doubt
Faith and Meaning
Faith in a Higher Power
Faith and Selfishness
Faith and Practice
8 Time, Space, and Energy
Balancing Time, Space, and Energy
Time: Etiquette
Space: Morality
Energy: Compassion
Energy, Expression, and Containment
The Connecting Thread: Awareness
9 Understanding the Vertical
Between Heaven and Earth
Vertical and Horizontal Energy Flows
Balancing the Horizontal with the Vertical
Cultivationg Our Vertical Core
Levels of Excellence
Part Three: Fruition
10 Freedom
Differing Views of Freedom
Freedom as Discipline
Freedom as Space
Freedom as Responsibility
11 The Way: Self-Cultivation
Happiness
Our Inner Terrain
Difficulties as Opportunities
Accepting Who We Are
Magic Is Practice
Inspiration and Commitment
Service
Love
The Rediant Essence
Afterword
Notes
Appeciations
From the Publisher
Index
… (more)
 
Flagged
AikiBib | May 29, 2022 |
Wendy Palmer applies aikido principles to mindfulness meditation. The aikido aspect is actually a fairly small part of the book, though you could argue that to the extent that it informs her practice, aikido is central to the book. The book works on a nice, secular primer on meditation. I especially liked her emphasis on making the body a part of mindfulness practice and on the idea of creating a space of openess and curiousity. I suspect I will be coming back to this book from time to time for inspiration.… (more)
 
Flagged
CarlosMcRey | 1 other review | May 30, 2008 |

Statistics

Works
3
Members
100
Popularity
#190,120
Rating
½ 3.3
Reviews
3
ISBNs
12

Charts & Graphs