So Long…

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:

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.

Related articles

• The Kawa (river) model of occupational therapy
• Role Emerging = Risk Engaging (2)
• Wfot 2014

Yokohama 2014 – The Adventure Begins

It has been some time since I wrote a blog for Kawa Creative, and it is with some excitement that I put this one together. First of all allow me to explain the lack of activity.

The last blog “Anxiety,” was published in June, just before the summer holidays. So there’s a clue. It has been a fantastic summer of festivals, road trips and fun times, but now it is back to work. Kawa Creative will be registered as a Not For Profit Company Limited by guarantee. We are very fortunate to have an excellent board of directors with some diverse skills and experience – more about that once we are up and running. We also have some exciting new projects in the pipeline as well as details of our pilot project which took place in March. But right now the one thing that is demanding all of my attention is the World Federation of Occupational Therapists 2014 Congress.

Many of the Kawa development team have submitted abstracts to the congress, and I am delighted to say that two have been accepted by Kawa Creative, and I will also be taking part in the pre-congress workshop along with Kee-Hean Lim, Jouyin Teoh  and of course Professor Michael Iwama. I will be presenting on two subjects: the use of mobile technologies and the Kawa Framework as a data collection tool, and also the Kawa Poetics – the language of rivers. More of that later. What I am concerned with here is how did I get here?

Kawa Creative is not something that has been dreamt up over night, it has emerged from the quagmire and ill-defined waters that have sprung from the bedrock of continuous reflections on the application of the river metaphor. At Bradford University I was introduced to the model and was lucky enough to meet Professor Iwama, and gain a deeper understanding into the roots of this remarkable system for practice. I made regular contributions on the Kawa Model forum, which now seems like a life time ago, and in 2010, when Jouyin Teoh set up the Kawa Facebook page, we saw the development go from strength to strength. Since then the Kawa Model has become a point of exploration and conversation all around the world – from Scandinavia to South America, Australia to Scotland.

It was my regular posts on Facebook that created the momentum for the Kawa Creative blog and it was a chance meeting with Sue Walpole that gave rise to Kawa Created Ltd and our own particular approach to arts for health. There is also the Kawa Wiki page, and the river appears to be popping up all over the virtual and physical domains – therefore: “…the river is everywhere.” (Hesse).

I never knew where this journey would take us all, least of all where it would take myself. Exploring the Kawa world has always been just that: an exploration. There have never been any expectations or projections, we have resisted the temptation to formalise our research, preferring to keep to the phenomenological roots of this wonderful gift “from practitioners to practitioners.” This river for me has flowed through significant life events of the last seven years, and it has, at times, been a place of solace and gentle reflection. I have come to regard rivers as more than just geographical features that happen to run through our towns and cities (especially as it is our towns and cities which cluster around the rivers.) I now see rivers as the great story tellers, etching their life-flow into the very rock and earth. They are forces of nature which leave behind complex and inspiring narratives of destruction, creation, birth and death, and never ending change.

When the river eventually reaches the sea, it flows into a place with no centre; a mass of water which obeys a different set of physical forces; and the stories that have been told are washed away by the ocean to be reabsorbed and told again and again across the ages. There is a poetry to the way that flowing water interacts with its environment and it is this poetry that we should seek to facilitate in the lives of those for whom we provide a service – and indeed in our own lives.

It has been through following the poetry of the Kawa Model, seeking opportunities to interact with other professionals and explore this tool that I have come to this place. As I return to practice and raise my sights on new challenges, I find myself flowing into the ocean, where my story will be washed amongst the currents and waves of a much larger reality, reformed and retold.

As I look forward to June 2014 in Yokohama I am filled with excitement and exhilaration as I consider the adventure that we are going to have; and that is what it has all been – an adventure. For me that is the message central to the Kawa approach: your life is not written, nor is it a linear event: it ebbs and flows across time and space, and if you wish, you can be an explorer in that river, and I suppose that is how I got here – it has been an adventure, I am an explorer.

Now to work.

Anxiety

Anxiety is a misunderstood state of being. I say state of being, because one might assume it to be a state of mind – this is not true. Anxiety is an all consuming beast which sinks its claws in and grips. Anxiety is relentless and unforgiving, it is tricksy and sly and can undermine all attempts to disengage from its carnivorous hold. Anxiety can be a solid lump of fear which sits on your chest and berates you, tells you half truths and outright lies. Anxiety invades your limbic system and high-jacks your executive function so that you can’t think straight, can’t walk, read or piss straight. Anxiety is a fucker.

