Notes
NY Metro Focusing Meeting 12-02-2018
LIVING YOUR UNIQUENESS: Living and Acting from Your Felt Sense
On the afternoon of December 2, twelve Focusers gathered in Judson Church to continue our “Evenings with Gene.” This was our second such meeting of a series in which we focus together on excerpts from talks or papers by Eugene Gendlin. Experiential exercises and conversation lead us to a deeper understanding and experience of his ideas.
After welcoming everyone and offering a brief attunement, Susan Deisroth read the first of Gendlin's quotes which put forth the idea of Implicit Intricacy, Gendlin's concept of the embodied uniqueness of each person.
Gail Miklatek followed with an exercise called "Being in Two Places at the Same Time.” In the first step we were asked to notice the textures of objects in the room and listen to the quality of sounds. The step was intended to emphasize being in process with the world of content as opposed to being in process with oneself (Gendlin's "A Process Model" ~ Chapter VII "Culture, Symbol and Language"). In the second step we were asked to close our eyes and bring our awareness to the area behind our throat, chest and stomach. This step was intended to emphasize being in process with ourselves; it is also in this interaction of our awareness and our bodies that a felt sense can form (Gendlin's "A Process Model" ~ Chapter VIII "Thinking With The Implicit"). In the third step we were asked to keep our awareness inside but open our eyes, and in so doing broaden our perspective to include the outer world. This step was intended to emphasize the "there" from which we can directly refer to our felt senses and in so doing speak and act in ways that were not available to us before. In so doing we find new ways to carry forward, new possibilities and the implicit intricacy (VIII ing VII).
A rich and varied sharing followed. A few people reported feeling more present, more alive with their inner and outer worlds, able to take in more of their environment or to bring more of self into the outer world. Others spoke of coming into balance between the two worlds with further conversation elucidating that the challenge of keeping this balance is probably a lifelong process.
Next Naomi Glicken read from a paper by Gendlin entitled "When You Feel the Body From the Inside, There is a Door.” One of the examples he gave of Implicit Intricacy involved thinking about the way we enter a room, i.e., whom we greet, how we greet them, whom we move towards, whom we move away from. He said that none of this is decided by the mind; rather the body holds all the many feelings and experiences which determine very precisely who and how we are at that moment.
A very lively discussion followed in which people recalled how they had entered into our meeting room this evening. One person gave a vivid account of some of the many facets of her relationship with a particular person (the unique implicit intricacy) which all present in her simple “hello.” Someone else said she had had the feeling of being wilted. Others remembered the body sense they had had. One person felt "off kilter;" another began to feel in balance only as she experienced people welcoming her. Someone else had felt her body shrinking shyly away from people and moving towards the kitchen. There was the sense that who we were was carried in our bodies and was so much more and so much more complex than we could grasp with our intellect.
Participants expressed appreciation for the warmth and intimacy of the evening as well as the authenticity sensed as people came to share and listen more deeply. It seemed that something of the implicit intricacy of each of us had been touched.
The evening ended with Community time led by Cynthia Callsen and Naomi Glicken. Informal processing of our experience of the evening revealed not only the sense of warm intimacy and deeper appreciation for the passages we Focused on ("I'm falling in love with our evenings with Gene"), but also some helpful suggestions for going yet slower in our conversation so that each person can truly feel s/he has been heard, perhaps at times breaking into small groups so each one can have the opportunity to say more of what is wanting to be said or even having a “pause monitor” to help us find those moments when we need to slow down and savor what has just been shared.
We also re-introduced into this Community time the opportunity to make announcements, something that had dropped by the wayside over time. There were a few announcements:
NY Metro Focusing Meeting 12-02-2018
LIVING YOUR UNIQUENESS: Living and Acting from Your Felt Sense
On the afternoon of December 2, twelve Focusers gathered in Judson Church to continue our “Evenings with Gene.” This was our second such meeting of a series in which we focus together on excerpts from talks or papers by Eugene Gendlin. Experiential exercises and conversation lead us to a deeper understanding and experience of his ideas.
After welcoming everyone and offering a brief attunement, Susan Deisroth read the first of Gendlin's quotes which put forth the idea of Implicit Intricacy, Gendlin's concept of the embodied uniqueness of each person.
