What is Integral Life Practice?
Integral Life Practice is a developmental system that focuses on promoting growth across many areas, what Ken Wilber refers to as cross-training. By cross-training, we develop in many different areas which super-charges our overall develoment. This accelerates all areas involved - mind, body, spirit and shadow - producing holistic growth (Wilber et. al, 2008, p. 26).
Many educators struggle to balance the demands of their teaching lives with their family and social lives, making personal and professional development difficult to pursue. Integral Life Practice is an organizational framework that helps practitioners work on key areas of themselves in an efficient and effective way. For every type of practice their are short-duration exercises offered by Wilber, Patten, Leonard and Morelli that help make sure practice is consistent enough to produce growth.
How to engage in ILP will be detailed on the Holistic Development pages, however, here I will briefly outline how it works. To work on all parts of yourself, you choose one practice from each the core modules and add those from the auxiliary modules if you have time to or feel it is important to you. An example of a program someone might employ is:
Body: Weightlifting
Mind: Pursuing a Master's Degree
Spirit: Meditation
Shadow: 3-2-1 Process
The Integral life Practice book outlines several condensed "1-minute modules" for when you do not have much time and 'gold star' practices that are recommended by the authors. The matrix below is just an example. There are many areas that could be included to help you develop and grow personally and professionally as an educator.
Image from: kenwilber.com
References
Wilber, K., Patten, T., Leonard, A., & Morelli, M. (2008). Integral life practice: A 21st century blueprint for physical health, emotional balance, mental clarity, and spiritual awakening. Boston: Integral Books.