See this guy here, can’t settle, can’t be settled – all that cortisol and adrenalin rushing his system, and so often the casual response to an anxious person is “you need to relax a bit.” – NO SHIT. This blog entry is a departure from the norm, but I felt compelled to write this today as someone who has fought the good fight with this devil of the soul for most of his adult life. So lets call this a coming out shall we, and then we can move on.

So what do you say to someone who is experiencing anxiety – oh and by the way, please refrain from the term “panic attack.” The word panic implies that one has chosen to react in this way, and there is very little choice in the experience of anxiety, it is an infringement, a theft, an abuse. Anxiety is very often rooted in some kind of past trauma or negative lived experience. However, it is wrong to assume that you can simply deal with that issue in the past and everything will be okay, anxiety modifies behaviour, establishes itself across a whole range of emotional triggers, it spreads like a virus, and getting it under control can take months or even years, and still the footprint is left in the sand as that vicious tide recedes.

I digress. Let’s start with what the wrong things to say might be:

“Calm down” – yeah right. You are at the mercy of your own neurological reactions to embedded psychological stimuli. This is not a choice.

“It’s not that bad” – when we experience certain emotional reactions we often distort our perceptions to rationalise how we are feeling. Here we enter into the realms of paranoia, and – lets be clear here – terror. Anxiety is your fight or flight response kicking in with no external stimuli or justification. It may not be that bad, but it feels like it – this reality (no matter how subjective) needs to be acknowledged.

“Are you okay?” – This really is a bloody stupid question.

“Chill out” – This will result in a smack up the nose, please don’t try and be cool about it.

Alright, I am no real fan of negative teaching so lets leave the “dont’s” behind. What can we do?

We can be patient – anxiety attacks will ebb away if the proper support is given. Let that person know that you will give them all the time they need – this is reassuring.

We can be compassionate – this is a physical pain, this is someone who is or has been hurt, and their anxiety is a manifestation of that pain. If you could see a wound then you would show compassion, this is no different.

We can be supportive – “what can I do to help you” – a simple open question can divert attention away from the anxiety. Also, let that person know that they are supported, give them your full attention.

…and I was going to write more, but it does occur to me that perhaps these three things are all we need to manage anxiety as it is happening. Of course we can signpost people to services and support and psychotherapy and self help groups and the right diet and massage and aromatherapy and crystals and rainbows and the whole cosmos of treatments that are available for anxiety management; but in the throes of that pain, that unrequited anger and self loathing, that snake that bites your mind and spits its insipid venom into your synapses, in amongst all that, perhaps we should keep it simple.

So in the face of anxiety try to practice these three tenets: be patient, be compassionate, be supportive. Anxiety is not a disease, it is an imbalance, and we all have the capacity to both lose and restore balance in our lives. If you are someone who has experienced anxiety in any way and felt the effects of it in your life, then my best wishes and thoughts go to you. If you are experiencing anxiety then I would say this – seek some support, don’t hide or feel that you are weak in someway – you are  a strong and worthy human being, and it is understood that your pain is real.

This is a very personal blog entry that I have chosen to share with the wider community. It is based on my own experiences as one who has both worked with and experienced anxiety as a debilitating condition, I hope that this is useful in some way, and should anyone wish to discuss these issues further please contact me via the various portals that I am connected to: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, WordPress or email me at kawacreative@gmail.com.

If you are a health care professional and would like to know more about our Arts in Health work then please email either Sue Walpole or David Nixon at kawacreativeltd@gmail.com. 

Related articles

• Stop prescribing benzodiazepines for anxiety
• Panic Attacks Cure – Keep Your Anxiety Under Control With These Helpful Tips
• How I Dealt With My Persistent Fears & Anxieties
• The Intelligence of Anxiety. ~ Ian Andersen
• Effective Steps for Managing Anxiety

Art Therapy Without Borders

I enjoy following ATWB posts on Facebook. The colourful and energetic images that appear in my timeline on a regular basis are a welcome reminder that amidst all the policy, research, evidence, standards, ethics, interventions, models, tools (standard and non standard), assessments and evaluations is the need to play. Within us all there is a force which begins at birth, and in the often cruel world of the adult human, this force can become distorted and mishapen, but it is our role as creative practitioners to release the constraints on this vibrant spirit, to remove the barriers to imagination, which are so often held in place by trauma, pain and isolation.

What are we but stories? We are an ever developing web of narratives which cross and merge, diverge and multiply. All of these stories are connected to a collective imagination which is the human condition. Science, Theatre, Visual Arts and so on, are all manifestations of the interaction between our senses, minds and environs.

