The Radical Impact of Gendlin’s Philosophy on

therapy, focusing and existence

Akira Ikemi, Ph.D. www.akira-ikemi.net

May 1st-3rd, 2018 Sydney

Tentative Schedule (Main themes)

Day 1 DAY 2 DAY 3

AMTHE ORIGINS OF FOCUSING 1: The

Experiencing Scales (EXP)

CLEARING A SPACE & SPACE PRESENCING (Talks and Demo)

Listening “Chicago-Style Listening”

PAIRWORK

PM

THE ORIGINS OF FOCUSING 2: a)

Experiencing-Expression-Understanding

b) CROSSING WITH ANIMALS (Pairwork)

c) Handle-Resonating-Asking

CLEARING A SPACE (Practice Pairwork)

Free-Style Focusing Demo and Pairwork and

Supervision (?)

DAY ONE The crucial inner act

Focusing as a mode of experiencing, before “Focusing as a taught method” was developed.

Carl Rogers’ studies and the "Experiencing Scale”

Stages Characteristics: Klein, M. et al (1969) Stages Rating Criteria: Miyake et al (2007) Overview

1

Content or manner of expression is impersonal (eg.abstract, journalistic account of events)

2

Association between speaker and content is explicit, but no reference to the speaker's feelings

3Description of the speaker in behavioral terms with added comments on feelings LOW

External events are narrated; feelings are reactions to events

4Clear presentation of feelings. Feelings or experiences of events, rather than the events themselves [Felt sense]

MIDDLEFeelings are used not as reactions to events but to express the self. Characterized with richness of feelings.

Feeling-Centered

5 Purposeful exploration of the speaker's feelings and experiencing

HIGHFeelings are used as referents for self-exploration, or as a hypothesis for understanding the self.

6

A synthethis of accessible, newly recognized, or more fully realized feelings and experiences to produce personally meaningful structures or to resolve issues

7

Expanding awareness of immediately present feelings and internal processes. Speaker can move from one inner reference to another, altering and modifying concepts of self or feelings

Event-Centered

Creative

Table 1: Characteristics of EXP stages as sumarized by the author from Klein, M. et al (1969) and translated by the author from Miyake et al (2008). Klein et al’s 1969 version is a relatively early version of the EXP Scale. Later versions, notably, the 1970 and 1986 versions exist, but the 1969 version is chosen here for relatively easy comparison with Miyake et al’s scale.

External events with no reference to feelingsVERY LOW

A new facet of the feeling arises as in an inspiration. Laughter, excitement are often seen indicating confidence in the newly emerging meaning.

VERY HIGH

EXP SCALE: Transcript for Rating #01

L1 How are you doing these days?S1 What comes to my mind right away is, I’ve been playing games a lot lately, but I keep losing.L2 Losing games?S2 I’m feeling very upset about that.L3 You’re feeling upset?S3 Upset...well, (3”) upset (4”), um, something about that game program, it used to let me play more easily, but these days, well

it’s become more and more difficult and um, it makes me feel like irritable maybe...no, it’s not irritable really, (8”) something like I’m feeling, ‘no fun’.

L4 So it’s like, it’s ‘no fun’ that you’re feeling?S4 No fun, well, that’s true, no fun. Well, when I was done with the physician’s examination, I wanted to take it easy, well,

something like that, and I’m just as I look, I’m not a very serious medical student, so I guess I want to spread my wings and play, enjoy. But to do anything, you need money and I don’t have money, so it’s like, maybe it’s like, nothing’s interesting and it feels like grey.

L5 It feels like grey.S5 Well, it’s like ‘grey’ but grey doesn’t really say it well, (3”) well I’m ‘frustrated’, I guess (L: Frustrated?) ...well frustrated (3”) well,

maybe frustrated.L6 In what ways are you frustrated?S6 Well, I’m going to go into ophthalmology so I get up at 7 and, you and Dr. Ikemi and everyone can get up at 7 but, I have been

for 6, actually 7 years, getting up at noon, you know, living like that. But now, since we’re beginning clinical work, we’re doing training, so I get up at 7 and there are training courses like this one and when it’s over and I take care of some other things, time just flies, so I get back home and watch the news, sports news at 11:00 PM and then it’s midnight, so I need to sleep, you know, so it’s been a lonely kind of living.

Mode (Modal rating) = Peak(Peakra(ng)=

“Natural Focusers”

Predictors of Success?

