Focusing Eugene Gendlin Pdf
The classic guide to a powerful technique for personal transformation Based on groundbreaking research conducted at the University of Chicago, the focusing technique has gained widespread popularity and scholarly acclaim. It consists of six easy-to-master steps that identify and change the way thoughts and emotions are held within the body. Focusing can be done virtually any The classic guide to a powerful technique for personal transformation Based on groundbreaking research conducted at the University of Chicago, the focusing technique has gained widespread popularity and scholarly acclaim.
Focusing PDF Book by Eugene T. Gendlin 1982 ePub Free Download. The classic guide to a powerfultechnique for personal transformationBased on gr.
- Focusing is a way of Being-with Eugene Gendlin is an existential philosopher who wants to point us back to our lived experience. He invites us to stand in our.
- Focusing Oriented Psychotherapy: A New. Eugene T.Gendlin and the. Agnes Wild-Missong is a Swiss Psychologist who encountered Gendlin and focusing in.
It consists of six easy-to-master steps that identify and change the way thoughts and emotions are held within the body. Focusing can be done virtually anywhere, at any time, and an entire “session” can take no longer than ten minutes, but its effects can be felt immediately–in the relief of bodily tension and psychological stress, as well as in dramatic shifts in understanding and insight. In this highly accessible guide, Dr. Eugene Gendlin, the award-winning psychologist who developed the focusing technique, explains the basic principles behind focusing and offers simple step-by-step instructions on how to utilize this powerful tool for tapping into greater self-awareness and inner wisdom. As you learn to develop your natural ability to “focus,” you’ll find yourself more in sync with both mind and body, filled with greater self-assurance, and better equipped to make the positive changes necessary to improve and enhance every aspect of your life. For those of us who have to tend to the effects of complex ptsd the most difficult challenge is to connect with our own deeper felt sense of self because it carries so much pain. Yet without that connection and the experience of what flows from that there we will remain trapped always in the circularities that our minds design to keep that felt sense so distant and intangible.
The work of Gendlin represents a breakthrough in the process of therapy whereby we can work our way through these layers For those of us who have to tend to the effects of complex ptsd the most difficult challenge is to connect with our own deeper felt sense of self because it carries so much pain. Yet without that connection and the experience of what flows from that there we will remain trapped always in the circularities that our minds design to keep that felt sense so distant and intangible. The work of Gendlin represents a breakthrough in the process of therapy whereby we can work our way through these layers of entrapment, the felt sense is the only key.
All the talk therapy in the world, in my experience shifts nothing, resolves nothing. Excruciating though it may be we must go through again all that set up in us so much pain for the light to become evident to us in our lives.
The great benefit of this book is that a person can venture into this space of their own volition in their own way and it will unfold. There si hope here for those of us who have lived our lives in hopelessness. Easy to read book on Focusing, a mindfulness technique for getting in touch with your internal life and putting feelings to rest. This is a book predates the current interest in mindfulness. The author was a colleague of Carl Rogers in the 50s and 60s.
He researched the question: what are the clients who get the most out of therapy doing? It turns out they were indeed doing something differently - they demonstrated pauses in session to check with their inner process and consider implications fr Easy to read book on Focusing, a mindfulness technique for getting in touch with your internal life and putting feelings to rest. This is a book predates the current interest in mindfulness. The author was a colleague of Carl Rogers in the 50s and 60s. He researched the question: what are the clients who get the most out of therapy doing? It turns out they were indeed doing something differently - they demonstrated pauses in session to check with their inner process and consider implications from the inside out. It's an easy to learn method and doesn't require a lot of a lot of complicated internal meditation.
I highly recommend the method - and the book - as a well-written introduction. While it is certainly good that psychology has learned about spirituality over the last decades, this book, however, is from 1978- and it shows. It postulates that it has found a breakthrough for mankind. In reality this book is essentially Vilpassana meditation-lite. The author seems to believe hetruly discovered something new. I found the book to be trite, simplistic and shallow.
