Certification

July 11, 2014 · 

Japanese Yoga Teaching Certification

The International Japanese Yoga Association (IJYA) is the first Japan-based association to offer Shin-shin-toitsu-do teaching certification to people living outside of Japan. This is important, because with the exception of the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts (www.senninfoundation.com), no organizations outside of Japan can validly certify teachers of Tempu-style Japanese yoga (Shin-shin-toitsu-do). With so few legitimate Shin-shin-toitsu-do instructors outside of Japan, the Western public needs to be careful about whom they accept as teachers of Nakamura Sensei’s mind-body unification principles.

After the publication of Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation, a few misguided folks decided to promote themselves as teachers of Nakamura Sensei’s methodology, usually claiming to offer “Japanese yoga” classes. Unfortunately, they learned Anjo Daza Ho, Muga Ichi-nen Ho, Yodo Ho, and other methods from this book, without the benefit of a real teacher. Using Japanese Yoga as a practice guide benefits your health and well being, but the book doesn’t present all of the methods found in Nakamura Sensei’s Shin-shin-toitsu-do. Much more is needed to teach the public. At this point, all legitimate instructors of Nakamura Sensei’s methodology are certified by Japan-based associations, and instructors should be able to show proof of their teaching certification. (You might also want to ask who your prospective teacher studied under and what connection this person has to Nakamura Sensei.) If you encounter a teacher who cannot, or will not, show you such teaching certification, be cautious about studying with him or her.

Japanese culture is hierarchically based, and exponents of Japanese cultural arts are frequently ranked, with Japanese martial arts being the most well known version of this phenomenon. Most everyone is aware of how martial arts students are ranked according to “dan.” (Shodan equals first-degree black belt, nidan is second-degree black belt, and so on.) This approach, however, is used in other Japanese arts as well, and one can hold a dan grade in Japanese calligraphy or even the game of Go.

That said, teaching certification in the IJYA isn’t exactly equivalent to this “ranking” format. It’s closer to university degrees, and the levels of IJYA teaching certification are as follows:

               Koshi: Lecturer

               Jokyoju: Associate Professor

               Kyoju: Professor

Koshi is similar to a bachelor’s degree, Jokyoju is equivalent to a master’s degree, with Kyoju equaling a doctorate or Ph.D. IJYA teaching certificates are printed in Japanese and English, featuring President Sawai’s Japanese calligraphy and seals. Each certificate is hand signed, in Japanese and English, by Sawai Sensei.

All of these levels require years of direct study under a certified teacher. For example, as of 2013 only two individuals outside of Japan hold full Kyoju certification: H. E. Davey Sensei with nearly 40 years of training and Kevin Heard Sensei with nearly 30 years of experience.

For inquiries about the qualifications of a prospective teacher, or for information about IJYA teaching certification, contact the IJYA HQ. We’ll be happy to answer your questions and offer advice. Just send email to hedavey@aol.com. 

Amazing New Book!

“A simple guide to effective meditation that moves the reader from concentration to genuine meditative experience. The author maintains that such experiences are actually natural to us and that ‘harsh ascetic practice’ is unnecessary. Sawai Atsuhiro shows that meditation teaches how to deal with the stresses of modern life, improves one's general health, and can lead to the realization that we are one with the universe. Several methods of effective meditation are described. This is a book that will cause even the casual reader to want to meditate.”

Robert E. Carter, author of Encounter with Enlightenment and Becoming Bamboo: Western and Eastern Explorations of the Meaning of Life

Sawai Atsuhiro’s The True Paths to Meditation masterfully explains simple and profound forms of meditation, which the author learned from the celebrated founder of yoga in Japan, Nakamura Tempu. Mr. Nakamura taught Shin-shin-toitsu-do (“The Way of Mind and Body Unification”) for five decades, authored popular books and trained many of Japan’s most notable people in government, business, sports, martial arts, and entertainment.

As one of Mr. Nakamura’s closest students, Mr. Sawai received the highest level of teaching certification in Shin-shin-toitsu-do from him. He is a retired college professor and a bestselling author of meditation books in Japan. He is also the President of the International Japanese Yoga Association in Kyoto, which has members in over 20 nations.

