This Shintaido practice was taught to me twice by two different European theater practitioners. It was taught as a warm-up/centering/voice opening technique and that is how I use it both in my personal practice and in workshops. The practice comes from Shintaido, “a unique combination of martial arts and body movement that cultivates the spirit along with the mind and body” developed by Aoki sensei. You can find out muchh more on the shintaido.org website.
Here is a diagram of the practice passed on to me ever so long ago. There are 5 sequential movements, and with each, one sings out a specific vowel. Note that I’m saying singing/chanting, as that is how I was taught. If you observe certain masters, the vocal seem more about power, not necessarily in a way that may do more harm than good as far as warming up the voice.
The five movements are listed below with explanations. Each movement is accompanied by a sound-outbreath, and inbreath takes place during preparation for the next movement.
The practice as I understand it, is about beginning in a state of emptiness/presence “Uummm”, then opening up to the universe, to your dreams and ideals “Aahhhh”. Then to bring these energies back into the here and now “Ehhhh”, then to develop them into clarity “Iihhhh” , then to complete them “Ohhhh”and offer them back to the universe, and then come back to emptiness”Uummmm”.
The vocal and physical movements are one, they complement each other and are in harmony.
The first movement ‘Uuuummm’ bringing your hands to your hara, then with a large outsweep of your arms, the ‘Ahhhh’, then bringing your arms hands down to a central position with the ‘Ehhhh’, then pushing out with hands from your center, with an ‘Iiiiiii’, into a long-armed position with your hands forming a spacious triangle, a state of stability, development and clarity. To complete, your arms sweep wide up and then outwards and around, with an ‘Ohhh” sound, circling all the way around until hands come back together then offer your energies back to the universe. Then to complete the cycle, bringing arms and hands back down, slowly bringing hands to hara, all with an ‘Uummm’ sound.
if you have never practiced or seen Tenshingoso, then I highly recommend searching for a video to watch. As you know, with the internet, nothing is permanent. Right now, on Youtube, you can find the video by the founder of Shintaido here
