Sunday, January 15, 2006

What Does Your Integral Practice Look Like?

For the last several years, I have been working to find an integral practice that fits me and my life (ever since reading The Life We Are Given by Murphy and Leonard). I've tried various combinations of practices until I think I've found something that is working. I can't say for sure that I've made global vertical transformations as opposed to horizontal translations, but I'm sure that I have experienced transformation in some developmental lines.

I thought it might be interesting to read what the rest of you are doing in your practices. Maybe we can learn some things from each other.

Here is my current integral practice. I do all of these things in a given week, and many of them are a part of my daily life.

BODY: weight training, nutrition, various supplements
HEART: relationship with my girlfriend, therapy, journal writing
MIND: reading, writing, more reading, blogging, did I mention reading, workshops
SOUL: meditation, girlfriend, therapy (occasional transpersonal work)
COMMUNITY: getting to know online integral community, getting to know Tucson Buddhist community
SERVICE: my job is my service (personal trainer)--nice to be paid to help people

What does your integral practice look like?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good question -- thanks for asking.

BODY: eating healthy, supplements, chiropractic, walking (mostly in nature), stationery biking, core exercises, hoping to get back to weight training soon
HEART: relationship with my beloved, art therapy, journal writing, watching bunnies from my balcony
MIND: reading, writing, workshops, stimulating conversations with my beloved and with a close friend
SOUL: meditation, my beloved, art therapy, process work with a close friend, walking in nature
ALL OF THE ABOVE: work with an intuitive massage therapist/energy worker, work with an alternative healthcare practitioner (Chinese medicine, neuro-emotional work)
COMMUNITY: Toastmasters, being part of a close friend's family and regular game nights with her kids (I hope to expand this area of my life in the future -- I'm coming out of a period of isolation)
SERVICE: starting a program to be a life coach, looking forward to being of service; Toastmasters VP of Education

This looks like a fairly balanced life, but the truth is I spend way too much time DOING and way too little time BEING. It's a different issue as far as leading an integral life -- the next frontier for me.