I would not recommend this for people desiring to be more mindful or focused as there are far better alternatives a While it is certainly good that psychology has learned about spirituality over the last decades, this book, however, is from 1978- and it shows. It postulates that it has found a breakthrough for mankind. In reality this book is essentially Vilpassana meditation-lite. The author seems to believe hetruly discovered something new. I found the book to be trite, simplistic and shallow. I would not recommend this for people desiring to be more mindful or focused as there are far better alternatives available.
It's also a theme that psychology pats itself on the back for 'discovering' that which has been around for centuries, or in this case, millenia. This is a most interesting book. Focusing was discovered through fifteen years of research at the University of Chicago.
Gendlin studied, together with a group of colleagues, why therapy so often failed to make real difference in people's lives. And in the rare cases when therapy does succeed: What is it that successful patients and therapists do?1 Seeking the answers, the researchers analyzed literally thousands of therapist-patient sessions. These studies led to several findings. On This is a most interesting book. Focusing was discovered through fifteen years of research at the University of Chicago. Gendlin studied, together with a group of colleagues, why therapy so often failed to make real difference in people's lives. And in the rare cases when therapy does succeed: What is it that successful patients and therapists do?1 Seeking the answers, the researchers analyzed literally thousands of therapist-patient sessions.
These studies led to several findings. One is that differences in therapy methods mean surprisingly little. Nor does the difference lie in what the patients talk about. The difference is in how they talk.2 The purpose of the book is to teach this uncommon skill, which is called focusing. Most importantly, not only is focusing an internal act which is useful in therapy. It's also useful in approaching any problem or situation. Focusing enables you to find and change where your life is stuck.
It enables you live from a deeper place than just thoughts and feelings.3 Focusing is natural to the body, and it feels that way. There is an experience of something emerging from the body that feels like a relief and a coming alive.4 A few seem to use focusing intuitively now and then, but it is mostly unused in most people. Some people learn focusing fairly fast, while others need weeks or months.5 Focusing is a process in which you make contact with a special kind of internal bodily awareness, a felt sense.6 The felt sense is a physically sensed knowing. The body knows the whole of each of situation, vastly more aspects of it than you can think.7 A body shift is a definite physical feeling of something changing or moving within, a tight place loosening. Often what is next for the body is not what would logically come next.
Focusing is unpredictable.8 And it is something to be used every day, as part of the daily existence.9 Just getting in touch with one's feelings often brings no change. One must let a larger, wider felt sense form, which at first is unclear.10 Intellectuals like to figure things out. What is important is that the body is allowed to take the first steps. The analysis isn't effective before these steps.11 When your felt sense changes, you change—and, therefore, so does your life.12 A felt sense is a physical experience.13 Since it doesn't communicate in words, it isn't easy to describe in words. It is a deep-down level of awareness.14 An emotion is often sharp and clearly felt. A felt sense, being larger and more complicated, is almost always unclear—at least until you focus on it.15 It bypasses your thinking mind.
But when you let the felt sense form, then you can work with more than you can understand. And when you attend to the felt sense, it will shift.16 Eugene T. Gendlin divides focusing into six main movements: 1) Clear a space. 2) Felt sense.
3) Get a handle. 6) Receive.17 To think of them as separate movements makes the inner act seem more mechanical than it is. Gendlin starts by giving the focusing instructions in a brief manual style from. Although it was ten years or so between the time I bought Eugene Gendlin's 'Focusing' and when I actually began to use this technique in my personal life and my therapy practice, in many ways it is now at the heart of both. In the late 60s and early 70s, Gendlin teamed up with pioneer psychologist Carl Rogers to try to figure out why some people seemed to get better with therapy while others did not. After screening for all the factors one might suspect made the difference - therapeutic training Although it was ten years or so between the time I bought Eugene Gendlin's 'Focusing' and when I actually began to use this technique in my personal life and my therapy practice, in many ways it is now at the heart of both. In the late 60s and early 70s, Gendlin teamed up with pioneer psychologist Carl Rogers to try to figure out why some people seemed to get better with therapy while others did not.