In the river, the constant flow and interaction between water, channel and rocks and boulders, conceptualises this narrative process. We are the shared experience of all, expressed through a variety of collective and individual media. My former theatre lecturer and director of my first stageplay, once remarked that “theatre is a human need.” Art Therapy Without Borders understand this fully.

Creativity should never be considered an ‘add on’ or a luxury. Creativity is fundamental to human survival. When ancient man donned an animal skin and “became” the essence of that animal in order to hunt, he engaged in a form of theatre which we now call mask work. It may seem a tenuous link, but the fact of the matter is that creativity has been a part of human evolution since we came out of the swamps. In Papua New Guinea, there is a tradition of re-enacting ancient tribal wars in the form of dance, as the two tribes – once enemies – now engage in celebrations and festivals. In western society, we see disaffected areas transformed by well directed urban arts projects. The creative process is transformative by its very nature.

The origins of the arts are embedded deep within our evolution, and extend far beyond the boundaries of state funding, corporate value or social status. The rise of the Arts for Health movement is a call to all practitioners to embrace the power of the creative process as guiding principle for rehabilitation and recovery.  

So thankyou to ATWB for reminding us all that the most fundamental element to healthy development (social, emotional and physical), healthy living and happiness is to be creative, engage in new experiences, and above all, to be the child and play.

From the backwaters to the mainstream

“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

When your river has run in the backwaters for any length of time it is always going to be a new and daunting experience to flow into the mainstream. When you are shaped by the backwaters that footprint will always stay with you; your river will always carry the memory of the hill streams and places of calm. At times you will crave the sanctity of the rocky beds and shallow banks.

English: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Resized, renamed, and cropped version of File:Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs.svg. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was interested to listen to a programme on Radio 4 today about Abraham Maslow, and his humanist approach to psychology. At the time he was a pioneer because he looked for those things which made people “better” human beings. Rather than attempting to deconstruct the human mind he strove to build a vision of how we can achieve all that we are capable of. Maslow was not a strict clinician, much of his work lacked empirical data, and he did not always see eye to eye with his researchers. However, he did take an approach which promoted the notion of meaning, activity and “paved the way for the well-being agenda,” which should make him required reading for all occupational therapists, especially when considered as a forerunner to Mihalyi Czikszenmihalyi (see below)

There has been a few pieces of traffic coming my way recently on the importance of empirical data, evidence based practice and the pitfalls of “doing it your way” simply because it seems right. However, perhaps there is room for both. Perhaps we need both empiricism and intuition to provide a well rounded approach to social health and well-being. I see no reason why the thinkers, poets, visionaries, boat rockers and apple cart upsetters should not have a role to play in the development of a profession. Of course, this cannot become the norm otherwise we would never get anywhere amid the chaos of a million egos all vying for an editorial of their own. But we should recognise that we need these spirits in any profession to question the status quo, to extend our thinking and (most importantly of all) to remind us that we are human.

As we flow from the backwaters to the mainstream we should celebrate the likes of Maslow and all those self actualisers who have kept their river flowing through deep waters and into the open sea. We should remember that, although we must strive to deliver excellence through evidence, we must also strive to deliver empathy, open mindedness and compassion. 

Related articles

• Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs 😀
• Thoughts on Maslow, from a student of Adler
• Happy Birthday, Abraham Maslow: How Humanistic Psychology Shaped the Modern Self

Narrative Inquiry – a response

This short piece started out as a reply to Kirsty Stanley’s blog on Narrative Inquiry.

English: Screenshot from Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) (1902) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The river tells a story and the Kawa approach is very much about narrative and lived experience. It is only through narrative that we can attain a true understanding of the experience of others. We are nothing but stories – our history, our identity, our learning, our government, culture, beliefs, upbringing, environments are all stories. Our interactions with one another generate further stories which ebb and flow around the landscape of our perceptions.

 

“Science without art is a tea bag without water” is very true. And the reverse is also true, after all, in a creative role I use technologies and applications which have come from scientific endeavour. Science gives us the resources to explore our creativity to greater and greater levels. What art gives science is the opportunity to integrate itself more fully with humanity.

 

I think one of the biggest problems we face is the way that both science and art are represented by the media. Science is often seen as some kind of eggheaded netherworld where the man in the street is not welcome; and art can be portrayed as either wacky and off the wall or or entirely elite and inaccessible. What is worse, our conflict obsessed media, will always pitch one against the other, and when these two disciplines do converge it is seen as ground-breaking – even though the likes of Da Vinci, Aristotle had been combining both the scientific and creative arts in their thinking long before our profession was even conceived of.

