A Short Guide for the Focusing 'Coach' - Focusing Coach Guide

Written by Ilan Shalif, Ph.D.

A common problem at this stage (and with some trainees all through the training) is that the trainee complains that he did succeed in "getting in touch" with (focus on) a felt sensation, but then it disappeared, and no other felt sensation is present. You can treat it as a milder version of the previous problem with the same remedy.

The following problem is the opposite of the previous two. It happens sometimes, that the trainee is flooded with emotions, felt sensations or other bodily sensations, and says that he cannot settle on any one in particular or does not like to, because it is so unpleasant. Here the remedy is a bit harder to achieve. The trainee is at a loss. He cannot or will not concentrate his attention for more than a few seconds on any of them. The following can be suggested to him:

• Suggest various changes in his posture with the intention of "shutting the nape of the neck" - exactly opposite to those of opening it.
• A matter-of-fact suggestion to make a fist and concentrate on the tension there, will, after a short time, calm him enough and he will then regain his ability to concentrate.
• One of the two intense tactics of "trimming" the sensations to a suitable measure will most probably succeed where nothing else helps - rubbing of the palms of the hands against each other or the application of the vibrations of any small electric appliance (vibrators included).

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The new trainee has a strong headache, tooth-ache, back ache or any other strong pain that "covers" all other potential felt sensations. This pain can be used for the focusing part of the training but usually does not supply a swift relief, significant changes in quality or a shift. Usually, "rubbing the palms of the hands" diminishes the strong pain and supplies both the proof that the new technique works, and the experience of actively changing the felt sensation within oneself. Nearly always a few repetitions of this act, brings about a decline in the stubborn felt sensation and more suitable alternatives emerge.

Very often, trainees complain during the first steps of the beginning session about various kinds of distractions. It also happens a lot with certain kinds of more advanced trainees (obsessive mostly). In nearly all cases, intruding thoughts are the cause for it. Whenever this disturbance occurs, suggest to the trainee to use the "semantic satiation" tactic of repeating a word or a syllable.

Though new trainees are usually too shy to talk about it, the new experience of attending to the felt sensations embarrasses them. The relatively swift decline which occurs in the sensation focused on, even aggravates the embarrassment.

Therefore, the first few times the trainee has this experiences, patiently go over the rationale again and again. Share with him your remembered feelings of "magic" at this stage of your training. Accompany him on the search for the location of the sensations of embarrassment to be used as focusing targets.

These, and the accumulation of experiences of shifts which occur while focusing on a felt sensation, helps the trainee to develop trust in you and in the new technique.

Share with him your feelings of "absurdity" which arise from the almost too speedy success of the focusing technique in changing the quality of the felt sensation focused on, and in solving the relevant problems.

(Even after thirty years of successfully focusing on headaches, seven years of training others in the new technique and three years of intensively experiencing focusing on a plethora of felt sensations - I still have, from time to time, a queer felt sensation of magic - especially when I am both responsible for and witness to dramatic shifts and changes in felt sensations that occur to new trainees.)

One of the most basic rules for training others in the art of focusing is the provision of a suitable sitting position for the trainee. It is almost mandatory to have him sitting with a good support so that it will take only a slight movement to recline his head comfortably. It is recommended that the coach have the same kind of sitting facility so he may provide the trainee with a model to emulate and a common base for the emerging feelings of a focusing fraternity. Doing this will also make it easier for you to be with him in this position, and talk about the discomfort embedded in it.

While the trainee is focusing, it is recommended that you pay attention to his nonverbal communications - facial expressions and others. It is also worth asking him where his target is, so that you be able to parallel his focusing. Explain to him that he can opt not to divulge it, but it will help you to be with him if you can focus on the same place. This will establish the procedure of repeatedly asking the trainee where he is focusing.

Whenever the trainee is focusing on a target silently, for more than half a minute, ask him what is going on there with regard to the various parameters of the sensation on which he is focusing. This will diminish the danger of the trainee digressing and becoming absorbed in reveries - or the opposite - entering too early and too deeply into very problematic emotional contents.

The following steps (the second to fifth)

These are crucial steps. They are taken mainly to ensure the new trainee having a prolonged focusing on a felt sensation, and experiencing the first success of a shift in the quality and intensity of a felt sensation - during focusing and as a result of it. This and the ones that follow are the real base for the building of the new focusing habit.

The instructions in these steps are mostly given to the trainee parallel to his focusing efforts. They are supposed to enhance his concentration powers and direct them to the chosen point. During these steps many of the trainees are going to have their first deliberate prolonged focusing on a felt sensation - something which has probably never happened before in their life without being forced to do so by an acute physical pain. Though these steps are relatively short (to evade boredom), the majority of the trainees will have a few successful shifts of felt sensations while doing them.