The International Focusing Institute

“Compassionate Conversations”

I am deeply grateful to TIFI for creating a safe zoom platform entitled “Compassionate Conversations” where members could come together to connect at this painful time in our world. There were four time slots made available and I attended two sessions on Sunday 22^nd and Monday 30th October. Each session was for one hour and was facilitated by Catherine Torpey (Executive Director, TIFI USA), Veronica Urioste (Board of TIFI), Flor Sassoli (FOT Coordinator, Argentina) and Laura Bavalics (Coordinator, ILC, Hungary).

The on-line introduction stated “we are connected and care deeply for people on both sides of the Gaza/Israeli border. Many of us feel the need to express our desire for justice and peace and the right to live without violence or the fear of violence. Many of us just need to express our grief and look for signs of hope, to be part of somehow finding a way to carrying life forward”. The invitation was “to listen with a heart of compassion and to be heard in the same way.”

Before I attended the first session on Sunday the 22^nd October I had been closely following the deeply shocking news coverage of violence, hostage taking and the large scale loss of life. Like many others I was shocked and disturbed. I began to sense a somatic deregulation in my nervous system. I practiced some lone focusing which in time helped me to connect with the whole felt sense of it all. I was then able to rest into it, acknowledging and allowing it all to be just there. This brought some equanimity.

Following on from this experience I was drawn to the invitation from TIFI to join “Compassionate Conversations”. Catherine Torpey set the scene as outlined in the introduction above. We gathered in the large group first and the gentle lead-ins were facilitated by Laura and Flor. I then noticed a sense of spaciousness, groundedness and safety before we began interacting.

During my first session I did not feel able or ready to share in the large group. In the listening to others, including some gentle reflective feedback from the facilitator, I began to sense a connection and belonging within this sacred space. In the breakout room I then felt able and more at ease in expressing my sense of horror, rage and helplessness, while also acknowledging my own past history of conflict related trauma living in the north of Ireland. In this space with two other focusers listening I could sense myself shift into a changed state of being in some unexplainable way. Others shared their fears, confusion, tears, sense of despair and grief/loss. On reflection I can appreciate this has helped me to process the whole impact of this experience on my life now and in the past, like one step in a process towards healing and change. I have taken some practical positive action steps in the days following this invaluable experience.

At my second session I was able to share in the large group and the group listening felt powerful. I experienced the emergence of two words “holy hope”. While these were familiar words to me I could sense direct referent freshness in it all, with the stirring of a life forward movement. Others felt the words resonate for them too which seemed to further strengthen our sense of connection and  belonging with some beginnings of hope.

I conclude with a quote from “Walking in Wonder” John O’Donahue which reminds me of one of Gendlin’s famous quotes “What is split off and not felt remains the same….”:

“When things stay separate and isolated they stiffen into the act of surviving, whereas when they have a conversation with each other they begin to live as the artists of their own destiny” John O’Donahue

Marie McGuigan

November 2023

Focusing Carnival, An Tionol - November 11th 2023

Focusing always surprises! When Marta first raised the possibility of sharing our Focusing skills in a series of workshops, the Focusing Professional Class of 2022-23 was bemused. How did she think we were going to do that? The critical voices and parts were on high alert. Yet, earlier in November, that is exactly what we did. To our surprise (yes, there it is again), a crowd of Focusers, both experienced and new, turned up to our Focusing Carnival in An Tionol, Derreen, East Galway.

