Closing the wound in the belly

I only have one pair of shorts with me, and thankfully they had dried out by this morning.

The order of the day is the reviews, also called 'Balancing' - and it means hearing from everybody about their experience at the intensive week. I had been warned that it was such an important part of the whole process that it took priority over meals, bedtime, and everything else. Previous last days, we learned, had not finished until 0400 on the Saturday. At least my plane home isn't until 1635!

As is the way of things here, the first thing to do was celebrate - and that was about thanks and celebrations to everybody who had helped with the organising and conducting the groups. Numerous people were carried round the room on the shoulders of fit young men and women, to dramatic music and racous applause - ending with very heartfelt adulation of the maestro himself. Then it was the turn of the other English guests and myself to be thanked for our participation. Mine included the showing of a rather embarrassing video of last night's swimming pool incident! But the warm and genuine gratitude clearly went both ways; I expressed how I felt that I had received a gift that I would take home to England, and try to grow it there.

After a very powerful video of an orchestra playing a fugue of  'Ode to Joy' in an Italian Piazza, we had a few minutes of organisational business. Mariano explained how his retirement and ultimate death are approaching, and the work needs to be sustained beyond that. He made it very clear that the method is not him - but is the people involved in its numerous local and regional activities as well as the central organisation; it will change and develop according to them and their vision.

Various people, most of whom are here, are helping in various roles with the 'Fondazione Nuova Specie Olnus', which was formed three years ago to coordinate and promote development of the method (www.nuovaspecie.com). Economic times are hard, with

The Snail and Quadrangle logo

Mariano supporting much of the work with his own money, and all the people I have identified as 'staff' work for nothing. They did have some government support in the past – but this has disappeared in the recession. They make a small amount of money from the sale of books - and they will lose their base and space at the hospital in Foggia next year. So they are fundraising, hoping to buy and develop a farmhouse and land nearby, in which they can hold the intensive weeks. An architect has drawn up plans for outdoor group space and a building for dining and other activities - so this is one of their main hopes for the future.

In fact the reviews started with an architect, who eloquently described the way in which the surroundings affect us, and with the cycle of the seasons> Although  which I was rather enjoying. But he got a firm rebuke from the chair – as needing to talk in feelings, from the heart, rather than intellectualisations from the head. Then a succession of others took to the chairs at the front - with the usual casual agglomerations of supporters. Sometimes the encounters were aggressive, and even physically violent - with the participants being kept physically safe with vigorous restraint from those around them; in others Mariano had to work hard to generate the passion and energy - like when he spent a long time trying to get a young boy to yell 'vaffancoulo' at him.

'Tell me to FUCK OFF'

The pattern of what was happening was difficult to understand at the time – as some of the encounters seemed needlessly severe – but it was only by discussing it directly with Mariano the next day that I cottoned on. His personal manner – which comes across to sensitive English eyes as somewhat brutish and callous – is deliberately used in the context of long-term relationships with these families, with a shrewd and perceptive judgement of what they need and what they can take (widely acknowledged by the participants) – all of which is dressed up and concocted in brash Italian humour (which often left the interpreters quite lost for words – and me completely in the dark). 

It is also to do with the structure of the week – and the whole Friday event is to ‘close the wounds in the belly’ that may have been opened up during the week with care and humour. Importantly, everybody there gets the opportunity to be in the hot seat – as part of the process of assessing how everybody is, and ensuring they are not leaving without expressing their feelings. It is an important part of the rhythm of the week – with the crescendo rising to the Wednesday morning ritual, with deliberate expression of angry and negative feelings on Thursday and this to round everything off on Friday.

So this is what the whole week looked like:

	Morning	Afternoon	Evening
Sunday	0900 - 1700 Trip to Gargano National Park and the seaside		1800 - 2030 Introduction session
Monday	0930 - 1330 Dynamics	1530 – 1930 Dynamics	2030 - 0030 Birthday party
Tuesday	0930 - 1330 Dynamics	1530 – 1930 Dynamics	Music and singing round the hotel piano
Wednesday	0930 - 1330 Ritual	1530 – 1930 Theory	Music and singing round the hotel piano
Thursday	0930 - 1330 The Ring	1530 – 1930 The Ring	2100 - 0030 Last night party
Friday	0930 - 1330 Reviews	1530 – 0025 Reviews
Saturday	1000 – 1300 Debrief with Mariano and team	1635 BRI-LGW