Reflections on the Children & Focusing Academy and The FOT Academy

 

INTRODUCTION TO OUR ACADEMIES

The International Focusing Institute began offering "Academies" in 2022, when we offered the first Thinking At the Edge (TAE) Academy.  That first one was an intensive weekend with 3 hours of teaching each day for 4 days, plus supplementary online opportunities.  The idea of these online events is to have an introductory course, which is geared toward beginners but open to all.  In our Academies, we have a few "Main Class" teachers, and participants choose one of those teachers to study with.  Other teachers offer short (one hour) supplementary, optional opportunities for participants to gain more experience.  Although these are always geared toward beginners, we have found that many experienced people enjoy having a chance to "go back to basics" or to get a glimpse into the teaching style of a teacher they haven't worked with before.

Since that first Academy, we have found that it works better to give more spaciousness to the process, by having them spread out over a month rather than a weekend.  Since that first TAE Academy, we've had Focusing Academies (including one in Spanish) and, recently, we have had a Children & Focusing (CF) Academy and a Focusing-Oriented Therapy (FOT) Academy.

We wanted to share with you some reflections of those who experienced the CF and FOT Academies.

Please watch for future Academies and join us!

 

THE INSPIRATIONAL AND EXPRESSIVE CHILDREN & FOCUSING ACADEMY
October 23 - November 14, 2025

What a creative adventure we had with our first Children & Focusing Academy, hosted by TIFI. We want to share an overview about this cross-cultural experience.

The Children & Focusing Academy was oriented toward Focusers of all experience levels who sought a chance to learn more about practicing Focusing with children or perhaps their inner child, or were simply seeking for new options in their Focusing practice. 

The main teachers – Laura Bavalics, Leonie Stewart, Harriët Teeuw, and René Veugelers – offered a range of experiential learning experiences.

 

Laura Bavalics demonstrated how to help children engage in the classroom through experiential exercises and ideas rooted in the belief that we all have an "inner knowing." A variety of creative arts and crafts ideas were also presented, along with ideas for introducing felt sensing and Focusing to those around us. Parents and teachers shared how this approach creates a kind and calm school atmosphere and a place where children and adults want to be.

Harriët Teeuw & René Veugelers demonstrated how to work with children individually, whether in a school setting or therapy room. They guided participants on taking your time, building trust with each child, and helping them uncover their own ‘inner wisdom,’ highlighting a focus on gesture, movement, body language and imagery, as well as words. They provided lots of ways to use creative tools and be creative in how you walk with children as they find forward steps in their lives.

Leonie Stewart shared ideas for therapy rooms and demonstrated how to weave Focusing (felt sensing) into other ways of working. This included parts theory and basic neuroscience, as well as supporting children to develop their ‘felt sense’ without formally teaching Focusing. She specifically honed in on how to help children aged 5 to 18 explore what it feels like to step into their Big SELF and be beside any other part of them that is present: this is Focusing and it is empowering.

The Children & Focusing Academy was a chance to both learn about the world of Children & Focusing and to re-charge one’s Focusing practice.

 

The Academy also featured a wonderful variety of additional teachers, Tom Larkin, Lilach Benjaminy, and Joe Colletti, who lead participants in guided felt-sensing exercises and discussion.

These 1-hour sessions were intended to provide a very basic felt sensing experience. For those new to Focusing, these sessions gave an extra chance to understand what it means to tune into the felt sense. 

We also had the opportunity to explore different areas of interest: Focusing in the family, Focusing in your work, and inner child experience. Each of these areas provide their own specific benefit as they relate to our lives:

• Focusing in the family: Through the introduction of Focusing, a better relationship is forged with your feelings. It helps you to remain grounded and to find your balance in difficult situations. Through listening, you are able to understand each other’s needs better and become more confident in yourself as a parent or caregiver. The process of Focusing will change the quality of the connection within the family.
• Focusing in your work:  For anyone in a helping profession, Focusing allows you to better trust your intuition related to children. You experience through listening how powerful it is to be able to really trust the child’s own process, and you gain practical skills about how to integrate Focusing into your work.
• Inner child experience: Through Focusing, you are able to connect with the child within. This experience contributes to self-understanding and self-care.

We were thrilled to share such valuable classes and experiences with each participant, and continue to grow the Children & Focusing community. We have three Roundtable events planned for 2026 and hope you will watch for details on how you can participate.

If you want explore other training possibilities or articles, with the TIFI Children & Focusing page, here. For any questions, please email [email protected].

With appreciation and joy,

The CF Advisory Group

Laura Bavalics, Harriet Teeuw & René Veugelers

Some comments from participants in the Children & Focusing Academy:

• "I appreciated that Laura set an atmosphere of permission for us, which models the atmosphere we would like to set with children, especially our own inner child."
• "It has been the most amazing teaching I have ever received. I loved how practical the ideas were and I could use them with my children straight away."
• "I liked the gentle approach to the teaching, never rushed and no question was too much. I enjoyed the course and look forward to reading all the information in the notes and connecting again."
• "I liked the way the time was broken up with information and practical."
• "I found it so helpful to sense the space between myself and the issue etc ... it was new and fresh and exciting. Such a sense of freedom and clearness.  I'm very grateful for the awareness of this new energized newness!”
• "… Looking forward to going through the handout links that Joe has included. The hour went soo fast as it was so interesting. Thanks, Joe."
• "Tom explained everything in a very calm and gentle way and there was no pressure, so (I) felt very relaxed."

