Tag Archives: Kawa Model

So Long…

World-Map-the-001

As a child I loved drawing maps. I found it exciting to think that I could create whole worlds with just a pencil and paper. I would draw roads and islands and cities. I would spend hours in the attic of my parent’s house, hidden away and creating worlds to be explored. Putting together Kawa Creative has been, in some way, similar to this process. We have used the river at every turn, we have made plans and looked at different structures that we might put in place – and…

…it has taken longer than I expected to arrive at this point.

Here —> .

Why? Why is it that some start ups seem to happen in a matter of weeks, whilst other are carved out over months and years?

Brand building applications enable new businesses to go from concept to launch in a matter of hours (in theory.) Not so for us. Looking back over the development process that has been integral to the formation of Kawa Creative I recognise that we have been true to our use of the model. Kawa Creative has been developed according to the principles of the river metaphor; we have used the longitudinal aspect, the course of the river, to help us understand where we are in our process of development. We have used the lateral aspect, the cross section with boulders and driftwood, that we are so familiar with, to identify points of flow, barriers and opportunities. This has been a process of learning about our own development in order to apply our understanding of the river to the projects that we are now beginning to deliver.

I have previously reflected on the fact that the beginning of a river is not always a pretty, well defined spring in the ground, bubbling forth from the rocks and stating quite clearly “I am here.” Although this can be the case, and in the context of this piece this would represent those new businesses that are well defined and instant in the market place. usually these “rivers” are product or outcome orientated, and adhere to some kind of working formula. However, some rivers emerge from wet upland areas as nothing more than an area of boggy ground. Only when there is a change in the gradient of the landscape does the water begin to flow. In order for this to happen the water must accumulate.

Healing Messages was our pilot programme, our spring in the ground, we are now looking ahead to delivering our next project which will build on what we ave learned so far and enable us to start creating a portfolio of projects and activities that can be tailored to individual and collective needs. Through this development project we have identified three distinct areas that we will deliver on, these are the three central tenets of Kawa Creative:

central tenets

These three principles carry with them all the work that we have carried out over the past two and half years, as well as the last six years I have spent exploring the river. We have distilled our thinking down to a very simple structure that can be adjusted and moulded to meet the needs of the participants.

Of course, as a new business, we have also been learning about the technical aspects of running a company, we have been learning about ourselves, about our relationships (both personal and professional), and we have been dealing with all the other things that life will throw your way. If you are thinking of setting up in private practice or in a role emerging area (such as Arts in Health) then I would say do not rush. Learn to time your decisions and trust your intuition, because these are your ideas and you are the expert on your own personal and professional development. Avoid the pressure that the business world sometimes applies to “make it happen,” because our prime concern is not profit: our prime concern is getting it right for our partners and beneficiaries. When we are productive, professional and effective then the renumeration will occur. This philosophy will not bring instant results, but it will create a firm bed of knowledge, ideas and a focussed commitment to the projects that you undertake.

This river is beginning to flow more steadily now, we have accumulated a volume of water and the change in the landscape has enabled us to find a direction, now we must run with this early progress, and allow the river to establish itself as it flows towards new projects, towards an emergence back into the profession of Occupational Therapy and towards the WFOT 2014 Congress in Yokohama.

I have often stated that to truly understand the Kawa framework, one must become an explorer and see what is in there (and out there.) I had thought that the last six years had been an exploration of the Kawa environment, but I was wrong: all I have been doing up until now is looking at maps.

Now that I make this particular reflection I understand that we have been preparing. We have been poring over the charts, packing our equipment and planning our start. Now it is time to put on my explorer’s hat and coat and start the real adventure, because what we have achieved, and the reason it has taken “So Long,” is that the Metaphor has been transforming into a reality.

This, then, is my hypothesis:

The Kawa Model presents us with the opportunity to create a map, upon which we can plan our journey. The river provides us with a language which transcends cultural boundaries and enables knowledge exchange accross a variety of borders. The river allows us to make choices and decisions without the fear of failure, becuase within the poetical language of the river, within its perfect harmony of dynamic relationship, there can be no such thing as failure; only change and flow. Finally, the river enables us to transform these ideas  into new realities which emerge as opportunities in our physical lives.

Just don’t try and rush it.

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From the River

I am looking forward to doing some more work with the Kawa Model as a tool for personal development and leadership skills. Although I have been focussing my attention on the more bread and butter aspects of life recently, the river is showing signs of broadening and deepening once more. Boulders that have sat in my path for some time are starting to loosen as the flow increases. Driftwood that has been caught on the rocks, lying idle and redundant, is freeing itself and running with the river.

