It should have a porous quality without being formless. The principle of formativeness, of formative psychology, is to receive and to shape what is received. Receptiveness does not mean just letting something happen. It is partly a volitional act. The therapist works at containing his responses.
Containment is the analog for how the therapist receives the client.
He creates a field in which the client can feel what it is like to be present in a contained way. To be there is not to scrutinize or to examine. We do not use our eyes or posture to objectify clients, or keep them at a distance. We do not look for the cause of what is wrong or read signs into the face and body. We do not put on an understanding face or assume an openness that causes the client to swell up and enter our world, or conversely, allows us to be taken into theirs.