After screening for all the factors one might suspect made the difference - therapeutic training and approach, experience, types of problems clients came in with, demographics, etc. it turned out that the dominant factor was something clients either came into therapy doing (and improved) or didn't do (and didn't improve). Gendlin realized that this factor was a natural human quality, and he created this book, and many others, to help those of us who didn't natively do it learn how.
I have practiced Focusing for many years, and I have taught it to a wide variety of clients so they can do it themselves. Easier to do than to explain, Gendlin's book nevertheless does an excellent job of summarizing the rationale behind it, the technique itself, and what to do if things don't seem to be working.
Focusing is a very boring book with some very great information in it. The author has studied people who succeed at achieving their psycho-therapeutic goals, and found that they all do what he calls focusing. Focusing, as described in the book, is an active process you can use to get at your own non-verbal understanding of a problem. Focusing involved feeling your own feelings, but it gets deeper: to a physical sense of whatever you're thinking about. Since focusing is by nature about a non-verbal Focusing is a very boring book with some very great information in it. The author has studied people who succeed at achieving their psycho-therapeutic goals, and found that they all do what he calls focusing. Focusing, as described in the book, is an active process you can use to get at your own non-verbal understanding of a problem.
Focusing involved feeling your own feelings, but it gets deeper: to a physical sense of whatever you're thinking about. Since focusing is by nature about a non-verbal felt sense, it's difficult to describe. The author gives a six step method to first find the felt sense of an issue, then to cause it to 'shift'.
The idea is that if something is bother you, you can get a fuller understanding of it by just feeling the felt sense than by talking to yourself about it. Once you have the fuller felt-sense understanding, if you accept that felt-sense than it will change. That will allow your understanding of thing bothering you to change, and possibly give you access to new ways of dealing with it. A lot of this book reminded me of NVC, and of other formalized communication/listening styles.
There's a lot of really good insight into how people work in this book. Unfortunately, it is super boring. Everybody in the world should read this book and practice its easy, insightful discovery. I have been on a reading jag this month for some reason that lead from When Bad Things Happen to Good People to Man's Search for Meaning and which accidentally got me to Gendlin's Focusing. It is a friendly, sensible, easy-to-read explanation and guide about. How can I say it without sounding like a nutcase?
About your own innate natural inner wisdom - if only you'd stop and feel-hear yourself. Nothing w Everybody in the world should read this book and practice its easy, insightful discovery. I have been on a reading jag this month for some reason that lead from When Bad Things Happen to Good People to Man's Search for Meaning and which accidentally got me to Gendlin's Focusing. It is a friendly, sensible, easy-to-read explanation and guide about. How can I say it without sounding like a nutcase?
About your own innate natural inner wisdom - if only you'd stop and feel-hear yourself. Nothing woo-woo or spiritual or psycho-theoretical. Do yourself a huge kindness, read the book. Fantastic book. If you've experienced focusing(and you may very well have not known its name) and its power for personal transformation this book will be useful in deepening your work. If you are interested in exploring the depths of yourself this book will also be useful.
Focusing Eugene Gendlin Free Pdf
The problem: it seems difficult for me to convey this to someone who has not been exposed to it, and that is its in built limitation. It is so deeply experiential that to write about it and to talk about it seems difficult. Eug Fantastic book. If you've experienced focusing(and you may very well have not known its name) and its power for personal transformation this book will be useful in deepening your work. If you are interested in exploring the depths of yourself this book will also be useful.
The problem: it seems difficult for me to convey this to someone who has not been exposed to it, and that is its in built limitation. It is so deeply experiential that to write about it and to talk about it seems difficult. Eugene has done a credible job here and I'm not sure it could be done better, but how do we spread this practice! This is a book that explains a method of conscious self awareness that helps you understand feelings that are weighing on you. Gendlin says that the technique is based on research that indicates that the patient's approach to therapy is a much stronger predictor of eventual recovery than the therapist or even the therapy method.
