Relational Presence:

What makes the difference with those clients who are hardest to reach?

More often than not it's not the tool that you use, but the quality of your very presence.

This Focusing Skills Course is aimed at helping professionals such as coaches, therapists and other specaeholdders to  helps you develop exactly that, through easy to learn, practical embodiment tools.

As a result you will feel more resourced in your work, so that you are better able to work with challenging clients.

It can also help you to take your work to a deeper level. Each session is one step on that journey.

"As complex human beings living in a complex world, we need the precision of both kinds of knowing,  the body knows, but it does so in a different way than the mind knows,"   Eugene Gendlin

Both the body and the mind are needed  for real change to happen, and this is where focusing comes in.  In this Course we will also work with the Relational Field -this We Space between you and the client. Working with this practice, drawing on both Circling Practices and Relational Whole Body Focuisng you will no longer feel that you need to leave yourself 'at the door' but you will find ways to bring your full authentic self in service of your client.

More info in this video.

Course Format

20 live Zoom sessions (2 hours each)

Tuesdays, 10:30 AM–12:30 PM (UK Time)

From  October 13th - March 23rd

Module 1 Ends on December 15th

Module 2 Starts January 19th

Partner practice between sessions to embed learning

Recordings available, but 90% live attendance is required for certification.

Included 1:1 Coaching Support

As part of the programme, you’ll also receive:

✅ Optional 15-minute intake call

✅ One 60-minute Focusing session  in each module

✅ One 30-minute embodied coaching session  in each module

✅ 15-minute closing reflection session

✅ Discounted 1:1 coaching and focusing sessions at 50% off throughout the course

✅ Reflective Practitioner Journal to support your development

Certification

Upon successful completion, you will receive:

Focusing Skills Certificate

CPD Certificate (accredited by the Association for Coaching)

You must attend at least 90% of sessions live to gain certification and to proceed to next level

Course overview

MODULE 1   October 13th - December 15th 2026  1030 - 1230 on Zoom
Session 1: Introduction and Context Setting
In this opening session, you will discover a theoretical framework drawing on the work of Heinz Kohut and Iain McGilchrist. This framework will support the tools we will explore throughout the training and you will get a taste of the embodied and relational skills that we will be learning during the course.

Session 2 Arrival Practices
We begin to work with the brain-body and learn a method to help you arrive more fully in your body. This is a starting point for the kind of embodied work we are learning. You will be able to use this practice for yourself, as well as to support clients to become more present, and with a calmer nervous system.

Session 3: An Introduction to the Felt Sense
In this session you can get into contact with your very own Felt Sense. You will learn to listen to what it has to tell you. This structured approach provides a foundation for the rest of the programme.

Session 4: What is Focusing? Focusing Partner Exercises
Focusing is the process that Eugene Gendlin created to help anyone access their Felt Sense. In this module, you begin to learn to follow your own Felt Sense and to discover some of the gifts it holds.

Session 5: Deepening Listening Skills, Using the Relational Field to Support Your Client Work
As a coach, you are probably already a good listener! Yet a big part of this work is what happens because of your good listening presence. In this module, you will hone your listening skills. You will learn how to access the relational field to support your clients even better.

Session 6: Being with ‘What is’ and with ‘Not Knowing’ drawing on Focusing
As the journey into the Felt Sense deepens, you will learn finer points to allow more to come into your awareness. You will discover the gifts of ‘being with’ and ‘not knowing’. You will learn this for yourself – and later extend this awareness to better support your client.

Session 7: Transformational Connections Using Circling Practices
This module explores the relational field between self and other. You will discover the power of Circling Practices and Transformational Connections. You will explore sharing your inner experience of being with another person, and the impact they have on you. You will also have the opportunity to receive this special kind of attention from another person. This quality of connection is rare in daily life.

Session 8: Working with ‘Parts’
We all have many different parts of us. Although we are whole as a person, different ‘parts’ may show up in different contexts. We will draw on the Felt Sense to discover a unique way to access your own ‘parts’ and to find a way to be with even challenging parts. This can later inform how you work with clients.

Session 9: Adaptation Strategies and the Role of Shame
Many clients come to us to deal with shame-based adaptation strategies, such as ‘people pleasing’ and ‘perfectionism’. These strategies may have been useful once but are usually no longer helpful. In this module, you will discover the Lead Being You Adaptation Styles (which draw on NARM™, the Neuro Affective Relational Model) and learn better ways to deal with unhelpful habits. This knowledge can also inform your client work.

Session 10 : Using the Felt Sense: Further Support working with Clients
This module helps you integrate your own embodiment with your client work. You will learn how to hold space for a client so that they can have their own Felt Sense experience whilst they work on an issue or topic. This final module also helps integrate the whole programme and to deepen these skills going forward.

