Mission Statement
The mission of New York Metro Focusing is to embody and carry forward the practice of Focusing and the philosophy that supports it as developed in the work of Eugene Gendlin and others.   

By holding regularly scheduled meetings, NY Metro Focusing will offer members of this local geographic community ongoing opportunities to connect, share and grow in their appreciation and practice of Focusing.  

The group will welcome newcomers by offering them an opportunity to learn about the life-enhancing practice of Focusing.  In this way, NY Metro Focusing will help to engender a thriving and visible presence for the practice of Focusing in the New York Metropolitan area.                                 

NEW YORK METRO FOCUSING: AN EMERGENT FOCUSING COMMUNITY

The vision of a new local Focusing community emerged for New York's Cynthia Callsen in 2007 out of a Focusing training project assignment and was articulated at the Focusing Institute’s Certification Weeklong that year. Titled "Bringing into Being a Living Focusing Body", the sense of the whole was that this local Focusing Body would be a living, breathing manifestation of the practice of Focusing and its underlying philosophy. Not a 'Changes' Practice group, not training, not a workshop, but rather a place that would hold all of this diversity and more—an anchoring to steady the inner life of the local Focusing community as well as to give a new face for Focusing to the non-Focusing community and perhaps to be a model for other groups elsewhere who then come together internationally.

A small team joined with Cynthia to bring this project to fruition. We held our first meeting of Focusers from our metropolitan area on February 29, 2008, when around 40 Focusers gathered and named our local organization New York Metro Focusing.  Collectively, we then created a Mission Statement.
 
We meet five times a year.  Beginning in 2010 we will alternate meetings on Friday and Sunday evenings.  On each occasion we offer a largely original theme, usually devised by one or more of our members.  We include networking and refreshment breaks as well as a Marketplace session for members to announce their workshops and associated services. Attendance has ranged between 15 and 50, including newcomers. The organization is held together by a coordinating group and has an announcement email list of more than 200. A small donation is invited to help cover room hire and refreshments.

Subscribe to our Announcement list to receive email notices of our NY Metro Focusing
gatherings as well as other NY City area Focusing events.