Shintaido of America Podcast

Connie Borden on nursing, Shintaido, and caring for the dying

David interviews Connie Borden, Shintaido instructor and advance practice nurse with 28 years’ experience in hospice and palliative care. Connie has led a Bay Area nonprofit hospice as Executive Director and worked on inpatient services as a Palliative Consultant. She has presented Cycle of Life, the use of movement for life review at the first and second Global Conferences for End of Life Care. She and H.F. Ito presented Shintaido for Caregivers for 10 years at San Francisco and Bay Area hospices.

Untying Knots – Killing Me Softly

Have you ever been in a safe, but nonetheless terrifying situation, comforting a friend who is even more neurotic and terrified than you are, only to find that by going through this together, you form a lasting bond with each other?
Michael Thompson’s autobiography, Untying Knots, is full of such episodes of existential unfolding, some disturbing, some light-hearted, all rendered with quiet wit and honesty. In this episode, Shintaido instructor David Franklin reads Chapters 13 through 16 (in the original book Section II, chapter 6 and Section III, chapters 1 through 3), entitled “I left My Heart...”, “The Outsiders,” “Killing Me Softly,” and “Trouble in Dodge City,” respectively.

Amanda Palmer: former living statue, musician, crowdfunding guru

Musician Amanda Palmer joins us for Episode 10 of the 2nd season of the podcast. With Brian Viglione she forms one half of the punk cabaret duo the Dresden Dolls, while in her solo career she is not only a songwriter, ukulele enthusiast, feminist, abortion rights activist, TED Talks superstar, and patron saint to every crowdfunded artist; she’s also been a New York Times best-selling author and a busker, earning her keep performing on streets from Boston to Berlin as a living statue calle “The Eight-Foot Bride.” We talked about singing and vocalizing and what it can do to our brains, our lives, and our communities.

Untying Knots – an American samurai and his French disciples

Have you ever lost your temper, gone into a rage, and through that discovered something about yourself that might bring you peace? Michael Thompson’s autobiography, Untying Knots, is full of such episodes, rendered with quiet dry wit and honesty. In this episode, Shintaido instructor David Franklin reads Chapters 11 and 12.

David Palmer, the ‘father’ of on-site seated massage

We interview David Palmer, known as “the father of seated massage” and founder of the TouchPro organization. After a stint as director of the Amma Institute, the first school in the U.S.A. devoted to this traditional style of Japanese massage, David started developing techniques for massage with clients seated in a chair rather than lying on a table, as well as inventing the specialized chair that supports the client’s arms and head. Today you can see this type of massage being offered in airports, hair salons, and in offices worldwide. He headed up the team that brought the first on-site massage to Apple Computer in 1983, and around that time he also started studying Shintaido in the Bay Area.

People in motion – to San Francisco

In Chapter 9 of his autobiography Untying Knots, Michael Thompson describes how he first introduced Shintaido in the US at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, but then returned to Japan to deepen his practice. In Chapter 10, Michael and Haruyoshi Ito formally establish Shintaido in California and together begin to confront the challenges posed by profound cultural differences in the context of transmitting somatic teachings.

His diaphragm became a red-hot glowing vault

In Episode 6 you'll hear chapters 7 and 8 of Michael Thompson’s autobiography, Untying Knots: A Shintaido Chronicle. In Chapter 7 Michael describes the car accident that dramatically ended his study with his first Shintaido teacher Marc Bassis in France — and in Chapter 8, we’ll hear about the unexpected personality conflicts that occurred when a group of Japanese Shintaidoists visited a Christian commune in Massachusetts on their way to California in the 1970s.

Philosophers build edifices they can’t inhabit

Episode 5 of Season 2 features Chapters 5 and 6 of Untying Knots: a Shintaido Chronicle, master Shintaido instructor Michael Thompson’s autobiographical essay. In Chapter 5, he describes his first meeting with Hiroyuki Aoki, the founder of this unique movement art, in France – and in Chapter 6, Micheal travels to Japan for the first time.

Interview with Shintaido instructor and interactive media developer Brad Larson

In Episode 4, David interviews Shintaido instructor and interactive media developer Brad Larson. Brad has worked at the M.I.T. Media Lab as well as the Boston Children’s Museum, and has worked on exhibitions at the Smithsonian’s Zoo and the American Museum of Natural History, among others. You’ll hear about his first impressions of Shintaido practice when he was a graduate student at Harvard’s School of Education, and we talk about how he sees connections between Shintaido, ecstatic dance, haiku poetry, running through the woods carrying a stick, and interactive media design for museums.

3. Untying Knots chapter 3 & 4

Episode 3 of Season 2 includes Chapters 3 and 4 of Untying Knots: a Shintaido Chronicle, master Shintaido instructor Michael Thompson’s autobiographical essay. In this episode, Michael encounters Shintaido for the first time and starts practicing under the tutelage of former European karate champion Marc Bassis. He faces not only the physical challenges of the intensely demanding practice, but also the challenge of his own psychological barriers.