Part three OST with children and families

[Nino Novak]

Hello,

somehow I addressed my question (see below) directly to Harrison - and
not to the list, sorry. Therefore I bring it up now adding Harrison's
answer below it.

Nino

------------------ my question --------------------

At 10:04 1/27/01 +5000 Harrison Owen wrote about the role of the
facilitator,

> [...] We can, however, consciously provide the space/time for what
> is natural to occur naturally. I think this is what we do.

Now, my question is:
Are you sure, that you are doing nothing else than keeping the space
open?

I ask this question from the following thoughts: A german-speaking
(Swiss) Psychotherapist, Peter Schellenbaum, who mainly works with
groups, has a very similar "strategy" for interacting with patients: In
this interaction (which he calls "spontaneous ritual") he "accompanies"
the patient in a very non-directive form until the patient starts to
make "spontaneous" movements or gives a spontaneous sound. During this
process he very carefully watches the person and gives him/her a very
careful feedback to focus his/her attention (very slightly) to small
spontaneous movements or "rituals", which sometimes can be a gesture,
sometimes a sound or just a slight movement, but which has beem almost
never conscious to that person before. The person is instructed before
(and if necessary this is repeated during) the procedure not to change
the small movement he is drawn attention to, but rather to register it
and then even to repeat it several times.

The main effect of this kind of behavior (I have experienced it myself
for 2 or three times) is that the feeling of "evrything is ok" builds up
in a very strong fashion. After the ritual there is a very very high
feeling of "What I did spontaneously is absolutely ok, I can trust
myself absolutely." And this feeling persists for very long periods of
time (I have done this ritual in 1995 - and since there the feeling has
not changed). It is like the mere building up of self-confidence.

The parallel between these two procedures is obvious: They both allow an
organism (single or group) to behave spontaneously. But there is also
this major difference, which I'm wondering on: The small feedbacks in
the psychotherapeutic setting are not present in OST - as far as I can
judge. Therefore I asked you the above question.

Kindest regards,
Nino


----------- and here's the answer: ------------

At 08:46 1/28/01 -0500 Harrison Owen wrote,

> Interesting. Holding Space (keeping the space open) is not a totally
> passive activity, although it may certainly look that way. It is just
> not verbal or obviously physical. But I think, and I suspect you would
> agree that the communications exchanged at a verbal and a physical
> level are but a very small part of the the transactions between people
> in general and the facilitator and participants in particular. Talking
> about all this does not come easily in western language, where what
> others might call the "subtle realms" have been largely excluded. But
> that doesn't mean they don't exist or are not powerful. I think,
> perhaps that the difference that experience brings in the practice of
> OS facilitators is that over time we become more aware of these subtle
> realms, and more comfortable working with/in them.
>
> In addition, I am sure it is important to recognize that although the
> facilitator is important to the group at the start, and also over time
> -- the group itself assumes many or most of the facilitator's
> functions. Which is to say that each participating individual is
> receiving tons of subtle support, confirmation etc from every
> direction and in every moment from just about everybody.
>
> By the way did you mean to send this message to me privately -- or was
> it your intention to post it on the list? I ask, because if the later
> was your thought, perhaps you could post your question and my answer.
> I suspect others would be interested and I am sure contributory.
>
> Harrison
>
>                              Harrison Owen
>                         7808 River Falls Drive
>                          Potomac, MD 20854 USA
>                           phone 301-469-9269
>                            fax 301-983-9314
>               Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
>               Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
>               Personal website www.mindspring.com/~owenhh
>
>                     OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
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>           view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu
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--
Nino Novak, Christophstr. 29, 72072 Tuebingen, Tel. 07071-35019
            e-mail: nino.novak at tuebingen.netsurf.de

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