Gail Miklatek followed with an exercise called "Being in Two Places at the Same Time.” In the first step we were asked to notice the textures of objects in the room and listen to the quality of sounds. The step was intended to emphasize being in process with the world of content as opposed to being in process with oneself (Gendlin's "A Process Model" ~ Chapter VII "Culture, Symbol and Language"). In the second step we were asked to close our eyes and bring our awareness to the area behind our throat, chest and stomach. This step was intended to emphasize being in process with ourselves; it is also in this interaction of our awareness and our bodies that a felt sense can form (Gendlin's "A Process Model" ~ Chapter VIII "Thinking With The Implicit"). In the third step we were asked to keep our awareness inside but open our eyes, and in so doing broaden our perspective to include the outer world. This step was intended to emphasize the "there" from which we can directly refer to our felt senses and in so doing speak and act in ways that were not available to us before. In so doing we find new ways to carry forward, new possibilities and the implicit intricacy (VIII ing VII).
A rich and varied sharing followed. A few people reported feeling more present, more alive with their inner and outer worlds, able to take in more of their environment or to bring more of self into the outer world. Others spoke of coming into balance between the two worlds with further conversation elucidating that the challenge of keeping this balance is probably a lifelong process.
Next Naomi Glicken read from a paper by Gendlin entitled "When You Feel the Body From the Inside, There is a Door.” One of the examples he gave of Implicit Intricacy involved thinking about the way we enter a room, i.e., whom we greet, how we greet them, whom we move towards, whom we move away from. He said that none of this is decided by the mind; rather the body holds all the many feelings and experiences which determine very precisely who and how we are at that moment.
A very lively discussion followed in which people recalled how they had entered into our meeting room this evening. One person gave a vivid account of some of the many facets of her relationship with a particular person (the unique implicit intricacy) which all present in her simple “hello.” Someone else said she had had the feeling of being wilted. Others remembered the body sense they had had. One person felt "off kilter;" another began to feel in balance only as she experienced people welcoming her. Someone else had felt her body shrinking shyly away from people and moving towards the kitchen. There was the sense that who we were was carried in our bodies and was so much more and so much more complex than we could grasp with our intellect.
Participants expressed appreciation for the warmth and intimacy of the evening as well as the authenticity sensed as people came to share and listen more deeply. It seemed that something of the implicit intricacy of each of us had been touched.
The evening ended with Community time led by Cynthia Callsen and Naomi Glicken. Informal processing of our experience of the evening revealed not only the sense of warm intimacy and deeper appreciation for the passages we Focused on ("I'm falling in love with our evenings with Gene"), but also some helpful suggestions for going yet slower in our conversation so that each person can truly feel s/he has been heard, perhaps at times breaking into small groups so each one can have the opportunity to say more of what is wanting to be said or even having a “pause monitor” to help us find those moments when we need to slow down and savor what has just been shared.
We also re-introduced into this Community time the opportunity to make announcements, something that had dropped by the wayside over time. There were a few announcements:
- Susan Rudnick, one of our beloved Focusing community members, is having a book published in June, a memoir: Edna’s Gift: How My Broken Sister Taught Me To Be Whole. We are excited that she will be with us for our September meeting to read from her book and guide us in experiential writing, a very popular NYMF meeting she did for us in the recent past and the process she used to write this book. You may visit her author website: https://susanrudnick.com.
- Tom Brockland brought postcards telling us that anyone interested in viewing and possibly purchasing Janet Pfunder’s art work may contact him directly at 917-583-2578, or by email at tmbrockla@yahoo.com.
- He is also selling an Ekornes Stressless chair, “Vegas” model, in practically new condition, that was Janet’s therapist chair. It’s a deep shade of blue and is being sold for $500. Again, if you are interested, you may contact Tom at 917-583-2578, or by email at tmbrockla@yahoo.com.
- Robert Lee will be returning to NYC the weekend of March 29th to continue his teaching of Domain Focusing and Macro Shifting (two separate workshops). If you wish to join one or both of these groups, between now and March he is offering online opportunities to do the foundational work that will put you in sync with those who began in October. Please contact him at robert@focusingnow.com.
- Save the dates for our 2019 meetings:
- January 25 April 12 June 7 September 27 December 6