HAVING A PARADIGM SHIFT: COMPLETE FOCUSING SESSION INSTRUCTIONS
Gendlin’s Six-Step Focusing Process: McGuire’s PRISMS/S
In Intuitive Focusing, first, you relax and find a felt sense, an “intuitive feel” that is before words and more than words. Then, you go back and forth bween open-ended questions (“Why is this hard for me?”, “What’s the meaning for me?”, “How is this related to that other decision?”) and the “intuitive feel,” looking for words or images that exactly capture “the feel of the whole thing,”resolution, of knowing the meaning.
At this moment of “Ahah!” you are experiencing a “felt shift,” a Paradigm shift. The kaleidoscope turns, and the whole situation is new. New ideas, emotions, and action steps suddenly become possible.
Eugene Gendlin (Focusing, 1981, 1984) was the first to describe Focusing as a series of steps which could be practiced as a self-help, problem solving method. Please see Intuitive Focusing for a full explanation of Gendlin’s six-steps of the Focusing process.
Also review the PRISMS/S Problem Solving Process for Dr. McGuire’s version of the steps leading from Pausing to Paradigm Shifts.
Below is a set of instructions taking you through the complete Intuitive Focusing process. If you purchase Creative Edge Focusing ™’s Self-help Package , you can listen to audio CD Intuitive Focusing Instructions, Disc 2, Track 1: Relaxation, Then Focusing. Read Sample Chapter.
Be Gentle With Yourself
At all times, please remember the Focusing Attitude, the Caring Feeling Presence inside which we are also practicing these four weeks! Having a Caring Feeling attitude toward whatever arises inside is the best insurance for a wonderful quiet time with your own inner experiencing.
Try these long instructions only as long as you feel comfortable. Don’t be judgmental of yourself if nothing huge seems to be happening. It can take a long time to learn to recognize a felt sense, the “intuitive feel,” amidst all of the other things going on inside of your body (thoughts, images, muscular sensations, etc.). If you’ve recently joined this e-newsletter, later exercises will take you back to practicing separate steps of Focusing, like Relaxation, Clearing A Space, and Getting A Felt Sense. Impatient? You can check earlier e-newsletters about these exercises at the Creative Edge Focusing E-Newsletter Archives. And/or you can start at the beginning of Intuitive Focusing, Disc 1, and try each exercise in sequence.
Don’t force yourself to stay quietly inside longer than is pleasurable for your. Remember, many people learn the basics of Intuitive Focusing and having “felt shifts,” or Paradigm Shifts better if they can be in interaction with a Listening partner. Start your own self-help group, using the Focusing In Community (Focusing en Comunidad) manual from the Self-Help package, or seek individual Coaching or a class/workshop with a Creative Edge Focusing Consultant or Certified Focusing Trainer
If any tears arise during Intuitive Focusing, let them come. Be very gentle and curious with the place the tears come from, asking “What are these tears all about?”, “Why does this move me?”, “What’s the meaning of these tears?”
Three Different Approaches To A Complete Focusing Session
Each of the three sets of complete Focusing instructions we will try in the next lessons emphasizes a different way of getting a “felt sense” or “intuitive feel.”
1. “How Am I Today?”: You simply ask yourself, “How am I today?” and wait and see what comes as a felt sense.
2. “Clearing A Space”: You clear a space inside, making a list of all the issues you find, positive and negative, then choose the one thing from the list you would like to focus on.
3. “Focusing On A Situation” You think of a specific situation or issue about which you want to learn more, and find the “bodily sense” of how that whole thing feels.
Try each set. You may find that one way works consistently better for you, or you may find that you like to use different instructions to work on different kinds of issues. But, for the next four weeks, we will practice #1:
1. “How am I today?”-Allow 20-30 minutes (click to access e-newsletter archive with the complete Focusing Session exercise)
Learn more about Intuitive Focusing and Focused Listening at Creative Edge Focusing’s website, filled with free downloads on creativity, spirituality, collaborative thinking, parenting, innovation in business, and many other aspects of application of Focusing and Listening skills at home, at work, in your community, and globally.
Download our Instant “Ahah!”s Mini-Manual (”Ajas” Instantaneos en espanol) for ten exercises bringing Listening and Focusing into your everyday life starting today.
Download our complete Intuitive Focusing Instructions to start practicing Relaxation, Getting a Felt Sense, and Intuitive Focusing today!
See actual demonstrations of Listening/Focusing in our Self-Help package, a manual in English or Spanish, four CDs of Focusing Instructions, and a DVD with four demonstrations of actual listening/focusing sessions — everything you need to start your own Listening/Focusing Partnership or Support Group or to incorporate these basic self-help skills into existing support groups.
In the side bar at Creative Edge Focusing, subscribe to our free e-newsletter for weekly reminders to practice Relaxation and Focusing exercises and join our free yahoo group, Creative Edge Practice, for ongoing demonstrations, practice, and support.
Find classes/workshops/phone coaching in our Listings section or Coaching/Classes/Consulting with Dr. McGuire in the Store.
Dr. Kathy McGuire, Director
The site of new insights and creative solutions is at the edge of what is already known. This edge, The Creative Edge, holds implicit within it all past and future knowing about the problem, more than could ever be put into words in a linear way.
core skills, experiential focusing therapy, Intuitive Focusing, self-help skills
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felt shifts, Gendlin's Focusing, inner wisdom, Intuitive Focusing, meditation techniques, paradigm shifts, relaxation techniques, self-help skills
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