Gendlin

Eugene Gendlin (1926-2017) was an Austrian-born American philosopher and psychologist known for his development of Focusing, a body-awareness process that can be used for personal growth, emotional healing, and decision-making.

Gendlin earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Chicago, where he studied with Carl Rogers, a key figure in humanistic psychology. While at Chicago, Gendlin conducted research demonstrating that successful psychotherapy patients had a specific ability to access a felt sense – a vague, holistic awareness of a problem or situation as it is directly experienced in the body. This research led to the development of Focusing.

Focusing involves paying attention to this felt sense, allowing it to unfold, and finding words or images that resonate with it. The process is described in detail in his book, Focusing (1978), which has been translated into numerous languages.

Gendlin argued that the body holds implicit knowledge and that accessing this knowledge can lead to new insights and resolutions to problems. He called this process "felt meaning." His philosophical work, particularly Experiencing and the Creation of Meaning (1962), explored the relationship between experiencing, language, and meaning. He developed a philosophy of the implicit, arguing that all explicit understanding is founded on a vast, pre-conceptual realm of implicit knowing.

Gendlin founded The Focusing Institute in 1985 to promote the teaching and practice of Focusing. He was a professor of psychology and philosophy at the University of Chicago for several decades. His work has influenced various fields, including psychotherapy, education, and spirituality.