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First Impressions

Last post 11-09-2007, 4:34 PM by huylam. 9 replies.
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  •  06-15-2007, 3:53 PM 24558

    First Impressions

    All:

    I am creating this thread so people have a place to post their first impressions upon receiving the ILP Starter Kit. If you have had your kit for a while but remember your first impressions, feel free to share with us. If you have just received your kit, this is a place to share your excitement, dissappointment, or confusion. Having just received my kit, I am planning to give it all a good looking over and share my first impressions.

    Enjoy!
    Scott


    Personal Philosophy: Practice Happiness
  •  06-19-2007, 12:37 PM 24667 in reply to 24558

    Re: First Impressions

    The ILP kit is great for beginners, but not much in meat and potatoes for others.
    JC
    33° 13' N 87° 37' W
  •  06-25-2007, 7:41 AM 24856 in reply to 24667

    Re: First Impressions

    I have a basic understanding of AQAL and I've only digested 3/4 of the material since recieving the kit, yet this is definately what I was 'seeking'. This kit provides practical yet radical exercises for awakening me to the spaciousness of my awareness, within a framework which enables me to more authentically and clearly objectify, transcend and embrace that which were floating abstractions. So for me as a beginner you may have guessed am very excited. Thanks

     

  •  07-03-2007, 4:14 AM 25168 in reply to 24856

    Re: First Impressions

    I agree that this is an amazing starter kit, but is lacking real depth in many of the modules.  The nutrition module comes to mind as being drastically underdeveloped.

    I'd also like to mention that the kit seems to be entirely focused on the self, with little or no recognition of community or nature.

    Having said these things I must admit that I am thrilled that the kit exists at all and I have gotten some great usage out of the Shadow and Big Mind modules, as there was definitely room in my practice for these.

    I'm sure that, while this kit is not in any way a complete and comprehensive guide, most anyone could find some benefit from engaging it.  New comers to integral or life practice will certainly find this kit to be eye opening in the least.

    http://devinmartin.blogspot.com/

    Devin Martin's Integral Life Practice, Big Brother accounts, Music, Pictures, Video, writing archive and community center
  •  08-08-2007, 4:06 PM 27094 in reply to 25168

    Re: First Impressions

    For a beginner or someone whose life is out of balance the Starter Kit is a well thought out guide that is easy to follow and I like the module concept.  I agree that it is first person singular focused and does not include much on the other quadrants.  But like the others, I either find it not advanced enough or I am not getting it.  Maybe there really is more depth here than I percieve. 

    What I discovered is that my life is already integrated, operating in all areas in all quadrants and I shift states regularly and at will.  I'm not a buddhist, I'm a Quaker so in some ways it looks a bit different but it is the same stuff.

    I wonder where to go from here.   

  •  08-19-2007, 8:59 PM 27505 in reply to 24667

    as a beginner

     Even as a biginner feels very light and my espectations where builded up upon the way it was selled to me.
    Not much meat in it!

    doncella triste
  •  09-25-2007, 5:44 AM 29001 in reply to 27505

    Re: as a beginner

    I agree. And where is the myILP.com that was coming? I have had my kit for over a year and it is very lite and there have been no follow-ups that I have seen. Or events or workshops on the East Cost. I am a memeber so what is up guys?

    J. RyerSad [:(]

  •  11-05-2007, 6:22 PM 31345 in reply to 24558

    Re: First Impressions

    Hi,

    I received the ILP practice kit a week or so ago.  So far i haven't done a huge amount with it. But i do like it and think/hope it has potential for me. yes, it is light- but the positive side of that is i was able to get a fairly comprehensive grasp of what it covers in a very short time- which is a huge benefit i feel.  and the most important part is DOING the practice- this is always my failing, i read stuff, it sounds great but i don't do it- hence my hope on this one. another of my tendencies is i  do all or nothing.  i recently started the Holosync programme, and came to the ILP because it was recommended by Bill Harris of Centerpointe- producers of Holosync.  so i am doing 2 programmes!

    i started with the shadow DVD (after my brief perusual/overview).  i did not really feel i came to any conclusions/insights having gone through the 123 process but that night/ dreams/ thoughts i did have a big insight so i will assume the 123 process had to do with that!

    plus i am having unusual insominia ?? and i am jumping in and writing a post (usually just read)

    i'm looking forward to doing more of it,

    so long, liz

     

  •  11-09-2007, 11:32 AM 31611 in reply to 24558

    Re: First Impressions

    Reply Quote
    I received my kit about 2 weeks ago. I had mixed feelings. Beautifully packaged, well thought out, and I love the idea behind one minute modules as it encourages us to "just begin already." The Big Mind and Shadow work is providing me with a lot of grist for the mill. I think my real disappointment has come from hightailing it over here, expecting to find ILP support, a robust forum and ongoing input from those on the ILP videos. I found instead that most of the passionate activity in the forums peaked over a year ago and the My ILP thing is still being developed. I'll hang in because I'[m vested and because a little help is better than none. I believe in Ken and his vision and I know there are many like minded seekers out there. The threads here are a little confusing to navigate, but now and then I've found some real jewels.