 

Occupational Therapists are (or should be in my eyes) curators and analysts of the stories which we are presented with. We make sense of the narratives we encounter through the application of the processes we are trained in and the experience we accumulate. More than this, we need to be pattern recognisers and meta-theorists who see the connections between multiple systems and can understand the cultural relevance in a situation no matter what the lived experience of the individual or group.

 

If you are in any doubt regarding the importance of narrative, then think about a time when you have been asked to tell your story – how did it feel? How often do we get the opportunity to tell our story, or even a part of it? Taking a narrative approach demands that we listen, which promotes concentration and compassion, from this emerges understanding and relevance. Only through truly engaging with the lived experience of the client can we fully apply our professional skills, values and core beliefs.

 

What are we but stories?

 

Related articles

• N is for… Narrative Inquiry (Book) #AtoZChallenge

Reflection

English: Braided Stream: These streams move tremendous amounts of gravel but usually look low or even empty. (Fairbanks’ Tanana River, Sept 15, 2001) Deutsch: Der Tanana River Română: Râul Tanana, din Alaska, SUA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many rivers flow together as families, communities and societies. These braided systems flow through complex landscapes where the dynamic, myriad topography is an expression of the many and subtle roles and identities that grow and evolve through both time and space.

A culture is never a closed system, but it carries a singular identity which is a collective – many rivers, flowing through many landscapes – a delicate harmony rooted in a cultural context which has grown throughout the years.

A traumatic event in such a system has a profound and devastating effect. The river is separated and broken. Individual reactions create further obstructions to the flow as so many coping strategies become snagged on the rocks like so much driftwood. The streams are separated by the event and support structures falter as the environment changes suddenly in response to the altered flows.

These separated streams must now be nurtured and guided over time, through unfamiliar territory and around new obstacles so the they can converge once more, down stream, closer to the ocean, but safe and telling stories of their respective adventures. Perhaps the telling of these stories will go some way to promoting healing and recovery from the trauma that initiated this journey. Perhaps these individual tales will create the fabric with which the collective identity will be remade.

On the river we are travellers, we are explorers, we seek the unknown and endeavour to return home safely with tales of far off lands. But sometimes the journeys we embark on are painful, even damaging. These are the stories that reach us most. These are the journeys that push us further than we ever thought possible. The river is a story and what are we but stories? We are the river and the river is everywhere.

Love is an Extreme Sport

My good friend Jon Pearson and I discussed this blog over some refreshingly good coffee. Jon managed to fire out his offering within minutes (or so it seems), it has taken me a littel longer to complete my own ramblings, but here we are; two very different insights on the same title.

We had to get of the chair lift early to make the sharp left turn to get to the rocky outcrop at the top of the slope we were going to tackle. I was 21 and I wanted to be fearless, I wanted to be an electric silver demon, flying in the face of destiny and leaping between the potentially fatal rocks. We got to the top of the run which was a steep piece of mountain strewn with ragged granite outcrops. The run itself dropped into the piste 100m below. The first few metres were near vertical and it was all you could do hold a line and try not to be smashed on the first set of rocks.

As we traversed the top of the ridge I was aware of my heart beating beyond its usual rhythm, my cortisol levels were rising and I sensed the fight or flight conflict of the limbic response. I was at the mercy of fear and I was losing. When we got to the drop in point my companion shot me a wreckless smile and dived in. He was a far superior skier and skipped nimbly between the rocks, daring the terrain to trip him up. His competence and agility shattered what self belief I had left and I froze.

What is it that causes us to take that leap, what force enables us to throw ourselves into the abyss, fearless and joyous, celebrating the moment that you have comitted yourself to pursuing – for how long? The rest of your life? But time has no meaning in the open space of free fall, and we cannot go on falling forever. No matter how intoxicating it might be, we cannot sustain the fires indefinitely. At some point we must allow them to burn away to embers, and then it is up to us to find more fuel if we wish to rekindle the flames of passion. Love is a risk – because it is something which begins as a destination but evolves into a journey: we know where it starts, but we never know where it might end, all we know is that we never want to forget that moment when we jumped into the void, eyes open, arms outstretched and the pain of joy in our hearts.

I was 21 when I first stood at the top of that dangerous drop, and I could not bring myself to “jus’ do it”. The feeling that I had missed something stayed with me for a long time, I had been handed the opportunity to love and I had choked on the bile of self doubt. That doubt, whatever its roots, was one side of the equation. To plageurise Bill Hicks, we make a choice between Love and Fear, when we choose love we take the risk and live a life in the open; when we choose fear we hide ourselves away and bring nothing to the world.