I have been thinking about an exercise I learnt at an Evolving Minds meeting a few years ago. The exercise requires one to perceive objects, to hear sounds and use all sensory faculties to allow information to flow in. We were then coached to “shift focus,” (ie turn our attention elsewhere) as soon as we started thinking about the information being received. For example I might be looking at an object which is brown and has a warmth to its texture, which has long shapes underneath it and a flat surface on top; but as soon as I start thinking it is a “table” I shift focus to reset my cognitive function. The idea is to access our “pre cognitive” brain so that we can experience the moment with more clarity and definition, without the clutter of attaching abstract meaning. I have experienced similar exercises in theatre workshops (malapropism for example.) The exercise has been reported to help with psychosis because it encourages one to avoid thoughts in place of a flow of micro experiences which trigger a kind of meditative alertness.

When I relate this exercise to the Kawa model, I think of how we are constantly required to perceive, decode and respond to verbal language, which is often extremely unreliable as a vehicle for expressing experience in the moment. Physicality and musicality are far more efficient tools for the communication of meaning, but the decoding process requires specific knowledge – or does it?

Do we really need some kind of special training to understand musicality or the language of physical theatre (for example,) or have our synapses become so clogged with learned abstracts and constructs that we are blocked to the language of intuition and are thus unable to experience the exhilaration of FLOW. Keith Johnstone talks about the barriers to spontaneity, we build psychological defences that we develop to survive in a world of adversity and negativity. It is these defenses that shut down our intuitive communication skills and restrict our ability to access true creativity. If we were to bypass these social filters (which we do need at times) would we be able to communicate in a way that transcends language, where meaning goes beyond the confines of words and concepts and becomes a tangible entity.

Kawa is all about transcending the prescribed, and allowing different world views to connect and flow together so that they might find their own natural synergy. I am looking forward to playing with some of these ideas and working on “de tuning” participants so that they can get away from all the noise and clutter of prescribed cognition, and begin to access a more fluid and natural state of understanding. This is how we can best use the river as a communication tool, and as a knowledge framework – we have to first submit to the constant state of flux that is the river. From this point we can then begin to use the river as tool for creating “spheres” or shared experience, rather than the more usual hierarchical approach to leadership and development.

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Kyudo – “The Way of the Bow.”

Japanese archer 弓道 Kyudo 弓術 Kyujutsu

Image via Wikipedia

Today I picked up the application forms for my son and I to join The White Rose Archery Club. My son recently completed the beginners course (I did mine a year ago) so we are now both qualified archers, which is great. Whilst watching my son learn this mindful and exacting discipline, which has been referred to as “The Art of Repetition,” I could not help but undertake a surreptitious activity analysis. I won’t go into details here, but my son is an experiential/kinesthetic learner, who is much happier when he can see the results of his learning in a real context. Archery teaches body awareness, muscle control, as well as our old friend sequencing. There is complex and finely balanced proprioception, risk management, new language to learn and a distinct social engagement. Within the routine of archery there are many rituals and traditions which need to be observed, as well as having a rich and extensive history. More experienced archers will jump at any opportunity to relate knowledge and learning about both modern techniques and ancient traditions.

Whilst at the beginners course, I had a conversation with another parent who told me about Kyudo, or Japanese archery, sometimes referred to as Zen archery. This is not a sport, but another discipline within the tradition of the martial arts. Just as Judo means “the gentle way” so Kyudo means “the way of the bow.” Kyudo uses a completely different technique to European archery, and the equipment is also of a specific design which has been developed through experimentation with a variety of construction techniques by Japanese bow makers. The bow most commonly used is a “Yumi,” and is frequently over two metres in length. You can see the technique employed in the video to the right. Sensei Suzuki demonstrates consummate grace and skill as he performs this ceremonial shoot in the dojo of the imperial palace.

I seem to have become more intrigued by Japanese traditions since encountering the Kawa Model, it is not that I seek these things out, but they seem to find me. It was a fairly simple step, therefore, to begin reflecting on Kyudo through the lens of my Kawa informed perception. The question that I asked myself was “what of the way of the river?”

What is “Kawa-do?”

What are the skills that we need to practice the art of                                                                                            reflection within the context of the river?

I do not claim to be an expert in these matters (although I am learning more and more, mostly thanks to James Austin’s fantastic book “Zen and the Brain,”) but it seems to me that the first stage of any martial art or Zen based discipline, is to achieve an emptiness of mind. However, this state, which can be referred to as “Mu“, is identified as a process which must be engaged with and entered into, rather than an outcome to be achieved, and this is a crucial observation with regard to the process orientated function of the Kawa Model. James Austin writes about this process in “Zen and the Brain:”

“Starting as a mere preoccupation, the koan then grows into a kind of obsession. In the persistent student, what finally evolves is a process of becoming one  with the koan. The student assimilates it and becomes absorbed in it to a degree that excludes all other thoughts and activities.”