 

 

EXPERIENCING THE FOT ACADEMY

Mengqi “Sophie” Su, China:

 

Learning with the FOT Academy introduced me to the practice of Focusing, a way of direct experiencing of one’s internal, preverbal bodily feelings. The experiencing contains not only sensations in the body, but also the overall mood, feelings, and imageries of one’s internal world; it comes as a whole package, a broad field of experience. The practice seems to be an attempt to approach one’s inner reality, which is much more vague and complex than specific thoughts and emotions that could be named. It is multilayered, a “process” that is continuously changing and evolving, as my teacher Jeffrey said. Then, to quote Gendlin, “Focusing involves an attempt to approach ‘the edge of consciousness’ which we seldom get to experience in the daily hassles of life.”

For me, the workshop provided a valuable opportunity to learn about its theory and philosophy, and to perhaps apply some of the techniques in my work with clients. I found watching demos provided by the instructors to be very helpful for my learning. Then, to actually take a pause and practice with a partner, I was able to experience it in the living moment. The practices opened up a doorway for me to access my inner landscape of the felt sense in a way that I had hardly experienced before, revealing a world of imageries and fantasy with undercurrents of repressed feelings and hidden meaning. Turning inward, I got to connect with the intrapersonal space, while at the same time recognizing the presence of a partner holding the interpersonal space in the outside world - a dual holding. It was a process that was witnessed, and by witnessing, both of us were changed. 

Katarina Halm:

 

TIFI’s 2026 FOT Academy was beautifully structured, providing inspiration along with practical studies.

The core of the Academy consisted of three main groups. The four Fridays of classes, each with a chosen main teacher and accessible in many time zones, provided hours of in-depth classes.  

During a complement of four Thursdays, we were all brought together with an opening orientation followed by three eminent teachers providing demonstrations for participants with varying degrees of experience.

It was an honor for me to assist Lynn Preston and Nicholas Stern in their teaching, while Elaine Goggin provided technical and inspirational support. Several of the Academy participants have subsequently joined us to continue ongoing training and projects. 

 

 

Kav Copas:

How I Found Focusing

 

By chance, I happened upon the book Focusing by Eugene Gendlin, and what a fortuitous find it was. I read the book twice through, visited the The International Focusing Institute's website and joined online Focusing sessions with M.E. Klein. Intrigued by this accessible and powerful approach, I enrolled in the FOT Academy this year.

Unlike many of the Academy’s participants, I approached the course from a non-therapy route. Back in the 1990s, I started out as an engineer before moving into consulting, mentoring and organizational development roles. I spent a lot of time on the edge of ideas and knowledge; places of uncertainty or working with individuals experiencing challenges as a result of contextual change. The people behind the concepts and discoveries, combined with my fascination of the creative process of innovation, took me out of the laboratory and ultimately led to my training with Ashridge in the UK.

The Significance of FOT

The theory of the felt sense has a scientific and experimental quality. It observes all the data the body has to offer and asks us to attend to what is before us without interpretation, and then check our understanding of all that in a thoughtful manner. The fuzziness and uncertainty within us commands our attention and from that, something new emerges which may lead to a place of peace or revelation.

During the FOT Academy, I attended the classes delivered by Glenn Fleisch and Salvador Moreno Lopez, and perused the Institute's research base. The philosophy of Focusing and its therapeutic application has enhanced my previous understanding of phenomenology. Focusing provides an alternative frame in which to experience a client; one that is present but gentler and slower.

How I Will Apply My FOT Learning

The FOT Academy has built a bridge between my background as an organizational, and more recently, personal coach, where themes of addiction, trauma and radicalization are emerging as a field of interest. I view coaching and therapy as two sides of the same coin; one where the client feels well within themselves and looks for growth or change from a stable base, and the other where the client seeks assurance or security from which to face, rather than avoid, the challenges of the world.

Personally, understanding Focusing and the animating process has greatly helped me slow down and use silence and non-verbal moments to greater effect. It has deepened awareness of my own process in a co-created relationship and opened up a wealth of new ways to respond (or not) in the moment. Focusing allows the co-created space to deepen organically, and the course has provided a rich vocabulary to express all that physical and mental fuzziness that comes with the felt sense.

Glenn Fleisch’s description of animating and animistic thinking, combined with Jeffrey Morrison’s discussion of trauma processes, are particularly pertinent to my interests. There is much that I wish to learn and explore in this area.

I am grateful for the expertise of the FOT Academy and the generosity of the course participants that have contributed to this rich and varied learning experience.

Below are a sample of comments we have received in reflection following the FOT Academy:

• "I enjoyed the theory and metaphors that Jeffrey applied to illuminate the process. All of the demo, practices, and book chapter were helpful for my learning-- to grasp what focusing might look/feel like, and how it might be integrated in working with clients."
• "I’m appreciative that the entire academy is available to the students. I’m listening to Lynn Preston‘s classes and they are filled with applicable ways to integrate FOT. I very much enjoy her style and her concentration on listening. Her class has been a good resource for me."
• "Very enriching to listen to many people sharing their experiences."
• "It was very experiential.  Glenn’s teaching style worked well for me. He gave an overview of the practice, examples from his own work, demos and putting us in diads or triads."
• "Wonderful, intimate and unfolding."