5. Open and Close (video)

 

Open and Close
This time we will continue with another core value from Haptonomy,
“open and close.”
Every organism, even the unicellular ones, can open and close.
Flowers open in the morning and close by night.
We can open and close our eyes.
Our heart will open and close when it pumps the blood through the
body.
Even our digestion is a matter of open and close.
In the former session I talked about the house metaphor.
We have doors in our houses so we can open and close them.
In a similar way we can open and close our body .
When we feel glad, comfortable and safe we will open and when we
are angry, scared or sad, we will close.
Some people are in their behavior too open or too closed.
Why would that be a problem?
Well, lets first have a look at someone that is too open with the
house metaphor in mind.
When the door is too much open , there are too many stimuluses .
Specially in these days where there are so many impressions and
stimuluses , you can easily get overflowed by the 24/7 available
information.
When you are too closed you can get lonely and isolated.
You will also not be able to imagine and share the feelings of others
and hence have less empathy.
A natural rhythm between open and close is very important for our
well being and mental health.
Now take a moment to realize which pattern is more familiar to you.
Are you most of the time too open or too close ?

Normally there is a good reason why you open yourself too much or
close yourself too much.
When during your childhood your caretaker had no time or attention
for you, you reach out to try to connect.
When contrarily your caretaker needed you too much and came too
close , in other words there was no attunement for your needs, you
had to close.
Don’t worry about this right now.
Just pay respect to your own pattern and may be something will
chance during the following sessions.
Now I want to show you 2 clients from my practice .
One of them is too open and the other is too closed.
This is the first time in this video I will show you how I work with my
clients in my practice.
( I will do 2 treatments with clients on the couch and show how we
use the sense of touch to become more open or closed and create
mutuality )
You can also do your own exercise.
Just imagine all your pores in your skin are small windows and doors.
First open them, feel and fill the space around you.
Then do the opposite. Close the windows and the doors and lock
yourself under your skin.
Which movement feels more comfortable ?
Try to find the delicate balance between open and close , inside and
outside .
Between yourself and others
By using the sense of touch you can discover your open or close
pattern and find ways to establish the right balance.
I have now spent time on introducing Haptonomy and how the sense
of touch plays a crucial role in this movement.

I have talked about the core values of Haptonomy,
– The touch
– Base attendance (in your pelvis area)
– Being at home in your body ( house)
– Open and close patterns
– Affectivity and mutuality between people
– Vitality and resilience
In future sessions I will show you how haptonomy can be applied in
areas like health care , sports and raising children.

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