Focusing – Developing an Open, Phenomenological and Embodied Approach to Self and Other
Friday 26 June 2020 - A Live Webinar
Led by Frank Bock, Sandy Gee and Dr Greg Madison
This workshop explores the therapeutic and personal advantages of including an experiential dimension in psychotherapy sessions by incorporating the practice of Focusing. Originating in the philosophical work of the Rogerian-influenced American philosopher, Eugene Gendlin, this approach aims to go beyond technique, objectification and diagnosis in order to practice therapy as a person-to-person relationship with existential and embodied depth.
READ MORE...This workshop will be of interest to practitioners who are interested in developing a personal practice that has the potential to deepen self-insight and qualities of openness while taking these into our work as practitioners. During the day we will thus explore our own experiences, and those that arise in the therapy session, working towards a therapeutic practice that is a gentle, phenomenological and a more grounded approach than those based purely on theory. Focusing – in contrast to other modalities – begins with the practitioner’s living process, bodily felt sense and an awareness of the implicit in relationship.
The day is designed to proceed at a gentle pace with opportunities for private experiential exploration. Participants are encouraged to take part in a way that feels right to them and there will be many ways to explore the process, while respecting personal differences and sensitivities.
FULL PROGRAMME
09.30
Registration and Coffee
10.00
Experiential Introduction to Focusing – Part I
This session will offer an experiential introduction to the natural bodily process called Focusing. We will gently touch into our own experience in order to notice how the body is a process with particular qualities. We will work with questions of how change happens, what helps and hinders concrete change, what is the role of the therapeutic relationship in change and how the body synthesises more information than we can be aware of cognitively.
11.15
Coffee
11.45
Experiential Introduction to Focusing – Part II
The second session will introduce the simple yet profound method of experiential listening. We will learn ways of being with another person that enhances the depth of their experiencing, emphasising specific forms of listening and how to hold the space for experience to deepen. We will use discussion and possible demonstrations to explore how listening is an integral part of bodily process, whether listening to oneself or to another person.
13.00
Lunch
14.00
Three Simultaneous Workshops with Frank Bock, Sandy Gee and Dr Greg Madison
The large group will be split into three smaller groups for an opportunity to deepen learning of the Focusing technique and how the learnings can be integrated into therapeutic sessions. The workshops will include demonstration, discussion and respectful experiential work.
15.45
Tea
16.00
Listening to Your Experiences of the Day
This will be an opportunity to debrief personal experiences if wanted, to ask questions and to integrate the impact of Focusing into therapeutic sessions.
17.00
End