International Journal of Choice Theory® and Reality ... - CTRTJournal

move beyond the "stuck" place, having fresh insights, and empowering clients to then take
action steps.
The use of focusing has been substantiated by a wide body of research conducted by
Gendlin and his associates (1959, 1962, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1981, 1996; Gendlin, Jenney, &
Shlein, 1960). Over seventy-five studies substantiate that client change and growth has a
strong correlation with how well clients are able to refer to their subjective inner
experiences and put them into words (Hendricks, 2001). This conclusion has been drawn
consistently with clients from across cultures, with counselors using different theoretical
orientations, different treatment modalities, and counseling different patient populations
(Wagner, 2006).
Gendlin’s Six Focusing Steps
Gendlin devised teaching steps for the process he observed. His six steps are detailed in the
book Focusing (1981) as a self-help tool and in his later book Focusing-Oriented
Psychotherapy (1996), he explains how counselors and therapists can use focusing to help
clients listen to their subjective experiences (the rear wheels on the total behavior car—
feelings and physiology). The following is a summary of Gendlin‘s six steps with the Choice
Theory car metaphor integrated into the steps:
1. Clearing a space—setting aside the jumble of thoughts, opinions, and analysis we all
carry in our minds and making a clear, quiet space inside where something new can
come.
2. Getting a felt sense—asking open-ended questions like: ―What is the feel of this whole
thing (issue, situation, or problem)?‖ Instead of answering with one‘s own already
known analysis using the actions and thoughts of the front wheels of the total behavior
car, wait silently as long as a minute for the subtle, intuitive, to emerge, which Gendlin
describes as the ―bodily feel of the whole thing‖ to emerge from the back wheels of the
total behavior car (feelings and physiology).
3. Finding a handle—carefully looking for some words or images that begin to capture the
feel of one‘s subjective inner experience. The felt sense can be a word, a phrase, a
bodily sensation, a gesture, or a metaphor. For example: ―It‘s jumpy.‖ ―It‘s scared.‖
―It‘s like macaroni and cheese—it‘s comforting.‖ ―It‘s like a cement mixer—everything is
churning.‖ ―It‘s like a constriction in the middle of my body.‖ In Weiser Cornell‘s (1996)
struggle with writer‘s block, for example, after clearing a space and inviting the part that
didn‘t want to write into her awareness, her felt sense initially began as a feeling of
―darkness and hiding in my chest.‖
4. Resonating and checking—taking the handle words or images and hold them against the
felt sense and asking, ―Is this right? Is it jumpy?‖ Then finding new words or images
until there is a sense of ―fit‖—―Yes, that‘s it. Jumpy.‖ As a result of resonating and
checking Weiser Cornell‘s (1996) felt sense shifted from hiding to a feeling of ducking:
―If I stuck my head up, something was going to get me. Writing was like sticking my
head up, and some part of me was scared of what would happen‖ (p. 57). Weiser
International Journal of Choice Theory and Reality Therapy • Fall 2011 • Vol. XXXI, number 1 • 22