Treasure Maps to the Soul

Do you ever wonder how to get beyond your toughest life issues? You know, the ones you think will never change – even though they are directly in the way of living the life you want to live?

Those would be the places in your life where you’re stuck, frustrated, self-critical – or where you’ve given up and resigned yourself to being less than you could be. You long to write, or make music… but you don’t. You step around piles of unorganized papers, telling yourself you’ll get organized someday… but you don’t. You wish you could make a clear decision to change – your job, your habits, your living place – but you don’t. And the inner criticizing and distraction and escaping seem to have moved in to stay.

You’ve tried everything you can think of – even Focusing – and it hasn’t budged. You feel you need something more – something like “Focusing Plus” – Focusing plus a way to zero in on the difficult areas, a way to deal with the accumulated critics and escape artists, a way to find your strength and wholeness so you have it with you from the start to help you deal with the tough stuff.

Well, “Focusing Plus” exists. We call it Treasure Maps to the Soul.

Workshop dates and how to register

We (Ann & Barbara) developed Treasure Maps to the Soul because we had to – we each had huge life issues sitting in our way. For Ann, it was drinking addictively, secretly, even while being a respected Focusing teacher. For Barbara, it was depression and low self-worth so severe that thoughts of suicide occurred – even though she was a successful graphic artist and Focusing teacher. We both had action blocks all over the place – things we didn't do even though we needed to do them. And for both of us there were longings, unfulfilled desires, that haunted our lives.

The precipitating event was Ann’s realization that she had to quit drinking – on September 15, 1994. The shock of that, just as we were about to teach three workshops together, threw us into a series of intensive Focusing sessions, taking notes furiously after every one.

The Focusing process as we had known it until then wasn't enough to handle the depth and complexity of the issues we were dealing with. But rather than going to some other method, we reached into the roots of Focusing, and into what we could carry forward from those roots. Almost immediately, people started to ask us to teach them what we were discovering. The first Treasure Maps to the Soul workshop was in 1995, and we’ve been offering them three or four times a year ever since. Every time we teach, more develops, theoretically and practically – until by now we have a highly sophisticated set of methods, solid theoretical foundations, and smoothly empowering teaching methods.

We are talking about real change here. Not just being how you are now but without your problems, but actually bringing forth the vital aspects of your energy that have been bound up and exiled by the struggles. Imagine: Living life as your whole self!

Workshop dates and how to register

We haven't written a book. (But we have written an article .) We don't teach it by phone. The only way to get Treasure Maps to the Soul is to take our six-day retreat. The retreat is designed so you get the process for yourself, to take home with you, to keep deepening the transformation.

Just one thing: because we work at an advanced level, everyone who comes needs to be experienced already in Focusing and Focusing partnership. That means a minimum of Level Two (and the more Levels the better – this work has been called "grad school for Focusing"!). Participant numbers range from 15-26, and numbers are limited to provide the most facilitative experience to participants.

The six-day retreat is structured as a journey into deeper and deeper contact with yourself. We build up the process step by step, with safety and support for your inner work. We demonstrate, and then you will work in pairs, using our protocols to support your process. After each paired session you’ll return to the whole group to share what you learned and ask questions. As one recent participant put it, it's nearly as exciting to see the change in other people as it is to feel it in yourself!

Workshop dates and how to register