Greetings! I’m giving an Inner Child/Focusing Workshop. Read on for more information.
AN INTERNATIONAL FOCUSING GATHERING
Have you thought about learning to Focus but don’t know where to turn? Do you have young children in your life with whom you’d like to share this compassionate way of being with yourself and with others? Perhaps you’re a teacher of children. Are you aware that your own inner child holds untold joy, wisdom and much of your history? Read more
HAVE YOU ALWAYS WISHED YOU COULD LEARN TO FOCUS? OR MAYBE YOU’RE ALREADY A FOCUSER AND WOULD LIKE TO HONE YOUR SKILLS……
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPEND FIVE DAYS IN A SAFE COMMUNITY GETTING IN TOUCH WITH YOUR INNER CHILD?
MAYBE YOU’D LIKE TO LEARN HOW TO TEACH FOCUSING TO CHILDREN
Come to THE 8th INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S FOCUSING GATHERING- AN INTERNATIONAL FOCUSING CONFERENCE HERE IN THE TORONTO AREA. Read more
In my own process of healing from childhood sexual abuse, a practice called Focusing was instrumental in helping me to recover my traumatic memories. I talk about it at length in my book, Confessions of a Trauma Therapist.
Focusing is the name Dr. Eugene Gendlin gave to the model he developed for accessing deeper levels of awareness than most people are aware of. We get this knowing by paying attention to the way the body responds to every thought, feeling or situation. The body is always reacting and if we learn to listen to it, we’ll have a richer, calmer life. Read more
As I write this I’m sitting in my room overlooking the Pacific Ocean in a retreat centre in California. I’m attending the 23rd annual International Focusing Conference. I’ve attended most of these gatherings of Focusers from around the world.
What I want to speak about is the importance of belonging to a safe community when you’ve been betrayed by those who had power over you as a child. It’s so important to find a community where you are accepted and encouraged to grow. It’s about being connected to people who share many of your values and who will support you in developing your own beliefs and strengths, rather than insisting you follow some party line or creed. I’m lucky enough to have two of these communities. Read more
Have you ever had the experience of beginning to cross the road and suddenly finding you’ve jumped back onto the sidewalk without even knowing what you were doing? Then you notice. You almost got hit by a truck. Wheww! That was a close call.
How did you do that? It was automatic. You didn’t even register that your life was in danger.
That’s because the amygdala, the part of your brain’s limbic system takes over in such emergencies to assure your survival. There’s no time to think. To think would mean losing that precious second needed to jump free.
When a child is living in a traumatic environment, the amygdala fires over and over. Finally it just gets worn out and fires when even the most benign stimulus triggers it. What was meant to save our lives in really dangerous situations now fires every time a smell, sound or sight reminds it of scary situations in the past.
Here’s an example from Confessions of a Trauma Therapist:
A couple of times, I was triggered into trauma by Eugene Gendlin. Scaring me was the last thing the poor man had on his mind. The first occasion was in a Focusing session in Chicago. We were all seated in a large circle. Gene was talking about Japanese temple guards, fierce statues meant to keep the temple safe from evil spirits. I think he was comparing our own defence mechanisms to temple guards. He contorted his face and pulled his arms up into the position of threatening paws. He lunged across the circle at me to demonstrate. I completely lost awareness of the present benign context and found myself huddled into a terrified ball on my chair. When at last I came to I looked around the circle. Nobody seemed to have noticed. Maybe they thought I was just a good actress (p.156.)
Do you have an example of being triggered into survival mode? Do you have an exaggerated startle response? I’d like to hear about it.