The thing about therapy/self-awareness books is that either they work for you or they don't. Personally it's been quite helpful. Try it and see - YMMV, but at least the b This is a book that explains a method of conscious self awareness that helps you understand feelings that are weighing on you. Gendlin says that the technique is based on research that indicates that the patient's approach to therapy is a much stronger predictor of eventual recovery than the therapist or even the therapy method. The thing about therapy/self-awareness books is that either they work for you or they don't. Personally it's been quite helpful.
Try it and see - YMMV, but at least the book is short and practical. Edit: Upgrading this book to 5 stars, based on how well this technique works. For a cognitive perspective on the same underlying technique, read. I got this book a while ago and read the first chapter and got bored. I came back to it later because I needed support in my current transition.
I have the same feeling about this book as I do about much of the self help genera. Half of it's obvious, which is OK. I don't mind people restating important truths. Just because it's not cutting edge, doesn't mean that it's not valuable. This book came out in '79 anyway. Thirty four years later, it holds up as a good discussion of metacognative proces I got this book a while ago and read the first chapter and got bored. I came back to it later because I needed support in my current transition.
I have the same feeling about this book as I do about much of the self help genera. Half of it's obvious, which is OK. I don't mind people restating important truths. Just because it's not cutting edge, doesn't mean that it's not valuable. This book came out in '79 anyway. Thirty four years later, it holds up as a good discussion of metacognative processes.
It's not bad to see a model. I was on an anapanasati retreat (mindfulness of breathing) and the leader kept saying 'felt sense'. It's a nice phrase, and I'm pretty sure he got it from focusing and Gendlin. The idea of putting all your problems in a room, pushing them aside so you have thinking space, and then putting them into a pile, and sorting them would be a good way to get a handle on them. Gendlin's focus on the body, focusing is about listening to your deeper complex wisdom is key.
I thought about Marsha Linehan's wisdom, which is mind plus emotions and more. Before screens became a bigger part of our lives, it was easier to connect with our bodies. How to install ettercap on kali linux tutorial. I read an article about a canoe renter, who said he remembers the summer VCRs came out, canoe rentals went way down. Everyone stayed in and watched movies. Another cool thing in focusing is something you can do alone, and with a partner. You don't need a therapist. I love therapy, but I think it's cool to be able to do these things with friends.
It takes the technology out of the hands of 'professionals' and makes it for everyone. There's a long section on listening to others. I also like his case examples. I tried this out and had some interesting revelations.
I'm hoping to get my partner to read it and we'll do focusing to tune into ourselves and each other. They say you should pick a friend to do it first, not your partner, but I think I want to do this with her.
I learned this directly from EG in the early 70's at University of Chicago. At the time it was at the core (the method, the book hadn't been written yet) of a class he taught in Existential Psychology. The class, and learning focusing from EG, was considerably more impactful than the book which is pretty good- I'm sure others have had similar experiences (book vs direct experience with a method). I don't recall many references to spirituality or meditation in the class or the book for that matt I learned this directly from EG in the early 70's at University of Chicago. At the time it was at the core (the method, the book hadn't been written yet) of a class he taught in Existential Psychology.
The class, and learning focusing from EG, was considerably more impactful than the book which is pretty good- I'm sure others have had similar experiences (book vs direct experience with a method). I don't recall many references to spirituality or meditation in the class or the book for that matter.
Or any reference to insight meditation but a fairly noted meditation teacher, and author (and UC graduate student from that area), Daniel Brown PHD, uses 'felt sense' of the body as a piece of his highly evolved meditation method. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, This book was one of the (many) recommended texts from a course, on decisions and rationality, which I attended recently.
As I have an insatiable appetite for knowledge (or perhaps it's just infotainment sometimes), I of course have been working my way through the reading list (mostly papers). By the time the book arrived I had forgotten why it was mentioned in the course and I thought it was a book about improving one's focus and concentration at the task at hand. The book, as it turned out, was This book was one of the (many) recommended texts from a course, on decisions and rationality, which I attended recently. As I have an insatiable appetite for knowledge (or perhaps it's just infotainment sometimes), I of course have been working my way through the reading list (mostly papers). By the time the book arrived I had forgotten why it was mentioned in the course and I thought it was a book about improving one's focus and concentration at the task at hand. The book, as it turned out, was instead about developing one's self-awareness by increasing our understanding of our 'felt sense'. As someone whose connection between emotions and thinking is somewhat fragmented and under-developed, I found the book's exercises to be quite interesting and useful.