Austin also comments on the fact that to talk about Mu is fraught with difficulties. When we attribute language to concepts we imbue them with meaning (which is culturally, personally, politically or spiritually based). To attribute meaning to Mu is to miss the point entirely, it is emptiness, which includes an emptiness of meaning. Over the past five and a half years I have been exploring the river and “absorbing” it into my world view. The Kawa now informs the way that I see the world, so much so that it is now a valuable point of reference for me should I become disorientated or lost on the way – the Tao of Kawa perhaps.

I would like to bring the concept of Mu to the world of the Kawa Model by asking “how do we empty our minds in the context of Kawa?” Well, the Kawa Model is all about metaphor, it utilises the metaphor of a river, the components of this feature are metaphors, and the person using the model can create more metaphors which have meaning to them. With this in mind, let us suppose that “emptying our mind” is also a metaphor for transcending the prescribed approaches of western traditional practice. The self centric approach of western occupational therapy has been demonstrated to be flawed with regard to culturally responsive practice. Therefore, we should put to one side all of our professional training, academic knowledge and clinical skills and become absorbed in the concept of the river. In doing so we are releasing ourselves from the barriers of approaches which project expectations onto the client. By putting our learning to one side, we are engaging in a meditative process which promotes clear and productive thought.

An exercise:

Picture a river. A river is a channel and the water flowing in the channel, it is not just water, nor is it just a channel. Water without a channel is just water, and a channel without water is just a hole in the ground. There is a perfect symbiosis within the form of a river. Focus on this symbiosis whilst attending to the two basic elements – understand how the water and the channel are two parts of a whole, which is in a state of flux.

Once you have this, attend your mind to the dynamic relationship between these two elements. The flow and power of the water changes the shape of the channel, and the shape of the channel changes the dynamic force of the water. There is a constant interaction between the two elements of flow and environment which is inextricable and complete. Make reflections on these two concepts: firstly there is the symbiosis of flow and environment, then there is the dynamic harmony which takes place within this structure.

This is the most fundamental principle in both the river and the Kawa Model, and to understand it, assimilate it and perceive it, is a meditation.

Please take note that I am not suggesting that this is Mu, but rather I am using the Zen concept of Mu to illustrate the point that in order to achieve a mastery of the Kawa metaphor, there must first of all be an understanding of the most basic principles. We can only achieve this understanding of the model once we have put aside all of our preconceptions which have emerged from formal training as occupational therapists. However, once we have developed this approach, we can then bring it into our everyday practice, in much the same way that one who practices any Dao or “way” will take that learning into their everyday life.

This is where we are now, the Kawa community has been growing and developing over the past five or six years, and we are now reaching a stage of integration, where all that we have learned and shared will start to flow more significantly into practice and everyday life. There is still much to learn, share and celebrate – but I feel that it is significant that I no longer consider myself primarily an occupational therapist, but a Kawa specialist with skills in occupational therapy, the arts, performance and research. That is not to say that do not value the profession, in fact I value it even more for having made this shift in self perception. Afterall, it is Occupational Therapy that has given me the skills to be able to make this transition.

Next week, my son and I will join the Archery Club and begin shooting out in the open (we trained at an indoor venue.) The Club shoots on Salem Field in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire in the UK.

Next to the field there is a river.

 

 

 

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Media Pro 2011

We have had some superb initial feedback from the London event regarding the Kawa Creative content for the DAM Foundation stand. To my knowledge this is the first commercial application of the Kawa Model as a conceptual framework. I would like to extend my deepest thanks to Michael Iwama for introducing me to this model. It is a testament to the strength of the model and the global community that have developed it that it has flowed so far since Bradford 2006.

Mission Statement

The mission statement for Kawa Creative is to:

> Identify practical, creative and meaningful applications of the Kawa Model in a range of disciplines.

>  Develop new ways of using the Kawa Model to enhance performance, life skills and engagement in activities.

>  To promote the profession of occupational therapy outside of the traditional realm of healthcare.

>  To observe and adhere to the core principles of the Kawa Model of culturally responsive practice and valuing the clients’ lived experience.

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Kawa Poetics

Aristotle

Image via Wikipedia

I am in the process of building a “Kawa Poetics” page. The term”Poetics” refers to the pure language of the river as a metaphor, and takes it’s title from Aristotle’s work which laid the foundation for a classical understanding of the dramatic arts, poetry and music. Aristotle also made reference to the ways in which we learn and how these processes of learning help to construct our modes of expression and creativity:

Thus the reason why men enjoy seeing a likeness is, that in contemplating it
they find themselves learning

Perhaps the most pertinent (to the Kawa Model) aspects of the Aristotlian Poetics are the means of language, rhythm and harmony. With regard to the river as a metaphor for life flow (or any dynamic process), we can incorporate these three aspects into the framework.

