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At 08:26 PM 10/9/2002 -0400, :-Doug. Germann wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Harrison speaks in the _User's
Guide_ of how the village seemed to breathe<br>
in and out as the "meeting" proceeded. Many of you in the last
few weeks<br>
have mentioned breath and breathing as one of the cornerstones of
OST.<br><br>
Please speak to me of breath.<br><br>
What does it mean to you in OST? How does it inform your
work?</blockquote><br>
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
<i>invocation</i> than and <i>introduction -- </i> attention to breath
makes a lot of sense.<br><br>
Harrison <br><br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<div align="center">Harrison Owen<br>
7808 River Falls Drive<br>
Potomac, MD 20854 USA<br>
phone 301-365-2093<br>
Open Space Training
<a href="http://www.openspaceworld.com/" eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.com</a>
<br>
Open Space Institute <a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/" eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.org</a><br>
Personal website <a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~owenhh" eudora="autourl">www.mindspring.com\~owenhh</a><br><br>
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