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"Ann Weiser Cornell approaches Focusing with both moment-by-moment sensitivity and years of depth. This is one of the most profound therapeutic techniques of which I am aware, and may even be said to be the basis of all good therapy.”
– Jeffrey Mishlove, author of The Roots of Consciousness and host of TV and radio show “Thinking Allowed” www.mishlove.com

“I have included Ann Weiser Cornell’s Focusing work in Intuition Training classes with excellent results. I see the Focusing technique as an invaluable tool for serious students of the inner life (particularly psychic/intuitive training).”
– Helen Palmer, author of The Enneagram

“What I probably liked most of all was your observation that the essence of Focusing is your relationship with yourself, being gentle and compassionate with yourself (the Focusing attitude). And of course the reason I liked this is that it is a perfect fit with my experience. While I certainly have gifts of the Focusing process leading to new meaning, these are occasional treasures. The moment-to-moment living in the present with kindness and acceptance is perhaps the greatest benefit I (and consequently those around me) have derived from Focusing.”
– Carole G. Pentony

• What is Focusing?
• What do people use Focusing for?
• Where did Focusing come from: who developed it?
• What is the philosophy or guiding principle behind Focusing?
• How would I start learning Focusing?
• What happens in an individual Focusing session?
• I’m hesitant to tell someone I’ve never met my deepest secrets on the phone.
• Do phone sessions really work as well as in person sessions?
• One Focusing session, or many?
• Is this like seeing a therapist?
• Is this like working with a life coach?

 

Links to topics addressed in Ann Weiser Cornell's Free Weekly Tips E-Newsletter (to receive future tips, use the email list sign-up form at left):

• Feeling "Too Much"

• Feeling "Too Little"

• Images and Focusing

• Images and Focusing, Part Two

• Does the Right Choice Feel Better?

• Focusing and Anxiety

• Focusing and the Mind

• Why Focusing with a Partner is Important

• Focusing and Old Emotional Wounds

• Focusing and Addictions

• The Urge to Get Rid of Your Feelings

• Focusing and Emotional Pain

• When "Nothing" is Happening...

• I'm Being With It... Now What?

• Focusing in Afghanistan

• When You Get Distracted While Focusing

• When You Don't Like What You Feel

• When You Feel Stuck

• When the Tears are Too Close

• When You're Afraid of What You Might Find

• How Do I Get Calm Enough to Start Focusing?

• How Do I Start Focusing without Awkwardness?

• How Can We Use Focusing in Group Settings?

• More About Using Focusing in Group Settings

• When We Want Change Too Much

• Focusing with Specific Issues

• When Something is Hiding

• Having a Hard Time Staying on Track

• Focusing with Weight Issues

• Focusing and Meditation

• Can Focusing be Used to Avoid Action?

• Focusing with Decisions

• Focusing & Health

• Is the Critic Really Positive?

• "How Can I Give My Daughter Some Focusing Insights?"

• "How Can I Focus Alone?"

• "How Do I Start with Nothing There?"

• "How Do You Present Focusing to a Client...?"

• Focusing with Elusive Feelings

• Using Focusing with Depression

• Using Focusing with Bodywork Clients

• "How can Focusing be used to transform our relationships?"

• What's the Difference Between Being a Focusing Partner and Being a Therapist?

• The Spiritual Path of Focusing

• Sharing Focusing with People in My Daily Life

• Does Being With an Experience Naturally Bring Change?

• "What if I want to kill this person?"

• "Is that the felt sense?"

• Feelings We Don't Know the Reason For

• The Relationship between Presence and the Felt Sense

• "It seems there is not enough time."

• Focusing with "Psychosomatic" Illness

• Focusing and Yoga

• "... a sensation of being detached..."

• Was that image just distracting me?

• "How often should I do Focusing?"

• "I seemingly have two distinct experiences with Focusing."

• Parts and Wholeness

• Focusing and Falling Asleep

• Focusing and Hypnotherapy

• The Felt Sense is Always the Difference
• The Felt Sense is Not the Usual Emotions
• Getting Unstuck
• When You Get Sleepy During Focusing
• When Something Won't Move
• Why It's Important to Feel the Whole Thing
• What About Feelings in the Face and Neck?

• Does meditation exile part of us?
• "I feel awkward saying Hello to something I know is me."

• The Inner Child and Focusing
• Focusing When You Already Feel Good

• Focusing with Intense Pain
• Focusing with Tough Places Focusing Alone
• Is There Such a Thing as a "Sensitive Person"

• Scary Part or Scared Part?

• Protecting the Focusing Space

• Focusing vs. The Law of Attraction

• Focusing and Panic Attacks
• Focusing with Intimate Partners

• Holding All of Me, Including that Part of Me...

