Inner Relationship Focusing

Inner Relationship Focusing took shape when Ann Weiser Cornell moved from Chicago to California in 1983 and began teaching Focusing to people who knew nothing about it. She discovered that many people who were not automatically adept at it needed new techniques and new language to draw out their ability to learn the process. Eventually her discoveries of what worked best for the majority of people, combined with the input, inspiration, and insights of her British collaborator Barbara McGavin,McGavin, Barbara. [http://focusingresources.com/the-victim-the-critic-and-the-inner-relationship-focusing-with-the-part-that-wants-to-die/ "The ‘Victim’, the ‘Critic’ and the Inner Relationship: Focusing with the Part that Wants to Die"]. The Focusing Connection. September 1994. evolved into Inner Relationship Focusing in the 1990s.Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. "A Brief History of Inner Relationship Focusing". In: [https://focusingresources.com/learning/the-focusing-students-companions-manual/ The Focusing Student's and Companion's Manual, Volume 1]. Calluna Press, 2002. p. ii. Cornell incorporated her new techniques and insights into her first books, The Focusing Student's Manual (1993) and The Focusing Guide's Manual (1994)Cornell, Ann Weiser. [https://books.google.com/books?id=iE7ntgAACAAJ The Focusing Guide's Manual]. Focusing Resources, 1993.Cornell, Ann Weiser. [https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Focusing_Student_s_Manual.html?id=ZOchHQAACAAJ The Focusing Student's Manual]. Focusing Resources, 1994. – both later revised with Barbara McGavin and published in 2002 as The Focusing Student's and Companion's Manual – and in all of her subsequent books, which have become classic textbooks on Focusing.Wehrenberg, Margaret. [https://books.google.com/books?id=VcnUdBe5ZYMC&pg=PA149 The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques: Understanding How Your Brain Makes You Anxious and What You Can Do to Change It]. W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. p. 149.Gendlin, Eugene. [http://www.focusing.org/eshop/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=FB-41 Advance praise for The Radical Acceptance of Everything]. 2005. "Ann Weiser Cornell has been teaching for many years in many countries and is well known worldwide. In her previous book and her manuals she has created new specific and accessible instructions for focusing as well as for the teachers of focusing. In person and through her students and writings she has given Focusing to far more people than any other single individual. She is a powerful force in making the world better. She has gone on to create different new processes in new dimensions ...." – Eugene Gendlin, author of Focusing.Gendlin, Eugene. [http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=4294972219 Review of Focusing in Clinical Practice: The Essence of Change]. W. W. Norton & Company, 2013. "Ann Weiser Cornell and I have been working closely together for thirty years, and she knows as much about Focusing as I do. Ann has a knack for making the complex understandable and the theory of Focusing accessible to all readers. This book will be helpful to anyone who wants to know my philosophical work and better understand how to bring Focusing into clinical practice. I recommend it very strongly." – Eugene Gendlin, author of Focusing.

