CATalist Academy - School of Mindfulness & Spinefulness 正念与正脊教育中心

28/10/2025

🌾 Renewing the Roots of Leadership Embodiment in Asia

Each year in Japan, the award-winning rice grower meets with the next generation.

What he shares isn’t just technique — it’s how he pays attention: to the soil, to the water, to the season, to the invisible intelligence that allows life to thrive.

Through this cycle of giving and receiving, nothing is lost. Wisdom is a living system — in rice growing, as in Leadership Embodiment (LE) — a lineage of embodied practices that cultivate presence, compassion, and confidence under pressure.

Ten years ago, our founder Wendy Palmer, Shilpa, and I planted the seeds of LE in Asia. Inspired by the wisdom traditions of Aikido and mindfulness, LE evoked a flow state of being that we began to cultivate in organisations and communities across the region. Since then, practitioners have been quietly sowing transformation — for our countries, economies, families and everyday lives.

This coming January 2026, it’s time to gather again — to renew the flow together. With the entrustment of Wendy and Tiphani Palmer, I warmly welcome you to join me in Malaysia.

🌿 LE Retreat — Penang, 22–25 January
⚡ LE Fundamentals Level 1 — Kuala Lumpur, 30–31 January

Grateful to our Kuala Lumpur host venue CATalist Academy — a beautiful community and space for conscious learning.

With great joy, I invite my communities at Leadership Embodiment in Asia, New Ventures West, Asia School of Business established in collaboration with MIT Sloan, Newfield Network, USA, International Coaching Federation, TEC Leadership and Business Channel, Coaches Rising, BetterUp Coaching, The Narrative Enneagram and EMCC Global.

Let’s come together — like rice growers — to share presence, wisdom, cultural creativity, and the vast connection that Leadership Embodiment inspires.

💬 Details in first comment.
Welcome to tag someone who might love to join us in Malaysia.

22/10/2025

By Michelle Tai

A few people said to me, “Why so old still want to go back to school to study? Better enjoy life la.”

Like the quote from Peaky Blinders:
“I may be old, but there are still dreams vibrating in my veins.”
I wish of a day when everyone can live free from pain.

At my age, many go back to school because they want a change. For me, it was during the Covid lockdown that I decided to open up new possibilities. I realised that upgrading your education level isn’t just about gaining knowledge; it transforms you into a different person from the "you" who first enrolled.

When I started this program, I had zero research experience. Honestly, I didn’t even know what I was signing up for. There were a hundred reasons, if not a thousand, for me to give up. I couldn’t make sense of research methodology or data analysis. On top of that, I had to pass a bridging course, six months of Bachelor-level study that included running, jumping, and fitness tests. I was almost always ranked last, surrounded by coursemates in their early 20s. The course also came with nearly 40 assignments, coursework, and multiple exams, each one testing not only my knowledge but also my determination.

When I finally got through the bridging stage, stepping into the actual Master’s in Research felt like climbing another mountain. I wasn’t fluent in academic writing, and often couldn’t express my thoughts clearly to professors. I had to completely relearn how to think, write, and speak in an academic tone. I ended up reading close to a thousand research papers and several books to understand research design, data analysis, and sport science theory.

There were countless times I wanted to quit. But every time I felt like giving up, I was lifted by the unwavering support of my CATalist team. Yan Hoon, without hesitation, stepped in to help secure samples. Woon and Zoe joined in to conduct the interventions, gathering weekly data, performing sport tests, and taking measurements. Their dedication became my strength.

Looking back now, every obstacle I faced became part of my preparation for the viva voce. When the day finally came, the examiners gave me encouraging feedback one even said my research was of Ph.D. level.

Through this journey, I’ve become a completely different person, someone who can now speak academically, present at international conferences, and has even published a first journal paper.

Every challenge, every doubt, every late night has shaped me into who I am today. As my son once said, “It’s impossible to change a system without a war or a revolution.” And indeed, this journey has been my quiet revolution, faced with perseverance, faith, and purpose.

Now, I stand one step closer to my dream.
To all who have suffered in silence, CAT brings hope.
A hope that is no longer just felt, but now scientifically proven.

19/10/2025

From our years of experience, we have discovered that body posture has a clear impact on many aspects of life.

One surprising area it affects is the art of speaking... ! Some may think these two are completely unrelated.

However, when a person’s body stays in poor posture for a long time, imbalanced, twisted, compressed, it constantly creates sensations in the body: such as soreness, numbness, pain, tension, heat, and so on.

These subtle discomforts interfere with our inner state, often without us realizing it.

Because these interferences are so subtle, most people think they are fine and no different from others. But how does the problem show up?

By saying the wrong things, again and again. This leads to misunderstandings and tension in relationships, like couples, parents and children, friends, and colleagues.

In Buddhism, there is the practice of body, speech, and mind, three aspects deeply connected. If the body is misaligned, how can speech and mind stay upright and balanced?