Over the years I have learned about life, emotion, mind, people, relationships and how important it is to find meaning in what we do. It is not enough to be blown on the wind – this is not freedom, but a more palatable form of fear. A river which flows without direction is just a big puddle. The insights that I have gathered over time have tempered the terrain somewhat, I no longer seek out the rocks and danger, but I know that I can deal with them deftly and effectively should they occur, but now I find myself seeking the fun stuff, the jumps and slides that made this run so alluring in the first place. Is love and extreme sport? Maybe, but that doesn’t mean you have to try and kill yourself everytime you find it.

I froze at the top of the drop, I edged back and felt utterly dismayed, disheartened and dejected that I had failed. All my friends had been watching, I knew that they would feel my dissappointment and be sympathetic, but it didn’t change the fact that I felt like a complete tit. I traversed back to a less steep part of the slope, where there were less deadly rocks to bar the way, I took a deep breath and launched myself dowen the hill. The tails of my skis flicked up as I pushed forward with my poles, I skated a few meters to increase my downhill speed and then I hit the drop and I accelerated. The dissapointment of my failed attempt on the more challenging slope was whipped away by the Alpine air as it whistled past my ears. I was carving great exotic turns into the snow, I could feel the tension of my skis as they flexed against the mountain. My frustration turned to exhilaration as I skied the best I had ever done.

Love is an extreme sport, you just have to find the right line.

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.

Calderdale Yoga Center Event.

On friday 20th I delivered a presentation to a group of people at the Calderdale Yoga Centre. The event was part of the Alternative Night Out in Hebden Bridge programme which as been put together by John Pearson with the express purpose of bringing together like minded people to share ideas and engage in “not too intense personal development workshops.” You can learn more about the events here

The presentation brought together some of the ideas that I have been exploring over the last five years pertaining to the Kawa approach, the language of rivers and the cultural significance of symbols and natural forces. It is intriguing to me that the four formative civilisations which were the foundations for the last 8000 years of human development all originated around rivers. This is hardly surprising as all life on the planet gravitates towards water in some way or another. even desert creatures will seek out the most minute quantities of water, or develop ingenious methods for storing it.

The four regions that formed the basis for this historical look at rivers, were the Lower Nile, the Tigris and Euphrates, the Indus and the Yellow River. These four colossal river systems are embedded within the development of the civilised world. I also used images of the recent floods that we have experienced here in Hebden Bridge and related this to the global system to demonstrate that we are connected by the very thing that sustains life on the planet. I believe that to fully appreciate the Kawa model, one must be fully immersed in its ethos of connectivity and change.

The presentation of the model itself raised some interesting questions, one of which was “if the river flowing towards the sea is representative of a collectivist perspective, would an individualistic view-point see the river flowing towards the mountains where all the channels then separate.” I have never thought of the model in this way, and it was enjoyable to (yet again) have my understanding of the model expanded. I have often found that when people start to explore the Kawa they begin by making comparisons, and trying to dismantle the framework in order to understand it. This is the beginning a transformative process, because the more we try to apply this kind of de-constructive thought to the river metaphor, the more it develops and re-models itself to that person’s world view. This is why I like to do some teaching about river systems, culture and flow before getting to the model itself: you cannot de-construct such a complex and integrated system because its dynamics and interactions are the very forces that create it.

Another point which was raised was the fact that boulders might be seen as diverting the river and therefore changing the environment. This I found particularly insightful and caused me to reflect on the fact that Kawa does not pre-suppose positive or negative, but adheres more to the Buddhist value which I can only describe as “we’ll see.”  That is to say; how can we know what might be good or bad, positive or negative within the flow? We can only value what is in the now, and use our experience of what has been to plan for what might be ahead. The river is all about change, it is the one constant that we can rely upon in this system.

In the next event I will include more practical activities, bring in some of my creative skills and experience. I will also use some theatre exercises to promote some pre-cognitive perception. This refers to a state where we are not attaching meaning to everything we perceive but are allowing ourselves to simply experience the moment as it emerges.

This first event has been a huge learning process for me and I would like to thank everyone who attended, and special thanks go to Jon Pearson for hosting the evening.

Since the initial draft of this piece, two other practitioners have become involved in the process of putting together a workshop event. Karen Linde is senior research fellow and independant consultant at the University of Leeds, and Jon Pearson is a psychotherapist, and yoga teacher at Insight Counselling and Psychotherapies.

 This is a very exciting development in terms of exploring the potential of Kawa and developing an area for role emerging practice.

D

• Calderdale Yoga Centre
• Who am I?
• Upper Valley Relief Fund