The Focusing Basics Training Program

This a foundation course that is intended to provide a basic solid understanding of Focusing, and the ability to begin to use Focusing for yourself and with a partner. The equivalent of Level One and Level Two Inner Relationship Focusing Training, it is the prerequisite for advanced Focusing study.

The coursework includes:

History and Philosophy of Focusing
Finding and relating to a Felt Sense
The Focusing Attitude
The Inner Relationship and how to best nurture, maintain, and when necessary, heal this relationship
Empathic Listening: to facilitate your own Focusing process as well as that of another Focuser
Advanced Listening techniques to further deepen Focusing for yourself and others
Introduction to Focusing Guiding for working with those not trained in Focusing

What is included in the Focusing Basics Program?

An Individual Guided Focusing session prior to beginning the group course
The course runs for 8 weeks. Each class meets once a week, for 2 1⁄2 hours, with a short break during this time. Total class time: 20 hours
136 page Training Manual (pdf format)
Exercises & Handouts to enhance learning
Classes will be recorded and links to recordings provided
To optimize learning, classes limited to maximum 10 participants per course
Time in each class for questions & answers
Email support between class meetings

Total Time Commitment

One hour for Initial Guided Focusing session with Trainer
20 hours class time
Focusing practice between class sessions- this is up to trainee. Suggested minimum of one hour week to optimize learning
Minimal reading assignments- Estimated to be under 30 minutes/week

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the goal of this program?

Participation in the program will provide you with a basic understanding of Focusing, and the ability to use Focusing by yourself and with a partner. The understanding you gain about Focusing will positively affect other aspects of your life.

The course is the prerequisite for advanced Focusing study.

Additionally, participation in this course makes you eligible for The International Focusing Institute’s Proficiency as Focusing Partner award.

Just what is Focusing?

The short answer is that Focusing is a tool to help us find what is alive in us. It is distinguished from other forms of inner relationship approaches to healing and growth by the felt sense, the body’s way of manifesting the gestalt of some issue. For those who might like a longer answer, please read on.

Focusing is a process of allowing what is true for us, at levels deeper than what might immediately bubble up into conscious awareness. We do this by becoming aware of our bodies – of what wisdom, or truth, is literally embodied within us.

Finding what is alive in us doesn’t necessarily mean what is happy and vibrant, but rather, what it is that is actually living within us. Some of what is living within us could actually be sapping our vitality, while other aspects could have the potential of bringing more aliveness into our lives than we might ever have imagined.

Focusing is an art in which we become aware that reality holds much more possibility and beauty than we might have believed. With Focusing we no longer see one, or two, or more aspects of ourselves as who we are. Rather, we begin to understand that the truth of who we are is so much more vast, so much more exciting, so much more alive than we had previously suspected.

Focusing involves a shift in our typical way of thinking and feeling – our tendencies to put ourselves, to rush, to try to make things happen. We must slow down, and pause. With the usual pace of our lives we miss much that is precious. As one colleague put it, “Focusing is a process that takes us much more deeply into life.”

Focusing offers a safe space, a container that at times can feel womb-like, where what is true can begin to emerge into consciousness. To Focus requires that we be able to make space for what is true for us now, in the present moment.

Are there prerequisites to participating in this program?

No, the course is intended for beginners, and those who wish an in-depth review of the basics. The only precondition is that the private Guided Focusing session with the trainer be scheduled and completed prior to the start of the course. This session is included in the fee for the program.

Who can benefit from this program?

The program is open to both laypeople and healing professionals (Therapists, Coaches, Body Workers and other Healing Arts professionals.) Anyone with a sincere interest in personal growth and healing who is willing to make a commitment to the program can benefit from it.

What time is this in my time zone?

Please use the world clock to figure out exactly what time 10 am – 12:30 pm Eastern U.S. Time is where you live. Feel free to email me for help with
this.

How does this course correspond to other Inner Relationship Focusing Courses?

The course is equivalent to an integration of Levels One and Two.

What is the next step after this course?

This course will allow you to have your own Focusing practice, and to use Focusing in your daily life and work. It will provide a foundation of knowledge and skills that are invaluable on their own, and form an excellent foundation for those wishing to use Focusing in a professional capacity.

