Focusing & Poetry Roundtable: How Focusing can open up a poem’s deep resonance and meaning

Thursday, July 27, 2023 

2pm-4pm New York Time  

Times worldwide: convert to your time zone

Live attendance required - no recording.

The TIFI Membership Committee is pleased to offer this series of Focusing Roundtables, designed especially for members of the Institute. If you are not a member, please join at this link and then return to this page to register. This program will afford members a valuable opportunity to engage in casual peer-to-peer conversation with other members who share Focusing-related interests.

Focusing and Poetry

"Poems show us that we are both more and less than human, that we’re part of the cosmos and part of the chaos, and that everything is a part of everything else.”  Julia Casterton

Mary and Marie will initiate a conversation on how a poem, combined with Focusing, can act as a powerful portal into deeper aspects of being human, or help us connect with other than human dimensions, which includes everything in the ‘natural world,’ but also that which ‘lies beyond.’ Different territories open up with different poems (and different companions): sometimes deeply and intimately personal; sometimes definitely trans-personal, including ‘the bigger picture,’ collective conscious or unconscious, archetypes, deities, the universe. There seems to be no limits to what might open up.

Together, we will explore how bringing a resonant poem into the Focusing space ‘opens it up’ and brings awareness of a deeper, and often emotional resonance, relevance and meaning of the poem.

Who might be particularly interested in attending this Roundtable?

This Roundtable is intended for anyone who knows Focusing and has any level of interest in poetry – whether this is a mild curiosity, or whether you are yourself a poet and would like the opportunity to bring a Focusing attention to your own work.

Marie has been involved in hosting informal sessions on Focusing and Poetry for some years and are pleased to share her experience with members and encourage them to consider how Focusing might enhance the whole experience of reading and/or writing poetry.

CONNECTION>CONVERSATION>COMMUNITY

What to expect from Focusing Rountables:  Each Focusing Roundtable is designed to promote informal peer-to-peer conversation. Rather than acting as expert presenters, the Hosts will serve as conversation moderators to encourage sharing and exploration of the topics from the participants’ own perspectives. All participants’ sharings are welcome and valuable, no matter what level of experience or knowledge you have on the topic. To preserve the nature of informal conversation, the program will be offered live only and no recordings will be available. Registration is limited and on a first-come, first served basis. Participants are encouraged to create follow up opportunities for connection among themselves after the Roundtable.

About your hosts:

Mary Jennings

Mary lives in Dublin, Ireland. Mary is a Focusing Coordinator and Trainer. She is currently one of the team that coordinates the Roundtables for members.

Mary has a long-time interest in poetry, having studied English literature in college. Recently, she has revived her interest in poetry and, occasionally, writes poetry in the form of Haiku.

Mary believes that Focusing is inherently creative: the process facilities us to think about and say things freshly‒often in surprising, poetic ways, ways that carry us forward in life.

Marie McGuigan

Marie lives in Belfast, Ireland with her husband and has three children and three grandchildren.

Her hobbies are reading, poetry, music and being in nature.

Marie worked for twenty-three years as a nurse specialising in caring for patients and families with chronic and life limiting illnesses. It was through this experience she trained as a counsellor. She was fortunate to have a clinical supervisor who was also the Focusing Coordinator in Northern Ireland. She began to use Focusing in her clinical practice and became certified as a Focusing Professional in 2013. Recently she has delivered Focusing with Poetry with  co-host Elaine Goggin on a  bi-monthly basis, for members of the Irish Focusing Network. Integrating her love of both poetry and Focusing has been a sheer joy and an inspirational experience. Marie is the lead on the Poetry Corner of the Irish Focusing Network website  at focusing.ie. where you can listen to poems being read,  accompanied by beautiful videos and Focusing reflections.