I spent most of my lives thinking my feelings. I would even start sentences with 'I think I feel.' So to attempt to put words into the nebulous sensations that I have in my body and emotions is strange but quite wonderful (in a more literal meaning of 'filled with wonderment'). Here's a little more about the concept and the book: I found the examples and exercises a slightly more structured way of understanding how to tap into our intuitions or vague feelings about a subject or a decision and therefore quite useful.
I think I'll need to go through quite a bit more practice before I really understand this method. It's worth taking a look at this book if you think you could benefit with connecting your feelings with your thoughts and exploring how you can reconcile them better. The course trainers'suggested the audiobook over the print version so I went along with that option. A review of the abridged audio book edition.
This book is about helping people identify the true reasons of problems that make them uncomfortable or unhappy which in turn could be useful to solving these problems or overcoming these feelings. The approach used is systematic and lengthy and in all cases not for the average Joe as it needs training, discipline, and time at least in the beginning. The Focusing approach itself is something that must be learned as it is cascaded from psychotherapy re A review of the abridged audio book edition. This book is about helping people identify the true reasons of problems that make them uncomfortable or unhappy which in turn could be useful to solving these problems or overcoming these feelings. The approach used is systematic and lengthy and in all cases not for the average Joe as it needs training, discipline, and time at least in the beginning. The Focusing approach itself is something that must be learned as it is cascaded from psychotherapy research to personal practice. The book did not provide evidence of the success of the Focusing approach which is a gap that needs to be filled in the book to encourage the reader to start trying it on his own.
Regardless whether the approach itself works or not, the reader/listener must be very skeptical about the premise of the approach itself. Although a person does not need to know how a car works to drive it and can benefit fromt the approach if it works with him, still giving in to the premise of the 'bodily feeling' will confuse and shake traditional mind-body relation. Thinking of the body as a place for feelings and that in a way it can do a part of the function traditionally thought to be only in the mind is not something easy to swallow or pass and yet the book did not provide any evidence on the validity of this idea. Personally, I decided to ignore this premise and replace the 'bodily feeling' idea with 'feeling of comfort generated in the mind'. Again, if the approach works, I don't need to know how to use it. This book is one where the content is very powerful, but the book itself is very dry.
The topic is a complex one, so it's difficult to write about in a way that would remain interesting. Gendlin discusses how we can use our body's natural mood stabilization to bring our mind to a place that he calls Focusing. The problem for Gendlin, is that the topic that he is working with is one that is difficult to describe and make concrete. He is burdened by having to break it down to something that is ver This book is one where the content is very powerful, but the book itself is very dry. The topic is a complex one, so it's difficult to write about in a way that would remain interesting.
Gendlin discusses how we can use our body's natural mood stabilization to bring our mind to a place that he calls Focusing. The problem for Gendlin, is that the topic that he is working with is one that is difficult to describe and make concrete. He is burdened by having to break it down to something that is very understandable. Gendlin does do a good job of taking this complex topic and making it something that is understandable. In my counseling practice, I have helped clients who are dealing with levels of anxiety, trauma, and depression bring themselves to a place of focusing, so that they can actually do the work.
I find Gendlin's technique very useful in help people utilize their own felt sense. This also empowers my clients, because they really do the heavy lifting of this work.
Therefore, I love this technique, and I think that people can practice it on their own. You can read about it at:. I don't know if I'd recommend this book though unless you're already someone who is able to use some of these techniques already. Pretty cool stuff. I found it impressive how a psychotherapist basically rediscovered insight meditation on observing sensations.
Vipassana meditation focuses on observing bodily sensations. One difference I noticed was that the author suggests finding the words to label the problem/sensation (but not using the intellect for this), whereas in meditation you simply observe without even trying to label anything. Anyway, it was pretty interesting to read about all this from a completely different a Pretty cool stuff. I found it impressive how a psychotherapist basically rediscovered insight meditation on observing sensations. Vipassana meditation focuses on observing bodily sensations.
