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"The Focusing technique has helped me bypass the machinations of mind and take me directly to the cause of disquiet. I began one session aware of a mild headache and 40 minutes later was crying from grief, missing my late mother. 

I had not been aware of missing her.  

As a facilitator in this process, Jonathan is extraordinary.  It is a most personal journey and he is at once present and invisible during the experience.   With complete concentration he keeps me focused on sensations, gently inquiring, guiding, and always conveying deep respect. 

The sessions are successful and Jonathan is absolutely the Best." 

- Catherine F.

Focusing comes from the pioneering work of psychologist and philosopher Eugene Gendlin at the University of Chicago, where he collaborated with Carl Rogers.  He and colleagues studied why some psychotherapy clients improved while many others did not. It was found that successful therapy was not determined by the therapist's technique, orientation or the kind of problem being discussed. 

What did make a difference was what the client was doing internally.

Successful clients were regularly checking inside themselves for a whole bodily felt sense of their situation. These findings led to much further research in the last fifty years and to exact understandings about how this process works.

More than just being in touch with your feelings, Focusing cultivates wakefulness and a sense of being vibrantly alive and at home in your body.

You Might Be Interested in Focusing If:

• You have challenging issues you’d like to address such as anxiety, depression, anger, addiction, lack of creativity and intimacy.
• You are looking for a therapeutic modality that is fully integrated with a path of spiritual awakening.
• You sense the limitations of 'talk therapy' and want to engage into a modality that is more ‘embodied’ and energetically dynamic in nature.
• You want to explore applying mindfulness practices to deep transformational work.

Focusing can help you to:

• Develop the capacity for radical self-acceptance.
• Heighten the mind/body connection and open to a more full experience of aliveness and vitality.
• Transform “enemies” like self-criticism and confusion into powerful allies.
• Make decisions and solve problems more creatively.
• Overcome procrastination, perfectionism and the need to control.
• Access the rich inner life that is obscured by repetitive thoughts and feelings
• Become a better, more emotionally attuned partner, coworker parent and friend.
• Learn to trust your body and it’s wisdom so you know what you really feel and want.

My Training

I have trained with Robert Lee, Phd, who has developed the modality of Domain Focusing and is a lead trainer in the Focusing community.

Please check my bio and training page for more on my background in mind /body modalities and as a teacher and trainer.

My Experience in Focusing

I first learned about Focusing in 1982.  I'd just moved into the Kripalu Yoga Ashram at the age of 25 after teaching in a University in West Africa for two years and traveling on my bike in Africa and Europe.  I'd been an avid practitioner of meditation and yoga since I was 15 and was passionate about learning more about consciousness and this 'mind/body connection' thing.

The small book by Eugene Gendlin entitled Focusing fell into my hands.  The book explored how as we pay attention to the 'felt sense' of the body, particularly when we are aware of feeling less than great, those sensations, if we continue to stay engaged in a curious and spacious way, can result in a 'felt shift' - a sense of letting go, of relaxation or insight.

The writing was very simple and I played around with a few issues that were kicking around in my life at that time.  Within a short period of experimentation I felt an almost magical sense of relief and release.

I went on to apply Gendlin's teachings in my career as a teacher of yoga, meditation and as a mind/body therapist.  Decades later, when I moved down to Washington, DC and immersed myself ever-deeper into the world of mindfulness (Vipassana) meditation, I could not help but make a deeper connection to the amazing matrix of sensation and awareness.

My formal training in Focusing has been rich and expansive.  I remain thrilled at the results people find through this modality.  Perhaps what excites me the most is the fact that this is more than just a ‘fix’ for working with problematic issues.  This is a training that profoundly enhances both the quality of attention and quality of compassion we bring into our lives.

To learn more about Focusing

The Focusing Institute is perhaps the best source for related information, articles, trainings, process models and inspiration.