by Mary Jennings
May 2025
Bruce Gibbs, a student of Gene Gendlin, taught Focusing by a method he calls ‘instances’ rather than through Gene’s better known six steps. He would start his first class by asking how they might react to seeing the flashing lights of a police car right behind them in the rear-view mirror. Straight away, everyone was able to identify the visceral body-feel and the feeling-feeling of that! They recognised that sense of ‘something’ that was not, as yet, quite clear: a felt sense was forming.
He would start by first helping them elicit a felt sense, as in the example above, then support them to explore further as they became more aware of their own capacity to sense more. They were learning Focusing by exploring something that they already knew, rather than starting by having to learn some unfamiliar technique such as the Gendlin six steps.
Lessons from Bruce Gibbs’ approach
Suppose we were to follow Bruce’s example and, in everyday conversations, be in there with the notion that felt-sensing is frequently, but not always, in play and if it is not, it can be encouraged. In other words our default mode is, ‘people are felt-sensing beings - let’s treat them like that.’
You might recognise that people are in this felt-sensing mode by noticing hesitations, uncertainties (a fuzzy edge)… they may pause…. they might use phrases like, “it’s like that time when,” or use metaphors or similes – “it’s like a fly you can’t catch – that kind of feeling…”. They are searching for the felt sense of what this is all about.
In this situation, you know they are in what philosopher and Focusing teaching, Greg Walkerden, calls ‘experiential depth;’ in effect they are felt-sensing, using this innate capacity of human beings quite naturally. If it feels right, you might use some of the following ‘steps’ as gentle invitations to them explore their felt sense. These include:
Six things you can do or say to support the felt sense to unfold in others:
- “Can you say more about that….”
(when you are noticing some hesitation)
- “It’s like a fly you can’t catch…”
(Saying back the key feeling/sensing/crux words in reflective listening)
- “In the example/story you are speaking about, it is a kind of … flexibility.. you are hoping for – something like that or…?”
(giving your best guess – knowing you are correctable).
- “Have you seen that kind of flexibility you are speaking about in other situations?”
(looking for more examples or instances of what they are pointing to; this helps to allow a felt sense to come more into focus and brings greater clarity)
- “What would you like this word –‘ flexible’ - to mean here?”
(knowing words are in context and they can carry many meanings – you are allowing the person to mean what they say, here, in this situation)
- “What comes to me about all this is….
( tentatively offer something that comes from your felt sense of the situation they are describing – how their experience lands with you: It’s not advice, not suggestions, definitely not ‘let me tell you my story’! Instead, you are offering an empathic moment, one human being in interaction with another, and the person may go deeper…)
Of course, you would not use all of these ‘steps’ in any one conversation. They are offered here as a way to experiment with bringing a focusing-orientation into everyday conversations, particularly when you have the clear sense that the other person in the conversation is in a natural, ‘felt-sensing mode’ or at some level of ‘experiential depth.’
It may support them to go deeper, or to facilitate them to pause, to spend time with an often-elusive ‘felt sense of all that,’ all the while having a natural conversation.
It becomes easier when we have felt-sensing as part of our way of being. This is not about being performative or trying too hard. It has to be natural – and that comes with time and practice.
At times, this approach may be totally inappropriate or confusing for the other person. It has to come from a place of deep presence and deep listening. Below are some guidelines to help you consider when to use/not use these ‘six steps.’
A framework to guide you
Greg Walkerden has some good advice on how to go about bringing these ‘steps’ into a conversation. A summary of the framework he has developed is below:
- Wait to see if something that seems helpful comes from your felt sense
- Be tentative, make it easy for the person to NOT follow your lead
- If they don’t, relax into appreciating that it seemed like a helpful suggestion, but it’s ok if it is not
- If you feel a soft 'no' to something you are doing or are about to do, pause, back up, and freshly consider a way forward
The final word: try it, experiment, you might find your conversations become a lot more interesting!
Mary's 3 week course was well received recently with The International Focusing Institute
Each Newsletter will explore an aspect of the Focusing World you may not be familiar with. In this edition we will explore the world of Whole Body Focusing.
We are delighted that WBF Trainer Addie Van Der Kooy, took time to write a piece on Focusing with your whole body.
This writing starts with a deep appreciation for Kevin McEvenue, who about 45 years ago, intuitively began combining his work as an Alexander Technique practitioner with his work as a Focusing trainer. He called it Wholebody Focusing (WBF).
For instance, the observation by F. M. Alexander that the body has to come alive as a whole in order for change to happen in a part of the body, has deeply shaped an emphasis in WBF on taking time to become aware of your body as one breathing, living whole, earthed and energised by your larger physical surrounds (ultimately Mother Earth). This then allows your body to become a safe, well-resourced holding space in which to welcome any part needing your Focusing attention.
So, let me briefly take you through what a WBF session might look like.
See yourself as a host preparing yourself before opening the Focusing door to any guests. You first of all take some time to let your body and mind unwind any tensions.
By letting yourself be completely as you are, your mind can come to rest in the Is-ness of each moment.
By simply allowing yourself to feel held by the chair and the ground beneath your feet, your body can also unwind and in that new-found space, it can come alive to its natural energetic connection with the Earth beneath your feet - a ‘six sextillion (that’s a six followed by 21 zeros!) metric ton battery. Not a bad energy supply!
You may also want to welcome a felt sense of anything supportive and nourishing in your surroundings, e.g. day light streaming into your room, a plant or a painting, whatever speaks to you in a supportive and connective way.
If you wish, you can also unwind and resource by felt sensing the flow of your breath, noticing the rhythmic release and ‘emptying out’ (exhale) and the body being re-filled with fresh, new energy (in-breath).
And, given some time, you may also begin to felt sense the ‘Hum of Life’ inside you, a natural sense of aliveness subtly vibrating as an inner energy field throughout your body - a felt sense of being alive and present in this moment, separate from thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and underlying any “packages” that may want some Focusing attention.