One difference I noticed was that the author suggests finding the words to label the problem/sensation (but not using the intellect for this), whereas in meditation you simply observe without even trying to label anything. Anyway, it was pretty interesting to read about all this from a completely different angle. I still feel that at the core all kinds of variations of observing sensations converge to the same thing. And it's reassuring to know that this actually helps people to overcome their troubles and problems. Also a very useful manual on how to listen in the second part of the book, worth coming back to.
This book does a good job of conveying the basics of focusing, and I intend to use the audiobook in the future as a guide during focusing sessions. However, it doesn't do much to justify the central claim that focusing is something that 'works', or even that it really makes any sense, and I was very skeptical of the whole idea until talking with people who took it seriously and hearing their models of what might be going on. Likewise, it wasn't until hearing a few other descriptions of how to go This book does a good job of conveying the basics of focusing, and I intend to use the audiobook in the future as a guide during focusing sessions. However, it doesn't do much to justify the central claim that focusing is something that 'works', or even that it really makes any sense, and I was very skeptical of the whole idea until talking with people who took it seriously and hearing their models of what might be going on. Likewise, it wasn't until hearing a few other descriptions of how to go about Focusing that I had any really obvious successes. Still, this book is a short, gentle, and informative introduction to Focusing, and will enable you to start exploring on your own in under an hour. I was hoping to learn something new.
It's actually very 70's, which was a time when there were many socio-political changes taking place, the questioning of authority, and rejection of 'the old-style' of doing things and thinking about things. It has that 'new-age' feel to it. I never understood how something ancient could be 'new.' But, ok, this will be new for some folks, and if it helps someone, well, that's great. I personally was disappointed.
An easy book to read, but I found it really bor I was hoping to learn something new. It's actually very 70's, which was a time when there were many socio-political changes taking place, the questioning of authority, and rejection of 'the old-style' of doing things and thinking about things.
It has that 'new-age' feel to it. I never understood how something ancient could be 'new.' But, ok, this will be new for some folks, and if it helps someone, well, that's great.
I personally was disappointed. An easy book to read, but I found it really boring and hard to stick to. I have to say too that it felt a bit elitist and presumptuous. Not to mention too often fuzzy, or maybe simplifying.
Anyway, didn't find it particularly 'brilliant.' Gendlin is an American philosopher and psychotherapist who developed ways of thinking about and working with living process, the bodily felt sense and the 'philosophy of the implicit'. Gendlin received his Ph.D. In philosophy from the University of Chicago where he also taught for many years. He is best known for Focusing and for Thinking at the Edge, two procedures for thinking with mor Eugene T. Gendlin is an American philosopher and psychotherapist who developed ways of thinking about and working with living process, the bodily felt sense and the 'philosophy of the implicit'. Gendlin received his Ph.D.
In philosophy from the University of Chicago where he also taught for many years. He is best known for Focusing and for Thinking at the Edge, two procedures for thinking with more than patterns and concepts. Source: Wikipedia.
The classic guide to a powerful technique for personal transformation Based on groundbreaking research conducted at the University of Chicago, the focusing technique has gained widespread popularity and scholarly acclaim. It consists of six easy-to-master steps that identify and change the way thoughts and emotions are held within the body. Focusing can be done virtually anywhere, at any time, and an entire “session” can take no longer than ten minutes, but its effects can be felt immediately–in the relief of bodily tension and psychological stress, as well as in dramatic shifts in understanding and insight. In this highly accessible guide, Dr. Eugene Gendlin, the award-winning psychologist who developed the focusing technique, explains the basic principles behind focusing and offers simple step-by-step instructions on how to utilize this powerful tool for tapping into greater self-awareness and inner wisdom. As you learn to develop your natural ability to “focus,” you’ll find yourself more in sync with both mind and body, filled with greater self-assurance, and better equipped to make the positive changes necessary to improve and enhance every aspect of your life.
