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Culture of Empathy Builder:  Jo Kennedy

Nurturing a Culture of Empathy with Focusing:

Jo Kennedy (listener) and Edwin Rutsch (focuser)

Jo Kennedy is a Focusing practitioner and trainer. After a 25 year meditation practice she was deeply moved when she  discovered Focusing. She writes, "What I had been yearning  for had been there all along; what the meditation teachers had  been talking about was suddenly accessible. I was offered the  missing link.  Focusing is a profound form of deep listening, it  has enriched my life, shown me how to build strength in my  cancer recovery and given me access to an ongoing source of  creativity and healing. Learning to listen into this deep, more  bodily knowing has given me the gift of myself."

 

In this hour, Jo demonstrates the Focusing process with me. I was the "focuser" and followed my felt sense and Jo was the "listener".  Just coming out of a conflict with my girl friend, I was feeling quite stressed and full of anxiety. Jo guided me thought the process and after about 45 minutes, I felt quite relaxed and spacious.  As I described my felt sense and what was arising in me in real-time, Jo would use empathic listening to reflect what she was hearing. Once the session was done, we then talked about the process and the nature of empathy and Focusing.

 

 
 

 

Nurturing a Culture of Empathy with Focusing: Jo Kennedy (listener) and Edwin Rutsch (focuser)