Six Steps of Focusing

The Six Steps of Focusing

Eugene T. Gendlin PH.D 

1- Clear the Space

2- The Felt Sense

3- Finding a Handle

4- Resonating

5- Asking

6- Receiving

What the heck does this mean? Let’s do some decoding. First take a few breaths and feel your feet on the ground. Get comfortable, is there anything that will make your body happier? Do you have to get a drink of water, a snack? Maybe visit the restroom?

Bring your attention inside yourself and feel your body. Where does it begin and where does it end? Scan your insides? Maybe there is a lot going on, it may feel chaotic or you may feel numb. No Judgements, just take stock of the overall feeling of everything. You may want to start clearing a space for yourself by either stacking the worries and moving them to the sides of your inner laboratory. If you are disconnected from yourself, try making some small movements of your body like wiggling your toes and fingers, or change the rhythm and cadence of your breath. Take a moment, scan the body again. 

Hone in on the part of your inner landscape that calls you. It may be an icky, bogged down feeling, it may be a numb spot. Just settle in and sense the part that is asking you for attention. 

It will be obvious to you. There may even be a few places, however, one of them will be nice and loud. Focus on that one first and tell the other ones that you will get to them in time.

Spend a few moments listening, what does that feeling look like? What does it have to say? Is there a word, is there an image, is there a smell or a sound? 

Any type of communication from your subconscious is welcome. Once something comes up, invite it to play with you. Say the word and compare it to the feeling, hold the image in your head and let it transform, just be with the vehicle of communication until it shifts a little bit.

Once you have felt a shift in the energy, ask it if it needs anything else from you. It may want some rest or you to pay attention to it more in the future.  It make ask you to fulfill an agreement. Do you best to give it what it needs and if you can not do it now, make an effort to live up to your promise and carve some space out for it at a later date. Make sure to follow up here, it is not a good practice to leave yourself hanging and not fulfill promises to yourself, it is like a small child and it needs to know that it can trust you.

Last step, Is there anything else that you need to know before you end the session? Remember to have gratitude and respect for this energy and to acknowledge it before closing the exercise.

Maybe put your hands on your heart to express gratitude, anything that feels right to do works well.

Exhale.

I like to say a little prayer here and bless the energies in me and give them up to something bigger then myself. I envision a path of light spreading out in front of me to continue traveling towards health.