Focusing Tip #472
“I have a shift and release…but maybe 10 minutes later, the same feeling comes up again.”
Kathleen writes:
Sometimes when I Focus, I sense into the feeling and work through the Focusing steps, and I have a shift and a sense of release. Then, maybe ten minutes later, the same feeling comes up again just as strong as it did the first time. Then I Focus again…yet it may come up again later that day. Does it make sense to keep going back to Focusing or would it be better to let it rest for a while?
Dear Kathleen:
As you say, there is often in Focusing a sense of release, that we call “a shift.” We get a deeper breath, and body tightness relaxes. But in one session there can be many such shifts.
It sounds like, in your case, the shift and sense of release was not the end of the process. More was needed, as we can tell by what happened next.
It could be that more time was needed in the Focusing session. Maybe next time, after you receive the shift and release, you could wait a bit. You could sense again freshly in the same place, like you’re asking, “How is it now?”
You might get the feeling coming back. It’s not that the shift didn’t happen. The shift said, “You’re right, you understood me that far.” The feeling coming back says, “That much was right, but there is more.”
So the process itself leads the way…