You are not logged in. (Login)
Skip Main MenuSkip

tori1
Distance Learning Courses based on Japanese Psychology sponsored by the ToDo Institute

Morita Therapy a tool for helping with procrastination, depression and anxiety.

Naikan -- a method of self-reflection for relationships.

Mindfulness and working with your Attention.

Gratitude is the essence of good mental health and spirituality.

Overcome Depression through the skillful use of attention and purposeful living.
wheatfield
Blending the wisdom of Eastern Psychology
with the
demands of contemporary western lifestyles

wheat field

Available Courses


ToDo Institute Course News

Picture of Gregg Krech
Working with your Attention begins on April 1!
by Gregg Krech - Thursday, 28 March 2013, 12:05 PM
  Our most popular distance learning program is beginning on April 1! Working with your Attention offers an ingenious way of enhancing mindfulness, a creative way of solving problems, and a powerful way of revitalizing your life.

Working with your Attention
April 1-30, 2013

beautyIf you have never done this program before, we wholeheartedly encourage you to try it out. We know of no other program like this! Gregg Krech has done an extraordinary job of translating the theme of mindfulness into very practical and powerful exercises that can make a real difference in how you live and how you experience life.

And if you have done this program before, you know how good it is! We have many alumni with us this time around. Please join us, whether for the first time or the fifth! You can register right here.

“Your experience of life is not based on your life,
but on what you pay attention to.”
-- Gregg Krech


How does the program work?

This program will provide you with the tools, structure and support to develop greater mindfulness in your day to day life. You will have an attention exercise to work with each and every day of the month. This practice will give you an opportunity to develop new habits of attention, which can revitalize your experience in the world. You will have support materials to study and enjoy, including the CD, Life is a Matter of Attention by Gregg Krech. And you will have the opportunity to interact with a global community of people who are also studying and exploring the issue of attention in their lives.

Why is this so important?

We suffer needlessly when we are self-absorbed, when we ruminate and become self-preoccupied with our problems, worries and regrets. Rather than enjoying and engaging with the world around us, many of us have a tendency to direct our attention to our own private internal experience. That is when our feelings, such as anxiety and depression, can get the upper hand. That is when we can lose our vitality and our appreciation of the world we are part of. There are also countless practical benefits to developing mindfulness that can help us to become more efficient, competent and successful. And then there’s just the joy that arises when we activate our senses and engage fully with the world. That’s when we feel most alive!

What does the program include?

1. Daily Attention Exercises.
The daily exercises are diverse, each one designed to awaken us from our complacency and to shed light on that which we might tend to overlook or disregard. They touch on all areas of our lives, awakening our senses, touching on relationships, and giving us a chance to be present in a more full and engaged manner.

2. “Life is a Matter of Attention” CD by Gregg Krech.Attention CD
This 90 minute CD set includes practical suggestions for addressing the following issues: Concentration, Self-Focused Attention, Misdirected Attention, Attention to Nature, Attention to Details, Multitasking Madness, The Three Enemies of Skillful Attention, Attention and Gratitude, Safety . . . and more!

3. Live Q&A Session.
Gregg will conduct an hour-long teleconference during April for course participants to think together about the challenges, rewards and strategies involved with cultivating mindfulness and enhancing focus in daily life.

4. Interactive Online Forum.
The online discussion is a venue of communication for all who are involved with the course. Participants and instructors will engage together in a thought-provoking discussion about the process of developing mindfulness. Gregg Krech will post inspiring quotes, references, and reflections throughout the month.

5. Selected readings.
The program includes selected readings from diverse authors on the theme of attention. Some resources are included in your program packet, along with the CD; Others are provided online through the course website.

6. Video.
Some aspects of the material will be presented in video format.


Who is teaching the program?

Gregg KrechGregg Krech, the Founding Director of the ToDo Institute, will be teaching this program. Gregg has been studying, practicing and teaching Japanese Psychology for almost 25 years. He is the author of several books, including the award-winning book: Naikan: Gratitude, Grace & the Japanese Art of Self-Reflection (Stone Bridge Press, 2002) and A Natural Approach to Mental Wellness (ToDo Institute, 2012). He has been the editor of Thirty Thousand Days: A Journal for Purposeful Living, since its inception in 1992. Gregg’s work has been featured in a wide range of publications including the SUN magazine, SELF, Utne Reader, Fitness, Counseling Today, and Experience Life.

