Rationale
Eugene Gendlin’s first discovery in studying outcomes in therapy patients was that there was something that successful patients already did. If they were doing that process, which Gendlin named Focusing, then the relationship and environment in the therapy setting was more able to help them make progress with their challenges.
Even without learning how to do or to guide others in Focusing, we can learn principles and practices that allow our interactions and workplaces to be more Focusing-friendly, more supportive of this natural process. In these environments, more connection, understanding, and creativity occur.
Advantages of This Form of Teaching
- As a non-experiential presentation, this can be easily offered to large groups in a presentation format, with far fewer logistical requirements than experiential teaching requires.
- This allows helpers and caregivers (teachers, administrators, clergy, parents, etc.) to learn easily applicable concepts and practices even if they are unable or not yet ready to take an experiential workshop.
- Those in charge of systems have great leverage to influence the culture and processes of that system. Administrators and teachers can influence many people within those systems.
- The principles are rapidly applicable to many situations, so the benefit can be almost immediate.
- These principles act as handles for those who have had formal Focusing training, helping them hold something conceptually as well as experientially.
Disadvantages of This Form of Teaching
- One is not taught a direct bodily experience of Focusing. Learning principles can lead to thinking the process without developing a felt sense in the body.
- Focusing is much more than thinking, so simply thinking about it is limited.
- Years of training experience revealed challenges in teaching Focusing experientially with too few trainers relative to students.
- One may not reap the personal benefits of Focusing if only applying principles.
- This approach does not offer much guidance for leading another. It is more about holding space and encouraging. Sometimes more direct guidance is needed.
What This Might Look Like
(Note: This has now also become one of the modules. Several of the modules could be adopted here under Focusing Principles. They are now less distinct but better integrated.)