You’ve now let your whole body come alive in a new, resourced way; by doing so, you’ve come into a felt sense of You as Alive Presence, an embodied sense of Self in Presence.
You and your whole body are now ready to begin to host any guest that may knock on the Focusing door. There is an embodied sense of You in Presence and there is the alive, whole body into which a felt sense of your guest can be safely welcomed.
There is the fully embodied ‘You’ and there is ‘It’, the Felt Sense, and between the two there is a little distance, space. And in that space a natural interchange may occur which we call Focusing.
Quite often, deeply stored and painful places, like unprocessed trauma, need to feel the aliveness of You in Presence directly within your body. These un-processed ‘felt memories’ are stored in our bodies like time-capsules, carrying the painful ‘unfinished’ past with us into the present moment. And from their past they are reaching out for a body ‘scent’ of the aliveness of You in the Here & Now; it was exactly the absence of Presence at the time of the trauma that caused the overwhelm and subsequent need for ‘freezing over’ of the trauma.
And when you can become aware of a felt sense of the trauma place alongside a felt sense of You in Presence, a special dynamic emerges in which deep healing shifts can take place. In WBF it is called Holding Both with Equal Positive Regard. A previously disconnected trauma wound can now begin to feel itself safely held in relationship to your embodied Presence. This sets in motion a process of Homecoming or Rejoining in which the suffering place can open up and awaken to its own knowing how to move forward in its healing journey.
“When a part of me feels loved, it awakens to its own healing”
- Kevin McEvenue, founder WBF
by Marta Fabregat
On Saturday, April 5th, 2025, the Irish Focusing Network gathered in the welcoming heart of Ardpatrick, Co. Limerick, for our Spring Gathering, a day filled with rich connection, deep listening, and a sense of coming home.
Hosted at the Ardpatrick Community Centre, the day offered two beautifully held workshops: in the morning, Me and My Best Friend, facilitated by Elaine Goggin, invited us into a gentle exploration of our relationship with the Inner Critic, what it is trying to protect, and how it might be met with curiosity and compassion. Above all Elaine brought us to a place of joyous contact with that aspect of us that loves dearly.
In the afternoon, Rennie Buenting guided us through Finding your Way with Parts, drawing on the practice of Inner Relationship Focusing to meet and listen to the many voices within us with respect and kindness. Rennies workshop brought a sense of beginners mind, like less is more when we are listening to all that is there.
But what truly stood out was something even more powerful that took root: a profound sense of welcome. Elaine’s presence, along with the participation of her family and the wider Ardpatrick community, was woven into the very fabric of the space, creating a feeling that’s hard to put into words. It was as though we hadn’t just arrived at a venue; we had arrived at someone’s home, a place held with care, maturity, and a deep openness to whatever might unfold.
There was a kind of quiet joy in the air, a grounded warmth that made space for new connections and renewed ones, for laughter over shared meals and deep silences in shared practice. Many of us commented on the love we felt, not only from Elaine, but from the land and the people who live there. There was a sense of being received by a well-rooted, vibrant community that has found its own way of living and learning together, open and permeable. As one participant reflected, “I felt like a guest in someone’s home and also like I belonged.” That might best describe the spirit of the day that I am sure for those of us who met in Ardpatrick it will be always a memory that keeps informing us.
A heartfelt thanks to Elaine and her family in Ardpatrick for reminding us of the beauty of Focusing not just as a practice, but as a way of being together in the most gentle and ordinary way.
And thank you to all the wonderful Focusers who were there, making this such an unforgettable day.
Our next In-person Gathering will be in Dublin in the Fall: on the 27th of Septemeber 2025 in the Dublin at the Dominican Retreat Centre in Tallaght.
Who doesn’t love Mary’s moments of inspiration, especially when it doesn’t involve you having to do anything except show up and enjoy! One of Mary’s more recent bright ideas was to hold a movie night featuring Eugene Gendlin's work captured on video, which the International Focusing Institute had complied on their YouTube channel. Many of the clips involved the generosity and tremendous work of Nada Lou. Nada carefully combed through hours of footage of Gene sharing his wisdom with groups, and condensed it down into digestible bites to nourish us all.
Key themes were on how listening, which Gene learned from Carl Rogers, became such an important feature – it didn’t feature in the first stage of Focusing, strange as that might now seem. We heard Gene on Focusing Partnerships, on his concept of ‘carrying forward’ and his emphasis on ‘action steps.'
Nada-remarked at one stage that her husband felt like Gene lived in the house with them as he heard so often, while editing the videos. We were honoured to have Nada as a guest at the Irish Focusing Network Gathering which was a wonderfully light and informative evening for us all. Mary’s careful selection of videos held a really nice Focusing flow through the themes.
Nada carefully combed through hours of footage of Gene sharing his wisdom with groups, and condensed it down into digestible bites to nourish us all. Nada remarked at one stage that her husband felt like Gene lived in the house with them as he heard so often. We were honoured to have Nada as a guest at the Irish Focusing Network Gathering which was a wonderfully light and informative evening for us all. Mary’s careful selection of videos held a really nice Focusing flow through the themes.
Following on from the Irish Focusing Network evening, Mary held a Roundtable on it for TIFI and again it was very well attended and thoroughly enjoyed by all. It was a very engaging experience, with some interesting contributions on Gene’s philosophy and how that influenced the shape
of Focusing as we know it. Nada very graciously answered questions about clips and broadened our
perspective on Gene’s wisdom.
We are grateful to Mary for opening the door to what feels like a beginning of further gatherings like this together. And if you want to do another one Mary, I'll have the videos ready for you without ads!
Here is the link to the section of the TIFI website that hosts many videos featuring Gene talking about a range of topics - Gene Gendlin Videos- Click here. We hope you enjoy exploring more.
