Description

These videos are premium content from http://www.integrallife.com, the for-profit extension of Ken Wilber’s integral institute.This video series was filmed at Integral Institute and features Shawn Phillips, brother of Bill Phillips (Body For Life) and founder of EAS sports nutrition.I noticed that when I tried to skip forward in these videos the file would shut down.  However if you let it play there are no problems.  Not sure why that is occurring.These files are FLV (ripped embedded flash) and can be played using VLC player http://www.videolan.orgGeneral description:Shawn Phillips and Rob McNamara have developed a unique and integral method of strength-training, called Focused Intensity Training (or FIT for short). Designed to provide a more integral approach to physical training, one of the unique aspects of FIT is its conscious engagement of gross, subtle, and causal bodies. Weight training is often considered a strictly physical practice (gross body), but Shawn explains how the intentional generation of felt energies (subtle body), and “feeling to infinity” (causal body) can radically increase the effectiveness of something as apparently simple as picking up a weight and then putting it down.Members of the integral community who have attended Integral Life Practice seminars give rave reviews about the transformative powers of Focus Intensity Training—watch this series of videos and you too will learn the principles required to integrate your contemplative practice with whatever exercise program you may be engaged in….Individual file descriptions:1 Focused Intensity Training as Integral PracticeShawn Phillips is a big guy who likes to lift heavy things, and has the audacity to call it a spiritual practice. We agree, and we think you will too after you watch this video. Shawn’s clear that spiritual practice is not necessarily what you do, but how you approach what you do. Shawn’s approach, one intent on integrating mind and body, one intent on drawing the practitioner into the present moment, is the reason we’ve identified his Focus Intensity Training program as a Gold Star Practice in the ILP Kit. Here he explains how strength training can offer us an ideal (and even enjoyable) physical practice. Listen in, and hear a revolutionary perspective on strength and health.2 The Centaur – Connecting Body and MindWhat can strength training teach you about the present moment? Well, if Shawn Phillips is training you, you can learn quite a lot about the present moment. When you employ awareness, when you employ intensity to strength training, when all of you is concentrated on your felt experience, then you are completely absorbed by the moment. You are one with it. In that absolute present moment awareness, everything drops away and all that remains is the sound of an exhale, an occasional grunt, and that exquisite line between pain and pleasure.3 The FIT Core CycleNo doubt you’ve heard words like: mind/body integration, stillness, letting go, centering, grounding, single-pointed focus; but have you ever heard these words in the context of strength training? If not, then we have a treat for you. In this video Rob McNamara and Shawn Phillips discuss the essential components of the Core Execution Cycle of FIT practice: grounding, charging, focusing, and recovering. For them, strength training is a sacred practice, one that simultaneously allows you to focus your full attention and then let it go completely. In fact, they say the degree to which you can let go and allow your body/mind to fully recover is the degree to which you can focus. Listen in for this profound, practical, and embodied transmission.