chris and Harrison, Just to add the Hebrew to this stew: "NESHAMA " means - Soul "NESHIMA" means - breath, very close
Tova Tova averbuch Israel averb...@post.tau.ac.il -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu]On Behalf Of Chris Corrigan Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2002 11:35 PM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Re: Please speak to me of breath.... Breath, inspire, conspire, spirit Thats usually the way I make the link. There is an intimate etymological (and cultural and theological) link between breathing and spirit. Its not just a metaphor either. Chris --- CHRIS CORRIGAN Consultation - Facilitation Open Space Technology Bowen Island, BC, Canada http://www.chriscorrigan.com ch...@chriscorrigan.com -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Harrison Owen Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2002 4:50 AM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Re: Please speak to me of breath.... 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 osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