Below is a list of the videos we viewed on at the event with a link to the TIFI YouTube channel where they are hosted. We invite you to explore these in your own time and it might be worth hosting your
own ’movie bites’ and sharing the wisdom – and may popcorn with some Focusing friends.
1. Why Focusing works and what it is not
2. On listening, reflecting and on Focusing Partnerships
- What I learned from Rogers - with Eugene Gendlin Ph.D.
- Gene Gendlin and Lynn Preston on Reflecting
- The Pros and Cons of Focusing Partnerships
3. On carrying forward and action steps
4. On Focusing and teaching Focusing
Irish Focusing Network Movie Night - 27th November 2024
The International Focusing Institute - Roundtable 28th January 2025
Written by Elaine Goggin
Spring is almost here and along with the lengthening days, we look forward to our annual Spring gathering which will take place on 5th April in Elaine’s home village of Ardpatrick Co Limerick. Please save the date. We look forward to seeing many of you there.
Our AGM which took place in January provided an opportunity to reflect on 2024. In April Marta Fabregat kindly hosted a beautiful day in Gort, Co Galway. Our Autumn Gathering took place in the Dominican Centre in Tallaght in September.
AGM 2025 Screenshot
We also had an active year online. In May, Gordon Adam from the British Focusing Association facilitated an evening with the theme of Focusing in community. In November, Mary Jennings facilitated a Movie Bites evening where we viewed video clips from the TIFI library. We were privileged to have Nada Lou join us for that evening making it a very special occasion for our network.
Much appreciation was expressed at the AGM for the many activities and resources offered by members: the bi-monthly poetry evenings, our weekly zoom sessions, and of course our wonderful newsletters. Many have also enjoyed listening to the Focusing Pathways podcasts.
A desire to encourage and develop good Focusing practice led the committee to organise a series of monthly Listening Skills Refresher evenings which were generously facilitated by our wonderful Focusing teachers. The dates of upcoming evenings are March 31st, April 28th and May 28th. We’ve been delighted and encouraged by the attendance and would love to see them continue. If you’re a Focusing teacher and would like to facilitate a Refresher evening in the future, please get in touch.
Screenshot from Anne Lawerence's class
Screenshot from Therese's Ryan's class
Our heart-filled thanks to everyone who supports the network: those who facilitate the workshops for our in person gatherings and our online events including our Refresher evenings, to our zoom hosts who keep the weekly zoom sessions going smoothly, and to those who produce our newsletters, as well as the committee who work behind the scenes.
Suggestions offered during the AGM included: an email address for raising specific concerns which may arise, the possibility of organising a conference or larger workshop to promote Focusing and support the growth of our network, a space for sharing the rich Focusing stories of our members.
The committee is currently drawing up guidance for good Focusing practice in order to nurture and maintain a sense of safety within our community and to promote respectful connection. We will be sharing these guidelines with you all by email in the coming weeks.
It’s the time of year to renew your membership, so if you haven’t already done so, please take the time to register using the link by clicking here.
We are delighted to welcome some Focusing friends from Iceland to our network. Please look out for them at the zoom sessions and make them feel welcome.
Finally, we encourage you to consider how you might contribute to growing and developing our network. It may be helping out with the newsletter, becoming a host for our weekly zoom sessions, offering a workshop online or at one of our in person gatherings, or spreading the word about Focusing. There are lots of opportunities to become involved. We depend on all of you, our members, to keep our network alive and growing and thriving. Thank you for your ongoing support and commitment.
The committee members are:
Chairperson Therese Ryan
Secretary Kay McKinney
Finance Officer Peter Duffy
Elaine Goggin
Marta Fabregat
Interactive Focusing is a form of Focusing that was developed by Janet Klein (d. 2010) with the help of Mary McGuire. IF has been described as a ‘third stage’ of Focusing, beginning with Focusing alone, then Focusing in partnerships and now Interactive Focusing.
Janet developed Interactive Focusing while working on a PhD in Psychology. For her thesis she focussed on Focusing partnerships.
She observed and interviewed Focusers who had long-term, ongoing Focusing partnerships. For their exchange, she asked the partners to Focus with ‘what their partnership and their partner meant to them. She discovered that these Focusers hadn’t ever articulated what this meant to them before. In addition, she realised that Focusing partnerships were, in fact, interactive even though “there was a strict prohibition against touching the material of your partner”.
She describes it this way, “The partnership was set up on the lines of a transaction, two equal but separate pieces. The listener was to clear the space of her own issues in order to make room to listen to the Focuser. When they exchanged roles, the second Focuser wasn’t to touch on the material of the first Focuser. It became apparent to me, however, that there was a subterranean interaction, though it never had a chance to surface due to the prohibition. I wanted to frontally address this unspoken aspect.”
As a result of her findings, she created a structure, Interactive Focusing, (IF) that would allow for interaction while ‘preserving each person’s material and boundaries’. Following this kind of interactive process would allow the partners to safely process their relationship, if they wanted. Barbara Dickinson describes it thus, “A regular practice of IF creates a sort of “space” between two people where they can bring their individual issues as well as issues that affect both people in the relationship.”
There are several stages to a full IF process. The following is but a very brief description. See below for further reading/resources.
An IF session begins in a similar way to a usual Focusing session; one person Focuses first for the agreed time while the other person listens/reflects. Then, in a departure from most Focuser’s experience, at the end of that part the listener offers an empathic response to the Focuser, usually in the form of a symbol. The Focuser responds to this. This form of Focusing requires that the Focuser say enough during their time so that the listener can actually respond. (In my experience, more and more long-term Focusing partners are bringing this element into their Focusing exchanges.)
Then it is the turn of the second Focuser, who begins by checking inside to see what has touched them from the session so far. They then continue in the usual way to explore their experiencing while the second listener listens/reflects. At the end of that, the second listener offers an empathic response and the Focuser responds.