Inner Relationship Focusing is a refined and expanded form of Eugene Gendlin's original six-step process of Focusing, which he had detailed in his 1978 book of the same title.Gendlin, Eugene. Focusing. Bantam Books, 1978. Inner Relationship Focusing emphasizes being in gentle, allowing relationship with all parts of one's being, including parts that are in conflict, parts often denied or pushed away as unacceptable or demeaning, parts that are overwhelming, and parts that are so buried or subtle they need to be drawn out with patience and gentleness.Brenner, Helen G. [https://books.google.com/books?id=PnBMx3VEGioC&pg=PA51 I Know I'm in There Somewhere: A Woman's Guide to Finding Her Inner Voice and Living a Life of Authenticity]. Penguin, 2004. p. 51.Cornell, Ann Weiser. [http://focusingresources.com/the-origins-and-development-of-inner-relationship-focusing/ "The Origins and Development of Inner Relationship Focusing"]. In: Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0972105832 The Radical Acceptance of Everything: Living a Focusing Life]. Calluna Press, 2005. pp. 193 ff.Leigh, CC. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0983546215/ref=sr_1_1?p=S00H&keywords=%22inner+relationship+focusing+is+a+highly+refined%22&ie=UTF8&qid=1381043529 Becoming Divinely Human: A Direct Path to Embodied Awakening]. Wolfsong Press, 2011. pp. 8–9. In allowing all aspects of the personality to be held in acceptance and awareness, new insights and shifts can emerge and healing can occur.Bray, Joseph. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20131202231036/http://www.therapytoday.net/article/show/2257/ "The wisdom of the body"]}}. Therapy Today. Volume 22, Issue 1; February 2011.Daffner, Diana. [https://books.google.com/books?id=YzezFK-d72kC&pg=PA185 Tantric Sex for Busy Couples: How to Deepen Your Passion in Just Ten Minutes a Day]. Hunter House, 2009. p. 185.[http://www.greylynncounselling.co.nz/our-therapists/suzanne-carson/ "What is Inner Relationship Focusing?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203004930/http://www.greylynncounselling.co.nz/our-therapists/suzanne-carson/ |date=2013-12-03 }}. GreyLynnCounselling.co.nz. Inner Relationship Focusing therefore emphasizes the relationship of the Self with the various inner aspects, however painful, and it relies specifically on a quality of Presence, or the ability of the Self to be present with these aspects in a quality of friendliness, gentle curiosity, and nonjudgment. A major feature of IRF is gently finding out how a specific aspect or felt experience feels from its point of view. Another feature is giving awareness to parts of oneself that are opposing – either afraid of or objecting to – a difficult or troublesome part. Inner Relationship Focusing radically allows and accepts all parts or inner experiences. It also avoids the extremes of denial/"exile" and merging/identification/overwhelm, through using the quality of Presence to gently experience and navigate one's inner world in a calm, detached, but gently curious and inviting way.

Eugene Gendlin's original Focusing process, described in his 1978 book, is a process that he generalizes as having six steps: clearing a space, allowing a "felt sense" to form, finding a handle, resonating, asking, and receiving.Gendlin, Eugene. Focusing. Bantam Books, 1978. pp. 103–107. Inner Relationship Focusing, developed in the late 1980s through the late 1990s, is a more fluid process, and eschews or modifies certain aspects of Gendlin's. For instance, rather than clearing a space, IRF uses a mental scan of the body for what feels open and alive, and what needs acknowledging – without moving any issue "out" – in order to more fully accept or find what may be wanting attention.Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. [https://focusingresources.com/learning/the-focusing-students-companions-manual/ "Gendlin's Focusing Terms – Definitions and Comparisons"]. In: The Focusing Student's and Companion's Manual, Volume 1. Calluna Press, 2002. pp. A-15–A-18.Cornell, Ann Weiser. [http://focusingresources.com/relationship-distance-connection-a-comparison-of-inner-relationship-techniques-to-finding-distance-techniques-in-focusing/ "Relationship = Distance + Connection: A Comparison of Inner Relationship Techniques to Finding Distance Techniques in Focusing"]. In: Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0972105832 The Radical Acceptance of Everything: Living a Focusing Life]. Calluna Press, 2005. pp. 207 ff. (First presented in 1995, at the First International Conference for Focusing Therapy. [http://www.focusing.org/newsletter/sif4-2-2004/sif4-2-3.html])

