IFN Committee Update - Sept 2025
by Therese Ryan
Welcome back everyone. We hope you had a wonderful summer and we’re looking forward to seeing you again very soon.
Our weekly online gatherings will recommence on Wednesday, 3rd September. Please take a moment to revisit our Guidelines as we get ready to Focus together again. If you require any support or advice in relation to these sessions, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Our weekly zoom sessions couldn’t happen without our zoom hosts. Many have been volunteering for quite some time. We recently sent out a request for new hosts. Many thanks to those who responded. The more hosts we have, the less often each person needs to host. Might you be willing to step forward and become involved even for a few months? If the tech side seems daunting for you, we will happily support you as you become familiar with hosting. This might be the perfect opportunity for you to contribute to our network - please get in touch if you’re interested in finding out more.
We’re happy to share the news that our Focusing Refresher evenings will return. They are a fantastic opportunity to develop and deepen our Focusing practice in community. If you haven’t come before, please join us on the last Zoom session of the month. Everyone is welcome, whether you have a lot or a little Focusing experience. We’re very grateful for our Focusing trainers who voluntarily facilitate these sessions. If you’re a Focusing teacher and would like to volunteer to lead a session, please let us know.
We look forward to seeing some of you in person at our Autumn Gathering on September 27th at the Dominican Retreat Centre in Tallaght, Dublin. Something magical happens when we come together on these days. We have two wonderful workshops planned and would be delighted to have you join us. More details below.
Next year, 2026, will be the centenary of Gene Gendlin’s birth. To celebrate this event, The International Focusing Conference will be held in Gene’s birthplace Vienna, from 3rd to 7th June 2026. Some members of the network are already planning their trip, you might like to join them. You can find more details here.
IFN Committee Update - May 2025
Our Focusing Refresher evenings have been running since last September. Each month we've had an opportunity to sense into a different aspect of Focusing in partnerships. We're very appreciative of our Focusing trainers who facilitated these evenings. The last Refresher session (and our last zoom session) will take place on Monday 30th June. Fiona O'Meara will facilitate The Power of Prompting: Ways of reflecting without interrupting the process.
Earlier this year our new Guidelines for Zoom Focusing Sessions were shared by email with all our members. The guidelines, which can be found on our website (by clicking here), were drawn up by the committee in order to nurture and maintain a sense of safety within our community and to promote respectful connection. If you haven't already done so, please take time to read the guidelines.
Finally, we are very excited to host a Children and Focusing Introductory day in Dublin with Rene Veugelers and Elaine Goggin on June 28th. We invite you to support this initiative in whatever way you can - by attending or by sharing the news of the event with your family/friends/colleagues and on social media. This day is open to everyone including those who don't know Focusing so this is a great opportunity for us all to spread the word about Focusing within our communities and to reignite interest in Focusing with Children in Ireland.
Where ever you are in the world, we wish you a beautiful summer and look forward to reconnecting with you on line in September.
Photo from our May Skills Refresh Evening with Therese Ryan
Creative Corner: I know she is with me always
It was a during a Focusing session when I described that I felt I was stuck in a maze .. not knowing if I should go forward or back. But I also seeing that there was ahead of me a hand reaching out to help pull me through. When I imagined who’s hand it was .. I knew it was my own. My wiser, compassionate self was there to pull me out of my stuckness.
So here I am in two different forms. The wiser, surer self, holding a candle to light the way and placing her hand on the shoulder of she who feels fragile or lost. And again, here I am, leaning into my wiser self, holding all my love in my hands, trusting she will care for it. We are both surrounded by birds, leaves, flowers and stars.
When do you meet your own wiser self? How does she or he show up in your life? What do you see in their eyes?
Denise Durocher, May 2025
The Folio: A Journal for Focusing and Experiential Therapy
by Tom Larkin
As Michael Caine would have said (in a cockney accent) “Not a lot of people know that” Know what? About The Folio! The what? The Folio!
The Folio certainly is a hidden treasure – it was a journal published irregularly between 1981 and 2016 by The International Focusing Institute (TIFI). The early editions were largely a collection of articles written by Focusing people about a variety of topics related to the theory and practice of Focusing, now scanned, collected together and available on the TIFI website. The later issues adopted a more thematic approach with each issue concentrating on a particular area or topic from a Focusing perspective. These are also available as pdfs on the TIFI website. In these later Folios the articles are easily accessible and can be read individually. Topics included, among very many others:
- Focusing and Spirituality
- Focusing and Fear
- Focusing and Medicine
- Focusing with Children
- Thinking At the Edge
- Interactive Focusing
etc.
The full list of what is available to view in pdf form is at https://focusing.org/folio
Each issue contains a broad range of views, perspectives, experiences and reflections, some theoretical, some philosophical, some personal, some practical and all interesting and informative. The perusal through the contents pages of each issue will reveal a wealth of fascinating articles by some of the big names in Focusing including Eugene Gendlin and Ann Weiser Cornell.
This will be especially useful for people engaging in any research or academic study of Focusing or for someone who wishes to follow a thread over time e.g. articles about Focusing and Nature or Focusing and the Body. Or for the casual, curious Focusing reader, you can just dip into an issue and perhaps uncover some gems of insight and wisdom. Whatever the motive you are sure to find something worthwhile and of interest among them.
Besides the special issue on ‘Thinking At The Edge’, some of my personal favourites, to name just a few, include:
- Resonant Sensing for Peace – Listening to Our Planetary Being by Eric Lorup and Bruce Nayowith in Vol 27 Part 2
- Heartfelt Connections by Kevin McEvenue in Vol 26
- The Implicit transformational Power of the Background Feeling in Focusing by Marine de Fréminville in Vol 21
- A Seventh Movement: The Action Step by Atsmaout Perlstein and Bilha Frolinger in Vol 21.
In fact, Vol 21 was a particularly rich volume. It was the Tribute Issue; Celebrating 30 years of Focusing 1978 – 2008.
Accessing The Folio: All Folios are available for free to paid members of TIFI however you will need to be logged in to view them. There are still some Folios are available for purchase in hard copy. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
