Shintaido Honka - Teaching Program

Looking for a way to help my students easily understand and situate themselves within my Shintaido teaching program, I came up with the following Mandala:

The green color stands for Dai (big), the orange for Sei (formal) and the yellow for kumite (together) – the three different ways to approach Kata in Shintaido. The teaching progresses around the clock from Kenko Taiso to Shoko/Tenso.

While the forms listed here by no means exhaust the Shintaido syllabus, the important point is that each form embodies a particular stage in the practice, where each stage is associated with a specific pursuit, as follow:

1. Kenko Taiso (life exercise): Health, well-being
2. Wakame (seaweed, aka. wind, water): Relaxation, flow
3. Tenshingoso (five expressions of heavenly truth): Form, technique
4. Toitsu Kihon (fundamentals): Development, expansion
5. Eiko (glory): Faith, optimism, opening
6. Renko (continuous): Interaction, communication, management
7. Hikari (light): Art, creativity, self-expression
8. Shoko/Tenso (horizon/firmament): Integration, focus, balance

All this eventually leading or restoring one to oneness, by integration, while establishing in one's center the following compass, by which to position oneself and guide one's own evolution:

Does this help? Feel free to post comments, or questions if you have!

Best regards
Patrick