After the above and to close the session, both partners in turn now have a ‘relationship check’. Each partner addresses the following questions or similar in a Focusing way; “How am I with myself?” and “How am I with my partner?” while their partner listens/reflects.
As well as helping to deepen the relationship between Focusers, particularly those who know each other well, Interactive Focusing process can be used for dealing safely and effectively with conflicts and for healing troubled areas in relationships.
If you would like to explore this form of Focusing further you can check out the websites below. The book on the method is available from TIFI bookstore and Nada Lou has a video of Janet and Mary Maguire explaining, explicating and demonstrating the process. If you would be interested in an introductory, day-long, in-person workshop to experience this method please contact me at
Further Reading and Resources
https://focusing.org/more/dr-janet-klein
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOfIpVpY1Ek&ab_channel=LynnPrestonFocusingRelationalPsychotherapy
https://focusinginternational.org/resources/interactive-focusing/
https://learnfocusing.org/en-gb/pages/interactive-focusing-resources?_pos=1&_sid=69ae60f9f&_ss=r
https://www.cefocusing.com/wordpress/interpersonal-focusing-kleins-interactive-focusing-protocol/
Campbell Purton – Self Therapy: A Focusing Guide. Athens: Eurasia Publications (2022)
Campbell Purton is an English Focusing teacher. His career somewhat mirrored Eugene Gendlin’s in that he studied philosophy to PH.D. and then trained as a person-centred counsellor and Focusing teacher.
The cover of this relatively short book shows Rodin’s sculpture, ‘Le pénseur/The Thinker’ – an apt image for how, in his introduction, Campell describes Focusing as “giving sustained attention to our trouble in a way that leads to steps of change" (p.15). He also suggests that in the sculpture’s stance of stillness and apparent waiting and attending, Focusing may be likened to a kind of ‘pondering’ (p.109).
While set as it were in the world of psychotherapy it is primarily a book about Focusing and more specifically Focusing alone. At the outset he says that the book is intended as a self-help guide to working with the kinds of difficulties that move people to seek counselling help. From a therapy perspective he sees Focusing having a place alongside psychotherapy in the same way that complementary medicine can have a place alongside traditional medicine and possibly as a way of continuing the process after formal therapy sessions have ended. His first chapter is a broad, wide-ranging review of the psychotherapeutic scene particularly in the UK and of Focusing Oriented Therapy.
In the following three chapters Campbell, adopting the Gendlian approach, explains and explicates the classic six movements of Focusing, along with an exploration of some of the difficulties that can arise and how to work with them. He provides a wealth of examples of Focusing experiences, some of them quite detailed. He points particularly to the role of metaphor in the process and draws on the analogies and metaphors of Lu Ji a third century, Japanese lyric poet.
There are some aspects of Focusing that he repeatedly emphasises throughout the book; the usefulness and effectiveness of Focusing in everyday life; deliberately not attending to the familiar details of a problem or difficulty when beginning a Focusing session; “… keeping of our attention on the problem as a whole, while allowing new details to emerge” (p.37); “attending, not so much to what is already there, but to what is on its way, or what could come if we give it a chance” (p.38).
Chapters dealing briefly with Trauma and with Moods and Medication are interesting and informative. In regard to the former particularly, while he commends the use of Focusing he urges caution about going it completely alone. There follows an important chapter on Action Steps, an often glossed-over or neglected aspect of Focusing. Finally, there is the chapter called ‘How does it work?’ which he says is for those people who are curious about what is involved in the process of Focusing and which looks at some of its more philosophical aspects.
Though he writes in a deliberate, methodical way, as becomes a philosopher, the book is very accessible. It is probably most suitable for counsellors/psychotherapists and people who have already begun their Focusing journey or/and those who have some familiarity with the process. Experienced Focusers would benefit from his distinct perspective on Focusing. I think this is a welcome and helpful addition to the growing library of books on Focusing.
Campbell has written a number of books on therapy and Focusing and many articles on Focusing, Buddhism and Philosophy (see his website for a list and access - http://www.dwelling.me.uk/focusing.htm)
Written by Tom Larkin
Focusing is a relatively new concept in the world of coaching, yet there are many commonalities between the two which makes their crossing exciting and full of possibility. Both Focusing Oriented Therapy and Coaching are forward moving ways of working, in which the core belief is that the client has their own answers and the coach/listener uses the skills of deep listening, to support naturally occurring change and forward moving energy.
MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FOCUSING-ORIENTED COACHING
To evidence the effectiveness of Focusing-Oriented coaching, Báirbre Meehan undertook a self-funded five-year research project. Working with GPs, psychotherapists and word of mouth referrals, Báirbre supported and monitored Mental Well Being improvements in over 100 people across one-thousand one-on-one coaching hours.
The objective of the project was to measure the impact of a short-term Focusing-Oriented Coaching approach on the Mental Well Being (MWB) of participants, individually and collectively. In doing so, the research served to establish how best to cultivate practices of awareness and understand which tools and strategies best support individuals to assess, manage and maintain their own MWB.
Using a quantitative MWB measurement tool, the Mental Well Being of each participant was assessed at the start, end and six months after the intervention, enabling us to measure the individual and collective MWB change over time.
Results of the 8-hour coaching intervention showed a 70% improvement in collective MWB at the end of the intervention, with the improvement being maintained both six months and two years after the intervention period. The following graph shows the results.
As significant as the above measurements were, the testimonials from participants were even more important. A sample are shown here. For more testimonials from research participants and from referring professional, visit Báirbre’s website https://www.pause.ie/research/
Báirbre’s coaching journey began 12 years ago, at a time when her personal-development journey led her to Focusing. Her coaching practice is informed by 25 years in people management in roles such as CEO, organisational/leadership development and finance director … and many more years in the roles of daughter, mother, wife, sister, friend, coach etc..
