4/25/08 Meeting Notes
Cynthia Callsen opened the meeting which was attended by almost 40 people. She thanked the many people who have contributed to making these meetings a reality including Joan Lavender for helping her put the forward steps in writing and Robin Kappy and Griffith Feeney for setting up the discussion list.
She is now looking for a process to develop the Mission Statement. She would like to see NY Metro Focusing inviting and welcoming to newcomers. However, it should be grounded in meetings that are rewarding for experienced Focusers first. Our meetings should be a living embodiment of the Mission Statement: grounded in the now and helping us move forward.
Larry Hurst was the moderator for this evening and asked how many new people were present with no actual training in focusing. 5 or 6 responded!! He introduced the main presenters for the event, Robin Kappy and Janet Pfunder, two artists/therapists/focusing trainers presenting on Visual Experiencing. They had some beautiful art work on display.
Janet offered a lead in for the group that was an engaging inward journey.
Robin spoke of all she has learned from drawing and painting; she is a very visually experiencing person who loves to draw and applies what she has learned from her creative process in her work as a psychotherapist. You can be in a drawing process too, recognizing, tracing, calibrating, scanning…looking for, relating to what you see. We have an experience of and a bodily sense of all we see. She can just now transcend techniques to draw and integrates focusing, with a shift from word/language space to visual experiencing. She loves felt sensing and considers drawing to be the by-product of that experience. We draw what we think we see until we can see what is really there. She quotes Cynthia, “each felt sense is an artistic creation waiting to be experienced…” She feels fortunate to have found her “art brain” and values it above all else…
Janet Pfunder spoke of the many wisdoms we can access such as plant wisdom, knowing as plants do what to do with sunlight, water, air and everything else around us. We also have animal intelligence and the many aspects of human intelligence. When we sense space and choose what to include in our awareness we heighten our experiencing. We can also heighten our visual experience. Especially by slowing down and letting nuances form. A felt sense is something living that forms as we pause.
She recalled a dream she once had of driving through the countryside, in black and white, and then crossing an invisible boundary into vivid technicolor. She read a beautiful prose poem she had written called “In the Garden,” in which she articulated her enlivened experience of space, light and color after a meditation practice.
Then Robin led the group in a guided experience. Afterwards she invited people to share their inner travel.
After a break, Katya Salkinder led the room in Guided movement and the response was very enthusiastic.
Cynthia then spoke about her vision for the discussion list. It is a nice place to begin discussing our Mission Statement. She has hopes for 100% participation and sharing of ideas. By moving discussion such as the one about the Mission Statement to the Discussion List, we create space and time for members to describe (briefly) upcoming events and offerings. Currently we have a table on which to display printed material on these offerings.
Griffith Feeney explained the technical aspects of the Discussion List: We have created a Google Group which can provide information to go out to members, such as meeting announcements and Pages which are a permanent archive of such things as the Mission Statement.
This is an email discussion list specific to NY Metro Focusing:
http://groups.google.com/group/ny-metro-focusingOnce you have a Google account, which is easy to set up, sign in and request to join this group, “NY Metro Focusing”.
Jude Cobb and Naomi Glicken made an appeal for people to help with all the planning aspects for future meetings. They distributed interest sheets and detailed the process and the need.
Larry Hurst took a vote and this name was officially chosen ”New York Metro Focusing”.
The next meeting will be on Friday evening June 13th .
The featured speaker will be Robert Lee and his remarks will be tailored to include and captivate new comers to the community, while further enriching the experience for practiced Focusers. We are all encouraged to bring guests.
Notes prepared by Joanne Stickles
Cynthia Callsen opened the meeting which was attended by almost 40 people. She thanked the many people who have contributed to making these meetings a reality including Joan Lavender for helping her put the forward steps in writing and Robin Kappy and Griffith Feeney for setting up the discussion list.
She is now looking for a process to develop the Mission Statement. She would like to see NY Metro Focusing inviting and welcoming to newcomers. However, it should be grounded in meetings that are rewarding for experienced Focusers first. Our meetings should be a living embodiment of the Mission Statement: grounded in the now and helping us move forward.
Larry Hurst was the moderator for this evening and asked how many new people were present with no actual training in focusing. 5 or 6 responded!! He introduced the main presenters for the event, Robin Kappy and Janet Pfunder, two artists/therapists/focusing trainers presenting on Visual Experiencing. They had some beautiful art work on display.
Janet offered a lead in for the group that was an engaging inward journey.
Robin spoke of all she has learned from drawing and painting; she is a very visually experiencing person who loves to draw and applies what she has learned from her creative process in her work as a psychotherapist. You can be in a drawing process too, recognizing, tracing, calibrating, scanning…looking for, relating to what you see. We have an experience of and a bodily sense of all we see. She can just now transcend techniques to draw and integrates focusing, with a shift from word/language space to visual experiencing. She loves felt sensing and considers drawing to be the by-product of that experience. We draw what we think we see until we can see what is really there. She quotes Cynthia, “each felt sense is an artistic creation waiting to be experienced…” She feels fortunate to have found her “art brain” and values it above all else…
Janet Pfunder spoke of the many wisdoms we can access such as plant wisdom, knowing as plants do what to do with sunlight, water, air and everything else around us. We also have animal intelligence and the many aspects of human intelligence. When we sense space and choose what to include in our awareness we heighten our experiencing. We can also heighten our visual experience. Especially by slowing down and letting nuances form. A felt sense is something living that forms as we pause.
She recalled a dream she once had of driving through the countryside, in black and white, and then crossing an invisible boundary into vivid technicolor. She read a beautiful prose poem she had written called “In the Garden,” in which she articulated her enlivened experience of space, light and color after a meditation practice.
Then Robin led the group in a guided experience. Afterwards she invited people to share their inner travel.
After a break, Katya Salkinder led the room in Guided movement and the response was very enthusiastic.
Cynthia then spoke about her vision for the discussion list. It is a nice place to begin discussing our Mission Statement. She has hopes for 100% participation and sharing of ideas. By moving discussion such as the one about the Mission Statement to the Discussion List, we create space and time for members to describe (briefly) upcoming events and offerings. Currently we have a table on which to display printed material on these offerings.
Griffith Feeney explained the technical aspects of the Discussion List: We have created a Google Group which can provide information to go out to members, such as meeting announcements and Pages which are a permanent archive of such things as the Mission Statement.
This is an email discussion list specific to NY Metro Focusing:
http://groups.google.com/group/ny-metro-focusingOnce you have a Google account, which is easy to set up, sign in and request to join this group, “NY Metro Focusing”.
Jude Cobb and Naomi Glicken made an appeal for people to help with all the planning aspects for future meetings. They distributed interest sheets and detailed the process and the need.
Larry Hurst took a vote and this name was officially chosen ”New York Metro Focusing”.
The next meeting will be on Friday evening June 13th .
The featured speaker will be Robert Lee and his remarks will be tailored to include and captivate new comers to the community, while further enriching the experience for practiced Focusers. We are all encouraged to bring guests.
Notes prepared by Joanne Stickles