Focusing – a tool for self-care, exploration and growth
These workshops are experiential and so are usually open to no more than six-eight attendees - book early to ensure your place!
Focusing on Identity and Diversity – exploring embodied experience of whiteness
Thursdays 6.30-9pm - 10th, 17th, 24th Nov & 1st Dec - £130 - on Zoom - 3-5 places max
Do you have an interest in exploring your own cultural identity and how this might impact on your being in the world, your being with others? This is an opportunity for those identifying as white to engage with our own identity and our experiences around difference, power and prejudice in a small experiential group, to support taking responsibility for ourselves in these areas. Focusing is a great way to explore such issues which challenge us, as the radical acceptance in the Focusing attitude allows a safe space for being and exploring. Exploring identity and diversity can also be fascinating and uplifting and helps us deepen our empathy for others and compassion for ourselves.
Exploring our identity and response to difference through the lens of our embodied experience allows an expanded awareness and potential to shift bodily held states (often influenced by fear) which keep prejudice in place. Focusing has a unique capacity to hold us in our own inner exploration of this complex and emotive area and support us to a place of greater openness to dialogue non-defensively around issues of race, to be connected with our shared humanity and live in a more proactively anti-oppressive way. This will be a small group to ensure a safe space for sharing and learning with openness rather than self-blame.
You can join this group if you already have experience of Focusing partnerships: if you have done an Introduction to Focusing or more. If you are interested but have no/less experience of Focusing, do get in touch to see if we can arrange one to one sessions to give you the necessary experience to join. I may also run another course at a later date for those with no prior Focusing experience and/or a daytime version.
TO BOOK - use contact form at bottom of page
The course will involve inner exploration and group sharing. There will be Focusing partnership work each week and exercises to do between sessions. The content will be adapted to some degree as the course goes on, so may be subject to change.
Week one: We will settle in as a group and begin to explore white awareness, reflecting on our own white identity and white fragility as it applies to us, noticing embodied responses to this exploration.
Weeks two and three: We will reflect on vignettes and experiences of racism and their embodied impact on us. We will consider how need for safety impacts on our ability to relate to and process such experiences. We will explore self-regulation approaches and apply the radical self-acceptance implicit in the Focusing approach to enhance our resilience to stay in contact with these experiences and enhance our empathy for those experiencing racism.
Week four: We will reflect on our changing level of openness to our own experience of our racial identity and that of others. We will explore how we can more effectively dialogue around race and act in positively anti-racist ways, considering how we may carry forward any learnings.
Some aims of the course are:
THE FOLLOWING WORKSHOPS/COURSES WILL RUN AGAIN IN FUTURE, DATES TBC, YOU CAN GET IN TOUCH WITH EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
Weekday Intro course - lunchtimes 1.5 hours - on Zoom
Introduction to Focusing Part one:
What is Focusing? What is the felt sense? You will be introduced to the Focusing process and the particular way of Focusing Listening. This highly experiential workshop will help you learn to listen to your body and trust the wisdom it can share with you. After this series you can go on to do a second part of the Intro and/or the BFA Skills Certificate in Focusing.
Introduction to Focusing Part two:
If you have already done a one day/equivalent Intro: Get more practice of both the Focusing and Listening role and learn about the different ways we process our experience and how we may approach Focusing differently depending on our ‘processing style’. You will also experience the practice of Clearing a Space, which can be part of the Focusing process or used as a standalone process for managing overwhelm.
Intro can be taken as one day or whole weekend. Weekend gives skills needed to register for the BFA’s ‘Focusing partnership pool’. Day two required to do BFA Skills Certificate in Focusing.
Focusing with Stress and Overwhelm – 2 hrs - next date TBC - £25
Get a taste of the Focusing process and experience how this practice can assist us living with difficult experiences. Learn how you can support yourself through developing your inner relationship. Cultivate an approach of embodied inner listening and empower yourself to get the space you need around your feelings. This workshop can apply to Focusing for personal use or work with clients.
Focusing in Client Work – 2 hrs - next date TBC – £25
Get a personal taste of Focusing and an insight into how we can assist clients to deepen their experience in therapy using this practice. A Focusing approach can help to create an enhanced connection and sense of safety when working online. Explore when and when not to invite clients to work with the body. Learn about a of range of ways to take an embodied approach to therapy.
Focusing with our Dreams – 2 hrs - next date TBC - £25
Explore how Focusing can open up different aspects of your dreams and help you utilise the growth potential within them. You will have the opportunity to bring actual dreams and see them through the ‘lens’ of your embodied experience as well as looking at what we have to learn from parts and opposites in our dreams.
Focusing on Relating and Relationships – 2 hrs - next date TBC - £25
Our embodied experience plays a crucial part in our way of being in the world, and our way of being in relationships. Explore your own experience of the relationships in your life and the role your body plays in the way you relate to others. Experience how a Focusing approach may enrich your way of relating and open new possibilities.
