Another question on the subject of Focusing: is anyone able to point to any good online resources explaining what it is / how to try it / any theoretical background it has?
On the one hand, I’m fascinated by pre-verbal, ‘embodied’ aspects of thinking, and this ‘felt sense’ idea sounds well worth exploring. On the other hand, as with anything in the self-help-adjacent area there looks to be a lot of dubious stuff and people wanting to sell you things, and if anyone has already looked into this and can save me from wading through the rubbish I’d really appreciate it.
A 2001 article suggests that around that time there were around 80 studies done on Focusing.
Picking up the skill simply by reading the explanation of the official website might require familiarity with the basic concepts that are involved that most people might not have. A few LW people found the Focusing audiobook helpful.
After having done a lot of research into teaching rationality CFAR seems to consider it to be a basic building stone that’s worthwhile to teach.
I personally taught Focusing workshops at the last two European Community Weekends and I think two times to our LessWrong Dojo.
Thanks very much! Yes I wasn’t really expecting to be able to pick up too much from an online explanation, but a bit of context is nice to decide whether to explore further. It sounds like the audiobook would be a good resource after that.
ChristianKl has it as a pet project, a few of us have read the book, the original audiobook is the best source apparently. It seems to have some legitimacy about it, essentially trying to give a way of S1 to communicate with S2.
There is nothing mysterious about it. You set up some conditions that should make it easier for the two systems to communicate through sensory perceptions. Thinking of a problem, thinking of a feeling of “broken” that represents that problem, like a knot. Then think of what it would take to fix that broken feeling, like untying the knot or unravelling the spaghetti. Then try to put that solution feeling into words for yourself.
except with some better direction and hints than two sentences, and a meditative environment.
Another question on the subject of Focusing: is anyone able to point to any good online resources explaining what it is / how to try it / any theoretical background it has?
On the one hand, I’m fascinated by pre-verbal, ‘embodied’ aspects of thinking, and this ‘felt sense’ idea sounds well worth exploring. On the other hand, as with anything in the self-help-adjacent area there looks to be a lot of dubious stuff and people wanting to sell you things, and if anyone has already looked into this and can save me from wading through the rubbish I’d really appreciate it.
The official website is http://www.focusing.org/index.html . It contains a basic description of the technique and references to various resources.
A 2001 article suggests that around that time there were around 80 studies done on Focusing.
Picking up the skill simply by reading the explanation of the official website might require familiarity with the basic concepts that are involved that most people might not have. A few LW people found the Focusing audiobook helpful.
After having done a lot of research into teaching rationality CFAR seems to consider it to be a basic building stone that’s worthwhile to teach.
I personally taught Focusing workshops at the last two European Community Weekends and I think two times to our LessWrong Dojo.
Thanks very much! Yes I wasn’t really expecting to be able to pick up too much from an online explanation, but a bit of context is nice to decide whether to explore further. It sounds like the audiobook would be a good resource after that.
ChristianKl has it as a pet project, a few of us have read the book, the original audiobook is the best source apparently. It seems to have some legitimacy about it, essentially trying to give a way of S1 to communicate with S2.
There is nothing mysterious about it. You set up some conditions that should make it easier for the two systems to communicate through sensory perceptions. Thinking of a problem, thinking of a feeling of “broken” that represents that problem, like a knot. Then think of what it would take to fix that broken feeling, like untying the knot or unravelling the spaghetti. Then try to put that solution feeling into words for yourself.
except with some better direction and hints than two sentences, and a meditative environment.
Thanks for the extra description, that’s helpful! I might give the audiobook a go then.