To explain, the Kawa Model consists of four elements:

  • Water (Mizu) – The life flow itself. When the flow is deep and strong, we are living to our fullest – we are content and happy, have good social and familial roles, feel productive and needed in our day to day life, we have realistic aspirations and the resources to help us to achieve them.
  • River Walls and Floor (Kawa no Soku-Heki and Kawa no Zoko) – Our environments, whether they be cultural, physical, social or otherwise. Narrow channels will restrict the flow and wider channels will allow a greater volume of flow. The interaction between the flow and the river channel is constant and always changing.
  • Rocks (Iwa) – The boulders that block the channel are life events which get in our way, or require the water to flow around them. The boulders might not be a negative event as they might cause the channel to be reshaped into a more useful form. Life events can be traumatic, sad, joyous or enlightening. How we choose to flow around them is the key.
  • Driftwood (Ryuboku) – The personal resources, skills, assests and liabilites that we carry with us on the flow. These come from the surounding environment and are carried on the river. Sometimes these may become snagged on rocks or in the “environment,” sometimes they might help to knock a boulder out of the way, or widen the channel. Driftwood is a tool to be used on the journey down the river.

These are the four Kawa elements, together they make up the complete river metaphor. They are foundations for the “language” river, the first of Arisotle’s poetic means. From these four elements we can begin to build a complex vocabulary which extends the metaphor through careful and reflective observation of rivers and physical geography. It is interesting to note at this point that Virgil, the Roman poet, popularised the notion that drinking from a particular river would help with a particular creative process, the metaphor of the river is prevelant throughout all cultures in it’s language, it’s art and literature.

The second of Aritotle’s means – rhythm, is established through building a series of cross sectional images of the river. As the river flows the shape of the channel will change according to the flow and the boulders and driftwood that are present in it. This constant interaction causes errosion and deposition and establishes meanders which are a visual representation of the rhythm of the river. Likewise, as our lives flow through many environments, encountering a range of events and carrying with us our many experiences and resources, we  meander to the subsequent rhythm of these many influences in much the same way as a river on it’s way to the sea.

This process also involves a “harmony” between the many elements. The more we explore the language and poetics of the Kawa Model and of rivers, the more we develop a harmonious relationship with the river metaphor. Aristotle’s third mean then, is about the relationship of the individual or individual’s with their own personal and collective rivers.

Like all geographic features, rivers tell us a story which is expressed through shapes and patterns, and the more we understand the vocabulary and grammar of these tales, the more elaborate and sophisticated they become. I have made reference before to the Kawa Model being a “good” metaphor. This might be somewhat of an understatement; it is infact a phenomenal metaphor. This is due to the nature of rivers and how they shape our environment, how they support life and facilitate growth and progress. The language of rivers is the environment, and that is not a figurative statement but a literal one.

Perhaps we should end with and often used quote from Heraclitus, another Greek philpsopher, who was well known for his theories on universal change. So with all this flux and harmony and change and flow, it is hardly surprising that,

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.

(or woman, or child or fox or beetle…)

 

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A New River

(From left to right) Winnie McGivern, Kiran Narang, Michael Iwama & Myself.

Although the Kawa Model has its roots in Occupational Therapy, and specifically in “Culturally Responsive” Occupational Therapy, we are beginning to understand, perhaps, that  it’s potential stretches far beyond the field of Health and Social Care. For the past six years I have been exploring and reflecting on the model and how it seems to have no limitations as a metaphor for a dynamic process (in my understanding). Most metaphors will breakdown eventually, losing their meaning and oginality. The River Metaphor, however, appears to maintain it’s integrity without slipping into the realms of conceit or metaphorical hyperbole.

This site will be looking at emerging applications for the Kawa Model, and although I will draw on my experience in the health care, we will also be exploring other aspects of the model, as well as exploriong the concept of “the language of rivers,” or “the poetics” of the model. The last six years have been about exploring the metaphor – that particular river took me back to the source,. This is the start of a new flow, which we might call ‘practical application.’

I hope that the likes of Michael Iwama, Winnie Mcgivern, Jouyin Teoh, Kee Hean Lim, Beki Dellow and all the other Kawa developers will visit and possibly contribute to this expedition. I would also like to give a special mention to my close friend and writing partner Kiran Narang, whose reflection and discussion has been a key aspect to the development of many of these ideas.

With all that in mind, it’s time to put on the old captain’s hat and stock up on bug repellent and water sterilising equipment as we head off up the river on the good ship Driftwood. We will be developing ideas that have been posted to the Kawa Forum and Facebook page and from these sources (the spring-head) the flow for Kawa Creative will be established.

Thanks also go to Mark Davey of Digital Asset Management for his support and interest in this project. I look forward to publishing more on our collaborations.

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