Focusing and Inner Relationship Focusing

Focusing has been foundational in my development and my work. It has helped me be more present, compassionate and accepting of myself and others. If you are looking for individual sessions or classes, here are two recommendations of former students, now certified trainers, who are local to the Triangle area. You can also find listings of Inner Relationship Focusing trainers through Ann Weiser Cornell’s web site, FocusingResources.com. The International Focusing Institute site, Focusing.org, also has a comprehensive directory of practitioners and trainers worldwide.

Meg Stein, Alive and Aware Practice

Meg offers Inner Relationship Focusing sessions for individuals and couples, and works with both adults and teens. She also teaches classes and facilitates groups.
Website: aliveandawarepractice.com

Contact Meg

Tommy Noonan, Culture Mill

Tommy is an experienced facilitator and the founder of Culture Mill in Saxapahaw, NC. He is available for individual Focusing sessions and groups.
Website: noonantommy.com

Contact Tommy

Both are graduates of my certification program (2024), and both are multi-talented artists.

• If you have an interest in learning Focusing in a group setting or have a group that wants to learn together, contact me.

What is Focusing?

Focusing is a mind/body process and method of inner attention that you can use to bring clarity, movement and growth into all areas of your life. When you Focus, you pay compassionate attention to a holistic body awareness (a felt sense) that holds meaning in your life. You learn to notice and listen to these felt senses and receive the deep level of information and experience that they hold. It is a way to make contact with your inner life directly and freshly, disengaging from familiar patterns and creating new ones. Because the whole self is involved, the result of Focusing is not only greater knowledge and insight, but directly experienced life change. You understand yourself better, you feel better, and you act in ways that are more likely to create the life that you want.

Focusing provides a practical and specific framework for tapping into an inner awareness that is more than our thoughts and feelings. We have all heard that it is good to be in touch with ourselves, Focusing teaches you how. The process of Focusing can be used by itself or in combination with other modalities — including psychotherapy, bodywork, and creative pursuits.

Based upon research into personal change, the principles and methods of Focusing were originally identified and formulated by philosopher and psychotherapist Eugene Gendlin. It is a practice that corresponds with his major life work — The Philosophy of the Implicit. It was introduced to a wider audience with his book, Focusing, in 1978. Find out more information about Focusing.

What is Inner Relationship Focusing?

Inner Relationship Focusing (IRF) is a lineage of Focusing developed by Ann Weiser Cornell and Barbara McGavin. IRF is a well articulated and evolving healing modality that is being taught and practiced across the globe. As with all Focusing, once the process is learned, it can be done in a peer-to-peer exchange (called Focusing partnership) and the benefits can affect all areas of your life.

IRF emphasizes a state of awareness referred to as “Self-in-Presence.” This is a state of being that is open, present and allows for all kinds of internal experience, without being caught up or merged with it. The Inner Relationship refers to the relationship between Self-in-Presence and anything that comes up in your experience.

A great introduction to this work is The Power of Focusing: A Guide to Emotional Self Healing by Ann Weiser Cornell. Also, Focusing in Clinical Practice: The Essence of Change is a wonderful resource for healing professionals wanting to apply Focusing to their practice.