Your Path to Lasting Change
Live, Online Focusing Training Program
Quiet Your Mind. Calm Your Emotions. Move Forward With Your Life.
Take a moment to consider what’s holding you back from the life you want.
Do stressful conversations trigger you? Are inner critics dragging you down? Do you struggle with habits that are holding you back?
It might not seem like it, but all of these things have one thing in common: how you relate to your emotions (and really, yourself).
When you have tools to “get bigger” than your emotions, your sense of inner peace will grow and your world will expand.
With our program, you’ll gain a sense of inner peace that will help you navigate all of life’s sticky situations – from frustrating self doubt to difficult coworkers.
You’ll no longer get triggered by disagreements with your loved ones. You’ll shift your relationship with those troubling inner critics. Habits that don’t help you will start to fade away.
Your life will improve when you learn and practice a helpful process called Focusing.


Imagine this:
You walk in the door after a long, hard day.
All you want is a moment to relax, but before you can get your shoes off, your partner wants to discuss how you didn’t properly wring out the sponge that morning.
Your face gets hot and your thoughts start racing:
Do you think I’m an idiot? Why do you point out everything I do wrong?! Don’t I deserve a moment to relax?
You boil over and snap because you’re just too tired and frustrated to deal. It escalates into a full-blown fight until you go to bed not speaking to each other.
What if you had the ability to pause in stressful moments like this and find a calmer way forward?
With our live, online program, Your Path to Lasting Change, you’ll get a process to help you Quiet Your Mind, Calm Your Emotions, and Move Forward More Effectively.
“There IS something worthwhile that can be done to ease people’s suffering. Something that transforms the very fabric where people are stuck in their lives. It’s Focusing and it gives me practical hope for a better world.”
Taj
“Before taking the course, I often felt there was a giant weight bearing down on me. That left me feeling depressed, numb, and hopeless. I was constantly trying to avoid my feelings. While I still experience these feelings, I now have a way to engage with them that allows me to become bigger than they are.
“I have a process that helps me listen to my feelings instead of being overwhelmed by them. I’ve learned how to validate and empathize with my feelings so that their intensity decreases. I feel free of the oppressive weight I used to feel. The peace and calm I experience is extraordinary. There’s a saying, ‘leap and the net will appear,’ my experience is that Focusing is an extraordinary, powerful net.”
Julia T.
Have you ever experienced an inner voice that makes you feel bad?
A lot of people do. It can be downright judgmental like, “You should be better at this.” Or, “You’ll never be happy.” But it can also be subtle, like thinking you have to get everything perfect or know all the answers before you can move forward (and that can keep you from getting anywhere at all).
If self-doubt is destroying your peace of mind, Your Path to Lasting Change can help.
You’ll tame your harshest inner critics, find freedom from painful self-judgment, and find the confidence to move your life forward.
Once you learn how to shift harshness to support, you’ll create an inner sense of safety that’s unshakable, just like my student Emma did. Imagine how different life could be if your inner critics become trusted allies who root for you as you work toward the life you want…
“For the first time, with Focusing, I feel like I’m safe enough inside to feel all of my emotions. It’s so empowering for me to be able to learn how to hold myself with compassion and patience. In most practices, you need a therapist in order to get to this depth. I think one of the true strengths of Focusing is that after just a couple of courses, you have access to the process for yourself.”
Emma Gran
Do you struggle with challenging habits, like binge-watching shows on Netflix rather than finishing that book you’ve always wanted to write?
Or maybe you find yourself rooting through the refrigerator for your 4th morning snack instead of getting outside and going for a walk.
In Your Path to Lasting Change, you’ll develop the ability to tune into what really needs your attention, instead of drowning out what might seem hard with habits that…well…aren’t so great for you.
You’ll learn how to relate to the part of you that wants to check out for a while. And you’ll finally move beyond feeling stuck, release those pesky self-limiting beliefs, and make more supportive choices.
My student, Bill, did exactly that when he transformed challenging habits with Focusing…
“Since I started Focusing, my sense of continual hunger is gone! I’m down 10 lbs and still dropping. I’ve been able to restart my exercise routine. Even my media addictions are gone. And I’ve stopped buying stuff on Amazon and Ebay cold turkey.