Learn more about this program or register today.
You can also call us at 800-950-6034 or 802-453-4440.

Please join us as we wake up to the magnificent world that we are part of!

Linda Anderson Krech

Picture of Gregg Krech
Renewing Your Relationship Program - Starts Monday, Feb. 18, 2013
by Gregg Krech - Tuesday, 12 February 2013, 07:04 PM
 

Renewing your Relationship program begins on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013

Relationships offer us a golden opportunity to grow up. In fact, they give us countless opportunities. But unless we’re careful and thoughtful, it’s easy to mistake these opportunities for headaches and hassles. holding hands

What many of us want from our relationships is smooth sailing. We want support and comfort, respect and good cheer. In fact, much of the time we expect love to unfold on a well-paved path. When we trip on rocks that suddenly appear and trudge up hills when we’re already tired we can easily conclude that something has gone amiss. Love’s gone wrong. Or, more to the point, our partner needs to get with the program and shape up.

But how our partners conduct themselves is really not our business and is out of our control. How we conduct ourselves is exclusively our business and is the primary thing we can control.

If you would like to strengthen your relationship and seize the opportunity to grow along the way, please join us for our annual Renewing your Relationship program which starts on Feb. 18, 2013. This 30 day distance learning program will provide you with a wealth of resources and practices that you can cultivate in your day to day relationship.

Participants will receive a CD, a great collection of readings (both paper and on-line), and a calendar of daily exercises. You’ll also be part of an online community with other program participants that can add a rich sense of camaraderie and support. And the cost of this month-long program is about the price of one counseling session ($78 for members; $93 for non-members).

This is a practice course, which means we don't just study the ideas but actually put them into practice. Relationships are an extraordinary vehicle for personal training. As Zen teacher, Charlotte Joko Beck says, “intimate relationships provide the clearest mirror we can find.”

Linda Anderson Krech, LICSW, will be conducting the program. Linda has more than 20 years of experience teaching Japanese Psychology and is the author of numerous articles on family, parenting and relationships. She has been married to Gregg Krech for 20 years and is well-versed in both the blessings and the challenges of love.

Please join us for this month-long adventure in love and partnership.

For registration or information, email todo@todoinstitute.com
Picture of Gregg Krech
Living on Purpose course -- Starts Tomorrow (Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013)
by Gregg Krech - Wednesday, 9 January 2013, 10:31 AM
 

It may not come as a surprise to hear that New Year’s resolutions don’t work – at least for more than 90% of those who make them. You’ll hear a lot of discussion about how to make better resolutions: write them down, be specific, make them realistic. But this doesn’t really address thegreen tea set more fundamental issue – we need to have the self-discipline to make changes in the way we are living. And most of us are living a feeling-centered life, rather than a purpose-centered life. No matter how skillful we are at making resolutions, this fundamental issue still has to be addressed. As long as our lives are tossed to and fro by the tides of our feeling states, we remain relatively incapable of doing what we say we will do.

So to make important changes, we need to shift to a more purpose-centered life. Living with more purpose isn’t just about keeping a few New Year’s resolutions -- it’s about putting our energy towards what truly matters and making wise and conscious choices about how we use our time. And it’s about taking action.

Many of us desire to live a more purposeful life. We want to use our time well, to put our energy towards that which truly matters, to leave behind a positive legacy. But when we step back and take an honest look at how we're living . . . we're not satisfied.

Maybe we're spending too much time doing things that feel urgent, but aren't particularly important. Maybe we find ourselves frequently being pulled off course by our feelings – feelings of fear, anxiety, or depression. Maybe we just procrastinate on doing what we know we need to do, or maybe we're just confused about what our purpose should really be.


