Up: [[Gendlin Focusing]] Course: Focusing with Leslie Ellis on Jung Platform Created: 2024-01-23 Updated: 2026-01-24 ### 1. Clear a Space Inside The intention is to be really present, taking a break from any worries. If there’s something stopping you from being present, notice it, name it if you want, but don’t get lost in it. Imagine gently moving it outside your body — far from you, beside you, it doesn’t matter. Let your body decide. When Leslie works with a client in a focusing session, she waits for the person to say, “Yes, I’m here and present.” Sometimes this can take a while! Notice the quality of your inner space. Breathe into it if that feels good. ### 2. Find a Felt Sense See [[Felt Sense]] and [[Exercise to Find a Felt Sense]]. It is very common for the felt sense to be in your torso because there are so many neural connections there. ### 3. Handle/Resonate Eugene Gendlin had focusing as a six step process because he divided this segment into two steps. Leslie put them together because you go back and forth between the two. **Handle**: give a word or phrase to describe and name the felt sense. The first words you come up with may not necessarily fit. You will know that when you switch to **Resonate** which is the process of finding the perfect description. Expect this is to be faltering, “not-this, not-that” sensing back and forth between handle and resonate. This process IS focusing. It is going to feel “unpromising” until suddenly it doesn’t. When the handle is right, there will be a felt-shift, an “aha.” The right handle is important. It serves as a marker, a reference point to guide the process. ### 4. Asking In This is the step of finding out what the felt sense has to say. Leslie suggests that you might want a different term than “asking” which she thinks feels interrogative. She suggests “being with” or “inquiring.” But whatever term you choose, the idea is to have a friendly, open and inviting attitude. See [[What is a Focusing Attitude?]] ### 5. Receiving This step is for taking in and acknowledging what came from the previous step. Give yourself time to be with the information your body has provided. Don’t jump too quickly to analysis and insight, really take your time to be in the new place or it won’t stick. There’s also an optional action step that Gendlin said he would have added if he’d redone the steps. He found that sometimes people feel better after focusing but then don’t do anything to honour what they’ve learned or bring it into their life. But Leslie doesn’t push for action. She finds that when there has been a felt-shift, genuine change happens naturally. If the focusing has been particularly deep or if you are dealing with trauma, it’s important to ask yourself, “Is there anything I need to do now to close this?” Don’t leave it too open.