For those wishing to further deepen their understanding of Focusing, and to learn skills needed to integrate Focusing into their coaching, psychotherapy, or other healing practice, the next step is the Intermediate – Advanced Focusing Training.

When will the next Intermediate – Advanced Focusing Training be offered and what will it include?

For the exact dates of the next Advanced Focusing, please see the main page describing the Core Focusing Training. This course meets weekly for 8 sessions of 2 ½ hours each. The program includes an 8 week course, supervised consultation time within the class sessions, The Advanced Focusing Training Manual, which contains additional exercises and articles. The fee is the same as for the Focusing Basics Program.

What, specifically, will be taught in the Basics Training?

In the first half course you will learn the basics of Focusing. With these, you will:

understand what Focusing is and how it can benefit your life
learn what a felt sense is and how to find one
learn how to listen within
be able to Focus by yourself and with a partner
learn how to be a supportive listener to someone who is Focusing in a way that will deepen their Focusing.

In the second half of the course you will deepen your skills as a Focusing companion for yourself and others. In this part you will:

become more competent in your own Focusing
learn advanced empathic listening techniques
begin to learn guiding techniques to help to deepen the Focuser’s process, and to work with those not yet trained in Focusing
learn how to prevent overwhelm
learn how to work with the inner critic
learn how to create a deeper, more nurturing inner relationship for yourself and for your Focusing partner.

Will there be time for practice during the classes?

Yes! The experiential dimension is an important part of the course. In addition, classes will include lectures, demonstrations, and discussion.

Competencies (Objectives)

I. The Ability to Focus

Understanding that Focusing is an inner relationship.
Ability to bring awareness into the body, especially the torso area.
Being able to find a felt sense about an issue.
Know how to find a felt sense without specifying the issue in advance. (What wants my awareness now?)
Knowing that a felt sense is different from an emotion and from mental activity.
Being able to hold an accepting attitude toward inner experience, or to notice when you can’t be accepting.
Knowing what to do when you can’t hold a facilitating attitude.
Being able to acknowledge your inner experience.
Being able to find a “right” distance if something is too close.
Being able to describe a felt sense.
Being able to check or resonate the description with the body sense, and to check other meanings that come.
Being able to sit with the felt sense with a curious, interested attitude, and ask it questions if necessary, and then to wait for the answers to arise from within.
Being able to receive new and positive awareness when it comes.
Knowing about the commonest blocks to Focusing, such as when you have something inside that is being critical, doubting, fearing, fixing, imposing, forcing a choice, or in some way attempting to manipulate the process rather than simply being with what is there and being able to recognize and acknowledge this when it comes.
Being able to create a “fence” around what has come in order to protect it.
Being able to Focus alone, and knowing techniques to enhance this.

II. The Ability to Listen (Basic)

Being able to be deeply present with another person who is Focusing.
Being able to give listening reflections, some word-for-word and some paraphrasing, without asking questions, leading, or interpreting.
Being aware that the Focuser is in charge of the Focusing/listening exchange
Including the Focuser in the reflection (i.e. “You’re sensing,” “You’re realizing.”)
Being able to help the Focuser to “dis-identify” (i.e. By using “a part of you,” or “something in you.”)
Being able to notice when something inside you is in the way of being able to listen to a Focuser, and knowing what to do about this.
Knowing how to be present to oneself and to inwardly acknowledge one’s own feelings while listening to another.

III. The Ability to take part in a Focusing partnership

As a Focuser:

Ability to let a Listener know how you would like to be listened to.
Being able to use listening responses to check what has come inside.
Understanding how to give feedback to a listener, to say when a listening response is not right or only partly right, and to use that not-quite-right to sense what is right instead.
Being able to have a successful experience of focusing partnership.

As a Listener:

Having the awareness that the Focuser is in charge of the Focusing/Listening exchange.

IV. The Ability to Listen (Advanced)

Being able to respond to what true for the Focuser in present rather than past time.
Responding to what’s there rather than what’s not there.
Not reflecting doubts or what’s not known.
Using “something” to respond to what’s not yet specified.

Ruth Hirsch