Focusing

‘Gendlin and his [University of Chicago] colleagues began asking why therapy succeeds for some patients, but not for many others. In their research they found that the successful patient could be spotted easily . . . Differences in methods of therapy meant little. . . What did count, the researchers concluded, “is what successful patients do inside themselves.” They were focusing intuitively. The focusing skill – in which one makes “contact with a special kind of internal bodily awareness” – can be learned by anyone in or out of therapy.’

‘I can’t tell you how valuable Focusing is to the people I work with – around the world – who have used this powerful technique to relieve very disturbing symptoms of chronic pain, depression, anxiety, agitation and mania.’

‘Healing trauma requires having a “felt sense” (as one gets in focusing). It cannot be effectively dealt with through verbal or emotional expression alone. Bodily sensing is what allows the fixated moment to open to flow and transformation.’

‘Focusing has been crucial for many bodyworkers. I would hope that it would be more widely integrated within the education of Somatics practitioners.’

‘Philosophers are increasingly acknowledging that the system of thought undergirding focusing will be a vital roadmap for twenty-first century attempts to understand the human mind as reflected in the felt sense of embodied experiencing.’

‘Gendlin’s Focusing method has far-reaching implications for human life in community on this planet. He brings us a truly revolutionary notion: that what is vague and unclear, yet bodily felt, actually has more practical value than all the clear, well-articulated thoughts we may be thinking, and is the direct source of creativity, emotional healing and appropriate response to new circumstances. This profoundly impactful work will continue to grow in influence on psychology, philosophy, the arts, theory-building, and ultimately on how we live our lives.’

‘I have found Gendlin’s book and teachings to be an enormous resource in my life and work. The wisdom of our feelings has been ignored by the medical profession but it is the road to healing.’