Integral Life Practice is an approach to personal & spiritual development created by Integral Institute. It's an attempt to organize the myriad techniques, traditions, methods, and philosophies of self-development into a practical path for the 21st century.
There are 4 “core modules” of practice: Body, Mind, Spirit, and Shadow. There are also any number of “auxiliary modules,”...(more) e.g., Sex, Work, Relationships, Parenting, etc. Each module covers a specific dimension or level of life, and the idea is that in each module we can become more conscious, loving, evolved, capable, and healthy.
In the Integral Life Practice Starter Kit and in our workshops, we teach specific practices such as Big Mind Meditation and the 3-2-1 Shadow-Work Process. But a core tenet of ILP is that you can choose whatever practices really work for you—from yoga to art to psychotherapy to running or weightlifting. In fact, a good way to start an ILP is to look at what you're ALREADY doing, and simply try to do it with more consciousness and care.
My intention for this pod is to create a kind of open-source laboratory for practice. I want us to experiment the infinite ways we can engage life more intelligently, and then turn our experiences into shared knowledge.
In open-source software development (e.g., the Firefox browser), everyone has access to the “source code” of the project and can modify it according to their needs. The source code is what the “application” is built on—this is the product that we actually use. People can then create extensions or plug-ins that make the application more useful. Developers also do “bug testing” to identify flaws in the programming, which can then be fixed.
In our case, the source code is Integral Theory (e.g., Ken Wilber's books); the application is Integral Life Practice; and the extensions and plug-ins are our practices. I want to invite you—i.e., my fellow “developers”—to help evolve ILP, by digging into the “source code,” engaging the “application,” experimenting with new “extensions and plug-ins,” and fixing “bugs.”
If you don't totally resonate with the geeky computer metaphor, that's OK. In the end, what's most important is our fundamental relationship to life itself. What I want to explore at a deeper level are questions of how “practice” relates to “life.” WHY meditate? WHY do physical exercise? WHY work on your shadow issues? How does it affect your relationships, your work, and your flow through everyday life?
One important note: it's not required to have purchased the ILP Starter Kit, or to have attended an I-I workshop, in order to participate in this pod. The core framework is pretty simple, and you can probably pick up the essential points just by following the discussion. However, it would definitely help if you're familiar with the basics of Integral Theory—and it would be great if you supported us by picking up a copy of the Kit, attending out one of our workshops, or even joining Integral Naked. (less)
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