Focusing with our Inner Critic – 2 hrs - £25
Our critical voices can have a huge impact on us, making us feel bad and preventing us from doing what we want to do. Explore the presence of inner criticism in your life and through a Focusing approach learn how to work with your critic to feel better, move forward and enlist the support of your critic.
Focusing with a Life Issue: Four week personal development course - 2.5 hours per week - next dates TBC -on Zoom £120 – maximum 6 people
Take the opportunity to work on an issue in your life with the support of the Focusing process in a small regular group. You might want to, for instance, improve your self-esteem, work on a relationship issue, break a habit or consider a life choice. The course will expand your knowledge of Focusing, enrich your Focusing practice and deepen your connection with yourself and others. The taught aspects on our relationship with ourself and what holds us back in life, along with the group sharing will compliment your Focusing partnership practice on the course to help you work on your chosen issue.
Focusing with a life issue can help you get a clearer sense of how your body wants you to live forward with this issue. Listening in to your holistic sense of yourself in your life can bring a fresh sense of the issue and of your unique process towards shifting it. Over the four weeks we will cover: Developing grounded presence; recognising and working with parts; understanding why you get stuck and how to start getting unstuck; understanding and beginning to make contact with more vulnerable parts of yourself.
For further info see http://www.suzimackenzie.com/focusing-with-a-life-issue.html
An introductory course in Embodied Authentic Confidence in your career with Dr Anna Kane and Suzi Mackenzie
2hrs per week for four weeks - next dates TBC - Early bird rate £150 (Regular price £200)
Want to feel more confident in your work?
CONTACT ME TO BOOK AND FOR MORE DETAILS
Here's what attendees at previous workshops and courses have said:
“The workshop gave an excellent introduction to Focusing and I am now inspired to pursue this further”
“Inspirational workshop. It is good to be stopped in my track and to re-think, not only my practice with clients, but also my personal way of being”
“I can go away and be more in tune with what my body is saying”
“Well organised course, supportive group members and a comfortable group size”
“Felt very organised, gently yet solidly held, clear expertise + really pleasant delivery and pace. Loved it!”
“Very satisfying workshop. Knowledgeable, competent and calm facilitator. Will take much away to use both in work and for self”
“Suzi is a great teacher, clear, explanative, helpful”
“Pace was really good, not too much info, clearly explained and lots of practical demos and experiences”
These workshops are experiential and so are usually open to no more than six-eight attendees - book early to ensure your place!
Focusing on Identity and Diversity – exploring embodied experience of whiteness
Thursdays 6.30-9pm - 10th, 17th, 24th Nov & 1st Dec - £130 - on Zoom - 3-5 places max
Do you have an interest in exploring your own cultural identity and how this might impact on your being in the world, your being with others? This is an opportunity for those identifying as white to engage with our own identity and our experiences around difference, power and prejudice in a small experiential group, to support taking responsibility for ourselves in these areas. Focusing is a great way to explore such issues which challenge us, as the radical acceptance in the Focusing attitude allows a safe space for being and exploring. Exploring identity and diversity can also be fascinating and uplifting and helps us deepen our empathy for others and compassion for ourselves.
Exploring our identity and response to difference through the lens of our embodied experience allows an expanded awareness and potential to shift bodily held states (often influenced by fear) which keep prejudice in place. Focusing has a unique capacity to hold us in our own inner exploration of this complex and emotive area and support us to a place of greater openness to dialogue non-defensively around issues of race, to be connected with our shared humanity and live in a more proactively anti-oppressive way. This will be a small group to ensure a safe space for sharing and learning with openness rather than self-blame.
You can join this group if you already have experience of Focusing partnerships: if you have done an Introduction to Focusing or more. If you are interested but have no/less experience of Focusing, do get in touch to see if we can arrange one to one sessions to give you the necessary experience to join. I may also run another course at a later date for those with no prior Focusing experience and/or a daytime version.
TO BOOK - use contact form at bottom of page
The course will involve inner exploration and group sharing. There will be Focusing partnership work each week and exercises to do between sessions. The content will be adapted to some degree as the course goes on, so may be subject to change.
Week one: We will settle in as a group and begin to explore white awareness, reflecting on our own white identity and white fragility as it applies to us, noticing embodied responses to this exploration.
Weeks two and three: We will reflect on vignettes and experiences of racism and their embodied impact on us. We will consider how need for safety impacts on our ability to relate to and process such experiences. We will explore self-regulation approaches and apply the radical self-acceptance implicit in the Focusing approach to enhance our resilience to stay in contact with these experiences and enhance our empathy for those experiencing racism.
Week four: We will reflect on our changing level of openness to our own experience of our racial identity and that of others. We will explore how we can more effectively dialogue around race and act in positively anti-racist ways, considering how we may carry forward any learnings.
