Sei-Ki with Alice in Vienna in September | Stay up-to-date with the newsletter!
In January 2024 we, Alice and Alexandra, travelled to Japan. One of our missions was to explore the roots of Sei-Ki and, as part of that, we researched Seitai and Katsugen Undō. This was fascinating and inspiring, and a good incentive to share Katsugen Undō with a renewed appreciation in the form of theese online sessions.
This online series is aimed at both people with experience of Katsugen practice and those without Katsugen experience.
Our aim is to support and accompany you in your Katsugen Undō practice and to create a space in which contact and sharing of experiences is possible in the group.
If you are already practicing Katsugen Undō, this is an opportunity to refine your understanding and approach.
If Katsugen Undō is new to you, this is an opportunity to engage in the practice of “spontaneous regenerative movement” from home with good guidance.
Katsugen Undō is simple, yet extraordinary. And very effective: clarifying, organizing, relieving, refreshing, relieving, liberating, sensitizing, setting in motion what is stagnating…
The sessions will take place every two weeks on Wednesday evenings from September 11 to December 4.
The first and last meetings last 90 minutes each. In these sessions, we will discuss the philosophy and background of Katsugen Undō, as well as practical aspects. Then we go through the katsugen starting exercises in more detail and practise together.
All other sessions last 45 minutes and provide space to practice Katsugen Undō for longer, together and yet individually.
At all meetings there is the opportunity to ask questions and share reflections.
The sessions will be held in English. In the live zoom sessions, Alexandra provides support in German and Italian if required.
Wed September 11, 2024 – 90 minutes
Wed September 25, 2024 – 45 minutes
Wed October 9, 2024- 45 minutes
Wed October 23, 2024- 45 minutes
Wed November 6, 2024- 45 minutes
Wed November 20, 2024- 45 minutes
Wed December 4, 2024 – 90 minutes
Each event starts at 7 pm (CET)
We offer you to pay our recommended price for this Katsugen Undō series or whatever you would like to contribute.
Recommended contribution:
When you register, you can decide how and what price you would like to pay.
These courses take time and resources to produce and we would welcome a contribution to help us continue the work, but if you are unable to pay at this time, or only pay a little, we invite you to come along at a cost you can afford.
is Japanese. The characters 活元 mean:
活 (katsu) = alive, life
元 (gen) = origin, beginning
So “original liveliness”
Katsugen is usually translated figuratively as “spontaneous regenerative movement”.
Katsugen is not an exercise or practice per se. Katsugen referst to body’s spontaneous, often involuntary ability and competence to organize and regenerate itself. We are all familiar with this “spontaneous movement”, it is part of our daily lives. It can, for instance, manifest itself in yawning, sneezing, burping, digestive movements, movements during sleep, or also in spontaneous stretching of the body, shaking, jumping or laughing, falling asleep… and much more.
Young children are “experts” in showing katsugen, as adults we usually have to remind ourselves of our “self-regulation skills”.
In order to promote this authentic regulation, we give space to inner needs when practicing katsugen without having to name them specifically. We trace inner sensations, movements and impulses and allow them to take space and express themselves – often in spontaneous and “semi-voluntary” movements, but also in “non-movement”.
Undō roughly means “training” or “practicing”.
Katsugen is already documented in ancient Japanese Shinto texts as “practice” and conscious surrender to the movement, also under the terms furube (shaking) and reido (soul work). It was seen as an important aspect of cleansing and purification.
In the 1950s, the Japanese healer Haruchika Noguchi (1911-1976) transferred the practice of katsugen from its spiritual context. As “Katsugen Undō”, it became a core element of Seitai, the health practice founded by e founded by Noguchi, comprising various elements – exercises, treatments, katsugen, lectures. The idea of Seitai is to promote the body’s natural ability to regulate and organize itself.
Katsugen also plays an important role in Sei-Ki, founded by Akinobu Kishi. We encounter it as an inner or outer movement during Sei-Ki sesssions, and practicing Katsugen Undō can be a good complement to Sei-Ki.
Alice is a renowned teacher of Sei-Ki and has more than 25 years of experience with Sei-Ki and Katsugen. She has been working in the field of Sei-Ki and Shiatsu for over 35 years. She started with Sei-Ki in 1997 and is co-author with Kishi Akinobu of “Sei-Ki: The Hidden in the Art of Shiatsu.” (2011). She is also the author of “Mind Clearing: The Key to Mindfulness Mastery” (2016) and has worked in higher education for over 30 years.
She teaches sei-ki and clearing workshops internationally. Alice lives and works in Norfolk (UK).
Alexandra has been practicing Shiatsu since 2004. In 2011 she discovered Sei-Ki and Katsugen (workshops with Akinobu Kishi, Kyoko Kishi and Alice Whieldon). She practices Sei-Ki and Shiatsu in her practice in Vienna.
Alexandra has been teaching shiatsu workshops internationally since 2016 on topics relating to women’s health, pregnancy and birth. She has been guiding Katsugen Undō since 2018 and has been sharing her approach to Sei-Ki in practice evenings and workshops.
Alice and Alexandra have known each other since 2017. In Alice’s numerous workshops, in which Alexanddra has been translating and assisting, an inspiring collaboration has developed.
To register for this course, please fill out the form below.
Feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions about the course content or schedule!