Focusing-Oriented Coaching is Báirbre’s passion and she is devoted to developing and sharing it. Báirbre teaches Focusing-Oriented Coaching programs to coaches and is a coach supervisor.
If you are a coach and interested in learning how to integrate Focusing into your practice or if you are looking for a coach who works in a Focusing way, contact Báirbre at
A Retreat on The Joy of Samhain. Offered by: Deirdre Ní Chinneide, Fr Philip Baxter and John Keane at Ards Friary, November 2024.
A celebration of music, nature and the body as it is sensed from the inside.
Written by: John Keane.
This weekend retreat explored the Celtic Celebration of Samhain using the themes of Darkness and Light to appreciate the changing nature of reality. 
During the weekend we explored the nature of this change and ways of resourcing ourselves to meet it and grow with it.
We explored how our usual thought processes can be an obstacle to this journey, preventing us from appreciating our intimate connection to reality and nature.
Celtic spirituality, music, nature, our own bodies (and their innate sense of Love and Affection) offer doorways into living freshly into the changes and challenges of life.
In Celtic Ireland over 2,000 years ago, Samhain was the division of the year between the lighter half (summer) and the darker half (winter). At Samhain, the division between this world and the otherworld was at its thinnest.
Food was prepared for the living and the dead. Food for the ancestors who were in no position to eat it, was ritually shared with the less well off.
Christianity incorporated the honouring of the dead into the Christian calendar with All Saints (All Hallows) on November 1st, followed by All Souls on November 2nd.
During our time together, we were guided through the woodlands of Ards by an expert woodsman who assisted us in appreciating the natural environment. This allowed us to sense into the rhythm of nature as it utilises the opportunity of winter/darkness to prepare itself for the coming of summer/light.
We had a celebration on the beach in Ards – connecting to the water and its natural ebb and flow. Sensing our connection into that dimension of the natural environment.
The theme of light was emphasised in the lighting of the fire in the living room in Ards, where we shared stories, and came together to share food and wine.
An exploration of the Celtic calendar assisted us in appreciating the difference between linear time – and a sense of time that is sensitive to the ongoing rhythm to nature.
All of this was interspersed with BioSpiritual Focusing exercises and the beautiful music and poetry offered by Deirdre.
We also took the opportunity to remember those who have passed before us, and how they are especially present to us at this “threshold” time of year.
As we move forward, we are working to incorporate the main Celtic festivals into the retreats we will offer in Ards Friary. The links between Franciscan Spirituality, BioSpiritual Focusing and Celtic Spirituality and music offer a fertile foundation to people seeking to embody the interconnectedness of all living processes. This will allow participants to find their own place in this ongoing process.
All conditions must be right to create this temporary “art installation” and we might wonder what is the motivation behind it?
It might be just to witness how this thinnest of membranes develops into a thin sphere of ice which shelters what is inside from the outside elements. It might break at any instant, letting out the warm air that is trapped inside, but for now, it is completely and wonderfully whole.
It reminds us of the thin “outer” layer we gently break open when we reach towards the felt sense that lies within. The breaking open of this “membrane of protection”, allows us to visit and welcome all that is present inside and to bring it to our Focusing practice.
As we reflect on this photo, we might just bring our attention to the fact that this ice bubble would not exist without our warm breath to form it.
- Is there something in me that is waiting for my warm breath to give it expression and form?Ice bubble: oil, soap and water solution + sub-zero weather + warm breath.
Denise Durocher, January 2025
BOOK REVIEW: Wild Creature Mind by Steve Biddulph Publisher: Bluebird; Main Market edition (12 Sept. 2024)
Weaving together Ian McGilchrist’s take on neuroscience and Focusing, I found this to be an excellent book and one I have recommended over and over again.
The author has a deep appreciating for focusing and explicates it well, perhaps especially for newcomers. Here’s an excerpt: “Tell it both ‘welcome’ and ‘thank you’. Soften around it to give it room. Try out a word or two to describe it. This word or two will never be quite right on first go. Try a better word, and listen to see if your felt sense says, ‘Yes.’ And then, in the way that we sometimes have to just abandon control in order for anything magical to happen – to dance, to make love with abandon, to laugh, to play great music – you just let what comes come.“
Written by Clare Myatt
Rediscovering the Lost Body Connection within Christianity Spirituality (2010)
Edwin M. Mc Mahon and Peter A. Campbell
It has been many years since I read a book on Bio-Spirituality by Ed and Pete. The above named book was completely new to me. I was captured from the first meeting as well as the recommended chapters to read before each session. It was a diverse group from many countries and I learned a lot from our reflections, questions, feedback and sharing in the break-out rooms. Aine opened the sessions with a range of guided settling and grounding experiences. The pace of the sessions was gentle and slow which tied in with one of the overarching themes of this book study.
The key areas we looked at were the practice of noticing and nurturing using the focusing process as described by Gendlin. We were invited to do a timeline of our lives exploring the lived experiences of feeling comfort and connection, termed as an “affectionate friend”. This was done most sensitively acknowledging that traumatic or negative experiences may have been part of our life stories. I enjoyed doing my timeline as it reminded me of the many experiences of people and special places that were my “affectionate teachers” and that I can continue to draw from now. From here on I shall use the term affectionate friend as this describes how the whole experience evolved for me. The process helped me to access some new affectionate friend experiences as well. We talked about times when we did not have an affectionate friend when we may have needed it, exploring ways we can bring our discovered affectionate friends experiences to all of that now. This reminds me of a comment by Dr Gabor Mate “No matter what happened in the past you can heal it in the now….. With a practice in developing self compassion and as well as reaching out for help, as this is how we are made, hardwired, for connection”. It is in relationships we are damaged and it is in relationships we are healed, a very human paradox.