In The True Paths to Meditation, his first English language book specifically written for Westerners, Mr. Sawai provides comprehensive insights into his unique life philosophy, evolved from over 50 years of Zen and yogic meditation. He also introduces methods to release the power of ki—the life energy of the universe. Using the forms of meditation in this book, you can realize deeper calmness, concentration, willpower, and a more positive way of living.

Complete with useful photos, a handy glossary, and suggestions for ongoing practice, The True Paths to Meditation will appeal to folks new to meditation as well as experienced meditators.

Look inside the book: https://www.amazon.com/True-Paths-Meditation-Sawai-Atsuhiro-ebook/dp/B00LH4QGJM/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1487715342&sr=8-1

An Important New Book by the Author of Japanese Yoga

The Teachings of Tempu: Practical Meditation for Daily Life details the life and meditation techniques of Nakamura Tempu (1876-1968). Mr. Nakamura taught Shin-shin-toitsu-do (“The Way of Mind and Body Unification”) for over 50 years and authored bestselling books. He trained over 100,000 people, including members of the Japanese Imperial Family, government officials, business leaders, top athletes, celebrated actors, martial arts experts, and notable novelists. 

The book begins with Mr. Nakamura’s early years and a global quest to cure his tuberculosis. This search took him to the USA, where he studied medicine at Columbia University. Next, he traveled to Europe, where he lived with actress Sarah Bernhardt and researched psychology. In Egypt he encountered Kaliapa, an Indian mystic and yoga master, who brought him to India for a final attempt to save his life. After austere meditation in the Himalayas, Nakamura Tempu attained enlightenment, shook off the bonds of illness, and returned to Japan a changed man. 

The Teachings of Tempu uses episodes from Mr. Nakamura’s life to introduce his philosophy of mind and body unification, his forms of meditation, and how these skills can help you attain better health as well as deeper calmness, concentration, and willpower. It contains rare photos from Japan, which chronicle his long life. Also featured are extensive quotes from his books, the first time his writing has been offered in English. The Teachings of Tempu presents experiments and exercises you can try at home to understand mind and body unification—the essence of Mr. Nakamura’s realization and the secret to unlocking human potential. Illustrations of these exercises and forms of meditation are provided, along with an Introduction by Sawai Atsuhiro, a leading teacher of Shin-shin-toitsu-do and a direct student of Mr. Nakamura. Dr. Robert Carter, author and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy for Canada’s Trent University, wrote the Foreword.

Pick up a copy of this important book at your local bookstore or buy a discounted copy at http://www.amazon.com/Teachings-Tempu-Practical-Meditation-Daily/dp/0615856330/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385749889&sr=1-1&keywords=the+teachings+of+tempu

Free Class!

On May 2, 2013 the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts in California will offer an introductory class in the Shin-shin-toitsu-do system of Japanese yoga. This event is FREE.

 

What You can Experience
Shin-shin-toitsu-do is the form of Japanese yoga and meditation that will be offered. Shin-shin-toitsu-do, “The Way of Mind and Body Unification,” was founded in the early 1900s by Nakamura Tempu Sensei. Nakamura Sensei lived in India, where he studied the art of Raja yoga, the yoga of meditation. After studying medicine at Columbia University, he blended Indian meditation and health improvement with his background in medicine, psychology, Japanese healing arts and meditation, and Japanese martial arts. He taught for many years in Japan, authored best-selling books, and counted among his students a large number of Japan's top executives, politicians, fine artists, athletes, martial artists, and people from every walk of life. But few Westerners have yet been exposed to these extraordinary teachings.

Shin-shin-toitsu-do offers you practical forms of seated and moving meditation, breathing methods for health, stretching exercises, autosuggestion for altering negative habits, stress management, and self-healing techniques that are little-known in the West. Emphasis is also placed on the development of ki (chi in Chinese). Ki amounts to life energy, and its cultivation has a profound effect on mental and physical health. The goal is greatly enhanced concentration, willpower, calmness, relaxation, and physical fitness.

