Where can I find out about David Grove’s ‘six degrees of freedom’?

‘Six degrees of freedom’ is a mechanical term, referring to the ways in which a body can move in three dimensions:

1. Moving up and down (heaving);
2. Moving left and right (swaying);
3. Moving forward and backward (surging);
4. Tilting forward and backward (pitching);
5. Turning left and right (yawing);
6. Tilting side to side (rolling).

Towards the end of his life, Clean Language originator David Grove extended his Clean Space ideas by experimenting with a ‘whirlygig’. The client would be strapped into a seat mounted in a gyroscopic device which allowed the therapist to tilt them in various ways, through the ‘six degrees of freedom’: this proved to have a remarkable healing effect. Two of David’s collaborators, Shaun Hotchkiss and Steven Saunders, are now continuing this work independently.

Read more in our article about the effects of a session in the whirlygig, ‘Six Degrees of David Grove’ by Judy Rees.