March 5 - April 9, 2023.

10 am - noon est via Zoom

What is Focusing?

Are You Familiar With Mindfulness? It’s an excellent place to start for most people interested in Focusing. Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present in the moment with non-judgement. Focusing is the same kind of attending turned inward to thoughts, feelings, memories and physical sensations. In a six-step process, Focusing teaches people to pay attention to the body in a way that may be unfamiliar to find where and how the information we’re not quite consciously aware of exists and what might come next. Focusing works in this murky embodied place rather than in the busy brain. If you’ve ever felt angry in your chest, embarrassed in your face, or nervous in your belly, you’re halfway there.

Focusing is a way of tapping into your emotional intelligence through the messages your body holds. It helps access your inner compass, truth, information, wisdom, knowing, or intuition. Learning and practicing some simple steps can connect you to an awareness of your physical body. Learning to direct your attention inside connects you to aspects of your experience that you might not readily find language to express. 

Each week of our course will concentrate on one of the six steps of Focusing while linking it back to the holistic practice of Focusing. This active participatory course will move from whole group learning in the first hour to smaller breakouts for practice and listening in the second. Participants are encouraged to engage for the course duration in a Focusing Partnership as an experiential learning experience between course meetings.

The Six Steps of Focusing are:

1. Clearing a Space (making room to Focus)

   Getting a Felt Sense (how to find a physical sensation, emotions, thoughts or) memories)

   Finding a Handle (a symbol that captures the crux of a felt sense)

   Resonating (checking for rightness between the Felt Sense and the Handle)

   Asking (asking the Felt Sense questions and noticing)

   Receiving (welcoming what may come)

Intro to Focusiing is delivered on Zoom for beginners or experienced Focusers wishing to deepen their practice. Participants are encouraged to have a notebook and some inexpensive materials for drawing, like crayons, pencils, crayons and markers. Focusing (1982) by E. Gendlin and published by Bantam books Well Service of course text; this mass-market paperback is available from your local bookseller for about $11.

Participants will be sent zoom joining information the week before the course begins. Please ensure you receive a confirmation of your registration.