We explored symbols and metaphors and the bodily mutual interactions with the felt sense. As a lover of poetry I had a profound experience at our in-person gathering in Dublin 2024. The description in this book described exactly my actual experience of focusing with a poem. The poem “functioned as a metaphorical bridge that interacted with a deeper felt sense, opening a door and carrying me across some visceral threshold into a different place and a transformed feeling within my own body. The words of the poem, as an explanation and information, in no way could account for the sheer visceral power of this interacting relationship between the poem as metaphor and my own body’s unique felt sensing. Gendlin suggests that there exists a deeper felt meaning, a felt sense within the body which can be accessed and encouraged to unfold further when interaction with an appropriate symbol or metaphor…allowing a further felt-revelation and visceral change to emerge from within” (Chapter 4) “Journeying into Your Own Inner World of Felt-Sensing” Pg 34. The something fresh and new that emerged for me was related to being with a loved one at the time of death. More was revealed about a connection to something beyond the whole experience. It felt like pure gift and grace in the now, just as described so eloquently in this book.
Three interesting further themes that resonated with me were process skipping, the philosophy of addiction in relation to church and faith, including the exploration of “Love your enemies” (Chapter 16) we explored this piece of scripture in relation to coping with physical and emotional pain. Bringing this approach to pain and illness has brought a tangible ease and relief to how I cope with this most natural human difficulty.
We were invited to watch out for times when we used distraction, numbing, avoidance (busyness) and substituting (food, alcohol, work, social media) as a possible way of process skipping. This helps me to pause and take some time to sense into how I am feeling or to use a focusing question from the book “What needs my loving caring presence just now?”
I was completely fascinated with the chapter on addiction and church/faith. This has expanded and deepened my understanding regarding current issues within church and connected me to my own living faith in a new and fresh way, feeling again like gift and grace.
To conclude, “Nothing changes and everything changes” has been my experience. These are also the words of a beautiful poem “Inviting Spaciousness” by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. The words capture for me a very deep connection into the wider field of focusing philosophy. I invite you to go onto the Poetry section of IFN website and listen to the recent recording.
I will be reading this book for years to come as I feel I have just began something fresh and new.
Thank you to John and Aine.
Marie Mc Guigan
by Mary Jennings
Gendlin lists four types of listening in his book Focusing:
1. Helping another person focus while talking
2. Using your own feelings and reactions about the other person
3. Interaction (in everyday situations)
4. Interacting in a group
Here, I will touch on the first two types as they might relate to Focusing Partnerships.
The first type, helping another person focus while talking, has evolved into the kind of ‘reflective listening’ we do in Focusing Partnerships. These partnerships have their own protocols such as, when you are the listener, being careful not to offer advice, not to comment on the Focuser’s process and not to put anything of your own experience into it. Focusers generally take care to abide by these valued practices.
Where might the second type of listening Gendlin outlines - Using your own feelings and reactions about the other person fit, if at all, within Focusing Partnerships? Let me make some suggestions.
I was introduced to what Tom Larkin calls The Empathic Moment in Focusing Partnership at a workshop last year. He was influenced both by this own long-term Focusing partners and by the work of Janet Klein on Interactive Focusing in presenting this practice. It was Janet’s discovery that listeners are touched by what the focuser says; it is part of the whole process/interaction, she suggests.
The Empathic Moment is an invitation to the listener to pause, to allow a sense of how the Focuser’s process has touched the listener. The listener then expresses their sense of how ‘all that’ has been for the Focuser and offers this as an ‘empathic moment’. That might come as a phrase, an image or a metaphor. It is, in some sense, it seems to me, an enhanced form of reflection. The Focuser checks if what the listener say about their process fits and, as ever, the Focuser is in charge and may respond in a way that is right for them.
Very often, as this is done with empathy, it deepens the Focuser’s own experience as well as deepening the connection between listener and focuser. It is important to say offering this ‘empathic moment’ can be part of a Focusing Partnership only where there is agreement – in advance – that this will be included as part of the process. It seems to fit with what Gendlin is referring to in this second type of listening of using our own feelings and reactions about what we have heard. It also fits with his wider concept of ‘interaction first’ which he outlines in A Process Model.
This idea of using The Empathic Moment may be of value to you – or not – in a Focusing Partnership situation. Initially, when I first tried offering this practice, I experienced some unease by seemingly ‘breaking the rules’ of what is considered good practice in partnerships.
You will see in the video clip that the initial interaction is based on the tried and tested Focusing Partnership model, with accurate reflection and checking if any word I used that was different to what the Focuser said, fitted. It might have ended when the ‘felt shift’ came for the Focuser and that would be fine. The Empathic Moment follows on from that and is done only when the listener has checked if the Focuser’s process feels complete for now.
See what the sense of The Empathic Moment is for you and if this is something you might consider in your Focusing Partnerships. You might like to try it with curiosity and care.
by Denise Durocher
Photo: Denise Durocher, Seacliff Beach, Leamington Ontario
Walking on a large beach on Lake Erie (Ontario) I was purposefully searching for very small objects.
I was attracted to this little feather being whipped around in the gusty wind. It’s littleness in the bigness of the beach made me stop for a moment to admire it and to take a few photos.
What I thought was how this very small feather was once part of a bigger entity, the seagull, and played a part in the bird’s life. It helped it to fly, it contributed to its buoyancy when it rested on the water, it helped it keep warm and dry.
In Focusing, I have often found that exploring the smallest voice, feeling or thought, often shows me how they are part of the big picture. They have contributed to my well-being especially in difficult times. Lately, in a Focusing session, the small voice inside had two words to offer:
“For now”.
BOOK REVIEW by Tom Larkin
My Focusing Journal - Nina Trebec
Sometimes after a Focusing exchange, when I want to make a note about what I have learned/ experienced, I have to scramble around looking for something to write on. More often than not, I have used the backs of envelopes or my
phone to record whatever it was that I wanted to remember or that seemed significant. I didn’t know it then, but this little booklet was what was missing at those times. Nina Trebec has done the Focusing world a great service by providing a comprehensive framework for a systematic reflection on formal (or informal, ‘on-the-go’) Focusing experiences.
