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THE BASICS OF FOCUSING EXCERPTED FROM WWW.FOCUSING.ORG School of Spiritual Direction: Spiritual Direction Supervision
INTRODUCTION ! Focusing shows how to pause the on-going situation and create a space for new possibilities for carrying forward. This practice, developed from the Philosophy of the Implicit, shows how to apply open attention to something which is directly experienced but is not in words. ! Your body knows more about situations than you are explicitly aware of. For example, your body picks up more about another person than you consciously know. With a little training, you can get a bodily feel for the 'more' that is happening in any situation. From that bodily feel comes small steps that lead toward resolution. ! “Focusing” is to enter into a special kind of awareness, different from our every day awareness. It is open, turned inward, centered on the present and on your body’s inner sensations. When doing Focusing, you silently ask, “How am I now?”
INTRODUCTION ! Waiting attentively, something forms inside you that is vague, indefinite, difficult to put into words. You try to describe this sensation and maybe a sentence comes, or an image, maybe a word or two which describes this sensation, and lets you know that it has something to do with a certain situation or experience in your life. For instance, a depressing problem might cause you to say “I feel heavy,” or “It’s like an empty cave inside,” or “there’s a huge ball there, dark, fiery, no, it’s more like--” etc. ! This sensation in your body is called a “felt sense.” It lies behind your thoughts and feelings and is significant and full of meaning. It is a message from your body to you, and will speak to you when you listen. Contacting the felt sense is the important first step of Focusing. ! Focusing is the ability to stay with the felt sense as it develops, to look at it with curiosity, without judging. Focusing is the ability to welcome what comes, to maintain a friendly attitude to whatever is inside you. Focusing is the ability to listen to that place that is trying to tell you something and to be ready to be surprised.
INTRODUCTION ! Staying with the felt sense helps you learn that which you don’t already know. As you pay attention to the felt quality of your current experiencing, you develop new expressions, words that are fresh, appropriate and alive. The felt sense talks to you in words and symbols that are not separate from your experience, but which evoke that experience for you in the present moment. ! When in contact with this sea of experience which you carry in your body, you come to understand how you are living a situation, a relationship, a problem. As you search for a name for what you feel, there is often a wonderful result. Something inside you changes. You relax; your body is energized, grateful tears may come and a deep breath. This change, which is perceived directly in the body, is called a ”felt shift.”
WHAT FOLLOWS… ! Two approaches to Focusing are highlighted in the next slides: ! Eugene Gendlin’s orginal Focusing technique ! Ann Weiser Cornell’s Inner Relationship Focusing ! Review both. You may then choose to practice the one that resonates the most with you or you may choose to practice both. ! Either can be a tremendous help in self-supervision and/or in supervision.
EUGENE GENDLIN’S Original Approach to Focusing
SIX STEPS TO FOCUSING ! 1. Clear a space ! How are you? What’s between you and feeling fine? Don’t answer; let what comes in your body do the answering. Don’t go into anything. Greet each concern that comes. Put each aside for a while, next to you. Except for that, are you fine? ! 2. Felt Sense ! Pick one problem to focus on. Don’t go into the problem. What do you sense in your body when you sense the whole of that problem? Sense all of that, the sense of the whole thing, the murky discomfort or the unclear body-sense of it.
SIX STEPS TO FOCUSING ! 3. Get a handle ! What is the quality of the felt sense? What one word, phrase, or image comes out of this felt sense? What quality-word would fit it best? ! 4. Resonate ! Go back and forth between word (or image) and the felt sense. Is that right? If they match, have the sensation of matching several times. If the felt sense changes, follow it with your attention. When you get a perfect match, the words (images) being just right for this feeling, let yourself feel that for a minute.
SIX STEPS TO FOCUSING ! 5. Ask ! "What is it, about the whole problem, that makes me so _________? When stuck, ask questions: What is the worst of this feeling? What’s really so bad about this? What does it need? What should happen? Don’t answer; wait for the feeling to stir and give you an answer. What would it feel like if it was all OK? Let the body answer What is in the way of that? ! 6. Receive ! Welcome what came. Be glad it spoke. It is only one step on this problem, not the last. Now that you know where it is, you can leave it and come back to it later. Protect it from critical voices that interrupt. Does your body want another round of focusing, or is this a good stopping place?
