In Eugene Gendlin’s writing, he points to how we can live differently when we live in a way informed by our felt sense. This blog uses both his practice of Focusing and his second practice, Thinking at the Edge or TAE, to share ways we can discover via our felt sense, the ways we want live or create.

This blog covers three ways that you can improve your Focusing partnerships, including by asking for what you need as the Focuser, being clear with your boundaries as the listener. The advice is inspired by Dr. Janet Klein’s Interactive Focusing, as well as by Gendlin’s words.

How we listen can greatly affect the interaction we have with the other person we are connecting with. Here are five ways to increase safety while listening which ultimately can allow for more flow in experiences (felt shifts!) or generative conversations.

The inclusion of heart energy or self-compassion during the receiving step adds a new element to the focusing attitude. In order to maximize its benefits, it is helpful to activate this energy at the beginning of a focusing session, so we have it online when we get to the felt sense of an issue.

Three points that gave me clarity on Gendlin Focusing book. Some thoughts to better understand what is a handle, how we get felt shifts, and the importance of the focusing attitude.

An overview of the research on Focusing, including where bodily responses have been measured directly (e.g. galvanic skin response) and using qualitative research (e.g. experiencing scale).

We can experience a shift by expressing something for the first time. However, after a while, Gendlin says that “discharging it over and over won't help. We need the felt sense of the wider context to form, and lead to new emotions that have not yet formed, and we need the series of steps that can come from a felt sense.”

A really powerful and personal way to find calm is to visit a memory of a time we have felt this way in real life. For many, this is a time in nature. This blog explores ways to achieve calm, and what to do if finding calm is elusive.

Focusing and meditation are two different practices that complement each other. While they have many similarities, they have a different effect on the body and the mind. For example, in Focusing one experiences a felt shift.