“In a recent Focusing session, hunger came up and I was able to sit with it. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized that buying was part of the hunger. What a cool thing to discover! I’m so grateful for my Focusing companions for their contribution to these significant changes in my life!!”
Bill Kelly
If you feel like your job is overwhelming – a never-ending to-do list, looming deadlines, and your co-worker, Craig, who makes you feel perpetually incompetent – you’re not alone.
According to stress.org, 94% of American workers report experiencing stress at their workplace.
With Your Path to Lasting Change, you’ll develop the ability to pause in the midst of your chaotic day and tap into a wellspring of inner calm (that I bet you didn’t even know you had!).
When your to-do list causes your anxiety to spike, you’ll have the skills you need to pause and not be taken over by a sense of panic. You’ll know exactly how to regroup and use your time effectively. No more spending your day spinning out, getting nothing done, and feeling bad about it later.
Or the next time Craig says something that causes part of you to feel incompetent, you’ll know how to relate to that triggered part so you don’t get stuck in an old familiar rut.
Your productivity will soar and your ability to navigate tricky office dynamics will have co-workers, and your boss, singing your praises.
“In the very first class, I was wowed by how much MORE I was learning. I was being given a wealth of new information and skills. My perfectionistic demands of myself decreased significantly. Now I have more self-confidence, self-acceptance, hope, and an increased ability to stay present even in the face of big emotions or challenges. I have more curiosity and a willingness to face things I once was afraid of.”
Rebecca W., L.M.F.T.
Here’s What You’ll Get When You Join Us:
What you learn in Part One
- How to cultivate an inner environment of calm, open, curious awareness, as well as why that’s so important and what to do if you can’t
- How to create an inner relationship with what you feel so change emerges naturally without being forced
- Guidance with the various trouble-spots that can come up in the learning process
- PLUS you’ll learn the surprising reason why trying to “fix” yourself doesn’t work to bring lasting change
- What the research shows about the real key to change

What you learn in Part Two
- How to nurture positive feelings as a resource (for yourself and others)
- More ways to help yourself (or a partner) when feeling overwhelmed by strong emotional states
- A step-by-step way to build the skills to guide another person through the process, starting with your classmates
- Understanding the most typical block to Focusing: getting stuck with a “feeling about a feeling,” (eg, not liking being afraid) – and how to help yourself and others shift this experience
- How to turn things around so your inner critics are on your side
- A wider understanding of the concept of “body” and what makes our bodies so wise
- How to let go of “rules” and still do Focusing — staying true to what is essential
- Mastery of the structure of the process so you’re able to improvise
All of the skills you learn in Your Path to Lasting Change will help you Quiet Your Mind Calm Your Emotions Move Forward With Your Life.
More of the many things that Focusing can be used for:
“We often think that change has to be difficult or challenging, but Focusing has taught me it can be gentle and beautiful. The secret of Focusing is realizing you don’t have to change anything–you can just be with your emotions as they are. Before Path to Lasting Change, I didn’t have a way to teach my coaching clients how to move through uncomfortable emotions and that left me feeling impotent, pushy, and unprepared. Now, I have a method to show my clients the power of going inward in a safe, gentle way.“
Natalie Bryant
“For over 30 years I’ve been searching for effective ways to help myself and others maximize their unique potential and alleviate the distinctive suffering that manifests from living with a tricky and highly complex human mind and nervous system or more simply stated, from being human. Inner Relationship Focusing is THE most powerful, effective, and elegant human technology for individual and community well-being I’ve ever encountered. In the relatively short period of time, I’ve been engaged in Focusing both personally and in my work with clients, the shifts and openings that have occurred are astounding. My life is opening up, the well-being of my clients is expanding, and all in the context of a global pandemic. Amazing!”
Cathryn Campbell

You’re going to love Focusing partnership!
Focusing partnership is the magic that makes it easy to keep doing this powerful process as long as you need it. All you do is keep a weekly appointment that lasts about an hour. With our Focusing training, lasting change gets built into your life!
In a series of confidence-building exercises, we show you how to support another person in Focusing, and also how to receive that support. It’s not counseling. You don’t even have to know what the person is talking about. And it’s actually calming… for both people.
