Holding The Space

meditation room






It was one of the most important lessons for my life.











I’m working on it.

How about you?

7 thoughts on “Holding The Space

  1. so hard to hold that space all the time, but the yogis say go with monkey mind and let your space share in small bite size moments, acknowledge them then let them fleet away, that woman who went through her stuff and interrupted you was there purposely to show you and to help you find your space, now that you are aware of that issue in class or where ever maybe you can look at it as a challenge and thank her for being your buddha for the day!, p.s. Namaste

  2. Lu, that is a lovely and deep reflection about holding space and its challenges. This is why I, personally, started moving towards mindfulness rather than aiming for “emptying” or nothingness in my work. As teacher, I need to be aware. Rather than really meditating myself, I am aware of needing to hold space for my students and being aware of what is going on, although in a nonjudgmental way. So, the teacher’s practice is very different from the student’s practice, as if it is raining and we are holding a large umbrella for a group of people. It is our job just to hold space for our students rather than to do, or be, what we might envision as a perfect teacher. In doing so, we probably do become the perfect teacher, though!

    Interesting topic! Nicely presented. Namaste

    • Beautiful metaphor the umbrella– you still hear the rain, smell and feel the humidity in the air, but without the discomfort of cold water trickling down the back of the neck.

      Maintaining/solidifying my connection to ground helps me let those annoyances recede into the background so that my connection with my self and my client is steady while a smaller portion of my attention allows the changing field outside the umbrella to be whatever it wants to be.

      I received advice (in a different context) to be in readiness for challenges or distractions at any time, and for me that means constantly refreshing that ground connection in a physical way as well as my attention. That centered state I feel when I’m grounded allows me to notice the distraction and promptly release any charge of annoyance which would interfere with my ability to hold the space.

      All easier to say than do at first, of course, but letting go of the anxiety about doing it perfectly helps to smooth the way, and then the feeling of holding the space brings its own satisfaction.

      Great topic to explore– I salute the best in all of us!

  3. Oh, I see. I believe you are talking about being an observer. Non-judgmental. As in meditation. Interesting analogy: holding the space. Somehow that sounds more involved than just observing.

    Thank you for your article.

  4. Yes, I think there are a lot of different forms of meditation.
    But being aware of the here and now without judgement should describe all of them. And who knows, maybe I’m wrong to compare holding the space with meditation. It’s just something that helped me “get” the concept.

    My yoga teacher told me that after we had a whole long conversation about it, she visualized herself with arms that got so long that she was hugging the whole group while they were meditating.

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