Rather than "asking", the Focuser uses the quality of PresenceLeigh, CC. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0983546215/ref=sr_1_4?p=S00H&keywords=%22inner+relationship+focusing%22&ie=UTF8&qid=1384567402 Becoming Divinely Human: A Direct Path to Embodied Awakening]. Wolfsong Press, 2011. pp. 86–87. to allow what wants to be expressed – hidden feelings, thoughts, and incipient information – to come forth. The guide, if used, gives gentle suggestions rather than asking questions in order not to intrude on the process or deflect attention away from the inner experience.Cornell, Ann Weiser. [http://www.focusing-center.de/storage/artikel/Questioning%20Questions.pdf "Questioning Questions"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111235402/http://www.focusing-center.de/storage/artikel/Questioning%20Questions.pdf |date=2011-11-11 }}. The Focusing Connection. March 2001. This stage, which includes the stage called "resonating" in Gendlin's format, is an important and lengthy one in IRF,Cornell, Ann Weiser. [http://www.focusing.org/fot/cornell_focusing_technique.html "The Focusing Technique: Confirmatory Knowing Through the Body"]. In: Palmer, Helen (ed). [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0874779367 Inner Knowing: Consciousness, Creativity, Insight, and Intuition]. Tarcher/Putnam, 1998, pp. 159-164. and includes settling down with "it" (the felt experience or the partial self), keeping it company, and sensing its point of view, including what it wants and what it does not want.Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. [http://www.focusing.org/folio/Vol21No12008/03_InnerRelatTRIB.pdf "Inner Relationship Focusing"]. [http://www.focusing.org/folio/Vol21No12008/FolioTribute2008WEB_r.pdf Focusing Folio. Volume 21, Number 1, 2008]. pp. 21–33.Hicks, Angela. [http://www.focusing.org.uk/pdfs/focusing_styles.pdf "Examining four styles of Focusing – the similarities and differences"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202225525/http://www.focusing.org.uk/pdfs/focusing_styles.pdf |date=2013-12-02 }}. Focusing.org.uk.Nickerson, Carol. [http://www.focusing.org/folio/Vol23No12012/04_Nickerson_FocusingResearch.pdf "Attachment and Neuroscience: The Benefits of Being a Focusing Oriented Professional"]. [http://www.focusing.org/folio/Vol23No12012/Contents_FocusingResearch_rev.pdf Focusing Folio. Volume 23, Number 1, 2012]. pp. 47–57.

An important principle in Inner Relationship Focusing is not denying or exiling any thoughts, feelings, or partial selves – not even the inner critic – but rather empathizing with all parts and aspects and sensing what they want to communicate and why.Kugel, Jennifer A. [https://books.google.com/books?id=qhq6ZwEACAAJ "An Inner Relationship Focusing Approach to Transforming the Inner Critic."] PhD diss., Alliant International University, California School of Professional Psychology, San Diego, 2010. Cornell calls this "the radical acceptance of everything".Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0972105832 The Radical Acceptance of Everything: Living a Focusing Life]. Calluna Press, 2005. Another central principle is the aspect of Presence, or "Self-in-Presence": gentle listening, with equanimity, to everything that comes up in the Focusing process.Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. [https://focusingresources.com/learning/the-focusing-students-companions-manual/ The Focusing Student's and Companion's Manual, Volume 1]. Calluna Press, 2002. pp. 57–60. In addition, specific language and language/thought patterns are encouraged, which Cornell calls "Presence language", in order to facilitate this process. And as indicated by its name, Inner Relationship Focusing gives high priority to the relationship of the Focuser to his inwardly felt experience or aspects of his inner life. The role of the guide, if one is used, is to support this relationship.Van Nuys, David. [http://www.shrinkrapradio.com/214.pdf "Focusing with Ann Weiser Cornell"]. Shrink Rap. July 30, 2009.

Since the early 1990s Cornell has taught Inner Relationship Focusing throughout the U.S. at venues including Esalen,{{Cite web |url=http://www.esalen.org/learn/workshops/leader |title=Leaders at Esalen – Ann Weiser Cornell |access-date=2013-11-16 |archive-date=2013-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030154508/http://www.esalen.org/learn/workshops/leader |url-status=dead }} the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine,[http://focusingresources.com/speaking/ Ann Weiser Cornell – Selected Past Speaking Engagements] and the American Psychological Association, and also around the world.[http://www.focusing-center.de/ann-weiser-cornell-en/ Ann Weiser Cornell in Hamburg, Germany] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203005438/http://www.focusing-center.de/ann-weiser-cornell-en/ |date=2013-12-03 }}. Zentrum für Focusing Kompetenzen. Inner Relationship Focusing is now used and taught all over the world,Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. [https://focusingresources.com/learning/the-focusing-students-companions-manual/ The Focusing Student's and Companion's Manual, Volume 1]. Calluna Press, 2002. p. A-22.[http://www.focusing-center.de/storage/pdf/PS%20Inner%20Relationship%20Focusing.pdf Inner Relationship Focusing] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508083955/http://www.focusing-center.de/storage/pdf/PS%20Inner%20Relationship%20Focusing.pdf |date=2012-05-08 }}. Zentrum für