Here’s the coolest thing: Focusing partnership is free! Yes, we still believe in therapy; some people need it. But most of the time all we need is a friendly neutral person who gives no advice and allows us to explore what is true.
Plus, what you learn about being a good listener can help all of your relationships. With your partner/spouse, your kids, your parents, your co-workers… what you learn in the Focusing Training Program helps you be a better communicator and a calmer listener.
The result: Much less interpersonal conflict!
We so believe in the work that we do that we strive to make it easily available, regardless of the size of your pocket book. Your investment in your well-being can start with less than $250.
“What’s special about Focusing is this radical belief that we already have within us the next right step. Focusing helped me trust my process more and achieve the hoped-for results that always seemed out of reach with other programs. Now, with Focusing, I am able to reach deeper levels within myself and I trust my inner process more than before.”
Darryl Commings
Register for the Whole Focusing Training Program:
Your Path to Lasting Change, Parts One + Two
(and save $297!)
Join Us Beginning This February…
We offer 2 options for signing up.
Part 1 Only
5 payments of $225
or 1 payment of $1047
Part 1 + Part 2 Package
(save $297!)
8 payments of $240.50
or 1 payment of $1797
Registration Closes February 2, 2021
Payment plan available, displays on the last page during checkout
Your Path to Lasting Change Part One or Parts One and Two
$1,047.00 – $1,997.00
Option 1: Part One Only: February 9 to April 6
9 Tuesdays; 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM Pacific
Taught by Ann Weiser Cornell and Lucinda Hayden
Option 2: Parts One & Two: February 9 to April 6, 2021 and April 20 to June 15, 2021
18 Tuesdays; 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM Pacific
Taught by Ann Weiser Cornell, Lucinda Hayden, and Carol Nickerson
Additional Course Details
Part One Includes: 50-minute Focusing session with Lucinda Hayden | Add the Healing Professionals Track: $100 for Part One only; $200 for Parts One & Two
Registration is limited to no more than 40 participants per course.
Even More Goodness: Your Program Bonuses
As soon as you register, you’ll have immediate access to 3 program bonuses so you can get started as soon as you like.
Click Here for Information on our Payment Plans
If you’re choosing to pay by installment plan, you’ll be able to make this selection further on in the checkout process. Look for the section labeled Payplan Options (where the red arrows in the image below are pointing):
Can't Make These Dates Work?
Join our next course…
April 7 to June 2, 2021
9 Wednesdays, 10 AM course
Registration opens in February 2021
Already Taken Part One? Here’s our upcoming Path Part Two course.
Payment plan available, displays during checkout
Path Part Two is your next step if you’ve taken Your Path to Lasting Change Part One or Levels One AND Two with an Inner Relationship Focusing teacher.
Testimonials
Meet Your Teachers

Lucinda Hayden
Lucinda is a gifted, warm teacher who inspires and connects to help bring out the life-forward direction in each of her students. She has been working closely with Ann Weiser Cornell for many years. She has over 20 years of experience as a teacher and as a healing professional. She is also a world traveler with a gift for connecting with people of many cultures.

Ann Weiser Cornell
Ann Weiser Cornell, author of Focusing in Clinical Practice: The Essence of Change,The Power of Focusing, and The Radical Acceptance of Everything, has devoted her life to helping people learn Focusing easily. Ann learned Focusing from its originator, Eugene Gendlin, in 1972, and worked closely with him for years. Today Ann is internationally recognized as one of the leading innovators and theoreticians of Focusing. She has taught Focusing in over twenty countries, and her Focusing books and manuals have been translated into eleven other languages.

Carol Nickerson
Carol is a committed, empathic teacher whose priority is to meet her students where they are and to facilitate a respectful, open and attuned relationship with those she works with. Carol’s students, many of whom are helping professionals themselves, have described her as “down to earth,” “easy to be with,” and “intuitive.” Carol loves to share practical and transformative tools for personal growth and healing.
“Ann Weiser Cornell and I have been working closely together for thirty years, and she knows as much about Focusing as I do. Ann is a powerful force for good in the world.”
