Focusing is best learned through practicing focusing. So we try to get you to a point where you can do focusing with minimal guidance from a companion. Right now most of the initial training is done by Andy Hoover. Andy studied with Gene Gendlin in Chicago in the 70's and with Ann Weiser in a couple of classes on how to teach Inner Relationship Focusing. He has been doing focusing for about 30 years and been involved in at least a dozen ongoing focusing partnerships over the years. Ideally, you would have a chance to observe focusing sessions and a chance to ask questions afterward. We would then give you some initial instruction and guide you through the process a number of times until you feel comfortable guiding yourself. This initial training seems to work best one on one or one on two as it gives people a better opportunity to ask questions and to proceed at their own pace. Once you feel comfortable guiding yourself, and get some experience being a companion to someone else who is focusing, we would encourage you to practice regularly with other people. That may mean working with a focusing partner of your own choosing or joining our ongoing practice group. It may seem contradictory to teach you to guide yourself so that you can practice with another person, but focusing is much easier to do with another person, even if they don't say anything at all and only give you their undivided attention.
There are a lot of different approaches to teaching focusing. If we could be said to follow an approach, it would be Ann Weiser's Inner Relationship Focusing. Most of our group have listened to her CD on Inner Relationship focusing. As companions we try to monitor the relationship that the focuser has to their issue and felt sense.
There are a lot of different approaches to teaching focusing. If we could be said to follow an approach, it would be Ann Weiser's Inner Relationship Focusing. Most of our group have listened to her CD on Inner Relationship focusing. As companions we try to monitor the relationship that the focuser has to their issue and felt sense.