Focusing is an introspective technique that brings thinking into collaboration with a particular kind of bodily sensing—an expression of the somatic unconscious and its capacity to orient processes of awareness. Through focusing, we learn to dialogue with the body not only as a source of symptoms, but as a repository of implicit knowledge that points toward the direction of change.

The technique was developed in the 1970s by psychotherapist Eugene Gendlin with the aim of offering patients a simple tool that could also be used outside therapy sessions. It quickly spread as a self-help practice and is still widely used today. A session ideally lasts no more than twenty minutes and, with some practice, can be completed in under fifteen minutes whenever an unresolved issue arises or there is a desire to explore one’s inner sensing.

The process unfolds in six phases. It begins with making space: one sits comfortably, slows the breath, and brings attention inward without focusing on specific contents. A still-vague sensing is allowed to emerge, while temporarily setting aside familiar thoughts and emotions.

This is followed by perceiving the felt sense: a global, undefined sensation that expresses how the body is living a particular issue. This is a delicate phase: it is necessary to stay with the unknown, without anticipating mental interpretations, allowing the sensation to stabilize.

In the third phase, one looks for a handle: a word, image, or brief phrase that resonates accurately with the felt sense. When the match is authentic, the body signals it with a subtle sense of assent. Thinking and sensing must remain in contact, without forcing.

One then enters resonating, moving back and forth between sensation and words, observing how both change. If the felt sense shifts, the handle adjusts accordingly. The process always remains anchored in the present: what is essential reemerges spontaneously, sometimes in new forms.

In the asking phase, a question is posed to the felt sense—for example, what makes the issue the way it is, or what is needed for it to change—while waiting for a response that produces a genuine inner movement. It is the body that “answers”; the mind translates.

Finally, in receiving, the responses are welcomed with attentiveness and patience, without pressing. Every authentic insight brings about a transformation of the felt sense. The process concludes spontaneously, leaving a clearer view of what one feels and what is needed for change.

Focusing awakens a natural but often latent capacity. It requires practice and delicacy, but when not interfered with by preconceived ideas, it follows its own dynamics, in which results emerge naturally.

For further reading, see my article on Scrivener Blog (in Italian) and Eugene Gendlin’s reference text (Focusing, 1978, Bantam Books), also available in Italian translation.

Beyond being a practice in its own right, focusing can be introduced as a technique for communicating with the somatic unconscious in other processes and contexts, for example in introspective writing and exploratory astrology.