— Eugene Gendlin, author of Focusing
More About What People Are Saying
“I used to experience painful depressions that I felt I had little control over. I haven’t experienced depression since learning Focusing. I had trouble handling disagreement and differences of opinion. I listen to others with greater caring now, and am enjoying all my relationships more.
Before Focusing, my husband and I often had painful, confusing conflict. My marriage is now the joy that I want it to be. It used to be hard for me to know what I was feeling, because there was so much I was on the verge of knowing about myself that I was afraid to know. Now, I can turn toward all that.
I have the ability to notice feelings of all kinds, and relate to them in a friendly way that helps them relax and reveal what is important in them. I used to be very hard on myself, believing I had to be perfect, and berating myself for my failures. I now have a much more compassionate relationship with myself, owning (and cherishing) my own humanness and imperfectness.
At one point in my life, I truly thought there was something essentially defective about me. Now I feel so……well, human. And joined in that humanity by everyone else.”
Jill Drummond, Manalapan, New Jersey
“After just two courses of Focusing training I’ve discovered things about myself I’m really excited about, and I’m started to be able to do things to move forward that I’ve always wanted to do. I have been working as a coach and therapist since 1988. I took what I was learning from the very first week of the course into to my client sessions, with amazing results. I deal a lot with clients who have anxiety issues…and after 30 minutes of Focusing my clients were saying, ‘Wow, what’s that?’
Even more important is how it’s helped me. I grew up as a little boy feeling anxious, waking up in the mornings not sure what I could count on in the world. What I’ve noticed from the Focusing training is, now I can be with that aspect of myself that feels anxious. I can be with it like an old friend.
I have to say that the decision to take this course ranks up there with the best decisions in my life.”
-Roy Gould, psychotherapist and life coach, New Brunswick, Canada
“In Focusing, I have found for myself “The Something” that I have been looking for so long. Focusing is such a great gift to open and deepen the relationship to and with my inner body. Focusing opens deep hidden inner doors and lets new light shine on buried resources. I believe we can only understand ourselves as a whole in the synthesis of body and mind. Focusing is such a valuable method because I can apply it to myself as an empowered Focuser, as well as to my clients. I am very grateful to learn it step by step through the Focusing Resources courses.”
Michaela Jerusalem, Psychotherapist, MBA and Mediator, Aachen, Germany
Got Questions? We’ve Got Your Answers…
What happened to the Levels?
If you’ve heard of Focusing elsewhere, you’re probably familiar with classes called Levels One through Four. Here’s how our courses fit into that system…Your Path to Lasting Change Part One is equivalent to Levels One and Two. Your Path to Lasting Change Part Two is equivalent to Levels Three and Four. If you have questions about where to start, email Allison.
What's so different about Focusing?
Focusing goes counter to most of the messages around us. We are told how to feel, or to “get over” how we feel, and we are never ever taught about the body felt sense that is the real way through our difficulties.
Why do you feel so stuck? Why do feel like you’ve tried everything and nothing has worked? Why do you go around in circles, repeating what hasn’t worked, feeling the same emotions, and no farther along than before?
It’s not that there’s something wrong with you. I really want you to hear that! So I’m going to say it again.
It’s not that there’s something wrong with you, it’s that the whole way our modern culture is set up leaves us cut off from our bodies and our source of wisdom. And if you suffered traumatic experiences or came from a dysfunctional family (like I did), that makes it even harder to stay in touch with yourself.
Is this therapy? Coaching? Meditation? Positive visualization?
Focusing isn’t any of those things…. But it has similarities to each of them. (And can be used with those other methods to enhance their effects.)
As in therapy or coaching, you can get positive change on deeply held, long term issues, as well as releasing blocks to taking practical action. But unlike therapy or coaching, you do Focusing on your own or with partners in a free exchange. You learn a way of being that you have with you at all times, and once you learn it, it costs you nothing more.
As in meditation, Focusing has an essential quality of acceptance, and you can find greater inner peace and detachment from stressful emotional states or thoughts. But unlike meditation, Focusing is more engaged, practical, issue-oriented – being about a particular life situation.
