What is true is already so. Owning up to it doesn't make it worse. Not being open about it doesn't make it go away.
And, because it is true, it is what is there to be interacted with. People can stand what is true for they are already enduring it.
Eugene Gendlin
And, because it is true, it is what is there to be interacted with. People can stand what is true for they are already enduring it.
Eugene Gendlin
Origins and Development of Focusing
First Steps
Focusing was initially identified, named and developed by Eugene Gendlin in the 1950s and 1960s.
Gendlin's background was in philosophy. During the early 1950s he was studying at the University of Chicago where, in 1953 he joined Carl Rogers' group at the University Counselling Centre. At that time Carl Rogers was working to develop the ideas and practice of Client Centred (Person Centred) Therapy, Gendlin realised what Rogers was working with was coming from the same place as the ideas that interested him - that of helping people to fully engage with their own experiencing. People who are familiar with the Person Centred Approach are likely to recognise some of Gendlin's ideas. In his 1984 paper The Client's client The Edge of Awareness Gendlin suggests the essence of Focusing is in fact to offer the core conditions to our Felt Sense. Roger's concept of the actualising tendency resonates with the Focusing idea of Life Forward Energy. Gendlin became interested in why some people made more progress in therapy than others. In order to try and understand why this was so, he established a research project which involved recording many hours of therapy session and a methodology was developed for analysing the content of the sessions. It became apparent that those people who made progress in therapy had a natural skill which they weren't directly aware of. He identified, that rather than talking about their experiences as external events, they had a way of connecting with their internal experiencing to reflect on and engage with what they were with. There was no word for what these people were doing and so it was named Focusing and what was being attended to was to become known as the Felt Sense. Gendlin wondered if what some people did naturally could be taught both within and subsequently outside a therapy setting. He found it could and so Focusing began to develop as an approach in its own right. By the early 1970s, Gendlin was teaching Focusing to groups in Chicago, up to that time everything that had been written about Focusing was in academic papers. Many of these can be found on the Focusing Institute Website in The Gendlin online library. The first book which set out all he had come to know about Focusing was published in 1978. The book, Focusing, had the subtitle "How to gain access to your body's knowledge". |
Gendlin wrote this about what he learned about the Felt Sense A Felt Sense is not a mental experience but a physical one. Physical. A bodily awareness of a situation or person or event. An internal aura that encompasses everything that you feel and know about a given subject at a given time …. ,,, encompasses and communicates it to you all at once, rather than detail by detail. |
Next Developments
As more people began to learn about and be involved in Focusing other people, many of whom had first learned Focusing with Gene Gendlin began to write about, teach and practice the approach. Gendlin was welcoming of this work and the new ideas and thinking began to emerge which.
One of these people was Ann Weiser Cornell who had learned Focusing from Gendlin and subsequently worked with him in Chicago. She herself had initially found it hard to learn Focusing and so she began explore how to develop different ways of teaching Focusing. Having studied and taught linguistics, she also explored how use of language could assist the process. From this work arose the concept of Inner Relationship Focusing.
During this time much of the published literature were developing ideas and approaches was in the form of papers and Focusing journals.
The Power of Focusing published by Ann Weiser Cornell in 1996 was the book that brought together her experience of learning about and get started with Focusing and is an excellent book for anyone wanting to begin to explore Focusing.
Ann Weiser Cornell Offers this Image for Focusing (The Power of Focusing P17)
I found this very helpful in understanding Focusing when I first started to learn about it
She suggests
Think of emotions as a big lake - if we plunge into the lake we are immersed in the feelings, (I would add, if we stand too far away we are disconnected from our feelings)
Focusing works best when you "sit next to" what you feel
In 2005 Ann Weiser Cornell published The Radical Acceptance of Everything - which brings together a collection of articles written by herself and Barbara McGavin over a number of years. This book is subtitled - Living a Focusing Life. The more we learn and practice Focusing so it becomes less of a process and more a way of being.
One of these people was Ann Weiser Cornell who had learned Focusing from Gendlin and subsequently worked with him in Chicago. She herself had initially found it hard to learn Focusing and so she began explore how to develop different ways of teaching Focusing. Having studied and taught linguistics, she also explored how use of language could assist the process. From this work arose the concept of Inner Relationship Focusing.
During this time much of the published literature were developing ideas and approaches was in the form of papers and Focusing journals.
The Power of Focusing published by Ann Weiser Cornell in 1996 was the book that brought together her experience of learning about and get started with Focusing and is an excellent book for anyone wanting to begin to explore Focusing.
Ann Weiser Cornell Offers this Image for Focusing (The Power of Focusing P17)
I found this very helpful in understanding Focusing when I first started to learn about it
She suggests
Think of emotions as a big lake - if we plunge into the lake we are immersed in the feelings, (I would add, if we stand too far away we are disconnected from our feelings)
Focusing works best when you "sit next to" what you feel
- Observing
- Hearing
- Allowing to Be
In 2005 Ann Weiser Cornell published The Radical Acceptance of Everything - which brings together a collection of articles written by herself and Barbara McGavin over a number of years. This book is subtitled - Living a Focusing Life. The more we learn and practice Focusing so it becomes less of a process and more a way of being.
Ongoing Developments
Focusing gradually became known and has spread around the world. It is probably not as well known as some other approaches which have gained interest in recent years, such as Mindfullness, however it continues to gain depth and richness as people explore many styles and applications for Focusing. Focusing is an approach which is very open to new ideas and new ways of working with Focusing.
It can combined with other approaches, a few examples are Counselling in Focusing Orientated Therapy, Coaching, Decision Making or to work in particular ways such as Wholebody Focusing.
Other people are using Focusing to work with specific groups such as children and people living in areas which have experienced significant conflict.
More Information can be found on the BFA Website
It can combined with other approaches, a few examples are Counselling in Focusing Orientated Therapy, Coaching, Decision Making or to work in particular ways such as Wholebody Focusing.
Other people are using Focusing to work with specific groups such as children and people living in areas which have experienced significant conflict.
More Information can be found on the BFA Website
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