American and native OS

[Doris Gottlieb]

I have another thought about OS which comes as a result of talking with a
friend of mine who is a movement therapist. The sort of work she does
involves what they call “on hands work” which means that sometimes she takes
bodyparts of clients (head, legs, but also organs like liver, kidneys) in
her hands and moves with them.  What she does is tries to find the natural
rhythm of different systems within the body (the blood, the muscles, the
lymph system, etc.)  It is something that at least for me is a great
experience but that’s something else. In any case, her work means that when
she is with her clients she is very tuned in to the rhythms of the body and
she explained to me yesterday that when she heard me talk about OS what
amazed her is that the Priniciples and the Law are exactly what she has to
do when working with the body.  She has to focus on what is there, (not on
what she wants to be there or what she hoped she’d find) she has to let
whatever happens happen (if she wants to move an organ to the left but the
organ doesn’t want to it creates stress, blockage of the system, and a big
fight between let’s say her hands and your liver), things have their own
time scales and she can’t rush things either to start or to finish (each
rhythm will manifest itself, and her actions to stimulate it don’t work, she
just places her hands and is patient to see what is there) and when she
feels she needs to move on, she does.

The most interesting thing to me about this was how she explained that this
is what a body worker like her needs to learn in order to be successful
because otherwise (in their work) the body rebels, becomes hard, and doesn’t
respond.

Perhaps it’s a bit far but if this is true on a physical level of the
organs, the blood, they lymph etc.  then maybe another reason that OS can be
used all over is because it is picking up on very deep human (and molecular
even) rhythms that transcend culture and move into the realm of biology.

Of course beyond that it seems really obvious to believe that certain
cultures are more in tune with this biological rhythm than others
.

I don’t know enough about working with the body in the way she does, but I
thought it might be interesting to add to this discussion.

Doris Gottlieb


-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]Namens Mikk Sarv
Verzonden: woensdag 11 juni 2003 16:55
Aan: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Onderwerp: American and native OS

I agree with HO that OS is in a great extent native and natural thing, what
has been practiced in one or another form around world for thousands of
years.  This is perhaps the reason, why it is so easily applicable in
whatever language and environment.
Another question is the renewal of this ancient and powerful tool.  There is
a nice rule: don't fix it if it works! Most of facilitators of OS around
world seem to stick pretty punctually to the way OS facilitation is proposed
to convene in Users Guide, repeating carefully all sentences etc.
As the OS in English (American) works so powerfully there seems to be no
need for it's alteration.  In many languages even the name of it, Open Space
is often left untranslated.
I am passionate to find the contact with native OS traditions.  I am much
grateful for any guidance to resources in listserve archives about this
topic.  I am also much interested to develop here further ideas and
experiences of OS in other languages and traditions.
August 15-17 there is going to be held the second OS conference Earth and
People in a small village Shongui of Murmansk region, Russian Saamiland.
Russian Saamis (lapps) are rediscovering their native ways of OS nad plan to
have annually a meeting on that topic in their country.
We from Estonia invite people to face2face OS meeting "Native OS as Practice
of Peace" in Tartu University for the first week of February 2004.
With greetings,
Mikk Sarv
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