Date:  Sunday, December 6, 2015 
Time:  4:30 – 7:00 p.m (sign-in and networking, 4:30-4:50 p.m.)

Place:  Assembly Hall of Judson Memorial Church, Downstairs Meeting Room
239 Thompson Street (near the corner of Washington Square South).   Side Entrance

Please RSVP acceptances only to rsvp@nymflists.com

Suggested Contribution:  $20 to cover rental and refreshment expenses. 
Cash only please, since we are not able to take credit cards or checks. 

NY Metro Focusing meetings offer an opportunity to engage in a felt sensing, interactive exploration of topics of interest.  We value diversity and welcome everyone’s voice.  Our conversational process encourages slowing down, listening from a felt sensing place, and letting what we hear resonate within to bring something new and fresh, both within ourselves and within the group.
 
Program:
Being in the Presence of an Experiencing Person

Dedicated to Janet Pfunder, who embodied this process
facilitated by Joan Lavender, Psy. D.

When I am in the presence of someone just at the precise moment that something new and significant is dawning on them, they light up …and so do I!  Whether it is a new client who is finding her voice for the first time, or seeing a glimpse of the Dalai Lama smiling on CNN, their experiencing reaches me, somehow.

Gene’s philosophy sets a high bar for human change process.  In his view, the individual’s felt sensing is the final arbiter of what is actually meaningful to him/her. There is no substitute for the person's process.  You have to feel it in your bones!

Yet we know that Experiencing comes in rare moments, and for some, it may not come at all.

What can we do when we are attempting to relate to someone who is not “in relation,” or in a persistently structure-bound relation to themselves?   Whether in the therapy room or out in the world, can we create an “experiential environment” which inspires them to blossom? 

I am inviting the participants of NYMF to enter into these questions, inspired by research about Focusing itself.  We will take time to sense together asa group, to share our experiences, and to find our own words for these concepts.

This evening’s facilitator: Joan Lavender, Psy. D. has been studying Gendlin’s ideas since the 1970s.  She has integrated them with the relational school of psychotherapy, and is on the faculty of the Experiential Psychotherapy Project (FORP) in New York City.  Her practice is in New York City, where she also supervises, writes and presents her work. 

 
Please
BRING your flyers and brochures for our Focusing Community Marketplace Table. 
INVITE friends and colleagues:  While NY Metro Focusing meetings are not introductions to Focusing, we hope newcomers get a little taste of the Focusing experience and are motivated to learn more by taking an Introduction to Focusing workshop.
 
SAVE the dates for our meetings in 2016: 
 
Sunday  January 31:  4:30 – 7:00 p.m.
Friday  April 1:  6:30 – 9:00 p.m.
Friday  June 10:  6:30 – 9:00.
Friday  September 30:  6:30 – 9:00.
Sunday  December 4:  4:30 – 7:00.
 
Questions may be sent to:   contact@nymflists.com