Prof. Heinz-Joachim “Hejo” Feuerstein—Coordinator of The International Focusing Institute (TIFI) in New York, co-founder of the Focusing Center Karlsruhe, co-founder of the European Focusing Association, and long-standing Professor of Applied Psychology at the University of Public Administration in Kehl—passed away on December 25, 2025, just a few days before his 81st birthday.
Hejo was born during the final phase of World War II in Königsbach, Germany. Königsbach is a village close to the city of Pforzheim, where four International Focusing Conferences between 1994 and 2000 took place. Hejo and Dieter Müller organized them all. His early childhood was shaped by an atmosphere of constant threat and uncertainty. In many of his later Focusing sessions, these early experiences re-emerged: the nights of bombing, the dimmed lights, the tense silence, and the palpable fear of his mother trying to protect her child. His playgrounds were the ruins of destroyed houses—places where children played while adults struggled to comprehend and survive the aftermath of war. These formative experiences were never merely biographical facts for Hejo; they became a deep, implicit background for his lifelong interest in lived experience, embodied knowing, and the human capacity to find meaning even under extreme conditions.
Hejo was married and the father of three children: Marian, Lara, and Timon.
He studied psychology in Heidelberg and graduated as a Diplom-Psychologist. He later became Professor of Applied Psychology at the University of Public Administration in Kehl, where he gained wide recognition for his contributions to the development of team-based and process-oriented models in public administration. Alongside his academic work, his professional focus included organizational psychology, applied research, and the further development of psychotherapy, supervision, coaching, and training.
Hejo began working with Focusing in 1979 and became an accredited trainer for Person-Centered Psychotherapy and Counseling within the German Association for Person-Centered Psychotherapy and Counseling (GwG) in 1984. As one of the first German psychologists, he traveled to Chicago to meet Eugene T. Gendlin. Together with Dieter Müller, he conducted an interview with Gendlin for the German edition of Psychology Today (Psychologie Heute), published in 1984. This encounter was followed by several years of intensive training at the Focusing Institute, then still based in Chicago. In 1986, Hejo was appointed as a Coordinator of the Institute.
Baden-Baden, Germany that Gene gave for their Focusing center
In 1987, together with Dieter Müller and Reinhard Fuchs, he founded the Focusing Center Karlsruhe (FZK), where he served as scientific director. Over the years, Eugene Gendlin was invited several times to Karlsruhe for trainings and lectures. The Center hosted four International Focusing Conferences and became an important bridge between the American and European Focusing communities. This collaboration culminated in the book Focusing in Process (2000), edited by Feuerstein, Müller, and Ann Weiser Cornell. Hejo also co-authored the foreword to the German edition of Gendlin’s Focusing: How to Gain Direct Access to Your Body’s Knowledge.
Hejo consistently emphasized that Focusing is more than a technique—it is a process deeply rooted in human experience. Central to his understanding was the insight that the human body is not only physiological, but also capable of knowing and generating meaning. This perspective shaped his lifelong commitment to holding the Person-Centered Approach and Focusing closely together, both theoretically and in practice. For him, their common ground far outweighed their differences, and he saw TIFI and the GwG as vital homes for the ongoing development of humanistic psychotherapy.
Focusing Conference in Chicago
He played a key role in advancing training programs in Person-Centered Psychotherapy and Counseling. In 1999, together with Dieter Müller and colleagues, he initiated the training program Person-Centered and Focusing-Oriented Coaching and Supervision, which was recognized by the German Association for Supervision and remains highly successful today. In 2010, he launched Experiential Concept Coaching (ECC), and together with Heinke Deloch further developed Gendlin’s TAE (Thinking at the Edge), focusing on personal and scientific concept formation.
Even in his later years, Hejo remained intellectually active and creatively engaged. His most recent and perhaps most ambitious project was Experiential Decision Making (EDM)—a process model designed to support decision-making by integrating thinking and felt sensing, enabling people not only to decide, but to stand behind their decisions with inner clarity and freedom. In December 2024, the volume Focusing and Experiential Psychology was published by Adebar Verlag, edited by Reschke, Müller, Munz, Schudek, and Fischer. The book honors Hejo Feuerstein’s life and work as a co-founder of Focusing in Germany and a pioneer of Experiential Psychology in Europe, and it was dedicated to him on the occasion of his 80th birthday.
The many responses from the international Focusing community following his death speak clearly of his importance—not only as a thinker and teacher, but as a person. His contributions to the leadership of The International Focusing Institute and his role as an initiator of European cooperation were deeply respected. He was known for his ability to engage difference with openness, clarity, and genuine dialogue.
