Holding “containers”
Last night at group, it came up that it’d be helpful for folks to have some guidance about what makes “holding the container” successful.
Note that these are my observations, teachings, and learnings, not rules. Take what you wish from them.
Containers are intangible yet real spaces in which the potential and possibility of a group can unfold. They have boundaries that are physical and psychological. They are often best characterized by a feel, but they are nevertheless real aspects of deep dialogic practice.[1]
- It helps to have, near the beginning of the circle, an opportunity to check in with our bodies and their subtle sensations. There are many ways to do this.
- Firm boundaries create safety. It helps if the “space holder” tends to timeliness, so we move the evening, covering what needs to be covered before time is up.
- A bit of “ritual” helps. To me, this means simply acknowledging and asking for support and guidance from unseen forces. Our ancestors, the future children, the spirits/gods/creatures, all the known and unknown parts of ourselves. In acknowledging them, we feed them.
From Corrigan, C. (2024). Hosting and Holding Containers. In D. L. Anderson (Ed.), Organization development: The process of leading organizational change (6th edition). Sage Publishing. ↩︎