All You Need to Know to Participate
The class will take place at 1053 San Pablo Avenue in Albany, California, right across the bay from San Francisco. The Japanese yoga program starts at 7:00 PM. You can read more about this subject at www.senninfoundation.com.

Wear loose clothing and bring a notebook. Pre-registration is needed and easily accomplished. Just leave a voice mail at 510-526-7518 or send e-mail to hedavey@aol.com. Leave your name and phone number, and then indicate that you would like to participate. Indicate if anyone else is coming with you, and then just drop by on May 2, 2013. Please arrive a few minutes before 7:00 PM for general registration.

The class will be taught by Troy Swenson Sensei, who has been studying and teaching at the Sennin Foundation Center for several years. He has associate instructor certification in Japanese yoga.

Don't miss your chance to learn how Japanese yoga can help you realize better health, deeper calmness, and enhanced concentration in everyday life. Thanks for supporting our dojo. We're looking forward to seeing you, your friends, and your family on May 2.

Japanese Yoga Excerpt

“In Japan, a number of time-honored everyday activities (such as making tea, arranging flowers, and writing) have traditionally been deeply examined by their proponents. Students study how to make tea, perform martial arts, or write with a brush in the most skillful way possible to express themselves with maximum efficiency and minimum strain. Through this efficient, adroit, and creative performance, they arrive at art. But if they continue to delve even more deeply into their art, they discover principles that are truly universal, principles relating to life itself. Then, the art of brush writing becomes shodo—the “Way of the brush”—while the art of arranging flowers is elevated to the status of kado—the “Way of flowers.” Through these Ways or Do forms, the Japanese have sought to realize the Way of living itself. They have approached the universal through the particular.”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

Free Class!

On August 23, 2012 the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts in California will offer an introductory class in the Shin-shin-toitsu-do system of Japanese yoga and meditation. This event is FREE.

What You can Experience
Shin-shin-toitsu-do is the form of Japanese yoga and meditation that will be offered. Shin-shin-toitsu-do, “The Way of Mind and Body Unification,” was founded in the early 1900s by Nakamura Tempu Sensei. Nakamura Sensei lived in India, where he... studied the art of Raja yoga, the yoga of meditation. After studying medicine at Columbia University, he blended Indian meditation and health improvement with his background in medicine, psychology, Japanese healing arts and meditation, and Japanese martial arts. He taught for many years in Japan, authored best-selling books, and counted among his students a large number of Japan's top executives, politicians, fine artists, athletes, martial artists, and people from every walk of life. But few Westerners have yet been exposed to these extraordinary teachings.

Shin-shin-toitsu-do offers you practical forms of seated and moving meditation, breathing methods for health, stretching exercises, autosuggestion for altering negative habits, stress management, and self-healing techniques that are little-known in the West. Emphasis is also placed on the development of ki (chi in Chinese). Ki amounts to life energy, and its cultivation has a profound effect on mental and physical health. The goal is greatly enhanced concentration, willpower, calmness, relaxation, and physical fitness.

All You Need to Know to Participate
The class will take place at 1053 San Pablo Avenue in Albany, California, right across the bay from San Francisco. The Japanese yoga program starts at 7:00 PM. You can read more at www.senninfoundation.com.

Wear loose clothing and bring a notebook. Pre-registration is needed and easily accomplished. Just leave a voice mail at 510-526-7518 or send e-mail to hedavey@aol.com. Leave your name and phone number, and then indicate that you would like to participate in one or both classes. Indicate if anyone else is coming with you, and then just drop by on August 23, 2012. Please arrive a few minutes before 7:00 PM for general registration.

The class will be taught by Troy Swenson Sensei, who has been studying and teaching at the Sennin Foundation Center for several years. He has instructor certification in Japanese yoga.

Don't miss your chance to learn how Japanese yoga and meditation can help you realize better health, deeper calmness, and enhanced concentration in everyday life.

