Do It for Yourself Now! - What is Sensate Focusing

Written by Ilan Shalif, Ph.D.

In every one of those cases, in spite of the negligence, all is still not lost. Upon reaching the conclusion that there is a treasure buried in that missed opportunity, one can nearly always recycle it.

Though the vividness of the recycled experience is always wanting, the intensity of the recycled feeling is milder than the original one, and most often its quality too is not near the original one or even quite different, there are always strong association chains connecting them to the origin.

Thus, it can be used as a suitable feedback from the trash-programs involved in the mending processes. Therefore, when the recycling does not bring to the awareness the sensation sought, one of its "relatives" created by the imagination might be good enough.

After one of the recycling steps bring about a suitable sensation, start to divert some of your effort to the focusing on it. If no feeling or any other felt sensation reaches awareness, you can still focus on the subliminal ones tied to the subject you picked.

In the following paragraphs, the various aspects of the activity of sensate focusing which bases itself on recycled felt sensations, will be discussed in detail - including the description of the most benefiting tactics.

Why not Psychoanalysis?

The General Sensate Focusing Technique is most distinct from the main schools of psychotherapy in its regard to the causality of the things one want to change. This is most strikingly expressed in our recycling tactics and in their general strategy.

In theory and in practice nearly all schools and versions of psychotherapy hold in high esteem the recognition, understanding, comprehension, insight, etc. of the "pathology" (or at least, of it's symptoms).

They pay considerable attention to the specific connections between the behavioral problems, the sensations and the feelings of the present - the symptoms, and the past events and mechanisms that are supposed to have caused them.

In contrast, practice of the sensate focus points to the conclusion that the sharp awareness of these connections is generally of only secondary importance and most often even only marginal.

It seems that the effort to understand the exact root of the problems one is encountering in one's life even hinders the processes of the sensate focusing. The most deleterious influence of the search for meaning and insight during focusing is due to the fact that the brain resources are limited. Since the verbal thinking processes are competing for the limited attentional and others of the brain's mind resources, they infringe on those needed for the sensate focusing.

Thus, thinking on the emotional problem in order to solve it wastes resources on verbal thinking activity, that cannot really do the job. This activity tends to diverge most of the available resources to the left hemisphere (half) of the brain - the half which is dedicated mostly to logical thinking and reasoning and not to emotional appraisals. Thus, even if one is not prejudiced against the habit of paying attention to the felt sensations of one's body, only a scant amount of it remains available for this task.

In addition, it seems that the application of the common habit of analyzing the causality and logic of one's own emotional experience strengthens the cover-programs. Sometimes, these efforts even make complicated things more so, as it makes the UN-tangling of the complexity of the defenses nearly impossible.

Many people were "brain washed" into believing that an improvement in the quality of their emotional life is possible - only if they can acquire an insight into their problems. The following "coin" is brought in order to alleviate a bit of their uneasiness: On one of its sides is written the proverb - "Have you come to steal grapes or to quarrel with the vineyard guard". On the other side it is written that, in all the important matters, the solution of the problem brings about the understanding of its roots.

Thus, refrain from chasing thoughts and ideas while you
hunt emotions, feelings and felt sensations

Hurrah for the practical leftism.

For about 97% of the population, the management of their emotional life is done mainly by the right half (hemisphere) of the brain. Therefore, nearly any activity that increases the amount of brain resources, usable by this hemisphere, enhances the processes related to the activity of sensate focusing. Consequently, it is most recommended, while focusing, to attend mainly to the sensations of the left part of the body, which is directly connected to the right side of the brain.

Sometimes, the sensations are only partly or more clearly felt in the right side of the body. In these cases focusing on the parallel place of the left side may "force" the transfer, or the appearance of other felt sensations there. When the sensations are at the medial plain of the body, it is most preferred to focus on the points that are more to the left of the center.

However, when one is working on the recycling of emotions and feelings as in any other sensate focus activity, the use of the left hemisphere of logic, analytic and other verbal thinking processes is not forbidden. There is much benefit to be gained from these processes if correctly applied.

For instance, the decisions on the timing of the sensate focus activity, and the decisions about the target and specific tactic of recycling the emotions, are usually best taken by the left hemisphere of the brain. It is especially so with regard to the initiation of focusing sessions, but also in the semi-spontaneous focusing on each felt sensation encountered during the day.

The continual effort to keep the processes of focusing on the felt sensation of the time, and the prevention of diversions and distractions is also mainly done by this half of the brain.