Open Hands: Answers
Open Hands is a microcosm of life. A fractal that contains everything.
Fractal? Fractals are self-similar structures. The whole can be found in the small.
Open Hands? A partner exercise in which you face each other and "test" yourself and each other. For relaxation and integration, inner strength and so on. Sounds very technical, but it's extremely playful. There isn't much film footage of it at the moment (Corona has put a spanner in the works).
The film snippet from the MOVEMENT ADVENTURES doesn't say much because you don't see any interaction, just that Marco can't get me off the ground. Because I'm relaxing into my structure. And he pushes himself away. It might still be funny, though. We certainly had fun. 😊🏝 That's characteristic of Open Hands.
Open Hands is the simplest setting, the simplest Infinity Game that can uncover and cultivate the greatest complexity.
For example?
INDEPENDENCE. IN THE TRUEST SENSE OF THE WORD
First of all, it shows us what it takes to be able to enter into a relationship at all: to have our own center, our own stability, to be whole in ourselves, we can call that integrity, to be our own identity, to be our own self-contained (but not closed) system, our own tensegrity.
At the same time, it teaches us that through relationship, through the dynamics of relationship, we become more independent and more whole in ourselves. Independence and relationship form a dynamic, self-reinforcing whole. However, the first step requires a good level of integrity and competence in order to enter into a meaningful relationship. A relationship that enriches both. A relationship that can develop in a self-reinforcing way. That is fundamental.
TEACHING WITHOUT A TEACHER
Open Hands does not lecture us, but makes these simple facts immediately, directly and abruptly clear. "Is that clear anyway?", you say? Then Open Hands shows you how much this clarity is already embodied. It very quickly reveals the discrepancy between concept and embodiment.
It becomes equally clear to the practitioner immediately that the prerequisites just described do not only apply to Open Hands. And again, it doesn't just become clear mentally, but in action. However, this does not require a transfer, as one might think. This is because the experiences we have in Open Hands are physical and directly shape our nervous system and our cognition. Transfer is therefore not necessary. The experiences made in and through Open Hands are carried out into life on their own and act as formative forces.
EVOKING BODY WISDOM
Too often I have seen ungrounded, unstable people who had no idea what they were doing try their hand at Open Hands. The result is sad. (The same goes for Push Hands/Tui Shou.) If they at least knew what they were doing. This requires a thorough introduction. At the same time, Open Hands is very, very simple – and paradoxical, because how can relaxation neutralize hardness? Even when you see it, you don't understand it. It is designed to completely overwhelm the thinking mind. Like a Zen Koan. This way the embodied wisdom, the structured spontaneity, can take over.
If we use Open Hans to see where the weak points are in the individual, it is a blessing. It is therefore also an analysis tool. But unlike pure analysis, Open Hands offers differentiation and integration at the same time. It clearly shows where the work needs to be done, where the individual potential lies, if we want to put it in positive terms. It doesn't need anyone from outside, no teacher, no master, no expert, just the ability to accept what shows up. It shows itself in a such obvious way, there is no way to deny it.
Of course, you can seek advice and ask for guidance from those who know how to recognize and promote individual potential. Nobody is saying that you can or have to go down this path alone (on the contrary, nobody can go down this path alone). However, the decisive factor is that potentials do not have to be spotted from an outside perspective. This means that they cannot be interpreted and therefore maybe distorted by the teacher. The potentials present themselves in the most direct way. Voilà.
QUESTIONS ABOUT QUESTIONS. ANSWERS ABOUT ANSWERS
Open Hands is the perfect teacher when it comes to clarifying the question: What should I do? What should I work on? What is my potential? How can I move more freely? How can I flow with life?
And further: What are my ingrained patterns that I constantly produce and yet never see? Even though they are so obvious? How can I deconstruct them and reconstruct or uncover new, beneficial patterns? Where are my - physical, psychological - blockages? Where is too much, where is too little? How can I accept an attack without resistance, but without allowing myself to be manipulated? How can I reduce my primitive fight-flight-freeze reactions, and what do I have left? How can I relax under pressure? How can relaxation become dynamic? How can I shift the C from reactive to creative? How can I be stable and agile at the same time? What does it mean to be inner space? To move freely and make contact freely? What is elasticity, adaptivity, responsiveness? What does it mean to receive when I embody it? How is the soft stronger than the hard? What is the effect of a clear intention? How do I generate relaxed power? How can I store and release the power of an attack and transform it in the process? How can I be and remain present? What does full presence mean? How do I connect with a counterpart, and from where? How can we build a common ground with a strong center around which an incredible dynamic can develop?
These questions and many more will emerge from Open Hands. And their answers will come from the present, liberating, free body wisdom. Because this is an incredibly powerful, clear movement.
Welcome to the big little world of Open Hands.
PS: You can find the Open Hands solo practice at @Home. These are basic movements so that you know what you are doing. You can't do it without them.
You don't have to teach Open Hands as such, you have to accompany it. That's why I'm always available for workshops. In these I am also prepared to cover solo practice. (Otherwise I rarely teach movement sequences.) If you would like to hold a workshop with me, please get in touch.