Styles of therapy (i.e., Teaching Focusing)

Discussion: Levels of experiencing and therapy

Another strand in the origins of Focusing

Experiencing as Gendlin’s interpretation of W. Dilthey’s Hermeneutic circle.

The “direct referent”and symbols (metaphors)

Re-experiencing

(Nacherleben) & Reflexivity

Experience

ExpressionUnderstanding

“Experiencing and the Creation of Meaning” (ECM)

The radical impact of the “creation of meaning”.

Gendlin’s refutation of the “content paradigm” and the “repression paradigm”.

PAIRWORK: Crossing with Animals

If you reflect on how-you-are-living (the “how” of your living: existence) and express that as an animal, what animal would you be? And what is the animal doing?

DISCUSSION: Crossing with Animals

Share your experience with us.

Existence as “pre-conceptual”.

“Saying” and meaning. Can we say what we mean?

Focusing “Short Form” by Gendlin

(Also known as the Six-Step Model)

1. Clearing a Space

2. Let the Felt Sense form

3. Find a Handle

4. Resonating the Handle

5. Ask (What needs to happen? What is the crux of it? Is it telling you something? What is this felt sense? )

6. Receive what comes

DAY TWO Clearing a Space/ Space Presensing

1. Clearing a Space

2. Let the Felt Sense form

3. Find a Handle

4. Resonating the Handle

5. Ask (What needs to happen? What is the crux of it? Is it telling you something? What is this felt sense? )

6. Receive what comes

Uniqueness of Clearing a Space (CAS)

Gendlin originally thought that it was preparation for Focusing. But many reported successful therapy with CAS alone.

The unique feature of CAS is that a problem can be resolved without going into it.

A problem develops when there is no space. Inversely, when there is space, a problem does not develop.

Similarities with Zen and other Buddhist meditation traditions

Clearing a Space and Space Presencing > Ikemi (2015)

Guiding CASCheck into the middle of the body and ask “how are you today” or “is there any issue that is bothering you” (Gene would say: “my life is all fine” then the body will bring him a whole lot of reasons why it isn’t all fine.)

Whatever you find, an issue or a mood, just notice (be aware of / be mindful of) it.

Work on one issue at a time.

See if there is a felt sense of this issue/feeling.

Become aware of the felt sense.

"If you were to place this whole thing somewhere, where would it be.” OR “If this whole thing wants to go somewhere, where would that be.”

Go to next issue, and continue until you arrive at a “cleared space”.

Listening: What needs to be updatedListening is said to have originated in Carl Rogers’ “reflection response”. but this was often misunderstood.

Rogers: “So I suggest that these therapist responses be labeled not as Reflection of Feeling, but as ‘Testing understandings’ or ‘Checking perceptions’. Such terms would, I believe, be more accurate.” (p.128 The Carl Rogers Reader)

But “such responses do serve as a mirror”. (p.128) Thus, the reflection response has a double function. For the therapist, it is “Testing Understandings” and for the client, it is a mirror.

The context of Listening: Re-experiencing (Nacherleben) and

Intersubjective Reality

(EXERCISE) What happens to your experience as you listen to the following narration:

“On a hot summer day, I am walking on the beach in my business suits. I notice that the beach is hard to walk. Sand keeps coming into my shoes. When the wind blows, sand hits my clothes. I hear children playing by the waves, but I keep walking straight. After I while, I get thirsty and look around. There, on a distant road, I see a vending machine for drinks. But “it’s too far” I think, and I stand there wondering what to do.

When I speak, I am Re-experiencing my experience, not only “recalling” my experience. Speaking is thus a new experiencing.

When I listen, I am Re-experiencing the other.

In the dialog, a new story emerges between the two.

The context of Listening: Re-experiencing (Nacherleben) and Intersubjective Reality

Chicago-Style Listening

The essence of Chicago-Style Listening is that: the client Focuses, and the listener Listens. Focusing guiding or instructions helps the client Focus. Focusing is not what the therapist is doing.

(PAIR EXERCISE) To practice Chicago-Style Listening: David Rome’s Embodied Listening+Carl Rogers’ Style “Testing Understandings”.

FREE STYLE FOCUSING-LISTENING1. Clearing a Space

2. Let the Felt Sense form

3. Find a Handle

4. Resonating the Handle

5. Ask (What needs to happen? What is the crux of it? Is it telling you something? What is this felt sense? )

6. Receive what comes