At the beginning of each year I teach a month-long course called Living on Purpose. It’s designed to help you clarify your purposes and to stay on track. It addresses issues like procrastination and self-discipline and incorporates ideas from people like Viktor Frankl, Stephen Covey, Albert Schweitzer and Richard Leider. This is a course about direction – about finding direction, setting direction, and staying on course. There are readings, daily exercises, audio, video and a course discussion forum.

If the idea of a more purpose-centered life appeals to you, I invite you to join me in
this course which begins Thursday, January 10, 2013. You’ll be part of a community of 70-100 people from 5-10 countries all of whom are trying to create a life with more purpose, more meaning, and more integrity.

ToDo Institute Members - $78 (with discount), Non-members $93
(Special! Alumni of this course receive a 50% discount)

Register Online

or email todo@todoinstitute.com

The Living on Purpose course is a great way to get off to a good start the New Year. The course also offers 16 credits towards the ToDo Institute's Certification program.

Best wishes to you for a wonderful year filled with good health and new adventures.

- Gregg Krech

Picture of Gregg Krech
Starts Monday (11/12/12) - A Month of Self-Reflection with Gregg Krech
by Gregg Krech - Monday, 5 November 2012, 02:42 PM
 

We will be starting our next distance learning program on November 12th. Gratitude, Grace and a Month of Self-Reflection is one of our most popular programs, offering a gentle way to integrate self-reflection and Naikan into your life. The structure provided by the program helps us to keep this transformative practice alive on a daily basis.

Practicing on a daily basis helps to enrich the Thanksgiving season by Lotus on blue pondstimulating gratitude for our blessings. The program directs our attention to the things that we might otherwise take for granted, thereby uplifting our spirits and energizing our lives. The program is based primarily on Naikan and Naikan-related exercises, but also draws on material and ideas of Albert Schweitzer, Ben Franklin, and others whose work emphasized the importance of quiet self-reflection. Many of us believe that it is important to take time for quiet reflection, but we don’t do it because our lives are so busy. This program requires an average commitment of about 30 minutes per day, yet even such a limited amount of time can have a profound impact on our attitude, relationships and understanding of our life.

Thanks to the wonders of technology, we can each sit at our own keyboard and join the table, so to speak -- from all corners of the globe. Whether you choose to share your reflections with the group, or just work independently, we hope you will join us for this poignant practice.

The course comes with Gregg’s book, Naikan: Gratitude, Grace & the Japanese Art of Self-Reflection. (An alternate book, Thanks! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make Your Happier by Robert Emmons, can be substituted for those who already have Naikan).

If you are interested in the program but are currently unemployed or experiencing financial hardship, please let us know. We may be able to apply our scholarship funds so that you can register with a minimal cost.

Life is richer, sweeter and kinder when our hearts are softened.
Naikan offers a simple and profound way to soften your heart.
Please join us.

With all good wishes,
Linda

Linda Anderson Krech, LICSW

Skip LoginSkip Calendar

Calendar

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
      1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 Today Thursday, 23 May 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31  
Skip


“Give up on yourself.
Begin taking action now, while being neurotic or imperfect, or a procrastinator or unhealthy or lazy or any other label by which you inaccurately describe yourself. Go ahead and be the best imperfect person you can be and get started on those things you want to accomplish before you die.”

- Shoma Morita, M.D.

Skip

acrobat
Skip Online Users

Online Users

(last 5 minutes)
None
Skip Upcoming Programs

Upcoming Programs


DISTANCE LEARNING PROGRAMS


Taking Action: Finishing the Unfinished (and Unstarted)
month-long program
May 29 - June 27, 2013

«»

A Natural Approach to Mental Wellness
month-long program
September 19 - October 18, 2013

«»

Gratitude, Grace and a Month of Self-Reflection (Naikan)
month-long program
November 11 – December 10, 2013

«»

ONSITE PROGRAMS

Residential Certification Program
in Japanese Psychology

Monkton, VT
July 13 - 21, 2013
(July 12th)

«»

ONLINE CEU COURSES

Morita Therapy from Japan:
The Psychology of Action and Attention
An online self-directed
NASW approved CEU course