Focusing Basics (pdf)

LEARNING FOCUSING

Ruth Hirsch

Listening. Deeply. With Compassion and Curiosity, Spaciousness and Acceptance.

Welcome to the World of Focusing!

Why learn Focusing?
Many come to learn Focusing after having experienced the rich possibilities of this process for themselves. Others come on the recommendation of a friend or loved one. Either way, learning Focusing for yourself is potentially life changing.

“Thinking in the usual way, alone, can be objectively true and powerful. But, when put in touch with what the body already knows and lives, it becomes vastly more powerful.”
(Eugene Gendlin)

I continue to be in awe of how my life has changed and is c[-] ontinuing to change, how I have grown, and how much more peace and joy there is in my own life thanks to l[-]earning and practicing Focusing.
And I’ve observed the same in many friends, colleagues, clients and trainees.

Ruth Hirsch

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SOME FOCUSING QUOTES BY EUGENE GENDLIN7

LEARNING FOCUSING

FOCUSING TRAINING CONTRACT

PART ONE: Focusing Basics, Self-Guiding [&] Empathic Listening

WHAT IS FOCUSING?

• What Focusing Will Allow You To Do – Eugene Gendlin
• Focusing Is....
• What Is Focusing?
• Three Key Aspects Of Focusing
• Experiencing Levels: A Measure of the Likelihood of Change

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FOCUSING

• Attitudes that Facilitate Focusing
• The Primacy of Human Presence
• The Felt Sense
• The Felt Shift
• The Inner Relationship
• Focusing Steps
• A Few Words about Emotions
• Focusing Self-Guiding Steps
• Keeping the Process Safe
• The Focuser’s Bill of Rights
• Ground Rules for Focusing with a Partner
• Guidelines for Giving Feedback
• Focusing Alone
• The Three Obstacles to Focusing Alone and What to Do About Them
• Listening
• Introduction to Listening in FocusingListening in Focusing
• Listen To Me
• Focusing With a Listener
• Listening to a Focuser
• Technical Basics
• Tips for the Focuser and the Listener
• Partnership Considerations
• Three Rules for Safety in Focusing Partnerships
• Optional Questions to Deepen Focusing

BLOCKS: OBSTACLES TO FOCUSING

• Respecting the Blocks

THE IMPORTANCE OF PRACTICE

• Changes Groups

PART TWO: Advanced Listening [&] Beginning Guiding

A REVIEW OF SOME POINTS FROM PART ONE

SOME FOCUSING CHALLENGES AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

ADVANCED LISTENING

• Listening vs. Guiding
• Empathic Whole-Body Listening
• When to Go Back to Repeating Exactly
• Helping the Focuser Stay in the Present
• Supporting the Inner Relationship
• Reframing to Promote a More Positive Attitude
• Promoting Awareness

BEGINNING TO GUIDE A PARTNER

• What is Guiding?
• Cushions
• Remember the Importance of Being Present
• Leading In
• Leading In Outline
• Focusing at the Edge
• Clearing a Space
• ‘Clearing a Space’ – the optional first step of Focusing
• When Positive Feelings Come in Focusing
• An Introduction to Focusing when Inner Critical Places Arise

A FEW POEMS

APPENDIX I

• Bibliography
• An Introduction to the Work of Gene Gendlin
• An Introduction to Focusing: Six Steps
• Lists of Feelings
• Needs Inventory
• Why Listening is Good For You
• Tell Me More: On the Art of Listening
• Focusing Partnership As a Learning Process
• Some Notes on Language
• Relationship = Distance + Connection
• Focusing and Transition

APPENDIX II: FOCUSING BASICS TRAINING

GENERAL INFORMATION

SYLLABUS

EXERCISES