As in positive self-talk or visualization, you can access the very best of your potential for moving forward with your life without getting stuck in negative emotions. But unlike positive self-talk or visualization, Focusing is grounded in your whole self, inclusive of all your feeling states, so you aren’t leaving out aspects of yourself that can return in a backlash later.
Do I need to be there every week?
Please plan to attend all 9 class sessions for the full time of the meeting. Missing 1-2 classes can be worked around if absolutely necessary. (There’s a process for making up what you missed.) If you miss more than 1-2 classes, you’ll need to repeat the course in order to move on to subsequent courses. Please note, missing more than 20 minutes of class counts as an absence.
How do online courses work?
All you need is a phone, tablet, or computer and a comfortable place to sit! We use Zoom, an online video conference platform, to connect you to other students and the teacher.
Before the class starts you will receive a Zoom link to use each time the class meets. You can join us via your camera-equipped computer, tablet, or smart phone. Prefer not to be on video? You can turn off your camera. Don’t want to call via computer? You can call in by phone.
Zoom is free and easy to use. You will be able to sign on in advance to make sure you can access it, but we’ve had very few problems with it. Students also receive access to an online classroom portal where course materials can be found.
What's included in each Part of this program?
- Nine two-hour meetings for a total of 18 hours of class time.
- One individual Focusing session (50 minutes) with Lucinda Hayden. (Value: $197.) Information on scheduling your individual session will be provided via email after registering. This is for Part One only.
- Your own copy of The Focusing Student’s and Companion’s Manual (value: $23), provided as a PDF file.
- Unique Focusing Exercise Sheets for every paired class exercise so you know exactly what to do to make the exercises most effective for yourself and your partner. (We innovated these Exercise Sheets and they really work.)
- Up to one hour of Focusing partnership, in between class meetings each week, to further develop your Focusing skills.
- A class roster with contact information so you can connect with your assigned partners each week to practice the skills you’re learning during class.
- Access to recordings of every class, so you’ll be able to listen again to anything you want to hear twice – or over and over again.
- An online classroom portal where you can access homework, recordings, and other important class information from any web browser.
- Email and/or phone support from the teacher and the class assistants if you have questions between the class meetings or need extra help.
What if none of your dates and times work for me?
Your Path to Lasting Change courses are offered 3 times per year starting in February, April, and October.
Can I receive Continuing Education Credits and/or a Certificate of Completion?
Each part meets the qualifications for 22 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. Focusing Resources, CAMFT Approved CE Provider #62524
Focusing Resources is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs. Focusing Resources maintains responsibility for this course and its content.
There is a $25 administrative fee for CE units. Course completion certificates are awarded at the end of the course upon completion of all requirements and the course evaluation. (If you don’t want CE units but would like a completion certificate, the $25 fee does still apply.)
Eligibility for CE units requires at least 80% live attendance. If you miss a class, it must be made up.
Cancellations, Changes & Refunds
Up to 14 days before the first day of class: Just let us know and we’ll refund your course fee. Or you can choose to apply the entire course fee towards a future class with us.
Cancellations received 13 days or fewer before class begins: No refund, sorry.
When Something Doesn't Go As You'd Hoped
When Something Doesn't Go As You'd Hoped...
We are always open to discussing experiences with our courses that didn’t work for you or didn’t go the way you expected. Depending on the circumstances, you may want to email your course instructor, the staff member in charge of your course, or Ann Weiser Cornell. Email addresses for all these people will be supplied on registration. We will work with you to find a way to meet your needs.
What if I've already taken Level One, Two, or Three?
If you took Focusing Level One from Focusing Resources in the last two years, we’ll give you a discount for taking Part One of the Your Path to Lasting Change. Just email Allison to request the repeat fee discount code.
If you’ve taken Level One and Level Two, you’re qualified to sign up for Part Two.
If you’ve taken Level Three from us in the last two years, email Allison to get a discount code for Part Two.
What additional support is included with the Healing Professionals (HP) Track?
Combined with the Focusing Training Program, our Healing Professionals Track provides additional audio and video content specifically tailored for Healing Professionals (HPs) who want to bring Focusing into their work with clients. Read more here.
Tell me more about the recordings for this course
To respect the confidentiality and privacy of our participants we do not provide video recordings of our classes. All recordings are provided as audio files.