Focusing Roundtable - Exploring a Felt Sense of Faith

Friday, April 30, 2021 from 11:00-1:00 pm EDT (New York - US)

Times worldwide: convert to your time zone

Please note: This Roundtable will be offered on two different dates to accommodate members in different time zones. Please register for only one of those dates.

In this Roundtable, we will explore together the felt sense of faith.  Many people feel that faith must be attached to religion and that somehow it requires imposing on ourselves the message and interpretations that are handed down by religious authorities. By exploring in our bodies what faith means to us, we can discover the many other ways that faith shows up in our lives, such as having faith in others (such as friends, partners, institutions, medical practitioners). Sometimes our faith is met with loss and disappointment, but also sometimes when life presents challenging situations a felt sense of trust and confidence that we might call faith arises in our darkest moments.

For many of us, these turbulent times have opened up such deep, dark inner spaces in which we may have felt disappointment, fear, and shattering doubt. Most of us may have heard the advice "have faith!" in times like this. Yet, the spontaneous qualities that arise from having faith, like inspiration, trust, and knowingness, cannot be forced or willed into existence. Instead of running away from the darkness and doubt, perhaps if we turn towards it gently through Focusing, we can discover a mysterious edge that is faith.

During this Roundtable, we will guide you into a Focusing experience where we will explore:

• What happens when we go beyond our expectations of what faith is, and what it "should" bring to our lives?
• Even when we feel we have lost faith, what arises when we can take a step back and explore what we really understand and experience faith to be?
• How can Focusing help us during our times of doubt and darkness?

Come and explore with us the history of faith in your body, with openness and curiosity. Through Focusing, let's invite simplicity and silence as our guides as we get in touch with our felt sense of faith. Let's explore flying over our inner space with the larger perspective of an eagle, and sense the untold depths of the story of our lives. Let's see if we can experience something fresh from within.

Who might be particularly interested in attending this Roundtable?

Anyone who is curious about this topic. Anyone who wants to journey deeper into finding a bigger sense of themselves and a wellspring of faith in the body.

CONNECTION>CONVERSATION>COMMUNITY

What to expect from Focusing Roundtables: 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.

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 http://www.focusing.org/membership, 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.

About your hosts:

Monica Gomez Galaz is a Focusing Coordinator in Mexico City. She is a personal coach and focusing trainer. As a curious dreamer and a never-ending student of life, she is interested in how personal evolution connects us with something bigger. Through Biodecoding and Focusing, she has a better understanding of her own Body History. In her practice, she has evolved a new way of bringing awareness to biological function creating a natural trust of the process.

Özlem Maviş is currently working as a care aide for people with developmental disabilities in Victoria, Canada and studying spiritually-integrated psychotherapy. Focusing, since she discovered it in 2017, has guided her consistently within her inner landscape. She is particularly interested in combining Focusing with creative expression and sensing a subtle language of the soul. She makes watercolor illustrations that are inspired by the sacred presence she senses when her heart is still, or when it is dancing and glimmering with life.