Clean Space + Real Space = ?

[phil]

I am extremely fortunate to find myself living in a cottage with a superb view (www.reframe.net/webcam.htm (http://www.reframe.net/webcam.htm) to see a bit of it)

I was seeing a client there yesterday for a 'day' session (11am - 4pm with lunch) and we did an hour's Clean Space at the end. I was struck by how she integrated the 'real space' of that environment (with its thick beech hedge, steep wall like a cliff and a 30-mile view bathed in sunshine) into her personal psycho-spatial landscape.

I also wondered how her experience might/would have been different in a different real space: in a field on the flatlands, for example, or in a wood, by a river, at the coast or in an inside space (a training room, her own living room, etc). Would the structure of her experience have been the same (the same places, the same spatial relationship between the places, the same issues/content, the same learning) or did the specific environment bring something that she could not have got anywhere else?

I have used the Clean Space process outdoors several times myself and with clients. Personally, as a client, I find it stimulating working in the open air as doing so somehow reminds me of the real physical world (as 'real' as I assume it to be, of course!) and acts in counterpoint to my highly subjective (not to say hallucinatory!) experience of myself and my world.

I wonder whether you have had experience of working with Clean Space or other spatial methods outside and what your experiences are?

Phil Swallow

[Corrie van Wijk]

Dear Phil,

Nature is certainly inspiring for me and often gives me a perspective:

On Mount Etna I stood on the banks of a river of fire, slowly turning grey, which made me realize that the hurting will always cool down.

On Elba I listened to the Mediterranean, that is as much a captive of the shores that surround it as the island limited Napoleon's ambitions. I watched a piece of wood floating on the water, left on the beach by one breaker and then taken back by another, until a big wave washed it ashore. So I learned that sometimes just a little push is enough to get you back on your feet again.

In Gran Paradiso the mountains taught me how to carry a burden of snow and ice, to withstand gales, to shed tears and be warmed by the sun.

In Rostock proud sails on mighty ships showed me how to chat with the wind to have it move you forward.

On an Indian summernight in Algonquin the Milky Way watched over me and was mirrored to me by the lake.

At the Hudson Bay I patiently waited the polar bear to move to the ice and hunt for food.

A rocking chair on a sunny Kansas summer Sunday afternoon comforted me.

The autumn leaves of New Jersey made me smile again after I was chased from the house by Halloween ghosts.

On the soft Canadian tundra moss, among bugs, bears and wolves, I felt safe from harm.

In Normandy the candle light, the music and the dancing filled the empty places.

In Hull the view from the park provided a window to escape from.

At the Thatched Cottage suddenly flowers, herbes, food and lovely company moved into my oblivious space.

But I can't really answer your question until you invite me for a session at your place.

Love,

Corrie

[phil]

My main question was: I wonder whether you have had experience of working with Clean Space or other spatial methods outside and what your experiences are?
... so I don't think that needs to be answered at my cottage!

I am curious to know whether people who use Clean Space and its derivatives (either as client or facilitator) have noticed a difference between working inside or outside?

[Judy]

Hi,

I think it makes an enormous difference!

Personally, I tend to feel more at peace outdoors than in, so when I found myself an NLP practitioner course based in a log cabin in the New Forest, rather than some dull hotel in London, I jumped at the chance. Luckily Reg's course is also pretty "clean" and includes lots of spatial exercises, so was great fun for me.

Doing the same sort of stuff in indoor practice groups etc, or with "clients" in a tidy home or office, was never quite the same - if there's any choice, I go for the outdoor environment.

I'm also enjoying doing client work in busy indoor places, such as pubs and cafes. And on one memorable occasion recently, I facilitated a friend through a clean space exercise on a train :-)

I'm beginning to suspect it's the richness of the environment that makes the most difference - though a wide-open view is probably a very useful specific ingredient.

[phil]

Thanks Judy - clean space on a train - I like it! I was just imagining you saying 'find a space...' and your client saying 'it's out there...' pointing at a field flashing past at 125mph (unless it was Southern Region of course in which case you could have taken sandwiches and had a picnic while the signals changed).

Anyone else? Let's build up a few samples here. Q: Have you noticed a difference between working with CS inside and outside and if so, what?

Phil

[Bill Sutherland]

Both my wife Tina and I use what we call "Space Work". She is adapting it for creative writing workshops with marvelous results, and I use it mostly to facilitate her own work. I asked her what she thought about this issue. She feels very strongly that the outdoors is "more charged". And when we work together, we always move to our front yard. (We don't have gardens here in Missouri, if you know what I mean!).

On the the other hand, she is usually limited to a classroom-type space when she works with students. In fact, she is "teaching" not counselling, asking questions like "What do you know about your story from there?" etc. I have co-taught with her using this developing technique, and being indoors doesn't seem to be a problem at all.

But--as a client, I find myself running outdoors to find answers! There's just more space out there!

[phil]

Hi Bill

Thanks for your post. I'd be interested to know whether Tina's 'Space Work' is similar to David Grove's 'Clean Space' process. It seems certain that space is a common element anyway. You may already be aware that Penny and James have an excellent article on psychoactive space at this link:

http://www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/Psychoactive-space.html

and also one on Clean Space at:

http://www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/CleanSpace.html.

What defines space?


Hollow out clay to make a pot.

Where the pot's not is where it's useful.

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu per Ursula Le Guin

Bill, your post described 'a classroom-style space' and that triggered a question in me about what defines space or 'a space'. Is it only the boundary?


At one level, we could say that the wall, floor and ceiling, windows and doors form a boundary between the space inside and outside the classroom. Move the boundary... the space changes.

If a cosmic ray could perceive boundaries though, it would probably not distinguish between a litre of wall and a litre of air sufficiently to call one or the other a boundary, since a cosmic ray 'particle' (sorry, physicists) would pass straight through ether (sic - I meant either!) without pause - no news of difference.

So boundary is a construct related to the perceiver and the context they are in and the outcomes they have in mind. A room with a locked door may seem to pose a real boundary. But what if the person inside doesn't want to leave? And what if the door is secretly unlocked but the person inside doesn't realise it?

One could almost say 'boundary is where the useable space around me ends'.


Outside Inside

Subjectively and intuitively, I would say that my own experience of Clean Space as a client IS different inside from outside (though comparison event by event is not really possible because I can't do both simultaneously).

However I also think I have a different experience in EVERY space where I do the process - inside or outside is not the differential factor for me.

Sure, I would like to believe that outside leads my thoughts to grand, expansive designs and emotions, whereas inside tends me towards inward-looking cogitations. This would be very neat and tidy.

Happily, I don't really believe that because I instantly remember being a demo subject with David in an early Clean Space exploration, standing near Penny and James' fireplace and surveying the entire universe through and beyond their walls. It was suspended somewhere over the A1 (the main road heading north out of London) - have a look next time you go up there - maybe it's still there!

On another occasion with David and Clean Space, outside came inside when through the stone walls of Georgie's farmhouse, I could 'see' the dark line of Lake District hills across the valley.

On both occasions, I was physically inside but projecting/perceiving way beyond the local space. The 'state' I was in as a result of the process allowed me to ignore the immediate environment mentally, although I was still constrained physically.

Anyone else notice differences in the effect of a kind of space and the experience that you get, using Clean Space (or Clean Language for that matter - let's broaden it out)?

Phil

[Anttilauri]

I have used clean language and clean space in my coaching sessions.
It's allways different in different spaces and it's different outside and different in a somewhat dirty space.

How do you start a clean space absolutely clean with a new person?

Antti