In Memoriam, Christine Langeveld

Origineel Memorial-artikel in het Nederlands

Christine Langeveld, certified Focusing Trainer and Coordinator, played an important role in the Netherlands in spreading "The Word." She was co-founder of The Hague Focusing Center and was instrumental in setting up the Dutch Focusing Network. Christine attended many Focusing Conferences and contributed in a variety of ways. She left this earthly life on December 13, 2024.

Christine was born in 1938, just before World War II broke out. The war had a major impact on her life, just as the illness of her mother did. Her mother suffered from a severe form of rheumatism. This started when Christine was six years old. As a child, she prayed a lot that her mom would recover. When this didn’t happen, she came to the conclusion she had not done enough and should have prayed better and more; should have tried harder to be a good child.

Despite the difficulties and setbacks, Christine was a cheerful child who loved to run, to play, and to romp. She was not very girlish, to her mother’s regret. She enjoyed her high school years, spending time with friends, learning easily, making music (she played piano and cello) and developing her creativity with language studying Dutch linguistics. During her study as a young adult, she decided to stay at her parents’ home to care for her mother.

In her adult life, she worked as a teacher of the Dutch language. Although very dedicated, inspiring and dutiful, Christine didn't find being a teacher very fulfilling. Later on, when Focusing entered her life, this fulfillment came into being: “The best time of my life,” she said.

Erna de Bruijn was the family's physician (GP), which was how Erna and Christine got to know each other. Their real relationship only started after Christine relocated. It became an intimate relationship that led to marriage. After their retirement, Focusing became an important and fulfilling part of their lives. They complemented and inspired each other.

At first Christine didn't want to have much to do with Focusing, having had very little success with different kinds of therapy. She was done with “all things 'good for me.'” It was a big relief to her when she found out that, with Focusing, the expertise about her own life was to be found within herself, in the wisdom of her own body! Focusing was something completely different from what she knew before - the Focuser is his/her own expert; you don’t need to be highly educated or highly sensitive; nobody knows what you have to do or where to go, it is just about not disturbing the process. You can do it yourself several times during the day without any special setting or place. Said Christine, “All you need is your body and that you always carry with you.”

Christine and Erna founded their own Focusing Center in 1994, where many workshops and trainings were held. They invited several teachers from abroad, including Ann Weiser Cornell who visited many times. Nada Lou, Mary McQuire, Janet Klein, Beatrice Blake, Rob Foxcroft and others also accepted their invitation and came to the Center. In addition to all the workshops and courses, Christine facilitated many Focusing sessions and hosted an "Open Focus Evening" monthly, where many attended for Focusing in pairs.

Dealing with migraines in a Focusing way was an important issue for Christine, as well as finding ways to get in touch with people for whom Focusing wasn't an obvious outlet.

She wrote many articles and, in cooperation with Erna, translated the book The Power of Focusing, written by Ann Weiser Cornell. She was an important help for Erna while writing Erna’s Dutch book about Focusing, Focussen.

Internationally, Christine also had a voice; from workshops and articles, to The Follies at international conferences where many of her own beautiful and hilarious songs and poems could be heard. (To read about these, please go to this blog post by Beatrice Blake). When the Focusing Conference was held in the Netherlands in 2016, Christine stepped in as a co-organizer.

Throughout her life, Christine experienced the dark as well as the light. The dark presented itself as fear, guilt, doubt and gloom. There was always that question, “Did I do enough, ... could I have done more ... care more ... see more ... hear more ...?”

There was also the light, which was apparent in her humor and subtlety, her great creativity with words, her ability to connect and really see people with all their contents, and the light she could suddenly shine on a complex situation.

Christine also was aware of the Great Light. It was this Great Light she could sometimes experience in the mountains while hiking with Erna. These mountains, preferably with snow and a little lake, accompanied by absolute silence – no people around, no words spoken.  It was an experience she likened to “being close to heaven.” Once in a while this was also felt during a Focusing session when the limitations of time and space fall away; when you feel lifted ... when your little and big self are on the same line, united with The Infinite.

I have great respect for the way Christine dared to face the dark and, probably in doing so, was able to find the light, right until the last moment! Up until a few weeks before she passed away, she felt fear of not having done enough. Then, in the final weeks, there was a remarkable shift: Christine began to talk about the light. “I am going to The Light!“... as she herself emphasized with capital T and L!  It came to happen that she could slip away out of life into The Light. Something she longed for very much.

If you knew Christine, I would like to invite you to take some time, be still and become aware of what she has meant to you.

She herself would also have invited you to let “unfinished business and loose ends” come up; things not spoken out loud or something you would have liked to have heard from her.

Her physical body is no longer with us. Her soul lives on in the hearts and minds of those of us who knew her. It lives on in what she meant to us, in what she helped to awaken, grow and heal in us.

Aaffien de Vries, January 5, 2025

Aaffien de Vries is a trainer and Certifying Coordinator, as well as a counselor for Existential Well Being. She received her training in Focusing by Erna and Christine and later on they became friends and colleagues. Christine and Aaffien worked together in the program for new Focusing trainers.