A FOCUSING ENCOURAGEMENT ! IF DURING THESE INSTRUCTIONS SOMEWHERE YOU HAVE SPENT A LITTLE WHILE SENSING AND TOUCHING AN UNCLEAR HOLISTIC BODY SENSE OF THIS PROBLEM, THEN YOU HAVE FOCUSED. It doesn't matter whether the body-shift came or not. It comes on its own. We don't control that. ! Adopt a "split-level" approach to all instructions: On the one hand follow the instructions exactly, so that you can discover the experiences to which they point. On the other hand be sensitive to yourself and your own body. Assume that only sound expansive experiences are worth having. The moment doing it feels wrong in your body, stop following the instruction, and back up slightly. Stay there with your attention until you can sense exactly what is going wrong.
ANN WEISER CORNELL’S ADAPTATION OF FOCUSING Inner Relationship Focusing
INNER RELATIONSHIP FOCUSING STEPS ! Bringing Awareness into Your Body ! Take time to bring your awareness into your body. Perhaps first the outer area of your body, like your feet and legs, your arms and hands, and then sense the contact of your body on what you're sitting on. Now bring awareness into the middle area of your body, Sensing your throat, and your chest, your solar plexus and abdomen, and belly. ! Sensing or Inviting What Wants Your Awareness Now ! As you let your awareness rest here, in this whole middle area, take some time to notice what is wanting your awareness now. Perhaps there was something that you noticed as you brought your awareness into your body. Perhaps it might need to be invited to come. You might say to yourself something like "I'm wondering what is wanting my attention right now." If you're wanting to Focus on a particular issue, say "I'm wondering what is wanting my attention right now about that issue." ! Waiting Until Something Comes ! And then wait until something comes into your awareness.
INNER RELATIONSHIP FOCUSING STEPS ! Beginning to Describe Something ! Now something is here. You can sense it somewhere. Take some time now to notice just where it is in your body. Notice if it would feel right to begin to describe it, as simply as you might tell another person what you are aware of. You can use words, images, gestures, metaphors, whatever fits, captures, expresses somehow the quality of this whole thing. And when you've described it a bit, take some time to notice how your body responds to that. It's like you're checking the description with the body feeling, saying "Does this fit you well?" ! Acknowledging It ! Now you might want to acknowledge it: "Yes, I'm noticing that's there."! Take time to notice how it feels in your body after you've acknowledged it. ! Settling Down with It ! Now you might imagine settling down with It, like you settle down with a friend. Just keep your awareness with It. Notice whatever comes. ! Keeping It Company ! You might just keep it company, spending time with It just as it is. And notice how It feels in your body.
INNER RELATIONSHIP FOCUSING STEPS ! Sensing its Point of View ! Now take some time to sense how it's feeling from its point of view. Sensing for its mood, its emotion, how it itself feels. ! Letting it Know You Hear It ! When you sense something from it, like how it feels emotionally, or what it's wanting you to know, let it know you hear it, or see it, or sense it. You are its listener. There is absolutely nothing more you need to do, other than let it know you understand. Notice if it feels understood, and if there is more. Stay with it as long as feels right, or until your time is nearly up. ! Sensing for a Stopping Place ! Take some time to sense inside if it is OK to end in a few minutes or if there something more that needs to be known first. If something more comes then take some time to acknowledge that.
INNER RELATIONSHIP FOCUSING STEPS ! Receiving and Experiencing What Has Changed ! Take some time to sense any changes that have happened in your body, especially anything which feels more open or released. ! Letting it Know You're Willing to Come Back ! You might want to say to it "I'm willing to come back if you need me." ! Thanking ! And you might want to thank what has come, and appreciate your body's process. ! Bringing Awareness Out ! Take some time to bring your awareness slowly outward again, feeling your hands and feet, being aware of the room and letting your eyes come naturally open.