Our Approach
Our approach at Mitsui Collective taps into the wisdom and capacities of the body to align our actions with our intentions.
Through embodied practice, we activate and deepen our ability to become the people and communities who we strive to be. Such practice includes movement, breathwork, contemplative practice, nature connection, song and music, storytelling, and ritual grounded in both the ancient and modern wisdom of the multicultural Jewish diaspora.
We also love a good text study. Our work does not seek to replace or remove Jewish text — rather, through engaging in dialogue, exploration, and interpretation we become even more fully engaged in the literal and metaphorical texts of book, body, and earth.
Mitsui Method
Mitsui Method is our evolving system of Jewish embodiment that blends ancient Jewish wisdom with modern knowledge and learning pedagogies. It’s at the heart of all our work and learning at Mitsui Collective.
The core principles and frameworks of Mitsui Method include:
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We ground in Jewish ritual traditions connecting to space, time, and experience, with Shabbat — the seventh dimension — at the “sacred center,” surrounded by six dimensions of place: North, South, East, West, Up (hashamayim — to the skies or heavens), and Down (adamah — to the earth)
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Chevruta (partner-based learning) is a classic Jewish pedagogy for learning. In our work, we use a range of “embodied chevruta” tools in which learning in partnership is both key to the specific tasks being done and is itself a vital component of the many layers of learning happening simultaneously — i.e. students are both practicing physical skills in partnership, and are also practicing the skill of being a good learning partner at the same time.
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Kavanah (intention) is the spark or spirit that invigorates our purpose and direction. Keva (structure) is the architecture that allows us to fully channel our kavanah. The practice of Mitsui Method builds and strengthens our keva, which in turn centers in our kavanah to give us meaning, direction, and purpose.
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Mitsui means the “activation of potential.” Our inherent potential is symbolized by the letter Aleph (א), which also sits at the sacred center, and contains the infinite multitude of possibilities — Aleph is silent until it’s “spoken” as part of a word, at which point its potential is activated and catalyzed towards a specific direction or purpose through its netivah (pathway). Mitsui Method utilizes practices that help us to internally cultivate our potential, to grow the number of netivot (pathways) available to us, and to strengthen our skill and capacity to activate these pathways as most needed for a particular scenario or purpose.
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Mitsui Method uses a range of tzurot (teaching forms) as pedagogical tools and to connect Jewish wisdom, text, symbolism, and metaphor to embodied practice and spiritual expression. The use of form as metaphor (metaform) applies the cosmological framework of Sefer Yetzirah — the Hebrew alphabet as a metaphor for the building blocks of the physical and metaphysical world. In Sefer Yetzirah, letters are akin to atoms and words to molecules, combining infinitely to create the world around us. In Mitsui Method, the form of the body in both static and (especially) dynamic moving positions likewise builds from specific shapes (letters) that combine into increasingly complex words, phrases, sentences ... and ultimately full spiritual and artistic expressions of self and identity.
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Our practice is meant to cultivate our skills and capacity for navigating the complexities of daily life. Mitsui Method includes structured practice that allows students to apply their skill development and learning to a range of more loosely guided and facilitated activities. Some keva (structure) is given to helpfully guide the activity but with far less specificity than the practice of specific forms so that students can play and improvise with greater freedom of expression and exploration. These activities are practiced both in chevruta and through individual practice.
While our core principles are consistent throughout all of our programming, the application of Mitsui Method looks different depending on the context.
In our Institute work, we typically combine experiential embodied learning alongside equal parts theory and content-specific learning, discussion, text study, and reflection. Learning takes the form of workshops, multi-session series, community immersions, and long-term faculty partnerships.
In our Studio work, the primary focus is on being in practice. Most Studio time is thus spent deep in movement, breathwork, stillness, partner work, and other forms of embodied practice. Studio practice is augmented and deepened by monthly Rosh Chodesh learning and kavanah (intention) setting and seasonal immersive workshops engaging with core content and theory.
Our Lineages
The teachings and methods at the heart of Mitsui Collective are informed and inspired by a multitude of cherished teachers, mentors, and schools of thought — some of whom we’ve learned with directly, others through their writing, podcasts, and student lineages — to all of whom we owe a deep debt of gratitude in our work.
The following are specific schools, methods, and teachers who have had particularly direct and meaningful influence on the development of our embodiment work at Mitsui Collective.
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Generalist Movement Pedagogy — such as the work developed by Ido Portal, Marcello Palozzo, Shai Faran, Linda Kapetanea and Jozef Frucek, and more — learned through studies at ApeCo Movement School, Movement Brooklyn, and London School of Movement
Martial Arts — including Lotus Kajukenbo, Muay Thai & American Kickboxing, Taekwondo, Shuai Chiao, San Shou, Tai Chi, Qi Gong
Yoga
Alexander Technique
Western Strength & Conditioning — including Olympic Weightlifting and Power Lifting, Gymnastics, and CrossFit
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Our Breath Collective — Daily Practice and Four-Month Teacher Training
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Cultural Somatics Training Institute (Resmaa Menakem)
Radical Dharma (Rev angel Kyodo Williams roshi)
Strozzi Institute
Embody Lab
Education for Racial Equity
Dimensions Educational Consulting (Yavilah McCoy)
Rockwood Leadership Institute / Selah Leadership Program
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Commedia dell'Arte
Theatrical Clown
Stage Combat
Intimacy Choreography
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Extensive learning and experience in Jewish Outdoor, Food / Farming and Environmental Education (JOFEE), also known as Earth-Based Jewish Experience — most deeply influenced by organizations and programs including Adamah, Teva, Urban Adamah, Wilderness Torah, Lotan Center for Creative Ecology (permaculture studies and ecovillage design), Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, and Elat Chayyim Center for Jewish Spirituality
M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education
Hebrew College
Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies
Jewish Summer Camp — professional experience and learning, curriculum development, facilitation