Notes from NYMF 9-23-2018 Event: "And We Are at Least Plants"
Twenty-one participants gathered on Sunday evening for an experimental program. The NYMF Planning Group proposed a series of meetings to engage in a focusing way with the words and ideas of Eugene Gendlin. For this first meeting, we used an excerpt from a talk Gendlin gave at the International Focusing Conference in 1996, Making Concepts from Experience. The excerpt was about the kind of knowing that all living bodies have, including plants.
After Susan Deisroth welcomed the participants and gave a brief attunement, Gail Miklatek presented an overview of Gene's thinking and acknowledged that his writings fall somewhere on a continuum between understandable and accessible to seemingly very difficult. She discussed two aspects of engaging with Gendlin’s thinking: how to get at what he means and being with the intricacy that opens in us once we do.
Larry Hurst then slowly read the excerpt, as everyone simply took it in. Then people took turns reading short portions. This was followed by sharing about what came for them as they listened or read. For example, one participant spoke about what came for her when she cared for her plants – she experienced the plants’ need for water in her own body.
Rachel Alexander then led a guided focusing experience on two kinds of knowing. She asked the participants to connect with the ordinary knowing that is used to manage everyday life, then to bring up the kind of knowing that the body has, such as how to heal from a wound. The guided experience was followed by more sharing. Several people spoke about how their bodies knew what kind of movement they needed, such as bike riding, dancing, or jumping on a trampoline. Another participant could sense in her body the way she was pulled in her relationship with two siblings.
In the final portion of the meeting, Cynthia Callsen and Naomi Glicken invited feedback from the participants, which the Planning Group especially wanted because the evening’s topic and format was a new venture. The feedback was quite varied, but generally there seemed to be a wish to receive and assimilate further examples of Gendlin’s philosophical ideas and also to link them to specific topics of interest. The readers of these notes are warmly invited to provide their feedback and wishes for future NYMF meetings by emailing contact@nymflists.com.
Save the dates:
Our next event is Sunday December 2, 4:30 - 7:00 p.m. Note change to winter hours: sign-in and networking 4:30, Program 5:00
The 2019 dates for NYMFocusing Events are at a new day and time:
Programs are all on Fridays.
Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
Program begins promptly at 6:30 and usually lasts up to two hours.
Networking and nibbles before and after the program.
Bring a friend. No experience with Focusing is necessary.
Twenty-one participants gathered on Sunday evening for an experimental program. The NYMF Planning Group proposed a series of meetings to engage in a focusing way with the words and ideas of Eugene Gendlin. For this first meeting, we used an excerpt from a talk Gendlin gave at the International Focusing Conference in 1996, Making Concepts from Experience. The excerpt was about the kind of knowing that all living bodies have, including plants.
After Susan Deisroth welcomed the participants and gave a brief attunement, Gail Miklatek presented an overview of Gene's thinking and acknowledged that his writings fall somewhere on a continuum between understandable and accessible to seemingly very difficult. She discussed two aspects of engaging with Gendlin’s thinking: how to get at what he means and being with the intricacy that opens in us once we do.
Larry Hurst then slowly read the excerpt, as everyone simply took it in. Then people took turns reading short portions. This was followed by sharing about what came for them as they listened or read. For example, one participant spoke about what came for her when she cared for her plants – she experienced the plants’ need for water in her own body.
Rachel Alexander then led a guided focusing experience on two kinds of knowing. She asked the participants to connect with the ordinary knowing that is used to manage everyday life, then to bring up the kind of knowing that the body has, such as how to heal from a wound. The guided experience was followed by more sharing. Several people spoke about how their bodies knew what kind of movement they needed, such as bike riding, dancing, or jumping on a trampoline. Another participant could sense in her body the way she was pulled in her relationship with two siblings.
In the final portion of the meeting, Cynthia Callsen and Naomi Glicken invited feedback from the participants, which the Planning Group especially wanted because the evening’s topic and format was a new venture. The feedback was quite varied, but generally there seemed to be a wish to receive and assimilate further examples of Gendlin’s philosophical ideas and also to link them to specific topics of interest. The readers of these notes are warmly invited to provide their feedback and wishes for future NYMF meetings by emailing contact@nymflists.com.
Save the dates:
Our next event is Sunday December 2, 4:30 - 7:00 p.m. Note change to winter hours: sign-in and networking 4:30, Program 5:00
The 2019 dates for NYMFocusing Events are at a new day and time:
Programs are all on Fridays.
Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
Program begins promptly at 6:30 and usually lasts up to two hours.
Networking and nibbles before and after the program.
Bring a friend. No experience with Focusing is necessary.
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