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Focusing-Oriented Therapy

The gentlest, most powerful and effective “embodied” therapy you’ve never heard of

“What’s going on with me?”

“Why do I feel and act the way I do?”

“Why, despite my efforts, do I have feelings I don’t want, act in ways I don’t like, or hold back when I want to go forward?”

“How can I become less reactive, less triggered? How can I change?”

Have you ever felt like you just talk about your “issues,” going around in circles, never feeling any different for long?

Have you ever felt like you’re just going along and waiting for a miracle, following some theory about what your “problem” is and what you need to do, but never reaching any answers that come from deep inside yourself?

Focusing-oriented therapy, based on research into what leads to therapeutic change, is a way to get below all the talking and “expert” theorizing to reach the answers inside you – answers that you can feel, deep in your bones, are true for you. It’s a way to make conscious what is unconscious, and to mend what feels hurt — or even devastated or traumatized — inside you.

FOT is based upon the ground-breaking work of psychologist Eugene Gendlin at the University of Chicago beginning way back in the 1960s, and the brilliant refinement known as Inner Relationship Focusing (IRF) developed by Ann Weiser Cornell, Ph.D. It utilizes “Focusing,” the mind-body self-awareness and self-healing process developed by Gendlin, within the context of therapy.

Focusing and Inner Relationship Focusing “open the doors” to give you access to what’s going on under the surface, or “under the hood,” of your psyche. And in that process of bringing all of that to the surface (in the kindest and gentlest way possible), a wonderful thing happens:

Deeply held, but previously nearly invisible, inner feelings and conflicts shift and change. They get integrated and healed. What before felt impossible to do, or impossible to change, suddenly feels possible. What felt closed and tight is suddenly relaxed and open.

Focusing-oriented therapy is the granddaddy of all the most current somatic, “mind-body” and “embodied” approaches. Somatic Experiencing has its roots in it, and so does Internal Family Systems (IFS). And it is a more directed and targeted approach than Mindfulness Meditation, though mindfulness has its own valuable uses. If you’ve ever heard the term “felt sense,” it was Eugene Gendlin who first coined and defined it.

You might think these later therapies are an improvement. But I’ve been a certified FOT therapist for about twenty years, as well as someone who has learned IFS and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). But I believe that Focusing-oriented therapy offers a better, more expansive way of consciously accessing your innermost thoughts and feelings, a way that more deeply changes how you are inside.

Of course, good psychotherapy is much much more than one theory or technique. Good therapy looks at every aspect of your life, not just your inner feelings. Changing longstanding life patterns takes effort on many different levels. No single form of therapy is right for everyone, and there are no “miracle cures.”

But over time, the changes are amazing. You literally feel differently.

  • Your heart, mind and body work together more seamlessly.
  • You’re no longer driven by feelings and urges you don’t understand.
  • You have access to an internal compass you can really trust
  • You stop being a stranger and enemy to your innermost self, and you become whole.

Is Focusing-oriented Therapy for You?

In one form or another, Focusing-oriented is part of all the therapy that I do.

But not everybody wants or, frankly, needs to work that deeply. Also, people naturally differ in how much they can access this inner process.

Focusing-oriented therapy can be especially helpful to you if:

  • You’re struggling with feelings and behaviors that bother you
  • You can’t get past some “block” you have
  • You want a better way to deal with painful feelings
  • You want to heal from past hurts and traumas
  • You want to feel more in touch with yourself, less “in your head.”
  • You are highly introspective, but want to go to a deeper level

FOT is not as helpful immediately if:

  • You’re in the midst of a current life crisis. (The crisis needs to be dealt with first.)
  • The issue bringing you to therapy is mostly interpersonal.

Does FOT sound right for you? Then fill out the form on this page and let me know a little bit about yourself and why you are interested in FOT. I’d love to hear from you!

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