Japanese Yoga

"A positive attitude is most easily arrived at through a deliberate and rational analysis of what’s required to manifest unwavering positive thought patterns. First, reflect on the actual, present condition of your mind. In other words, is the mind positive or not? We’ve all met individuals who perceive themselves as positive people but don’t appear as such. Since the mind is both invisible and intangible, it’s therefore easier to see the accurate characteristics of the mind through a person’s words, deeds, and posture.

For example, if we say, “It’s absolutely freezing today! I’ll probably catch a cold before the end of the day!” then our words expose a negative attitude. But if we say, “The temperature is very cold” (a simple statement of fact), then our expressions, and therefore attitude, are not negative. Sustaining an alert state in which self-awareness becomes possible gives us a chance to discover the origins of negativity. In doing so, we also have an opportunity to arrive at a state of positiveness, so that our words and deeds are also positive, making others feel comfortable, cheerful, and inspired."
— H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

Quote

“Emotional baggage,” which is carried over from the past, colors our perceptions. Likewise, past conclusions and beliefs, based on reasoning that may or may not have been accurate, also tint our perception of reality. Retaining our capacity for reason is common sense, but definite conclusions and beliefs keep us from seeing life as it really is at any given moment.

Emotional reactions can be unreasonable, and reason can be flawed. It’s difficult to have deep confidence in either one, especially when they’re often at war with each other. But the universal mind exists in the instant, in a moment beyond time, and it sees the universe as it literally is. It’s the universe perceiving itself. It is, moreover, something we can have absolute confidence in, and with that confidence, we can maintain a genuinely positive attitude.”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

Great news! Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation is back in print with a new publisher. Michi Publishing is starting to release new copies of this landmark book to the public, and you should be able to order a special signed edition from www.senninfoundation.com very soon. 

The Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts is scheduled to receive Japanese Yoga on June 11, 2012. Check the website after this date to order your own personal copy of this meditation classic. Paypal and major credit cards will be accepted, and international orders are encouraged. 

Based on the eclectic Western-Eastern teachings of Nakamura Tempu Sensei, this step-by-step introduction to Japanese yoga (Shin-shin-toitsu-do) presents stretching, healing, and meditation exercises designed for mind/body integration. It is the only book in English to detail the life and teachings of Mr. Nakamura. In Japanese yoga, which is based on mind and body unification principles, the ultimate goal is enhanced concentration, calmness, and willpower for a longer, healthier, and fuller life. Author H. E. Davey Sensei also shows how Japanese yoga relates to various classical Japanese arts as part of a tradition of spiritual practice with spiritual and aesthetic roots in India, Japan, and the West.

Developed by Nakamura Tempu Sensei in the early 1900s from Indian Raja yoga, Japanese martial arts and meditation practices, as well as Western medicine and psychotherapy, Japanese yoga offers a new approach to experienced yoga students and a natural methodology that newcomers will find easy to learn. After a brief history of Shin-shin-toitsu-do, H. E. Davey Sensei presents Mr. Nakamura's Four Basic Principles to Unify Mind and Body. These principles relate the meditative experience to the movement of everyday living and thus make it a "dynamic meditation." Each of the Four Basic Principles is illustrated with step-by-step explanations of practical experiments.

Readers are then introduced to different forms of seated and moving meditation, health exercises, and self-healing arts. All these are linked back to the Four Basic Principles and can enhance performance in art, music, business, sports, and other activities. Readers learn to use Japanese yoga techniques throughout the day, without having to sit on the floor or seek out a quiet space.

Included at the end of the book are simple but effective stretching exercises, information about ongoing practice, and a glossary and reference section. Amply illustrated and cogently presented, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation belongs on every mind/body/spirit reading list.

Japanese Yoga was initially published in 2001, and it was the first and only English language book on the mind and body unification teachings of Nakamura Sensei. It still is, and Mr. Davey will personally sign your copy of this milestone work. Drop by www.senninfoundation.com after June 11 and order Japanese Yoga for yourself or your friends. 

"Will make many yogis feel right at home...

Davey's readable, friendly guide is definitely worth a look." - Yoga Journal

Kindness

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again. ~Og Mandino

From Japanese Yoga . . .

