Please speak to me of breath....

[Harrison Owen]

At 08:26 PM 10/9/2002 -0400,  :-Doug. Germann wrote:

>Harrison speaks in the _User's Guide_ of how the village seemed to breathe
>in and out as the "meeting" proceeded. Many of you in the last few weeks
>have mentioned breath and breathing as one of the cornerstones of OST.
>
>Please speak to me of breath.
>
>What does it mean to you in OST? How does it inform your work?

I am not so sure about breath being the cornerstone of OST -- but it sure
comes in handy for lots of other things. I suppose at the simplest level,
breath is simply one of the most fundamental organic functions. And if it
isn't working, not much else does. Practically speaking, if a group arrives
for an OS, all out of breath (literally or figuratively), the space seems
pretty closed. So one of the things that many of us do is to allow time in
the opening for folks to catch that breath. When we walk the circle, lots
of things happen,. but one is that folks get a chance to breath. Breathing
is also something we can do together. Poets and lovers have noticed that
folks who breath together seem to stay together. One Breath -- so to speak.
This is really about alignment at a very fundamental level. So we sometimes
say to everybody assembled -- "You look a little harried -- how about a
deep breath -- and another. If nothing else this gets everybody breathing
from the same page, as it were. If the cadence of our words and our steps
then match the rhythmic breathing of the group (or lead it) you get
something like synchronized breathing. If you want to take this a little
further -- breath historically has been a symbol and bearer of Spirit.
Indeed, Spirit and breath are the same words. We inspire and expire... If
you think of the opening moments of an OS more in terms of an invocation
than and introduction --  attention to breath makes a lot of sense.

Harrison


Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-365-2093
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.mindspring.com\~owenhh

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