LessWrong Meetup - Gendlin's Focusing

post by ChristianKl · 2022-07-19T16:55:24.889Z · ? · GW · 0 comments

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Focusing has long been part of the rationalist toolbox, since it can be seen as a technique to bridge "gut feelings" (system I) and "thinking" (system II), a way to more clearly access knowledge we already have, and possibly fine tune it.

The basics are quite simple, and in this workshop we will experiment with the basic "motions" of Focusing
accessing felt sense, listening to it, feeling "inner motions", giving a name to a sensation.

We will move from "I have it on the tip on my tongue" to "it is almost as if... but not really" to "yeah, exactly like that", and find ways to support each other via listening and mirroring.

Some introductory articles:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/f3o9ydY7iPjFF2fyk/focusing-1
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/PXqQhYEdbdAYCp88m/focusing-for-skeptics
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/eccTPEonRe4BAvNpD/the-felt-sense-what-why-and-how

I invited Alessandro to give this workshop as he has a lot of experience with Focusing outside of the usual rationalist sphere. Outside of that, he spends part of his life trying to tell quite primitive AIs what to do (at times successfully), and another part collecting techniques and ideas dealing with how human work together, connect with others, and themselves. Among the rest, he organizes a semi-regular meetup called "the cookbook" (think about an unconference, in a 90' box, about life and relationship skills), facilitates workshops, and co-hosts retreats.
You can find more here:
https://wetwarecraft.com/about/who-am-i/

14:00-14:15 Arriving and chatting
14:15-15:15 First Workshop Block
15:15-15:45 Mingling
15:45-17:15 Second Workshop Block
17:15-18:00 Mingling

Given that we are outdoors it's useful to bring a blanket along. You can find the location either at https://w3w.co/fühlt.beugen.freudig or via meetup. Given that it's a public park we might be located at a slightly different spot if another group already occupies the spot before we arrive.

 

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