[OSList] How much Silence at beginning?

[Harold Shinsato via OSList]

Hi Anne,

Thanks for your offering. The most incredible experiences (and hyper 
performance) of Open Space I am sure come from inviting the 
"trans-finite", and not just the finite.

Although this isn't rote, I'm curious as to your experience of offering 
this grounding exercise just after the welcome and the logistics. This 
does seem like a natural placement to me, and corresponds roughly to the 
point where Harrison generally walks the circle and asks folks to be 
aware of the others in the room.

And at the same time, this doesn't specifically addresses the comment 
from a participant of a need for some silent reflection time just before 
people were invited to generate, announce, and post their sessions.

Would 8 minutes of grounding silence after the welcome and logistics 
opened enough space for participants so they didn't need silent 
reflection time with their papers and markers to gather their thoughts? 
Do you offer anything before letting the participants make their 
offerings to help invite in the "transfinite"?

     Thanks!
     Harold


On 6/17/15 12:35 PM, Anne Stadler via OSList wrote:
> How much silence depends on your intention:
> Are you opening space for the transfinite AND finite fields to emerge? 
>  Or only the finite?
> Are you opening inner space so people will access their capacity for 
> being guided by the resonating field in their heart/mind/body 
> awareness? (In order to really take responsibility for what they care 
> about??)
>
> If finite, a small amount of silence helps people settle into their 
> bodies and bring themselves here...now.
>
> Transfinite and finite (which is what i do) opens a more expansive 
> space.  It's not Woo-Woo.  The work the field is supporting gets done 
> regardless, just more co-creatively, more quickly-- synchronicities 
> spark rapidly, delighting participants.
>
> Re silence:
>    1. I sometimes cue people to be aware of their feet on the floor, 
> their legs, their bottoms on the chair, shoulders, top of head.
>    2.,And sometimes, after the Welcome & logistics are dealt with, i 
> simply invite them to be comfortable and relax into the chair, the 
> silence, the feelings in their bodies. Usually i refer to a word or 
> phrase in the Welcoming setup by the Host to help people make an 
> outer/inner connection. I let silence go until i sense it's time to 
> stop...not more than 8 minutes or so, probably. This is until i sense 
> we are resonating together (i guess).
>
> Then i break the silence by standing and then, slowly beginning to 
> walk the circle, opening the finite space of the circle, acknowledging 
> each one as I pass.
>
> To open the silence, sometimes i invite a friend to sound a crystal 
> bowl followed by 2. above.  That is even more delicious.
>
> NOTE:  none of this is "rote"!  My preparation includes sensing into 
> each group meditatively;  getting clarity about who they are and what 
> they need; and in the Now of the experience sensing into the circle 
> and acting in the present moment.
>
> Thank you!  Took me a while to ruminate on it. Good and interesting 
> question!  Thanks whoever posted it a while ago.
>
> Blessings!  Anne
>

-- 
Harold Shinsato
harold at shinsato.com <mailto:harold at shinsato.com>
http://shinsato.com
twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
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