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

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

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

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

From the Author

Living the Japanese Arts & Ways is out of print, but the entire book is now offered in The Japanese Way of the Artist (Stone Bridge Press). What's more, you'll also get two of my other out of print titles: Brush Meditation and The Japanese Way of the Flower.

Shodo (the "Way of Japanese calligraphy"), budo (the "martial Way"), and kado (the "Way of flower arrangement") are just some of the numerous Japanese arts ending in “Do,” indicating “the Way.” Nonetheless, how these arts function as Ways isn’t always understood.

It’s common to state that these various disciplines represent a Way of life (thus the designation “Do”), and that by practicing, we can transcend them and grasp the art of living. While this is true, it’s uncommon to find a teacher (or book) that can explain how such Do forms lead to spiritual realization. While some books pay lip service to the ideal of the Way producing spiritual evolution, they also sometimes fail to offer direct explanations and methodologies to help students realize the Way. It’s frequently assumed that merely manipulating a brush or throwing an opponent will produce profound realizations.

This is untrue and unfortunate. It’s untrue because it’s the manner in which we approach the Ways that determines what we learn from them. Spiritual realization isn’t guaranteed.

It’s unfortunate because the conscious practice of Japanese Do forms truly can result in the cultivation of mind and body. But to use them as meditation, we must investigate exactly how they can lead to realization.

Japanese calligraphy, flower arrangement, tea ceremony, martial arts, and other Do has been the subject of numerous books. Few of these works, however, have explored how they go beyond art and enter into spirituality. Even fewer have offered methods to practice what can be thought of as “moving meditation,” and which are needed for personal growth to take place.

My book was written to answer that need, and I'm grateful for the kind reviews as well as the positive worldwide response.

Mu

A number of Ways (Do), owing to the fact that a Do is a particular expression of the Way of the universe itself, have used the term mu to point to the sum and substance of the universe. And since it is the mind after all that perceives the absolute universe, various mental states in the Ways have appellations that utilize the character for mu as well. Originating in Buddhism, but having parallels in other religions, mu means, “the void,” or “nothingness.”--H. E. Davey, The Japanese Way of the Artist

Excerpt

Asymmetrical balance is used in kado (flower arrangement) to evoke naturalness. Since nature involves the motion of continuous change, kado should not have a static feeling--exactly what is created by using a rigid, symmetrical balance. Instead, the utilization of unevenness is endlessly variable and calls forth a dynamic feeling of movement. --The Japanese Way of the Artist