January 15, 2019

I teach Focusing because it is the most direct route I have found to experiencing peace and positive momentum in my life and as a way to contribute to the conscious evolution of life. I teach by building community because it is my experience that all of this is easier and we are more powerful, when we join together.

I see the future as a WE movement. I have a felt sense image that came to me about a year ago of a huddle within myself. Picture amorphous bodies shoulder to shoulder, arms holding each other, all gently bouncing, almost like a slow dance, from tears to joyous laughter, they are a team. As a team they share the wealth of experiences that come their way, anything from deep sadness and shame to joyous celebrations.

This image arose from a stalemate where something in me wanted to be sure I was moving forward from a place of honoring the past. In his Process Model theory, Gendlin reassures us that nothing moves forward without including the past. In this felt sense shift within me, the way my body found to do this is to form these huddles where everyone says “we are in THIS together in THIS way!” Parts of me that used to carry a burden of reminding me about the past, are no longer alone. The burden is integrated among all of those in the huddle and is no longer a burden as such.

Here are some of my shoes, demonstrating a huddle…interestingly, most of these are no longer in my closet. I changed shoe style significantly in the past year or so.

Since then, I have experienced this same image briefly several times in Focusing experiences. The particular THIS can be whatever within me is ready for this kind of being together around an issue. Each time I understand that all of this here that I am holding space for, all of these parts, all of these neurons reaching into this huddle, are now united together in what I understand as the “huddle kind of way”.

And how does changing myself from within contribute to the conscious evolution of life? To begin with, if I am a more peaceful being, this radiates out around me as more peaceful actions and benefits my immediate environment. Most of us can understand and wrap around this. The potential of Focusing is much bigger than this though. Gendlin’s Process Model theory explains how what moves within us can be much bigger than us. Some of our Floyd Focusers have these types of Focusing experiences where they know this extends far beyond our current life experience. They may hold space for these developments over a long period of time. Gendlin, discussing Direct Referent formation in “A Process Model”, Chapter 8a, page 238 “For some seconds or minutes sometimes months, the falling out does not occur. It is nothing like turning and reflecting on what is there waiting. It is a very special formation. When it falls out, every bit of that sequence is exactly what the previous bit required, and the object made by that sequence is a perfect feedback object.”

I think where I am getting to here is this. If you have dreamed of being part of creating a more conscious human being, keep practicing. Follow your body; it will lead the way. Developing your Focusing skills is a good skill to have up your sleeve for yourself and the greater world in ways we are just beginning to understand.