"A positive attitude is most easily arrived at through a deliberate and rational analysis of what’s required to manifest unwavering positive thought patterns. First, reflect on the actual, present condition of your mind. In other words, is the mind positive or not? We’ve all met individuals who perceive themselves as positive people but don’t appear as such. Since the mind is both invisible and in...tangible, it’s therefore easier to see the accurate characteristics of the mind through a person’s words, deeds, and posture.

For example, if we say, “It’s absolutely freezing today! I’ll probably catch a cold before the end of the day!” then our words expose a negative attitude. But if we say, “The temperature is very cold” (a simple statement of fact), then our expressions, and therefore attitude, are not negative. Sustaining an alert state in which self-awareness becomes possible gives us a chance to discover the origins of negativity. In doing so, we also have an opportunity to arrive at a state of positiveness, so that our words and deeds are also positive, making others feel comfortable, cheerful, and inspired."
— H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

Review

Ashwini Aragam reviewed Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

Leading Life in a Positive Way
April 8, 2007

One of the key principles of Japanese Yoga or shin-shin toitsu do is being and staying positive. When you stay positive, the ki or the energy starts to flow in you. When you turn negative, the ki stops flowing. It is as simple as that! H. E. Davey writes in a simple and most effective manner to instill in one this simple principle.

If you are practicing Yoga for some time, you will know that Yoga is not all postures. Living life to its maximum is yoga; letting that universal energy flow through you uninterrupted is yoga. The author writes about the teachings of his master - Nakamura sensei. While acknowledging the roots of Japanese Yoga lies in the ancient practice from India, Nakamura sensei went on to form the foundations of Japanese yoga through his own interpretations and experiences.

As with staying positive, concentration of the mind is a big part of the book. There are several exercises/techniques (candle gazing, listening to the fading of the ringing bells to eternity) explained in the book and how, with such exercises once can connect to the universal energy. The exercise with a pendant is a simple and profound way to illustrate the effects of the mind on the body. You will find the many gentle stretching and ki stimulating exercises easy to learn and practice. This is one of the yoga books that I could read through without the express need to 'know' the steps of postures, the sequences and combinations of different categories of postures, etc, etc.

I found the book to be simple and devoid of the numerous asanas that one needs to learn to 'practice' yoga. You need to read quite a bit of the book to get a sense of what Dynamic Meditation is. That's how this book is different. If Yoga were to be condensed into a two-page booklet readied for a crash course, then there wouldn't be so many books on the subject. Each author and each way of yoga uses a different and often unique way to get the message across. H. E. Davey speaks from his own experience and practice in writing this book and in it you will find a different and welcome way of practicing yoga. This book will be a unique addition to your Yoga library.

SAWAI ATSUHIRO & H. E. DAVEY NEWS

Sawai Atsuhiro Sensei, Sennin Foundation Senior Advisor, has become the Headmaster of the Wakuwaku Hoshin Juku in Osaka. He was appointed to this position by the President of the new group Ikeda Hikaru Sensei. Wakuwaku Honshin Juku is devoted to the exploration of meditation and spiritual disciplines, with an emphasis on the teachings of Nakamura Tempu Sensei, the founder of the Shin-shin-toitsu-do system of Japanese yoga and meditation. Sawai Sensei was one of Nakamura Sensei’s closest students, and he has over 50 years of training in Japanese yoga. He is also the author of more than one best selling book on this subject in Japan.  

H. E. Davey, Director of the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts, recently received the highest level of teaching certification from the Wakuwaku Honshin Juku. He has studied Japanese yoga and meditation in the lineage of Nakamura Tempu Sensei since he was a teenager, and he is the author of Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation, the first English language book on the original methods of Nakamura Sensei. (You can read more at http://japaneseyoga.blogspot.com/. ) 

Nakamura Sensei lived in India, where he studied the art of Raja yoga, the yoga of meditation. After studying medicine at Columbia University, he blended Indian meditation and health improvement with his background in medicine, psychology, Japanese healing arts and meditation, and Japanese martial arts. He taught for many years in Japan, authored best-selling books, and counted among his students a large number of Japan's top executives, politicians, fine artists, athletes, martial artists, and people from every walk of life. But few Westerners have yet been exposed to these extraordinary teachings. One of the goals of the Wakuwaku Honshin Juku is to rectify this situation.

