OPENFIELD ACADEMY
Why Openfield
Insight alone has never changed a life. Living it does. And that's what Openfield is for.
THE NAME
An Open Field and an Academy
“Openfield” is an open field: no walls, no fixed path, just space to explore in your own way. “Academy” means we take that exploration seriously: structured, substantial learning, not random inspiration. And the name holds two fields of potential: within you and around you.
Inner
Outer
Move the slider and feel what happens when both fields meet.
THE INNER FIELD
The potential within you
Your body, your focus, your heart: each of them can grow far beyond what you know today. There is no ceiling inside you.
THE OUTER FIELD
The potential around you
The people, the places, nature and life itself: dimensions of possibilities waiting to meet you. There is no limit out there either.
Each of us can grow endlessly, inward and outward. And when the inner and the outer come into harmony, we move in tune with nature and the greater forces of life.
WHY FOUR AREAS?
Change Rarely Happens in One Place
A life doesn't change because you understand it better. It changes when all of you comes along.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Big Questions, Maybe Worth Asking
These aren't questions to answer once and put away. Take a moment with each one. Can you already answer it fully for yourself? Or might it be worth asking again, quietly on your own, or over a long evening with the people close to you?
Who am I, really?
Who would I be without the story I tell about myself?
Which of my decisions are truly my own?
Is the world really the way I see it, or the way I was taught to see it?
What if reality is wider than we've been told?
Which of my limits are real, and which did I simply accept?
What would I dare if I trusted I could?
What could we create together if each of us dared to unfold our full potential?
…and many more questions worth asking.
There are no wrong answers here, only deeper ones. This is where Openfield becomes spiritual: not esoteric, but human.
THE WAVE OF CHANGE
How Change Really Works
“And the moment you feel uncomfortable, you just stepped into the river of change.”
Joe Dispenza
…and the next round begins, a little higher.
- 1Learn new information
- 2Think new thoughts
- 3Act in new ways
- 4Make different choices
- 5Feel new emotions
- 6New emotions spark new thoughts
- 7Integration time: let it settle, then begin again a little higher
Real change doesn't move in a straight line. It comes in waves. That's normal, not failure. Let each round settle. Then begin again, and you'll find you're starting a little higher than before. That's how a circle becomes a spiral upward.
THE MAN BEHIND OPENFIELD
Axel Schrauder
Osteopath and coach. For more than 35 years I have been guiding people through change. At Openfield, I don't treat illness. I help you stay healthy, strong and fully alive, and grow into all you can be.
“I don't speak from theory. I speak from life. And life has taught me one thing above all: we are so much more than we ever imagine.”
A few more layers: tap to discover
Athlete at Heart
I was a two-time German handball champion. Later I supported top athletes in tennis, triathlon, handball and many other sports, as well as national teams. I am still highly fit today.
“Being a champion taught me discipline, but it didn't teach me who I was outside of winning. When that identity ran out, I went looking for the same recognition through my career and kept failing at life without understanding why.”
Professional Roots
I am an osteopath, a Heilpraktiker (licensed naturopath) and a certified HeartMath professional. For more than three decades I have also led workshops in personal development.
Movement and Stillness
More than 30 years as a meditation and Qigong teacher. Much of my understanding of nonverbal communication comes from years of work with infants: communication at its purest, before words. Ten years of workshops with Shaolin monks deepened this further.
Teachers who shaped this path: Fumon S. Nakagawa Roshi (Zen and meditation), Toyo Kobayashi (Tai Chi) and Shaolin Grandmaster Shi Yan Hai (Kung Fu, Qigong and meditation), with whom I co-led many workshops.
Deep Group Work
Trained as a Group Facilitator with the Hero's Journey Foundation (USA): group work, shamanic ritual, sweat lodge, firewalk, prayer arrows. These are experiences that show how deep transformation can go when body, community and intention come together.
I was deeply impressed and influenced by the work and approach of Michael Mervosh and Peter Faust.
Rites of Passage
I learned directly from Meredith Little of the School of Lost Borders. Her work shaped my understanding of the connections in nature and of our intuitive knowing. Through the Four Shields, the work she created with Steven Foster, I came to see how ancient peoples honored life's turning points with rites of passage. Marking our own transitions with that same care can help us step into each new stage of life more fully.
Learning Together
I have been married since 1999 and I am the father of two grown children from two relationships. Being a husband and father has taught me a lot: how to face the challenges of a partnership and of a separation, and how to go through them well. We did this together by reaching out to each other again and again and by learning from one another. To this day we all have a very good relationship. For me, family is where we learn real togetherness best.
My Greatest Teachers
For more than 25 years, I have worked as an osteopath and coach with thousands of children, young people and their parents. They have taught me more than anyone. To this day, their thirst for knowledge, their curiosity and their fearlessness are my role models.
READY WHEN YOU ARE
Your Path Is Waiting
Wherever you are right now, there's a first step that fits. Take a look at the four areas and see which one is calling you.
Find Your Starting Point