For those of us who have to tend to the effects of complex ptsd the most difficult challenge is to connect with our own deeper felt sense of self because it carries so much pain. Yet without that connection and the experience of what flows from that there we will remain trapped always in the circularities that our minds design to keep that felt sense so distant and intangible.
The work of Gendlin represents a breakthrough in the process of therapy whereby we can work our way through these layers of entrapment, the felt sense is the only key. All the talk therapy in the world, in my experience shifts nothing, resolves nothing. Excruciating though it may be we must go through again all that set up in us so much pain for the light to become evident to us in our lives. The great benefit of this book is that a person can venture into this space of their own volition in their own way and it will unfold. There si hope here for those of us who have lived our lives in hopelessness.
This is a most interesting book. Focusing was discovered through fifteen years of research at the University of Chicago. Gendlin studied, together with a group of colleagues, why therapy so often failed to make real difference in people's lives. And in the rare cases when therapy does succeed: What is it that successful patients and therapists do?1 Seeking the answers, the researchers analyzed literally thousands of therapist-patient sessions. These studies led to several findings.
One is that differences in therapy methods mean surprisingly little. Nor does the difference lie in what the patients talk about. The difference is in how they talk.2 The purpose of the book is to teach this uncommon skill, which is called focusing. Most importantly, not only is focusing an internal act which is useful in therapy. It's also useful in approaching any problem or situation. Focusing enables you to find and change where your life is stuck.
Focusing Eugene Gendlin Free Pdf
It enables you live from a deeper place than just thoughts and feelings.3 Focusing is natural to the body, and it feels that way. There is an experience of something emerging from the body that feels like a relief and a coming alive.4 A few seem to use focusing intuitively now and then, but it is mostly unused in most people. Some people learn focusing fairly fast, while others need weeks or months.5 Focusing is a process in which you make contact with a special kind of internal bodily awareness, a felt sense.6 The felt sense is a physically sensed knowing. The body knows the whole of each of situation, vastly more aspects of it than you can think.7 A body shift is a definite physical feeling of something changing or moving within, a tight place loosening.
Often what is next for the body is not what would logically come next. Focusing is unpredictable.8 And it is something to be used every day, as part of the daily existence.9 Just getting in touch with one's feelings often brings no change. One must let a larger, wider felt sense form, which at first is unclear.10 Intellectuals like to figure things out. What is important is that the body is allowed to take the first steps. The analysis isn't effective before these steps.11 When your felt sense changes, you change—and, therefore, so does your life.12 A felt sense is a physical experience.13 Since it doesn't communicate in words, it isn't easy to describe in words. It is a deep-down level of awareness.14 An emotion is often sharp and clearly felt.
A felt sense, being larger and more complicated, is almost always unclear—at least until you focus on it.15 It bypasses your thinking mind. But when you let the felt sense form, then you can work with more than you can understand.
And when you attend to the felt sense, it will shift.16 Eugene T. Gendlin divides focusing into six main movements: 1) Clear a space. 2) Felt sense. 3) Get a handle. 6) Receive.17 To think of them as separate movements makes the inner act seem more mechanical than it is. Gendlin starts by giving the focusing instructions in a brief manual style from.
Focusing is a very boring book with some very great information in it. The author has studied people who succeed at achieving their psycho-therapeutic goals, and found that they all do what he calls focusing.
Focusing, as described in the book, is an active process you can use to get at your own non-verbal understanding of a problem. Focusing involved feeling your own feelings, but it gets deeper: to a physical sense of whatever you're thinking about. Since focusing is by nature about a non-verbal felt sense, it's difficult to describe. The author gives a six step method to first find the felt sense of an issue, then to cause it to 'shift'.
The idea is that if something is bother you, you can get a fuller understanding of it by just feeling the felt sense than by talking to yourself about it. Once you have the fuller felt-sense understanding, if you accept that felt-sense than it will change. That will allow your understanding of thing bothering you to change, and possibly give you access to new ways of dealing with it. A lot of this book reminded me of NVC, and of other formalized communication/listening styles.
There's a lot of really good insight into how people work in this book. Unfortunately, it is super boring.