    One thing I'll attribute kto my kit...I'm nearly 60 and just started weight training!!! Go Granny Go!
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  •  11-09-2007, 4:34 PM 31626 in reply to 24558

    Re: First Impressions

    Reply Quote

    Hello everyone,

    Thanks for all of your posts.  I appreciate hearing about what you think of the ILP Kit.  I'd like to respond to a couple of points that were made here. 

    First, someone asked about the MyILP.com site and access that we promised on the inside cover of the box.  Yes, it's true that we have not yet completed this site.  We are however, still planning on creating this site as part of our new IntegralLife portal.  It's still in the design phase, but we plan to release the first part of it in the first half of 2024.  So please be patient and we'll let you know when it's out. 

    In the meantime, one thing that we are doing is hosting ILP concalls with our teachers every few weeks.  If you have an ILP Kit, you can participate on these calls.  We had our first one last night with Ken, which was great and went for 2 hours.  Well be doing a Body module call at the end of the month and a Mind module call in Dec.  You can check the currently www.myilp.com site for info and access.

    The other thing that I'd like to respond to is the perspective that the Kit is basic or just for beginners.  At one level that's certainly true.  In fact, we intentionally created the Kit so that anyone can make use of it, even if they don't have any previous experience with integral.  (We even call it the Starter Kit for that reason.)

    At the same time, I feel that there is plenty of depth and richness in the ILP Kit for people of any level - as long as they actually do the practices.  One of our design principles while creating the Kit was to distill the core principles from many different practices into the simplest methods that we could.  We didn't feel that practices needed to be complicated to be effective.

    Think about the basic practice of meditation.  Sit quietly in an upright posture, notice your breathing and when you get caught in thoughts, just come back to noticing your breathing.  Simple enough in theory...  The challenge (and benefit) is in the doing of it - on a consistent basis.  And to create a habit out of it, so that we do it even when we don't 'feel' like it.  I know that this is something I'm still working on, after almost 15 years of practice.

    So the ILP Kit has many of these types of practices that are pretty straight forward to explain, but the doing with a beginner's mind of curiosity and willingness to explore our edges, is where the value lies. 

    The other point I'd like to highlight is that the practices are great to engage in, but the true testing ground of our growth is in our daily lives.  So it may be easy to sit calmly in our meditation space, but can we bring this equanimity when we are dealing with work, family & traffic?  I'll use the 3-body workout to flush out what I mean in more detail as to how this relates to the ILP Kit.  (Since this is the practice I'm most familiar with :-)  

    The 3-body workout was designed to exercise our gross, subtle and casual bodies.  So we can feel the spaciousness of our awareness in the causal, feel and cultivate our energy in the subtle and feel strong and grounded in the gross.  These 3 bodies/aspects of our being are always available & working; it's just a matter of how much awareness and skill we have to access them in an intentional way.

    So as we go through our life, are there certain experiences that cause us to contract our awareness, drain our energy and tense our bodies?  Or are we always able to remain spacious, energized and relaxed - even in the midst of challenging moments?  Probably some of both.  If that's the case, we have an opportunity to practice and grow so that we can bring more consciousness and depth to each moment. 

    How does this relate to the 3-body workout?

    One of the practices in the workout is F.I.T. (focused intensity training), where we practice using all three bodies as we engage in strength training.  Let's use the squat as an example here.  So as we consciously do squats and hold one in the squat position, we very quickly can feel the burn of the muscle.  At that moment, how do we respond?  Do we want to reactively pull away from the pain?  Or can we breathe into the intensity and stay present with our sensations?

    This ability to conduct intensity through our bodies with our breath and awareness is not dissimilar to being able to conduct intense experiences in our lives.  It's that we need to avoid or strategize to get around intensity, but instead we learn to conduct and hold the intensity so that our deepest self can shine through in the midst of it.  And if life is anything, it certainly seems to be getting more intense these days.  So who couldn't use more practice with this?

    I'd like to close with one last thought.  The ILP Kit is really intended to help us build a bridge from mentally understanding the Integral concepts to fully embodying them in our lives.  If you happen to think that it's too basic for you, I have a couple of suggestions on how you can check it out:

    1.  Reflect if you actually took the time (at least 2-3 months) to engage in all the practices in a consistent manner before coming to this conclusion.  Or did you just read about it/watch the DVDs?

    2.  Show your partner, a family member, or close friend the ILP Kit and ask them if they think that you already fully embody everything in it.  Always holding multiple perspectives, body at full radiant health, constantly aware of shadow and resting in Big Mind/Heart.  If not, perhaps there is something to practice still...

    I hope that helps!

    Huy

     

     

     

     

     


    Huy Lam
    Chief Development Officer
    Integral Institute
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