Einstein

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
― Albert Einstein

“Realizing that our minds control our bodies while our bodies reflect our minds amounts to understanding the most fundamental aspects of ourselves. It further equals a comprehension of the relationship between our “tools.” And since the mind and body are interrelated, this understanding makes it easier to see why coordinating them is a practical way of using these tools to greatest effect—a way of using the mind and body to live our lives as art.”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

Quote

“While we can learn or study techniques for almost anything we might want to accomplish, real understanding is not the mere accumulation of knowledge. Understanding cannot be realized by listening or reading about the realization of others. It must be achieved firsthand via substantive, direct perception in the moment.”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

No art takes places without inspiration. Every artist also needs effective knowledge of his or her tools (e.g., does a certain brush function well with a particular kind of paint?). What’s more, artists need effective techniques for using those tools.

Likewise, to express ourselves skillfully with maximum efficiency and minimum effort, we need to investigate the most effective ways of using the mind and body since, in the end, they are the only “tools” we truly possess in life.

H. E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

The Japanese Way of the Artist

The Japanese Way of the Artist is a collection of three of H. E. Davey's most popular books. It's published by Stone Bridge Press (www.stonebridge.com). Included in a single volume are:

* Living the Japanese Arts and Ways: 45 Paths to Meditation & Beauty
* Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony
* The Japanese Way of the Flower: Ikebana as Moving Meditation
The three works anthologized here are essential to understanding the spiritual, meditative, and physical basis of all classical Japanese crafts, fine arts, and martial arts. Living the Japanese Arts & Ways covers key concepts—like wabi and “stillness in motion”—while the other two books show the reader how to use brush calligraphy (shodo) and flower arranging (ikebana) to achieve mind-body unification. Illustrated with diagrams, drawings, and photographs.

An Excerpt from Chapter Two: Introduction to Mind & Body Unification

As human beings we seek freedom—political freedom, religious freedom, freedom from discrimination The free use of our minds and bodies—freedom of action in general—is an innate urge.

Each action we take is an act of self-expression. We often think of large-scale or important deeds as being indications of our real selves, but even how we sharpen a pencil can reveal something about our feelings at that moment. Do we sharpen the pencil carefully or nervously so that it doesn’t break? Do we bother to pay attention to what we’re doing? How do we sharpen the same pencil when we’re angry or in a hurry? Is it the same as when we’re calm or unhurried?

Even the smallest movement discloses something about the person executing the action because it is the person who’s actually performing the deed. In other words, action doesn’t happen by itself, we make it happen, and in doing so we leave traces of ourselves on the activity. The mind and body are interrelated.

How do you feel when you’re unable to express yourself? Imagine you couldn’t speak or in some other way communicate. An extreme example perhaps, but how would it feel? In the same way that we suffer if we’re unable to express ourselves, we also languish when we cannot, for whatever reason, assert ourselves skillfully. Self-expression is natural, even inevitable, for all of us; and skilled, efficient self-expression goes beyond mere activity and enters the realm of art.

For instance, many of us realize that our handwriting tends to reflect our personalities or at least our state of mind at the moment we put pen to paper. However, when we become conscious of our handwriting as an act of self-expression, when we allow our creativity to flow through the brush or pen in a way that’s not only efficient but also coordinated and dexterous, we call what we’re doing calligraphy—the art of writing.

Just as writing can become calligraphy when it’s creatively, skillfully, and consciously performed, so can all other activities become art. In this case, we are reflecting upon life itself as an artistic statement—the art of living.

Every new day alive is a gift from the universe, but some people begin what could be their last day by complaining. This not only wastes the day, it weakens the subconscious mind.

Nakamura Tempu, founder of the Shin-shin-toitsu-do system of Japanese yoga & meditation