Focusing

Biofeedback Through Body Sensations

The principle from the new breakthrough somatic methods that is most central to these practices is that of natural biofeedback without instruments.

This happens by putting your attention on your bodily sensations. The sensations that you feel in your body are a natural biofeedback mechanism for your whole emotional system.

How This Works

Like external biofeedback using instruments, this internal natural biofeedback mechanism changes the system by bringing awareness of the system into the feedback loop. By focusing on your bodily sensations you add information to your neuro-physiology that allows your whole system of experiencing to spontaneously adjust itself toward better functioning.

The big difference is that you don't use instruments. Your bodily sensations are the natural instruments, already inside you waiting to be used.

Many of the experiential transformation practices teach you how to focus your attention on your bodily sensations in the most effecient way to bring about rapid and thorough emotional change, and this in turn transforms the whole structure of your experiencing.

The Research

It was found by Eugene Gendlin and other researchers at the University of Chicago in the 1960's that the only factor among all variables that made for successful psychotherapy was putting attention on bodily sensations. He called that Focusing.

It was later discovered by Ilan Shalif in Israel in the 1980's that doing only inner bodily focusing was enough to transform the emotional system, without any kind of psychotherapy or other verbal interpretation approaches. He called that General Sensate Focusing. He also found that this method could effectively change even experiences like bodily pain that were thought to be purely physical.

What This Means

What this means is that focusing into your body sensations is the main factor in all deep experiential change. It is the main factor in the deep, quick changes in self and relationships that these practices bring about.

It means that only changes in your neuro-physiology at the most fundamental level are real changes that effect all your experiencing in any deep and lasting way. Seeming changes in mind, psychology or emotions are not deep enough for this. Only focusing into your bodily sensations so as to change your neuro-physiology is deep enough to do this.

This has been missing from methods that have treated psychological pain and relationship difficulties. And that is why they have been mostly ineffective or extremely slow.

These practices make this factor its central activity. That is why they are so effective where other methods have not been.

Focusing With Repatterning

When you put this together with the other breakthrough from the somatic field explained in the next section on Repatterning, you have amazing possibilities for stunning, quick breakthroughs to end pain and suffering, conflicts and disharmony.

This is exactly what happens through these practices.

To learn more, continue now with the section on Repatterning.