After some easy chat and greetings, we settled into that gorgeous upper space of the Barn, bringing hearts, minds and bodies into presence and community. We introduced ourselves and then began the first of our workshops. Kate spoke about the Felt Sense, noting the unknown, the need to pause beyond the first reaction and initial response. Her words resonated and echoed through later sessions of paired Focusing. But, first, Louise, working with her Feldenkrais skills, led us through a meditation in bodily awareness. Slowly and gently, she guided us into deeper awareness of the body, helping us to become more grounded and present to what was awake and alive in us that morning. In a brief sharing, people noted differences between one side and another, how some parts of the body were more alive than others. After a short break, Niamh led a session on Focusing with poetry. Using two poems, Prayer by Carol Ann Duffy and The Peace of Wild things by Wendell Berry, and leaning into guidelines shared by Marie McGuigan, people focused in pairs. It was a freeing way to engage with poetry, allowing the words to awaken the Felt Sense, to spill into the white blank space that surrounds the poem. Lunch was, as always, delicious, wholesome, and served with the love that we have come to cherish from Marta's hospitality. Soon everyone was chatting and getting to know one another.

In the first post-lunch session, Marta Wanczyk brought her musical experience to a workshop with sound, using her beautiful Tibetan sound bowls. During the attunement preceding the Sound Journey, Marta guided us to sense into the Field of Resonance - a space in between that contains and weaves the intricate threads of connection. Again, the attention was on the body, providing another opportunity to encounter the Felt Sense. After the session, people shared how the resonance had traversed, with grace, the expansive silence. We were well set, then, for our final session, which Caroline led. Attending to the 'Self in Presence', she spoke so openly about her experience of Focusing - the importance of holding difficult stuff, without getting lost in the emotion of it all. Her sharing was an attunement, leading us naturally into another paired session. It was amazing to see people earnestly listening, reflecting, sharing, pausing and waiting for a clearer sense of what needs to be known.

We concluded by inviting people to share their sense of the day, leaving us pleased, humbled and, in no small way, surprised (!) by how well it all had gone and how the Felt Sense can become alive through a myriad of ways. We, the class of 22-23 would like to say thank you to those of you who came along and allowed us to practise and share with you. Most of all, thank you to Marta Fabregat, our teacher, who held us together, trusting and believing in us to do our thing.

Caroline, Kate, Louise, Marta and Niamh - The class of 22/23

The Listening Path by Julia Cameron

A lot of you will have heard of Julia Cameron, hailed by the New York Times, as ‘The Queen of Change.’ 

Her wonderful book The Artists Way, was first published in the UK in 1994. The book consists of twelve chapters, outlining a twelve-week course, which can be done alone or with a group. It guides you through the process of recovering your creative self. It tackles self- doubt, self-criticism (the inner critic we are familiar with in our Focusing) and time, money. and support to pursue a creative dream. The book has been translated into forty languages and has sold over five million copies.

In the meantime, she has written several other books on creativity, spirituality, fiction, plays and poetry. Has written and directed a film (God’s Will) and written her Memoir (Floor Sample, a creative Memoir).

Now she has done it again with her latest book, published in the UK in 2021, The Listening Path. Although it has the same number of pages, this book has just six chapters, or a six-week course to pursue deeper and deeper listening to ourselves, others and the environment.

The introduction, which is thirty-six pages, is a synopsis of the Artist’s Way. The first chapter is about listening to our environment, noticing, as we do in Focusing, how these sounds feel in our bodies. From the sound of our alarm clocks, the micro wave, to traffic on our commute and listening to the sounds of nature, wind in the trees etc. We are invited to keep a daily log of the sounds, noticing if they are pleasant or abrasive and checking what we might be able to do to make our auditory sounds more pleasant, Like, changing our alarm sound, going a quieter way to work etc.

The next chapter is about Listening to Others. This chapter encourages us to listen carefully and with full attention to our conversations. We are invited to keep a log of our progress and our reactions, whether we want to interrupt or give advice etc.


She interviews several journalists, novelists, musicians, actors and artists, to discover how they use listening in their careers. One interesting response from an artist who said she " listens to the sound of the brush to guide her!

I haven’t actually read all the book, so I cannot offer a detailed review. But I felt because listening is the language of Focusing it was worth recommending for a Christmas stocking filler.

The other chapters are;
Listening to our Higher Self, Listening Beyond the Veil ( That could be interesting) Listening to our Heroes and Listening to Silence.       

Reviewed by Marian Neary Burke