ABOUT THIS EPISODE
In this special episode of the Transactional Analysis Podcast, hosts John Fleming and Matt Taylor are joined by Aya Konoike, an organisational development and DEI consultant based in Kamakura, Japan, and a Shugendo practitioner of over thirteen years - to introduce Contemplative TA: a somatic, experiential integration of Shugendo, Zen and transactional analysis.
Built from Aya’s own practice, Contemplative TA sets out to reconnect what modern, individualist life tends to split apart, mind from body, self from other, people from the natural world. It’s learned somatically rather than cognitively, through movement and ritual as much as reflection, and grounded in a distinctly Japanese understanding of presence, nature and connection.
It’s a warm, wide-ranging and often moving conversation about what transactional analysis still offers a fast, commodifying world.
You’ll hear them explore:
- Aya's own journey into discovering TA
- An exploration of Contemplative TA: a somatic, experiential integration of Shugendo, Zen and TA, built around the integrating Adult and "negative capability"
- Presence as connection to your resources, and the Japanese idea of "ba"
- Shugendo, and Aya's own training and experience
- Why "contemplative" needn't mean "still," and what that opens up
- How Aya's view of nature parts ways with eco-TA: not using nature to grow ourselves, but remembering we already belong to it
- "Worldly" versus "global" (after Henry Mintzberg)
- TA as a "catalyst" between a capitalist world and ancient wisdom
Japanese references mentioned in the episode
- Shugendo: 修験道
- Dewa Sanzan: 出羽三山
- Ba: 場
- Uketamo: うけたもう
- Shinto: 神道
Literature mentioned
Barrow & Marshall (2023), Transactional Analysis Journal 53(1)
Guest Information
Aya Konoike (PTSTA-O)
Aya Konoike is an organisational development and DEI consultant based in Kamakura, Japan, working with both Japanese and international companies on diversity, equity and inclusion, workplace transformation and organisational culture change. Alongside this she facilitates management training and leadership development programmes, and offers one-to-one counselling. She is also a Sendatsu (senior guide) in Shugendo, supporting practitioners who travel from abroad to undertake training.
A practitioner of Zen for around twenty years and of Shugendo for over thirteen, she has drawn these traditions together with TA to create Contemplative TA -a somatic, experiential approach built around presence, connection to the natural world, and the cultivation of the integrating Adult.
Email: konoike@six-eight.jp
Website: https://six-eight.jp/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayak-sixeight/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ritzcats/
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