MollieO Patrick

The Gentle Use of Power

Focusing
 
Eugene T. Gendlin, Ph.D., is the extraordinary mind behind the concepts underlying Focusing.   In the 1960s as a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago, Dr. Gendlin, working with Carl Rogers (the father of American humanistic psychology), began questioning why some clients moved through therapy and reached resolution while others seemed stuck in the process.  He consulted colleagues and found they, also, noticed specific clients who seemed to have a deeper sense of their dilemmas, which contributed to successful completion of therapy. Dr. Gendlin continued his research and labeled this “feeling” as a “ felt sense” in the center of the body.  He created a set of steps that anyone can learn to access this “felt sense” and called the process Focusing.

Dr. Gendlin is a master at finding words to express this process.  Since Focusing is entirely experiential, it often requires a trained Focuser to assist someone in learning how to bring her/his attention to this inner knowing.   Though one can focus alone it is very powerful to focus with a partner who holds the space for the process and reflects back the observations the other is verbalizing while accessing their bodily “felt sense.”

For an in-depth review of Focusing, visit the Focusing Institute's web site at http://www.focusing.org