Some aims of the course are:
- listening to the body (noticing both reactions and blocks that indicate prejudice – and feelings of empathy and compassion)
- physically expanding our capacity to hold difficult feelings (self-regulate) in relation to self and others – and to feel greater empathy for others
- developing ability to be relationally present with challenging aspects of our experience and others’
- developing an accepting inner relationship around such issues rather than self-blame and denial
- connecting with our inner values and potential to carrying forward our work around identity and living forwards in a more proactively anti-oppressive way
THE FOLLOWING WORKSHOPS/COURSES WILL RUN AGAIN IN FUTURE, DATES TBC, YOU CAN GET IN TOUCH WITH EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
Weekday Intro course - lunchtimes 1.5 hours - on Zoom
Introduction to Focusing Part one:
What is Focusing? What is the felt sense? You will be introduced to the Focusing process and the particular way of Focusing Listening. This highly experiential workshop will help you learn to listen to your body and trust the wisdom it can share with you. After this series you can go on to do a second part of the Intro and/or the BFA Skills Certificate in Focusing.
Introduction to Focusing Part two:
If you have already done a one day/equivalent Intro: Get more practice of both the Focusing and Listening role and learn about the different ways we process our experience and how we may approach Focusing differently depending on our ‘processing style’. You will also experience the practice of Clearing a Space, which can be part of the Focusing process or used as a standalone process for managing overwhelm.
Intro can be taken as one day or whole weekend. Weekend gives skills needed to register for the BFA’s ‘Focusing partnership pool’. Day two required to do BFA Skills Certificate in Focusing.
Focusing with Stress and Overwhelm – 2 hrs - next date TBC - £25
Get a taste of the Focusing process and experience how this practice can assist us living with difficult experiences. Learn how you can support yourself through developing your inner relationship. Cultivate an approach of embodied inner listening and empower yourself to get the space you need around your feelings. This workshop can apply to Focusing for personal use or work with clients.
Focusing in Client Work – 2 hrs - next date TBC – £25
Get a personal taste of Focusing and an insight into how we can assist clients to deepen their experience in therapy using this practice. A Focusing approach can help to create an enhanced connection and sense of safety when working online. Explore when and when not to invite clients to work with the body. Learn about a of range of ways to take an embodied approach to therapy.
Focusing with our Dreams – 2 hrs - next date TBC - £25
Explore how Focusing can open up different aspects of your dreams and help you utilise the growth potential within them. You will have the opportunity to bring actual dreams and see them through the ‘lens’ of your embodied experience as well as looking at what we have to learn from parts and opposites in our dreams.
Focusing on Relating and Relationships – 2 hrs - next date TBC - £25
Our embodied experience plays a crucial part in our way of being in the world, and our way of being in relationships. Explore your own experience of the relationships in your life and the role your body plays in the way you relate to others. Experience how a Focusing approach may enrich your way of relating and open new possibilities.
Focusing with our Inner Critic – 2 hrs - £25
Our critical voices can have a huge impact on us, making us feel bad and preventing us from doing what we want to do. Explore the presence of inner criticism in your life and through a Focusing approach learn how to work with your critic to feel better, move forward and enlist the support of your critic.
Focusing with a Life Issue: Four week personal development course - 2.5 hours per week - next dates TBC -on Zoom £120 – maximum 6 people
Take the opportunity to work on an issue in your life with the support of the Focusing process in a small regular group. You might want to, for instance, improve your self-esteem, work on a relationship issue, break a habit or consider a life choice. The course will expand your knowledge of Focusing, enrich your Focusing practice and deepen your connection with yourself and others. The taught aspects on our relationship with ourself and what holds us back in life, along with the group sharing will compliment your Focusing partnership practice on the course to help you work on your chosen issue.
Focusing with a life issue can help you get a clearer sense of how your body wants you to live forward with this issue. Listening in to your holistic sense of yourself in your life can bring a fresh sense of the issue and of your unique process towards shifting it. Over the four weeks we will cover: Developing grounded presence; recognising and working with parts; understanding why you get stuck and how to start getting unstuck; understanding and beginning to make contact with more vulnerable parts of yourself.
For further info see http://www.suzimackenzie.com/focusing-with-a-life-issue.html
An introductory course in Embodied Authentic Confidence in your career with Dr Anna Kane and Suzi Mackenzie
2hrs per week for four weeks - next dates TBC - Early bird rate £150 (Regular price £200)
Want to feel more confident in your work?
- Want to be clearer on what’s in the way and what can support your personal growth?
- Want to grow your business and weather these challenging times?
CONTACT ME TO BOOK AND FOR MORE DETAILS
Here's what attendees at previous workshops and courses have said:
“The workshop gave an excellent introduction to Focusing and I am now inspired to pursue this further”
“Inspirational workshop. It is good to be stopped in my track and to re-think, not only my practice with clients, but also my personal way of being”
“I can go away and be more in tune with what my body is saying”
“Well organised course, supportive group members and a comfortable group size”
“Felt very organised, gently yet solidly held, clear expertise + really pleasant delivery and pace. Loved it!”
“Very satisfying workshop. Knowledgeable, competent and calm facilitator. Will take much away to use both in work and for self”
“Suzi is a great teacher, clear, explanative, helpful”
“Pace was really good, not too much info, clearly explained and lots of practical demos and experiences”