The booklet contains 50 guided reflections with eight prompts/questions/suggestions spread over two pages. In these pages one can describe one’s felt sense, different ‘somethings’ or parts that emerged, the dynamic between Focuser and companion, insights gained, next steps and more. There is also a (relatively small) space to express one’s Focusing experience through doodles/drawing/art. Nina suggests that writing about our Focusing sessions can help Focusers with reflection and integration after a session, getting to know oneself better and honouring and loving all one’s parts, by writing about them.
I imagine that this journal would be particularly helpful for people in the early stages of their Focusing journey (say the first ten years or so!). From my experience of trying it out for this review I can say it is also useful for more experienced practitioners. There are a lot of other guided reflective journals out there for planning, meditation etc. – I think it’s great to have one dedicated specifically to Focusing.
Currently the journal seems to be only available from amazon.co.uk.
BOOK REVIEW by Tom Larkin
Peter Gill – The Way of Curiosity: Discovering wisdom through listening to the body. Published by Living Focusing Press, May 2024.
Peter Gill is a Focusing teacher and coordinator living and working in the UK. He is also a Somatic Experiencing practitioner and has trained in Nature-Connection and leading Grief Circles.
This little book with a big heart is a very readable introduction to Focusing. While aimed at those who know little or nothing about Focusing, it has a lot to offer the experienced Focuser.
In addition to being a contemplation on Focusing and its processes, written in a very accessible way, it is very practical, containing 17 guided focusing invitations following on from an exploration on a particular topic related to Focusing or life issues e.g. parenting, loss, trauma, death etc. It is divided into two parts; part 1; “the doorway and the guide”, being an introduction and a practical guide and part two; “through the door”, a collection of Peter’s reflections on Focusing experiences - a genuine treasure trove of distilled wisdom. He judiciously quotes Eugene Gendlin, the developer of Focusing and refers a lot to Ann Weiser Cornell’s approach to the Focusing process (Inner Relationship Focusing). He also draws on a Buddhist understanding of life issues and situations.
Curiosity is at the heart of his elucidation of the Focusing process. Again and again, he invites and encourages the reader to pause and be curious about what’s going on in themselves and their lives when they are stuck, angry, hurt unsure etc. He says, “The key is not to take something at face value but to get curious as to what’s happening beneath the stories”
While overall, I really enjoyed, not so much reading as savouring this little book, what stands out for me is the way he employs similes, metaphors, personal instances and anecdotes that ground/concretise the Focusing experience, opening up fresh ways of seeing and understanding this life-enhancing practice – a real delight.
Peter’s website, https://www.livingfocusing.co.uk/ is a veritable mine of Focusing articles, audio recordings and upcoming events.
He also has a Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@livingfocusing
by Tom Larkin
From the west, north, east and south of Europe 30+ Focusers gathered in Humboldt-Haus, Achberg for the annual European Focusing Association gathering. This year the theme was “Surfing the waves of life; sensing and thinking freshly”. There were participants from eleven [European] countries with English as the agreed, ‘common’ language.
Humboldt Haus is situated in the heart of the German countryside from where could be seen green fields and forests all the way to the Alps. Many German Focusers consider Humboldt-Haus as the ‘home’ of German Focusing because this is where Focusing really took off in Germany 30 years ago and where Eugene Gendlin gave several workshops - a portrait of him hung on the wall of the meeting hall during the event.
Fiona Parr (UK) initiated the proceedings, describing the EFA as more of an “associating” than an association; there is a steering committee, but it doesn’t have office holders, doesn’t have a bank account etc – a grass-roots group.
While there was a loose structure to the schedule, space was made for daily Focusing exchanges, open spaces, home groups and ‘personal’ spaces in the afternoons. The evenings were for dancing, singing, talking, or whatever. Outside of these there was no prearranged programme for how we would spend the time together. Towards this end, time was provided for whatever participants wanted to bring to the gathering - at the first whole group meeting on Thursday, there was space for participants to offer “happenings” i.e. workshops, roundtables, presentations etc. and, after some haggling and jostling for particular times or rooms (done in a Focusing way of course), the timetable quickly formed around these offerings. For every space in the schedule for Happenings there were between three and five choices of topic.
Topics included:
- Focusing with Images
- Focusing research
- ‘No content’ Focusing
- Felt sense dialogue around climate change using Appreciative Inquiry and Dynamic Facilitation.
- Smartphones and Focusing
- Spiritual bypassing and Focusing
- Focusing and ‘hidden’ Illness/condition
- Reading the last chapter of Focusing: ‘Experience beyond Roles’
- One’s own experiencing of the climate crisis
- Dreams
- Focusing window for Ukraine
- CAS + TAE + Drawing
- Etc.
As always in these situations I found myself wanting to be in at least two places at the same time! I usually come away from Focusing events feeling enriched, my understanding of Focusing deepened and my skills enhanced, and this gathering was no exception. When I consider the question of what my highlight was though I’d have to say it was meeting with, and making heart-felt, in-person connections, with others who have a deep-seated interest in and commitment to Focusing. There was so much richness, not alone in the more formal spaces but in the sharing and discussing over meals or on walks around the beautiful surrounding area.
As my network of connections grew, the world became a (relatively) smaller place for me over the course of the gathering and since.
For your diary - the next EFA gatherings:
2025 Belgium 17 – 21 Sept
2026 Scotland 23 – 27 Sept
More information about the EFA, the subgroups and about how to become a member etc at
https://efa-focusing.eu/
by Niamh Pattwell
On a bright late September morning, we found our way to the Dominican Centre in Tallaght for the IFN in-person gathering. Like magic, people materialised in front of us, flesh and blood, no longer pixellated Zoom versions of themselves. For some of us, this was our first time to meet in person. It was good fun: people were bigger, taller, smaller, not exactly the shape one had imagined. Over a welcome cup of tea and coffee, warm greetings were exchanged, connections and reconnections were established.
