We have a new series of videos that provide insights to Wholebody Focusing through a Heartfelt Conversation between Addie van der Kooy and Kevin McEvenue. Their purpose is to deepen their understanding of how the theories of Gene Gendlin, founder of Focusing, is still relevant to Wholebody. They also explore the new edge of the work of Addie van der Kooy in deepening our understanding of the power of Wholebody focusing that also draws from van der Kooy’s experience of working with clients and his own transformation using WBF.
The first benefit of watching this video is that it is a great pleasure to observe these long-time collaborators and friends approach the topic as a Heartfelt Conversation. What comes is from a state of grounded presence. One can see Heartfelt conversation in action and sense into the results of this kind of conversation.
The second benefit is to hear anew how essential the foundation of Gendlin’s work is to Wholebody Focusing. Addie directs us to connect to some parts of what Gendlin proposes into our WBF practice. He also points us to the simplicity and precision of the six core Focusing movements that Gendlin introduces in the Focusing book. Particularly, sensing into Finding a Handle and Resonating the Handle with the Felt Sense.
In future videos, we will present how those foundational concepts are part and parcel to how Wholebody Focusing developed to include the role of the bodily felt sense in a new way.
This post includes the video of this conversation. It also has the transcript of the video so that those who speak other languages can use the translation app attached to this blog as a way to translate the content of the video. Transcript of Van der Kooy, McEvenue, and Gendlin
We invite you to enjoy, like, and comment on this conversation. We also encourage your anticipation of the videos of the rest of the conversation
To leave or read a comment, click here and go past the end of the post.
This careful delineating between new knowledge and the actual shift is very helpful to me. Thank you both.
I’m grateful to have someone else put words to what my experiences have been—that a shift has occurred, or has begun to occur, and That is the place from which comes my languaging or bodily expressing of it. As a teacher of the Alexander Technique I always experience exactly that in my clients—that something has already begun to shift, which is what then allows them to begin having an awareness of The Something New—which might not yet be able to be named because the naming is still associated with the old experiencing.
I’m reminded of research in recent years which shows via fMRI that there is brain activity prior to awareness of a thought or word. Perhaps we can say that we are inviting people to begin to refine their awareness, refine their Direct Experiencing of Self, to come a bit closer to what brain activity reveals is occurring.
I’m appreciative of Addie’s renaming of Gendlin’s 6 Steps. Experiencing them as 6 MOVEMENTS brings life/aliveness to the experiencing of them. However I’m also remembering Gene saying [either at a FISS or during my ”08 Weeklong Certification] that he didn’t use those 6 Steps any more. He might even have said something like ‘we’ve thrown them out!’.
For me the WBF process of coming into connection with my Bodily Self brings about an already-cleared-space—perhaps an example of a Something which happened PRIOR to my noticing! My experiencing of WBF is that I come into Direct Experiencing of my Bodily Self, which Bodily Self is a sort of satellite Receiver/Sender of sensations and information. My Bodily Self IS my Felt Sense. It is also my Felt SENSING, an active verb rather than a noun. For me this is an example of the difference between seeing a butterfly, taking in its colors and variety of moving, versus catching a butterfly and pinning it to a board. The pinned/dead butterfly can forever be viewed…as it was. But there is no life, no living spirit in it any more.
Yes…, Something has already happened. Has already begun to flower. And eventually there is a Knowing.
Thank you for this deepening of exploration.