Module 2   January 19th - March 23rd on Zoom 1030 - 1230 on Zoom

Session 1: Guiding Principles in our work with others.
In this session we will recap some of the key elements of accessing the felt sense. We begin to learn and practice key skills to support another person to access their own  felts sense.

Session 2: .The Practice of Reflection
Many people appreciate hearing back words from their own process to support their experience in accessing the felt sense. In this session we will learn what and how to reflect in support of the client. This will be a practice we will come back to throughout the programme.

Session 3:  Guiding a Session  - Starting and Ending 
This session provides a framework for how a guide can support a client. We will learn to provide a lead in for the client and we will learn to find a good way to support the end of a session. We will invite the client  to work on an issue or to have an open exploration of their own felt sense.

Session 4: Beginning to Guide the Client in their process.
In this session we will learn key components in how to successfully guide a client in their process. There are specific moves that can support the client to deepen their awareness in to their own process with the felt sense.

Session 5: Focusing with Parts
We all have many different parts to us and there are many systems that work with Parts. (For example Internal Family Systems). Focusing offers a unique way to access these parts, to learn about them, and to find acceptance for even our most challenging parts, which will be introduced in this session.

Session 6 : Dealing with challenges:  Helping the Client when they get stuck
As we begin to deepen our work with clients   sometimes the person may get stuck with aspects of themselves. We will learn short cuts  to help facilitate a deeper level of awareness for the client supported.

Session 7:  Working with Self Critical Parts and Challenging aspects
In this session we will look at how to support the client when they are dealing with critical aspects. We will find ways to help them find ways to greater self-acceptance.

Session 8:  Transformational Connections
In this session we will deepen the ways in which access to our own felt sense can further support your work with coaching and therapy clients.

Session 9:  Radical Self Compassion 
Self compassion is at the root of all this work.  Sometimes it is challenging for clients to find this for themselves.  This session will provide you with tools to help your client do just that

Session 10: Integration: Participant case studies
Throughout this series we will highlight application to work with clients. However, this final session will help to integrate this learning more deeply and there will be the chance to share and unpick challenges that you are facing as you begin to integrate this body of work into your own clients with whom you are already working. This is also an opportunity to discover how to further develop these skills going forward

‘Being more present in myself and listening to my gut rather than living in my head so much . This will make me a more attentive and a better coach.’

This program deepens your experience with the Felt Sense, Focusing, and Circling Practices It will also include nervous system regulation tools drawing on polyvagal toning and support you in making your work more trauma informed.

After successful completion of the course participants will gain  CPD from the Association for Coaching. and a British Focusing Association Certificate in Focusing Skills Certificate. This will allow you to continue your own journey as a Focuser and access a wide range of ongoing activities related to focusing, through both the BFA and TIFI 

Small group format
The group size is deleiberately kept small. This helps to ensure everyone gets the attention, space and connection that this work deserves. Places are limited.

CPD and certification is available

Some feedback from previous participants

'Being more present in myself and listening to my gut rather than living in my head so much . This will make me a more attentive and a better coach.’

'With these tools I will be able to create much deeper connections with the clients. Some of the techniques are also useful for my own wellbeing.'

'Being fully present and grounded opens up new possibilities and widens our perspective. It creates a certain level of lightness and mental space. I LOVE IT!'

“Being more present in myself and listening to my gut… this will make me a better coach.”

“Any coach worth their salt would want to learn and practice how they can be more present.”
—Helen Isacke, Founder, Trusted Coach Network

"Thanks again for the past 6 sessions, Ruth! It has been hugely rewarding and insightful in ways I hoped but mostly in ways I didn’t expect, in getting in touch with my body’s wisdom and feeling grounded in a space." Isaac Allaway

You can also watch these Video Testimonials

Ellie Nova, The Sober Coach

Helen Isacke, Founder, Trusted Coach Network

Mariell Patiki, Executive Coach

Natalie Salvesen, Therapist

About the Facilitator

My name is Ruth Friedman and I have been recognised by the Forbetter Institute as one of Edinburgh’s Top 10 Coaches. I’m the creator and owner of Lead Being You coaching and training company. I created Lead Being You to help people overcome doubts, manage stress, and build confidence.

I use a unique blend of coaching and embodiment tools, which I learned first for my own development and in which I am now trained and credentialed.

I am credentialed through the ICF as a Professional Certified Coach and with Association for Coaching as a Master Executive Coach.

I have been working with Focusing and Circling practices for over a decade and am now trained and credentialed as a Focusing Teacher and Circling Practice Leader. I’m passionate about sharing these practices because of the profound impact they have had on my own life and in my work as a coach.

My style is warm, inclusive, and experiential. I offer clear demonstrations, hold safe space, and support deep personal and professional transformation.

Questions? Ready to Join?

I’d love to hear from you.

Email: [email protected]
Tel: +4477358328567

Book your complimentary call here