Yes, indeed. THanks for this.
On Thu, Mar 6, 2014 at 8:08 AM, Johannes Terwitte <[email protected]>wrote: > Dear all, > > I have long wondered about the metaphor of "holding space", which I hear > being used pretty frequently in our circles. Then today I stumbled upon the > Wikipidia page on the psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott and found the > following, which I simply wanted to share with you all: > > Part of [the mother's] loving care was [her] attentive holding of her >> child; and as Winnicott (1965) suggested, the therapist recreates a >> 'holding environment', that resembles that of the mother and infant. >> Winnicott described minutely 'the business of picking a baby up...gathering >> her together', and the way that the "mother's technique of holding, of >> bathing, of feeding, everything she did for the baby, added up to the >> child's first idea of the mother'". Winnicott considered that the "child's >> ability to feel the body as the place where the psyche lives could not have >> been developed without a consistent technique of handling", and he >> extrapolated 'the idea of "holding" and of meeting dependence' from the >> mother to the family as a whole, and to the wider world surrounding it. He >> saw as a prerequisite for healthy development "the continuation of reliable >> holding in terms of the ever-widening circle of family and school and >> social life". > > >> > Out of his work developed the subsequent belief that "one of the most >> deeply therapeutic factors in an analysis is the extent to which a >> sensitive analyst parallels...the earliest relationship between a >> responsive mother and her infant", a symbolic parallel. Winnicott wrote: "A >> correct and well-timed interpretation in an analytic treatment gives a >> sense of being held physically that is more real...than if a real holding >> or nursing had taken place. Understanding goes deeper". >> > (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Winnicott#Concept_of_holding) >> > > Don't we sometimes speak of an Open Space as a nurturing environment? > Don't participants often remark how free and peaceful they felt during the > OS event? I see some parallels here, and I quite like them. > > Speaking as a young father, I see a direct connection between me holding > and carrying my daughters or tidying up after them - and my picking up > coffee cups during an OS. In all cases I am (or try to be) attentive and > attuned. > > I'd be interested to hear if Winnicot's description resonates with anyone > else - or else how you relate to the phrase of "holding space". > > Johannes > > > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > > -- *Skye Hirst, PhD* President - The Autognomics Institute *Conversations in the Ways of Life-itself* www.autognomics.org @autognomics New Phone Number: 207-593-8074
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