Focusing
Sunset on the Pacific coast - the Focusing Weeklong in middle Chile
Often we feel so much is wrong that we come to accept those bad feelings as the basic state of things ... The bad feeling is the body knowing and pushing toward what good would be.
Gendlin
from the book "Focusing"
Focusing is...
- A Dialogue: Focusing Facts
- A Philosophy: Philosophy of the Implicit
- Skills of Presence: Skills of Presence
... a way to companion the felt meaning (felt sense) constantly emerging within the feeling body, directing the 'whole you' to carry forward in your living, usually around some selected issue and often assisted by a listener-companion. It is a particular and mediated kind of mindfulness.
Invitation
The landscape of the body holds treasures, including a wonderful internal compass for moving forward
in life! Come walk with me as we explore and deepen a relationship to this inner 'knowingness'.
I have found Focusing and its community to be a reliable companion on my path toward more meaning
and connection. It enriches and informs my practice of bodyfulness (mindfulness) and helps me to move
forward when I get stuck or am troubled.
Here you will find videos, articles, and advanced information for therapists on this and other pages. If
you want to quickly grok the main features and possible benefits for you, I'd recommend me guiding you
through a direct experience of Focusing over the telephone or internet.
Offerings
Introductory Sessions with Frank
- I will guide you to experience the major movements and shifts in a Focusing session so that you know their value - letting a Felt Sense form, finding a handle, resonating, and several other steps.
Mentoring toward Partnership Proficiency
- Once you are proficient in Focusing and Companioning, I will recommend an Award to join the Focusing Partnership Pool, whereby you are listed in the directory and can form weekly partnerships. A weekly partnership will support you in day-to-day living - making difficult decisions, resolving incomplete feeling, or creating forward steps in a project or art.
Focusing Accompaniment
- Sometimes you may need someone to be present for you in a Focusing way so that you can clear a space in your psyche, resolve an issue, or just be deeply heard on your own terms. The Focuser (you!) is always 'The Boss', regulating the pace and frequency of reflection, with or without guiding. See Focusing for Therapists for more information.
- Frank is available for:
- • Introductory Focusing Workshops
- • NVC (Nonviolent Communication) Education and Facilitation
[T]here is a kind of bodily awareness that profoundly influences our lives and that can help us reach personal goals. So little attention has been paid to this mode of awareness that there are no readymade words to describe it, and I have had to coin my own term: Felt Sense… A felt sense will shift if you approach it in the right way. It will change even as you are making contact with it. When your felt sense of a situation changes, you change — and therefore, so does your life.
from "Focusing" by Eugene Gendlin
Videos
Gendlin Demonstration
HOLDING ON and LETTING GO
Gendlin Demonstration
"RIPPED OUT"
Ann-Weiser-Cornell Demo
SOLO DEMONSTRATION
Gendlin on ...
DREAMS
Gendlin on ...
FINDING A SAFE PLACE
Gendlin Interview ...
THE IMPLICIT
Living Presence Coaching
DEAD-END FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS
Audio
BEATRICE BLAKE
"What is the Blank Space of Focusing?"
ANALIA ZACCAI
Working with Children
RUSSEL DELLMAN
Mindfulness and Embodiment
Additional Resources
Gendlin
• "[A third kind of science ...]"
Others
• "Living Forward", 1st European Focusing Conference, 2018, by Prof. Mia Leijssen
• "Introduction to Focusing" by David Rome
• "Focusing", Tricyle Magazine, Fall 2011
• "Philosohy of The Implicit" by Rob Parker
• "The Felt Sense of Natural Environments" by Herbert Schroeder
• "What is Focusing and Why Does It Work?" by Edgardo Riveros Aedo
• "Crossing Focusing and Nonviolent Communication" by F. Javier Romeo-Biedma, M.A.
- "Focusing" by Eugene Gendlin
- "Your Body Knows The Answer" by David Rome
- "Experiencing and the Creation of Meaning" by Eugene Gendlin
- "Nonviolent Communication" by Marshall Rosenberg
"Focusing" (1981) is a body-oriented process for self-awareness and problem solving based on Eugene Gendlin's work with Carl Rogers, the father of client-centered therapy. By pausing and feeling into an issue, a felt sense forms. With neutral reflection from a companion, the Focuser experiences insights, relief in the body, and forward steps around the issue.
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Contacts
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Let's talk 1 (505) 310-3776
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Open: Mn-Fr: 9am-9pm Mountain Time