I have written before on this blog about ‘mediating from the neck up’: my conviction that I was taught (and teach) a rationalistic, even cerebral, process that privileges thought over emotion and language over movement (see kluwermediationblog.com/2013/12/13/mediating-from-the-neck-up/ ).
As I acknowledged at the time, having this insight and doing something about it are two quite different propositions. How in practice do we mediate with the whole person?

Last week I witnessed a startling illustration of the power of the physical realm in our work. Strathclyde Law School (Glasgow, Scotland) runs an annual mediation summer school with John Marshall Law School (Chicago, Illinois). Students from the USA are thrown together with students from Scotland and beyond. As well as focusing on mediation practice the event provides a fantastic opportunity for inter-cultural learning. I could write at length about the contrast between “American can-do-ism” (Menkel-Meadow) and Scottish “expressions of powerlessness and general pessimism” (Genn and Paterson). This year we were also joined by a Nigerian chap, currently doing his PhD at Strathclyde. To spare his blushes I won’t name him but his contribution was priceless.

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