Finally, a personal word: Dear Hejo, for almost 50 years we walked a shared professional and personal path—through our work at the Focusing Center Karlsruhe and within TIFI and the GwG. Countless days were spent together in Alsace, developing projects and concepts, and many journeys took us to Chicago to learn from Eugene Gendlin. Yet what remains most vivid are not only the professional achievements, but the moments beyond work: nights in Chicago’s blues bars, travels across the United States after conferences—to Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, San Francisco, Boston, Toronto—and the many shared culinary discoveries in Alsace and Paris. You worked hard throughout your life, but you also had a deep sense of savoir vivre. It is a privilege and a source of deep gratitude that I was able to walk a long part of this path with you.
Hejo will be remembered at the next Honoring Milestones online ceremony on August 30, 2026. All are welcome to attend; please watch your email for more information as the date approaches. He has also been added to our Focusing Heritage Gallery, a permanent page on our website for significant figures in the history of Focusing who have passed.
In response to the news of Hejo’s passing, an outpouring of messages filled the Discussion LIst for Focusing Coordinators. We are sharing excerpts from some of those postings below.
-- "I remember how our training group traveled back and forth between Gengenbach and Weingarten and how fortunate we were to experience Hejo and Dieter as trainers. Hejo’s sensitivity and his humor as well as the loving care of the group remain fond memories for me." - Heinke Deloch
-- "We met again at the wonderful Focusing Conference in Ardeche (2022). In the Coordinators meeting Hejo was brave enough to admit that maybe he was wrong in his criticism towards the Institute and that he now could agree with the dynamics of TIFI. This was for me a very touching moment and I admired him for this intervention. This community (we) will miss him." -- Claude Missiaen
-- "Within the sadness, I feel deep gratitude for Hejo. My first Focusing experience was with him as a coach. His warm and genuine presence, often a little verschmitzt (wry, quietly playful), which invited curiosity and wonder, will stay with me. My heartfelt condolences to all who will miss him." -- Evelyn Fendler-Lee
-- "I have fond memories of the times we were together, including at that first conference in Germany, when we were at his home with a small group with Gendlin, and Hejo prepared asparagus." -- Frans Depestele
-- "I feel that nothing I may say can really express the blow I felt with this loss. And, yes, his 'quiet commitment to the living heart of Focusing' was of a primary sense to him." -- Anna Karali
-- "I first met Hejo and Dieter at my very first International Conference, in 2002 at Asilomar, in their decision making workshop. I remember the year Hejo proposed we have a day of Open Space organization, before anyone was tuned in to that, and confusion reigned. He was ready to try new things. We are holding him in our hearts, and have the felt sense of him in our bodies." -- Nina Joy Lawrence
-- "I have fond memories of conversations with him at meetings such as EFA or CC gatherings: a thoughtful thinker, tirelessly advocating for linguistic diversity, tirelessly and fairly criticizing anything that spoke against democratic coexistence, tirelessly warning against ominous political trends. He Leaves behind an important legacy." -- Teresa Dawson
-- "We will miss his warm, solid, completely dependable presence on the European Focusing scene. I always felt moved by his deeply felt commitment to the European cause." -- Peter Afford
-- "I will always remember him as one of the organizers - together with you (Dieter) - of the International Focusing Conferences in Germany and as a person who - with soft perseverance - wanted to develop a strong European Focusing Association." -- Tine Swyngedouw
-- "Hejo was such a special, wonderful leader and friend. I remember visiting his lovely home. I went to all the Hohenwart Internationals that he and Dieter sponsored. They were each a precious gem! I loved the one where it ended with a waltz beginning with one couple dancing and then they would each get another partner and continue until everyone was waltzing!" -- Robert Lee
-- "For me, he was the embodiment of a wise elder, gently offering his insights, and sometimes being provocative to make sure we were not getting complacent, or not sensing and thinking freshly. He always 'held out’ for the spirit of Focusing, not wanting us to abandon the gifts and potential that Focusing brings." -- Fiona Parr
Dieter Müller is a licensed psychotherapist who has been deeply connected to Focusing for over four decades. He began his training with Eugene Gendlin in 1983, an experience that has shaped both his therapeutic work and his way of thinking ever since. Together with Hejo Feuerstein, he co-founded one of the first Focusing Centers in Germany. In December, he brought this work into a new form by publishing a Focusing-oriented fiction book for children.