Capturing the Autumnal inward turn of the year, Caroline Moore led us in an attunement. Then, our first session ‘From Fear to Flow: a Focusing Approach to Speaking in Groups’ was led by Fiona O'Meara. Fiona invited us to imagine a situation where we might give a public talk and, through a series of quiet reflective exercises, led us on a journey to sense what it is that we might want to say. From there, we tried to sense what it is that we want from the experience which, as some of us discovered, might be a deeper need than what it is we have to say. It also invited contact with what it is that holds back or prevents us from speaking freely. During Fiona’s session, we didn’t focus in pairs, but there were opportunities to share on what was emerging for each of us. Not only did I leave this session with some sense of what I might say in my imagined situation, but also with a very real sense of the parts that were alive as I listened for what I wanted to say - the message of the speech was not the only facet wanting to be heard! It was deeply touching, then, to hear a couple of participants, give a short two-minute presentation, arising from the workshop. The sincerity and conviction brought a presence that was fluent and inspiring.
After a tasty lunch and a short stroll in the Autumn sunshine, we returned for a second session in which Marie and Elaine invited us to focus with poetry. Marie, in her introduction, spoke of her first experience of focusing with a poem which came as an unexpected surprise while she attended a Focusing event in Dublin many years ago. When Marie heard someone recite Mary Oliver "Wild Geese” as a part of their presentation she explained how her whole body came alive in some unique way. The words landed inside, stopping time and space, bringing a real felt resonance to something in her that needed to be heard and felt deeply. Elaine on the other hand described her initial hestitation when Marie invited her to focus with a poem as this brought memories of school days and ‘learning off’ poetry and then having to analyse it. Feelings of inadequacy arose in her. Her experience resonated with many in the room. However she described how she was pleasantly surprised at how powerful focusing with a poem could be and she experienced a new freedom and connection with the words and tendeness that only a poem can bring.
Marie offered some gentle guidance, and followed by a demonstration with Elaine, we soon were scoping out quiet corners to focus with our chosen poems and partners. As always, the poetry surprised - parts coming alive in the earlier session took on a new form here in a poem where childish perception bumped against adult experience. Everyone returned to share their encounters, refreshed and excited, I think, by how much easier it is to access these esoteric chunks of rhyme and verse through direct personal engagement. Focusing with poetry brings a reading that is both personal and, somehow, universal.
It was a beautiful day! A gift! Thank you to our Committee who organised it all.
"Without some people who listen, it is hard to hear oneself." Gene Gendlin
Our Focusing Refresher course got off to a flying start in September. Our purpose in offering this course is to provide an opportunity to pause and explore what is important when Focusing with another person. We hope that providing a space to sense into the vital aspects of partnership will deepen and enrich each person’s practice and develop our Focusing community.
Each Focusing Refresher evening is facilitated by a trainer from our network. Each month we explore a particular theme. Marta Fabregat started us off in September with an evening devoted to grounded aware presence and deep listening. In October Kay McKinney developed the theme of listening, invited us to sense into how it feels to be a listener and how to look after ourselves while listening.
On November 25th Elaine Goggin invites you to join her and explore how to look after yourself when you feel uncomfortable with your partner’s approach to listening. It’s no surprise that discomfort might arise when people who have trained differently in Focusing come together in partnership. But how might such a situation be managed and even become an opportunity to grow as a Focuser?
Each Refresher evening begins with a little teaching and discussion around the theme. Participants are then invited to Focus in breakout rooms paying particular attention to this theme. The time to Focus is shorter than in our regular zoom sessions. Afterwards there is time to reflect on the theme and share insights and/or experiences.
We warmly invite you to join a refresher session whenever you can. All members of the network are welcome — whether you’ve attended the weekly zoom sessions regularly, occasionally or not at all. They take place on the last zoom session of the month and will continue until at least March. You’ll be notified by email in advance of each evening.
We would love some feedback about the Refresher evenings. Are they helpful? What do you appreciate about the evenings? Is there a theme you’d like us to explore? Please get in touch.
Here are the dates and themes for the rest of 2024.
Monday 25th November 2024
Mind Yourself Now!:
Exploring your own way of looking after yourself and your parts when you feel uncomfortable with a different listening approach.
Elaine Goggin
Monday 9th December 2024
Taking in & Saying Back:
Exploring how the Listener can support and enrich the Focuser's process by reflecting.
Therese Ryan
by Bernadette Shepherd
Date: 11th-12th May 2024
Facilitated by: Mary Jennings, Margaret Quinn and Tom Larkin
Venue: Dominican Retreat centre, Tallaght, Dublin
Title of workshop: Deeper Presence – More Possibilities, enriching our understanding and practice of focusing.
This workshop was a wonderful collaborative focusing weekend workshop, underpinned by lively interactive discussion and demonstrations. Set amidst beautiful magical and peaceful grounds which enhanced the workshop Focusing principles.
The main theme of the weekend was the way in which the process of focusing help me in everyday life. The three presenters Mary, Margaret and Tom made complex theoretical approaches come alive through engaging delivery, live demonstrations and interactive activities; all were received well by the group. It was powerful to observe these demonstrations delivered by experts whose quality of presence deepened the groups understanding of the techniques and spirit of Focusing. The interactive nature of the workshop enabled me to practice with other participants, and challenge myself to establish new habits, I have since been able to translate these new approaches into everyday life and ork.
The presenters created a safe environment enabling a deeper connection amongst the participants and with the material itself. The participants who were brought together in this workshop were from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, this diversity brought a quality of presence and aliveness to the discussions.
This was a very full, exciting and alive workshop, with engaging presenters who embodied the theory and practice of Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing theory practice and philosophy.
Thank you Margaret, Mary and Tom for such an inspirational and experiential weekend.
