What is Space Holding?
Space holding is the act of creating a safe, non-judgmental container in which another person can experience and express their emotions, thoughts, and journey without interference. It means being fully present with someone else, without judgment or distraction, so that the person can share their experiences and perspective. Unlike offering advice, solving problems, or directing outcomes, space holding emphasizes compassionate witnessing and unconditional acceptance while maintaining clear boundaries.
The practice requires the space holder to set aside their own agenda and resist the urge to control, fix, or change what the other person is experiencing. As Heather Plett describes it, holding space means “being willing to walk alongside another person in whatever journey they’re on, without judging them, making them feel inadequate, trying to fix them, or trying to impact the outcome.”
Origins & Lineage
The psychological concept of “holding” was coined by British pediatrician and psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott in 1960 in a paper on the relationship of infants and parents. Winnicott’s “holding environment” described how caregivers create emotional safety for infants through physical and psychological presence. The concept has since evolved in its use in therapy beyond the parent/child relationship, with empathy and meeting patients where they are at its core.
The humanistic psychology tradition also contributed to the lineage: Carl Rogers (1957) laid the foundation for this approach in his theory of person-centered therapy, identifying empathy, congruence (authenticity), and unconditional positive regard as the “necessary and sufficient” conditions for therapeutic change.
The specific phrase “holding space” has multiple tributaries. In the organizational development world, practitioners noted that Harrison Owen may have been one of the first to use the term in organizational contexts in the late 1980s, though whether he invented the term remains unclear. The term also circulated in facilitation communities, particularly within Art of Hosting circles and Open Space Technology practitioners.
The term “holding space” was popularized around 2015 by Heather Plett in a blog post about the concept. Plett, a Canadian writer and facilitator, published the post following her mother’s death and the profound experience of being supported by a palliative care nurse. Her 2015 blog post on holding space went viral and crashed her website, introducing the phrase to mainstream culture and wellness communities. In Spring 2017, in response to growing demand, Heather created the online Holding Space Coach/Facilitator Program (later renamed the Holding Space Practitioner Program). She subsequently founded the Centre for Holding Space and authored The Art of Holding Space: A Practice of Love, Liberation, and Leadership (2020).
How It’s Practiced
Space holding looks different depending on context—therapy sessions, facilitated circles, coaching relationships, or intimate personal support—but shares common elements. To hold space, one must be fully present and create a safe environment. Once the circumstances are created, holding space fosters listening and empathizing.
In practice, space holding involves:
Physical presence and attention: Offering undivided focus, making eye contact when appropriate, sitting in stillness without distraction.
Non-reactivity: Being with someone without judgment, with full heart and deep presence, bringing compassion and empathy to whatever arises with unconditional love and acceptance.
Silence and listening: Allowing pauses, not rushing to fill quiet moments, and listening without preparing responses or interjections.
Boundary maintenance: Remaining emotionally present without becoming enmeshed or losing one’s own center.
When a therapist holds space, it regulates the client’s nervous system, reduces defensiveness, and increases emotional safety, allowing the brain to move out of survival mode and into healing and integration.
Space Holding Today
Contemporary seekers encounter space holding across multiple domains:
Therapeutic settings: Therapists, counselors, and somatic practitioners integrate space holding as foundational to client work across modalities including psychodynamic therapy, relational therapy, and trauma-informed practice.
Group facilitation: Circle practitioners, workshop leaders, and organizational facilitators use space holding techniques to support generative dialogue, conflict transformation, and collective process.
Spiritual and healing communities: Retreat leaders, breathwork facilitators, and ceremony holders employ space holding to support participants through intense emotional and spiritual experiences.
Training programs: Participants in Heather Plett’s Holding Space Practitioner Program have come from six continents to join her online and at in-person workshops around the world. Her writing has appeared in publications such as Harvard Business Review and Grist magazine and has been quoted in multiple books as well as curriculum for nurses, hospice care workers, yoga teachers, facilitators, and military chaplains.
In popular culture, the phrase “holding space” gained a rapid rise in popularity following an interview in November 2024 between journalist Tracy E. Gilchrist and Wicked actresses Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, sparking widespread public conversation about the term’s meaning.
Common Misconceptions
It is not passivity or inaction. While holding space is an incredible skill requiring consistent dedicated practice and one of the most important skills a facilitator can have, there is another wing to this bird: skilled facilitation. Space holding alone does not constitute complete facilitation, which may also require structure, intervention, and directional guidance.
It is not the same as helping or fixing. Many people confuse holding space with helping. The impulse to offer solutions, advice, or rescue someone from discomfort contradicts the core principle of allowing another person’s autonomous process.
It does not mean abandoning boundaries. Space holding requires maintaining one’s own sense of self while being present for another. It is not emotional fusion or taking on another’s pain as one’s own.
It is not universally applicable. Situations requiring emergency intervention, clear guidance, or specialized expertise may not be appropriate contexts for pure space holding.
It is not a spiritual bypass. While rooted in compassion, space holding does not mean avoiding difficult conversations, conflict, or accountability in service of maintaining superficial harmony.
How to Begin
Beginners can cultivate space holding capacity through:
Reading foundational texts: Heather Plett’s The Art of Holding Space: A Practice of Love, Liberation, and Leadership (2020) offers accessible entry points and practical exercises. Donald Winnicott’s writings on the holding environment provide theoretical grounding.
Practicing with a partner: In somatic coaching programs, students learn a process called “The Feeler,” a powerful tool for holding space and creating an environment of safety and trust, where partners practice holding space regularly.
Developing self-awareness: Becoming a great facilitator requires willingness to look within, including an examination of one’s own beliefs and biases, presence, unique traits and trigger points.
Seeking training: Programs like the Centre for Holding Space’s Foundation Program, facilitation training intensives, and therapeutic training programs that emphasize presence and attunement provide structured learning.
Working with your own process: Receiving therapy, coaching, or participating in circles where others hold space for you builds embodied understanding of what space holding feels like from the inside.