• Are You Being Gentle with Yourself?
• Can I Say 'No' to My Parts?
• Focusing with Traumatic Memories

• Feeling "Burdened, Guilty, and Ugly"
• The Wanted Feeling in Every Part
• "My Whole Body Became Like Stone"

• Focusing with Chronic Holding Patterns
• When Lots of Things Come at the Start
• Using Focusing at a Planning Meeting

• An Action Block that Won't Shift
• Emotions that are Hard to be in Presence With

• Focusing with Anxiety about Too Much to Do

• More About Getting Unblocked

• A Message from Presence

• Working with Parts, Comparing Focusing to IFS

• Working with Long-Standing Issues

• What's Mind Got to Do with It?

• How we "know" what we don't know

• Focusing and Life Purpose

• The Purpose of Focusing

• Using Focusing in Psychotherapy

• How to Trust the Inner Voice
• Does a Felt Sense Have an Opposite?
• Nagging Thoughts When You're Not Focusing

What is Focusing?
Focusing is a special way of paying attention to yourself, so that you sense the whole way you are feeling about situations or issues in your life. This is different from just having emotions or just getting in touch with feelings. Focusing involves having a different kind of relationship with emotions and feelings. It’s as if you are becoming your own good listener. The result is greater calm, wiser choices, and a deeper sense of connection to your own life and being.

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What do people use Focusing for?
Focusing has a very wide range of uses, from enhancing your creativity to improving your thinking ability. Focusing can enhance and deepen every part of your life. The uses of Focusing that we specialize in include:
• releasing blocks to action
• making clear decisions
• knowing what you really feel and want
• getting in touch with your life purpose
• releasing emotional burdens
• transforming inner critics
• nurturing a sense of self worth
• being present to your life

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Where did Focusing come from: who developed it?
Focusing was discovered when Professor Eugene Gendlin of the University of Chicago researched the question: “Why is psychotherapy helpful for some people, but not others?” He and his colleagues studied tapes of hundreds of therapy sessions and made a fascinating and important discovery: successful therapy clients had a vague, hard-to-describe inner awareness, a bodily felt sense about their problems. Paying attention to the felt sense in specific ways proved to be a key component of successful psychological change. Gendlin discovered how to teach this skill, which he called Focusing.

       For more about Eugene Gendlin and his Focusing Institute click here.

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What is the philosophy or guiding principle behind Focusing?
The Focusing process is based on a radical philosophy of change: that there is no need to do anything to what you are feeling in order to experience transformation. Instead, when we understand that feelings are in process, we realize that acknowledgement and Presence are what is needed for natural change.
       Click here for an article about this.

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How would I start learning Focusing?
We recommend starting with an individual session, which can be done in person or on the phone. After that, many people go on to take the Level One Focusing workshop, which can get you started immediately on using Focusing in your life. Most of our other workshops have the Level One workshop as a prerequisite.

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What happens in an individual Focusing session?
When you have an individual Focusing session, you will be guided through the Focusing process by a skilled and experienced Focusing teacher. The most important purpose of the session is for you to actually experience what Focusing feels like. You are also welcome to ask questions about how you can apply Focusing after the session.

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I’m hesitant to tell someone I’ve never met my deepest secrets on the phone.
Of course!
In a guided Focusing session, in person or on the phone, you will not be asked to tell anything about your life issues. We concentrate on the process itself, not the details of your life. If you want to tell a little bit, to set the stage so to speak, you are welcome to do so, and anything you say will be held as confidential. But there is no requirement to tell anything.

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Do phone sessions really work as well as in person sessions?
We were doubtful about that, too, at first... and after doing one-to-one phone sessions for more than 15 years, we can say that there seems to be no difference in the benefits that people receive, whether on the phone or in person.

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One Focusing session, or many?
That’s up to you. One session is typically enough to prepare you for a Level One Focusing class, although in a few cases people may need two or three sessions. If you would like to continue to have sessions to support your Focusing process, perhaps to work on some particular areas of life that need extra time and care, this is something that people often do. The number of sessions, the frequency, and when you start and stop are completely up to you.

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Is this like seeing a therapist?
We are happy that more and more therapists are incorporating Focusing in their sessions with clients. [Therapists: learn more about how to do this]

However, receiving guided sessions from a Focusing professional isn’t the same as therapy. Here are some of the ways you might find it different from many kinds of therapy:
• You will not be asked to disclose details or history about the issues you’re working on
• You will not be diagnosed, analyzed, or given advice about your life situations
• You are the sole decider of whether and when to have more sessions, and whether and when to stop having sessions
• The emphasis is on your relationship with yourself

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Is this like working with a life coach?
Again, we’re pleased that more and more life coaches are incorporating Focusing in their work with clients.

However, you’ll probably find that Focusing sessions are different from life coaching in most of the following ways:
• You will not be asked questions.
• Your Focusing guide will not help you set goals or remind you of your goals. (If you want to use your sessions to set goals, you are of course welcome to do so, but that would be initiated by you)
• There is no homework or assigned work between sessions

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