Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

Emphasizing soft stretching and meditation exercises, the ultimate goal of Japanese yoga-known as Shin-shin-toitsu-do-is enhanced mind/body integration, calmness, and willpower for a healthier and fuller life. Developed by Dr. Tempu Nakamura in the early 1900s from Indian yoga, Eastern arts, and 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 presents Dr. 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 belongs in every yoga section and on every mind/body/spirit reading list.

H. E. Davey is Director of the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts in the San Francisco Bay Area and has studied directly with disciples of Nakamura Sensei.

H. E. Davey is the Director of the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts, which offers instruction in Japanese yoga, martial arts, healing arts, and fine arts. His introduction to the arts of Japan came via martial arts. Since the age of five, he's studied jujutsu in the USA and Japan. He has received the title of Kyoshi from the Kokusai Budoin, a Tokyo-based international federation. Kokusai Budoin defines Kyoshi as a "Master's Certificate" and equivalent to sixth- to eighth-degree black belt. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Shudokan Martial Arts Association.
 
In middle school, Mr. Davey began Shin-shin-toitsu-do, a system of Japanese yoga and meditation founded by Nakamura Tempu. He's the only member of Tempu-Kai, an organization established by Mr. Nakamura, who is a full-time instructor of Shin-shin-toitsu-do. He's practiced in Japan and the USA under Nakamura's senior disciples, including Sawai Atsuhiro and Hashimoto Tetsuichi.  Mr. Davey's also received extensive instruction in Nakamura's bodywork and healing with ki ("life energy"), which he teaches.

Mr. Davey also studied shodo, or Japanese brush writing and ink painting, for 20 years under the late Kobara Ranseki, recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun. Mr. Davey holds the top rank in Ranseki Sho Juku shodo and exhibits each year in Japan. He's received numerous honors in these exhibitions, including Jun Taisho ("Associate Grand Prize").

H. E. Davey's articles on Japanese arts and his artwork have appeared in numerous American and Japanese magazines and newspapers. He's the author of Unlocking the Secrets of Aiki-jujutsu, Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation, Living the Japanese Arts & Ways: 45 Paths to Meditation & Beauty, The Japanese Way of the Artist, and The Japanese Way of the Flower: Ikebana as Moving Meditation.