• What is Focusing?
• What do people use Focusing for?
• Where did Focusing come from: who developed it?
• What is the philosophy or guiding principle behind Focusing?
• How would I start learning Focusing?
• What happens in an individual Focusing session?
• I’m hesitant to tell someone I’ve never met my deepest secrets on the phone.
• Do phone sessions really work as well as in person sessions?
• One Focusing session, or many?
• What about classes on the phone? That sounds a bit strange!
• Is having Focusing sessions like seeing a therapist?
• Is having Focusing sessions like working with a life coach?
• Is Focusing a form of meditation or mindfulness?
• Is Focusing a type of self-hypnosis?

 

What is Focusing?
Focusing is a special way of paying attention to yourself, so that you sense the whole way you are feeling about situations or issues in your life. This is different from just having emotions or just getting in touch with feelings. Focusing involves having a different kind of relationship with emotions and feelings. It’s as if you are becoming your own good listener. The result is greater calm, wiser choices, and a deeper sense of connection to your own life and being.

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What do people use Focusing for?
Focusing has a very wide range of uses, from enhancing your creativity to improving your thinking ability. Focusing can enhance and deepen every part of your life. The uses of Focusing that we specialize in include:

• releasing blocks to action
• making clear decisions
• knowing what you really feel and want
• getting in touch with your life purpose
• releasing emotional burdens
• transforming inner critics
• nurturing a sense of self worth
• being present to your life

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Where did Focusing come from: who developed it? Focusing was discovered when Professor Eugene Gendlin of the University of Chicago researched the question: “Why is psychotherapy helpful for some people, but not others?” He and his colleagues studied tapes of hundreds of therapy sessions and made a fascinating and important discovery: successful therapy clients had a vague, hard-to-describe inner awareness, a bodily felt sense about their problems. Paying attention to the felt sense in specific ways proved to be a key component of successful psychological change. Gendlin discovered how to teach this skill, which he called Focusing. For more about Eugene Gendlin and his Focusing Institute click here. Inner Relationship Focusing is a further development of Focusing created over many years of work by Ann Weiser Cornell and Barbara McGavin. (For an article about Inner Relationship Focusing, click here.)

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What is the philosophy or guiding principle behind Focusing?
The Focusing process is based on a radical philosophy of change: that there is no need to do anything to what you are feeling in order to experience transformation. Instead, when we understand that feelings are in process, we realize that acknowledgement and Presence are what is needed for natural change. Click here for an article about this.

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How would I start learning Focusing?
We recommend starting with an individual session, which can be done in person or on the phone. After that, many people go on to take the Level One Focusing workshop, which can get you started immediately on using Focusing in your life. Most of our other workshops have the Level One workshop as a prerequisite.

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What happens in an individual Focusing session?
When you have an individual Focusing session, you will be guided through the Focusing process by a skilled and experienced Focusing teacher. The most important purpose of the session is for you to actually experience what Focusing feels like. You are also welcome to ask questions about how you can apply Focusing after the session.

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I’m hesitant to tell someone I’ve never met my deepest secrets on the phone.
Of course! In a guided Focusing session, in person or on the phone, you will not be asked to tell anything about your life issues. We concentrate on the process itself, not the details of your life. If you want to tell a little bit, to set the stage so to speak, you are welcome to do so, and anything you say will be held as confidential. But there is no requirement to tell anything.

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Do phone sessions really work as well as in person sessions?
We were doubtful about that, too, at first... and after doing one-to-one phone sessions for more than 15 years, we can say that there seems to be no difference in the benefits that people receive, whether on the phone or in person.

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One Focusing session, or many?
That’s up to you. One session is typically enough to prepare you for a Level One Focusing class, although in a few cases people may need two or three sessions. If you would like to continue to have sessions to support your Focusing process, perhaps to work on some particular areas of life that need extra time and care, this is something that people often do. The number of sessions, the frequency, and when you start and stop are completely up to you.

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What about classes on the phone? That sounds a bit strange!
It does sound strange, but in practice it works quite well. We’re very experienced in teaching classes by phone, and we’ve developed a lot of methods to help you feel comfortable and connected. Many people actually prefer phone classes because you don’t have to travel, you can call from the comfort of your home, and you can take notes or lie down without disturbing anyone.

The way a phone class works is that you simply call a phone number at the designated time, and then put in a code. No computer or other special equipment is needed; you’re simply making a phone call. You may want to get a hands-free headset (for example at Radio Shack) so you’ll be comfortable being on the phone for an hour or more. The time flies by!

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Is having Focusing sessions like seeing a therapist?
We are happy that more and more therapists are incorporating Focusing in their sessions with clients. (Therapists: learn more about how to do this.)

However, receiving guided sessions from a Focusing professional isn’t the same as therapy. Here are some of the ways you might find it different from many kinds of therapy:

• You will not be asked to disclose details or history about the issues you’re working on
• You will not be diagnosed, analyzed, or given advice about your life situations
• You are the sole decider of whether and when to have more sessions, and whether and when to stop having sessions
• The emphasis is on your relationship with yourself

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Is having Focusing sessions like working with a life coach?
Again, we’re pleased that more and more life coaches are incorporating Focusing in their work with clients.

However, you’ll probably find that Focusing sessions are different from life coaching in most of the following ways:

• You will not be asked questions.
• Your Focusing guide will not help you set goals or remind you of your goals. (If you want to use your sessions to set goals, you are of course welcome to do so, but that would be initiated by you)
• There is no homework or assigned work between sessions

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Is Focusing a form of meditation or mindfulness?
Although Focusing can be done inwardly, sitting quietly, with eyes closed, it is not a form of meditation. Focusing is an engaged process of self-exploration that involves the deliberate inviting of felt senses. Because Focusing is more than simple awareness of body sensations, it is not the same as “mindfulness,” although it shares elements of acceptance and being in the present moment.

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Is Focusing a type of self-hypnosis?
Focusing is not self-hypnosis. Hypnosis involves suggestion, and in Focusing, no type of suggestion is involved. Although people who are Focusing may feel quite relaxed, they are not in a trance. The Focusing process is one of listening to what comes in the body, rather than suggesting or telling the body anything.