Body psychotherapies appeared in the middle of the last century as a reaction to the hegemony of behaviorism, psychoanalysis and humanism, which left aside physical sensations, a fundamental element of human experience.

The tool called “Focusing”, developed by Eugene Gendlin , is one of the most well-known body psychotherapies, together with Wilhelm Reich’s characteroanalytic vegetotherapy and Alexander Lowen’s bioenergetic analysis.

Biography of Eugene Gendlin

Eugene Gendlin was born in Vienna in 1926; his original name was “Eugen Gendelin”, although he later became Anglo-Saxon. His family emigrated to the United States as children to escape persecution by the Nazis.

After earning a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1958, he taught at the university from 1964 to 1995. Existentialism and phenomenology were the two currents he focused on. Although did not earn degrees in psychology , Gendlin became an expert in the field throughout his training.

During his studies at the University of Chicago, Gendlin met Carl Rogers, founder of client-centered therapy and one of the promoters of the humanist paradigm in psychology. Although Gendlin had Carl Rogers as a professor , the influence of these authors on the other was reciprocal.

In addition to writing several books containing his therapeutic proposals, for which he was recognized by the American Psychological Association in 1970, 2000 and 2001, Gendlin was the founder and editor of the journal Psychotherapy: Theory Research and Practice . He died on May 1, 2017, at the age of 90.

In the 1950s and 1960s Gendlin developed his most relevant contribution to psychotherapy: Focusing , a tool with which he aimed to help clients connect with their bodily experiences. This non-verbal technique is part of the group of therapies we know as “body psychotherapies”.

Body psychotherapies

Throughout the 20th century, various therapies appeared that called for greater attention to physical sensations, which had been neglected by clinical psychology. In particular, the predominance of psychoanalysis and behaviorism had led to an almost exclusive focus on mental content and observable behavior.

For the theorists of body therapy, among them Wilhelm Reich, Alexander Lowen and Gendlin himself, human identity is centred on the body , which constitutes its base and its nucleus. From our bodily experiences we build the personality and perceive the world around us.

Although in recent years body psychotherapies have regained currency due to the greater focus of clinical psychology on the sensory aspect of the human experience, these interventions are still seen as unscientific by a significant part of the psychological community.

Focusing and the “felt sense”

During his collaboration with Carl Rogers, Gendlin began theorizing about the existence of a type of experience that he called “felt sense” . Specifically, he detected that the maintenance of improvements in patients was related to their access to an overall body sensation around the problem that made them go to therapy.

For Gendlin, the sensations felt are related to the body’s awareness of the life process at a given moment. According to this author, all of us can access these general sensations about the satisfaction of our organism with the current conditions of our life, although it is easier to do so with training.

For this purpose he developed Focusing, the therapeutic method that would constitute the core of his career . Although his initial goal was to apply it to clinical intervention to improve therapy outcomes, research showed that it could be useful in other contexts; over time this made Focusing a popular tool.

The 6 steps of Focusing

In his book “Focusing”, published in 1978, Gendlin described 6 steps to accessing a felt emotion and using it for the reduction of psychological symptoms and personal development.

1. Clearing a space

First of all you have to relax and pay attention to the internal body experience . Then you have to ask yourself “How is my life going, what is the most important thing for me right now” and detect the sensations that appear, letting the answers flow. If feelings of concern arise, an emotional distance should be maintained.

2. Identify a felt sense

The next step consists of selecting one of the vital problems that have arisen with the previous exercise; however, one should not “enter” it, but continue to keep the distance. The objective at this point is to notice the overall feeling, still undetermined, that arises from the multiple individual sensations that will appear.

3. Manage the Feeling

At this point the goal becomes to find a “handle”, i.e. a word, phrase or image that represents the feeling felt as a whole. This handle must accurately qualify the felt sensation.

4. Resonate

“Resonate” consists of alternating the focus of attention between the handle we have chosen and the sensation felt to check whether the former truly represents the latter. If either of these two elements changes spontaneously, they must be allowed to do so until the fit between them is perfect.

5. Asking questions

Then you will have to ask yourself a question: what is it that gives this quality (the grip) to my problem as a whole (the feeling)? Let the answers flow; you will notice that the one you are looking for appears when you notice a change in your physical experience , possibly a feeling of liberation.

6. Receiving the sensations

Once these new sensations appear, Gendlin advises to remain receptive and pay attention to them for a few moments. Continue to do this with the physical and psychological experiences that follow.