Focusing Kompetenz. including in Afghanistan and Pakistan.Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. [http://www.focusing.org/folio/Vol21No12008/03_InnerRelatTRIB.pdf "Inner Relationship Focusing"]. [http://www.focusing.org/folio/Vol21No12008/FolioTribute2008WEB_r.pdf Focusing Folio. Volume 21, Number 1, 2008]. p. 21.Omidian, Patricia and Nina Joy Lawrence. [http://www.focusing.org/folio/Vol21No12008/24_CommunityWellTRIB.pdf "Community Wellness Focusing: A Work In Progress"]. [http://www.focusing.org/folio/Vol21No12008/FolioTribute2008WEB_r.pdf Focusing Folio. Volume 21, Number 1, 2008]. pp.291–303.Koch, Sabine C.; Fuchs, Thomas; Summa, Michela; Müller, Cornelia. [https://books.google.com/books?id=IaovW-rP-RcC&pg=PA390 Body Memory, Metaphor and Movement]. John Benjamins Publishing, 2012. p. 390.

Psychologist and self-help author Helene Brenner calls Inner Relationship Focusing "one of the most powerful techniques I know for emotional healing".Brenner, Helene G. [https://books.google.com/books?id=PnBMx3VEGioC&pg=PA136 I Know I'm in There Somewhere: A Woman's Guide to Finding Her Inner Voice and Living a Life of Authenticity]. Penguin, 2004. p. 136. CC Leigh, whose Inseeing Process of self-healing and spiritual growth is largely based on IRF,Leigh, CC. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0983546215/ref=sr_1_4?p=S00H&keywords=%22inner+relationship+focusing%22&ie=UTF8&qid=1384567402 Becoming Divinely Human: A Direct Path to Embodied Awakening]. Wolfsong Press, 2011. pp. 79–85, 239. calls Inner Relationship Focusing a "highly refined technology for getting in touch with the inner dynamics that typically lie beneath the threshold of awareness, and befriending them from a state of Presence so they can open up and organically evolve".Leigh, CC. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0983546215/ref=sr_1_4?p=S00H&keywords=%22inner+relationship+focusing%22&ie=UTF8&qid=1384567402 Becoming Divinely Human: A Direct Path to Embodied Awakening]. Wolfsong Press, 2011. pp. 8–9. Inner Relationship Focusing has been recommended in several 21st-century psychology textbooks,Lebow, Jay L. [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=s4uUKOKjaEgC&oi=fnd&pg=PA122 Twenty-First Century Psychotherapies: Contemporary Approaches to Theory and Practice]. John Wiley & Sons, 2008. p. 122. stress-reduction manuals,Davis, Martha; Eshelman, Elizabeth Robbins; McKay, Matthew. [https://books.google.com/books?id=nA8XAMZ7H30C&pg=PA218 The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook]. New Harbinger Publications, 2009. p. 218. and other self-improvement texts,Jones, Michael. [https://books.google.com/books?id=6RlYAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT172 Artful Leadership: Awakening the Commons of the Imagination]. Trafford Publishing, 2006. p. 172.Connor, Jane Marantz and Dian Killian. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1892005247/ref=sr_1_3?p=S092&keywords=%22inner+relationship+focusing%22&ie=UTF8&qid=1384567402 Connecting Across Differences: Finding Common Ground with Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime]. PuddleDancer Press, 2012. p. 311. and it is the commonest adaptation of the Focusing form used today.

• Ego-state therapy
• Emotion-focused therapy
• Internal Family Systems Model
• Nonviolent Communication

{{reflist|2}}

• Cornell, Ann Weiser. The Radical Acceptance of Everything: Living a Focusing Life. Calluna Press, 2005. {{ISBN|9780972105835}}

• [http://focusingresources.com Official site]
• [https://focusingresources.com/learning/focusing-resources-certification-as-an-inner-relationship-focusing-professional/ Official certification]

Category:Psychotherapy

Category:Mind–body interventions