What is Focusing?
Focusing is a psychotherapeutic philosophy and practice created by Dr. Eugene Gendlin at the University of Chicago, where he worked alongside famed psychologist Carl Rogers.
Together, Gendlin and Rogers set out to find why some people in therapy progressed and were able to manifest change in their lives, while others seemed to be participating in the same therapeutic process, yet never moved forward.
They reviewed thousands of hours of videotape of clients and therapists, eventually evaluating an exhaustive number of things which could impact the therapeutic process.
What they discovered was that the clients who seemed to “feel in” to their bodies as they were talking (what Gendlin came to call the Felt Sense), and who used richer metaphorical language and images, were the ones who made measurable therapeutic progress.
This was found to be true regardless of the type of therapy used (i.e. classical analysis, cognitive behavioral, etc.) and other measures such as the level of rapport felt with the therapist.
Today, the International Focusing Institute continues Gendlin’s ground-breaking work with trainings and seminars. I received my two-year certification training with one of the Institute’s most experienced teachers, Charlotte Howorth, LCSW, a focusing-oriented therapist based in New York.
Why is it called Focusing?
Gendlin felt that as you sit with your felt sense, the fuzzy underbelly of your problems can “come into focus.” Thus he called this technique “Focusing.”
As we get in touch with both “what is here” and “what is underneath,” what emerges from our felt sense is something he called our “inherent intricacy.” After working through my own inherent intricacy and witnessing it in others, I have come to believe we need to stop searching for answers from gurus. The answers truly do lie within us.
Who is it for?
This technique is for you if you feel like you’ve been going round and round in your life with the same patterns for a long time and not making progress.
Focusing helps you to stop searching outside yourself for the answers, and rather to get in touch with your own felt sense, which leads you to the root causes of your issues and helps you find new and creative solutions.
Benefits of Focusing
The benefits you’ll feel after Focusing are greater clarity, greater compassion for yourself and “how you got here,” and greater creativity in solving your problems.
People who practice Focusing regularly report more relaxation with themselves, greater ability to cope with difficult situations, better relationships and greater progress in the change they are seeking.
I offer...
PRIVATE SESSIONS
I guide you in a one-on-one Focusing Session via Zoom.
FOCUSING FOR COUPLES
After two separate private focusing sessions with each of you, we come together in a Zoom session where I guide you in focusing together. This is an extremely illuminating process for couples who wish to work through conflicts and feel greater vitality and harmony together.
Interested in learning more?