Isn’t the truth quite simple?

Starting this half of the year, our CAT Online Course is open for enrollment, welcome to join! Below poster refers.

Specially Designed for Those Far from Our Center :
CATalist Online Preparation Lessons - for TTC & Personal Practice

You don’t need to live near our studio to begin your CATalist journey.

This online program is thoughtfully created for outstation and overseas students, whether you're preparing for the CATalist Teacher Training 2026, or simply looking to realign and reconnect with your body from wherever you are.

Each session is modular, anatomy-based, and guided with both theory and practice. Whether you're working toward becoming a teacher or seeking deeper body awareness and healing, this course offers an accessible and structured way to begin.

What You’ll Need at Home:
To get the most from your sessions, you’ll need the appropriate CAT props:
* Beginner Series: Rubber Strips + Felt Mat
* Advanced Series: Blocks + Backbender

If you haven’t purchased your props yet, please contact us at
012-3393810, we’re happy to help you get set up.

Important Note:
Students who wish to join TTC 2026 will need to attend these online lessons continuously over a few months, until the trainer assesses their readiness for teacher training.
Every body is different, and readiness is not rushed, it is felt, seen, and grown over time.

- Online training starts this July, but it’s best to reach out early so we can get to know each other, guide you to the right starting point, and walk this journey with you.

Message us today to learn more or to express your interest! https://wa.link/ye5id4

To register : https://forms.gle/sCfRemd9Vcaib3VG7
Let’s prepare your home space for growth, practice, and real change.

15/10/2025

或许有人不明白，为什么我们练习 CAT，还需要进行学术硏究? 甚至撰写论文发表? 其实，只要看看正念 mindfulness 的硏究便可以大概明白。

过去短短20年，30年到今天，世界共有接近20,000笔有关正念论文问世，可能更多，如果把正念的定义放广放深。。。单单2020，就己经有两千多笔了，佔约总笔的10％ 。

同样的， CAT 也是一门很深，很细的学问或技术，如果把它俩 (CAT与mindfulness )定位在身心保健运动而已，无疑是暴殄天物。

所以中心对它们进行实践，硏究，并大力推广，希望通过一切努力，能最大程度了解其精奥深意，便有更多人受益!

CAT 与 mindfulness, 无论在练习或教学上面，都不是它外表看起来这么简单! 千万可别受骗了。

至于究竟它有多深邃? 这个答案还是由您自己来探索比较好吧。。

14/10/2025

A Milestone Moment for CATalist! 🌟

Feeling deeply grateful and humbled to share that my first academic paper

“The Effectiveness of the Body CATalist Program on Quality of Life in Individuals with Musculoskeletal Pain” has been officially published in Springer Lecture Notes in Bioengineering, as part of the 10th International Conference on Movement, Health, and Exercise (MoHE 2024) proceedings.

This study evaluated the 12-week Body CATalist Program (BCP), a Critical Alignment Therapy (CAT)-based intervention designed to improve posture, reduce pain, and enhance quality of life among individuals with musculoskeletal pain.

The findings showed significant improvement across multiple dimensions of well-being, including physical function, emotional health, and pain reduction. It’s an affirmation that mindful movement, spinal alignment, and awareness-based CAT practice can truly make a difference in how we live and move.

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-96-8757-2_30

08/10/2025

Get a longer neck and a charming you.

Join our Mini Retreat: Free Your Neck, a long practice to release deep tension of neck, head and upper back region and rediscover ease in neck movement.

Date: 26 Oct 2025 | RM250 (before 19 Oct)

Register: https://wa.me/60123393810

08/10/2025

After class, I chatted with my partner about traditional meditation (a change after teaching modern mindfulness).

We talked about Theravāda Buddhism (Hinayana tradition). It focuses on training awareness first, then looking deeply into the five aggregates, and finally realizing impermanence, suffering, and non-self.

This is quite different from Mahayāna or Tibetan Buddhism, which pays more attention to the nature of mind and the idea of Buddha-nature.

One example is the Four Yogas of Mahāmudrā, the core stages of meditation in the Tibetan Kagyu and Sakya lineages.
They describe four progressive levels:
One-pointedness, Simplicity, One taste, non-meditation.
The first two are like calming and focusing the mind; by the “one taste” stage we start to directly recognize the nature of mind, and the last two bring deep wisdom.

But reaching even “one taste” takes long preparation. Before this, Tibetan practice usually includes preliminary practices (reflections and groundwork) and lots of training in calm abiding and insight.

In other words, Tibetan Buddhism lays out an incredibly clear and detailed roadmap for meditation, step-by-step, well-explained and very systematic.

Very rare a traditions describe the path in such an organized and practical way.

If modern science wants to fully understand the mind and consciousness, it may still need hundreds of years. The good news is that many medical reseachers and neuroscientists are already studying and practicing these meditation traditions.

So, come, let’s explore mindfulness practice together now!