INTRODUCTION: Un Millón de Amigos / Um Milhão de Amigos / A Million Friends
This year's Weeklong for Advanced Focusers took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For the first time since the pandemic, it was an in-person only event with no online component. It was the largest Weeklong ever, with 70 participants from 14 countries, including Hong Kong China, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and 9 countries in North, Central and South America. We also had a record number of Coordinators in attendance: 20, three of whom were brand new Coordinators including Heazel Martínez -- the first Coordinator from El Salvador, who has written the article below. The other two newly-minted Coordinators are Yanina Blacher of Argentina and José Salazar who provided us with the lovely photos to accompany this News Feed.
In his workshop, Collaborating Coordinator Gerard Porredon played a song popular throughout Latin America, recorded in both Portuguese and Spanish, called "Um Milhão de Amigos" or "Un Millón de Amigos" or "A Million Friends". The chorus goes "I want a million friends, in order to sing out stronger." It became something of a theme for the week, as evidenced by this short video of a typical moment from our Certification Ceremony.
Back: Gerard Porredon, Joseph Sing, René Veugelers, Catherine Torpey, Ceci Ortiz, Flavio Clímaco
Front: Elena Frezza, Ceci Burgos, Patricia Manessy, Gaby Riveros, Beatrice Blake, Isabel Gascón, Evelyn Ammon
A feature of the Weeklongs in recent years is having a "Focusing Elder" in attendance with us. This year, we were blessed with two: Elena Frezza of Argentina and Isabel Gascón of Spain. Their presence brought us the richness of history, while we enjoyed an intergenerational experience with our youngest participant being 20 years old (not counting the newborn baby that Guilherme Tostes brought with him!).
Our Core Team was Ceci Burgos (Argentina), René Veugelers (the Netherlands) and Joseph Sing (Hong Kong).
Our Collaborating Coordinators were Patricia Manessy (Canada), Gerard Porredon (Spain) and Gaby Riveros (Chile).
We had translation for 3 languages: English, Spanish and Portguese. Our team of translators were: Evelyn Ammon, Beatrice Blake, Flavio de Assis Clímaco, Veronica Delger, Suzanne Noël, Ceci Ortiz and Florentina Sassoli.
Evelyn Ammon, Florentina Sassoli, Flavio Clímaco, Beatrice Blake, Suzanne Noël, Ceci Ortiz and Veronica Delger (not shown: Marta Fabregat)
And we had the assistance of Beatriz Delgadillo offering Tai Chi, Eduardo Esquivel taking videos (some of which are linked in this article), Paula Gregorini who gave general assistance, and José Salazar, our official photographer.
Many thanks to all who made this event possible and to Heazel for sharing how the Weeklong for her was "a Field of Flowers"! Below her article are some comments from other participants.
The Weeklong is open to those who are certified or will be certified -- receiving your certificate at the Weeklong is very special!
The Weeklong in 2026 will be online only - November 13 - 19, 2026. If you are certified or soon to be, please plan to attend! Watch for updates at focusing.org/weeklong. The Daylong (which gives a taste of the Weeklong) will take place on Sunday, August 30, 2026 online. The following year, in 2027, the Weeklong will be in person at a location to be announced.
The Weeklong was a Field of Flowers
By Heazel Martínez, Coordinador from El Salvador
The Weeklong began on October 3, 2025, at the Loyola Center in San Miguel, Buenos Aires, a building that conveyed stories and energies of yesteryear, built in 1883. Upon arrival, each participant felt a welcoming atmosphere. There were hugs between friends, smiles of excitement, and curiosity to be part of a new experience. Some, like me, had experienced the Weeklong before, but it was now with a new group of people, in another country, with other flavors, colors, and perspectives.
The room we met in was filled with life and wisdom, each of the facilitating team sharing their experiences and feelings. Each exercise was a journey into the immense sea within, connecting us with childhood, with memories, with play, with dance, with laughter, with silence, with love, with decisions, with tears. Everything was expansion, discovery, exchange, healing, power, respect, freedom, and support in community—definitely a call to dance at the party of life, with open arms and an open heart.
The days of the Weeklong passed with great excitement, each person experiencing it at their own pace, along with the gifts that were shared. In each workshop, each facilitator put their essence, their energy, their charisma, and their learnings. Thanks to the Core Team (René Veugelers, Cecilia Burgos, Joseph Sing), the Collaborating Coordinator Team (Gabriela Riveros, Gerard Porredón Mas and Patricia Manessy), and the participants who offered workshops (Guilherme Tostes, Eduardo Esquivel, Evelyn Ammon, Yanina Blacher, Eduardo Blacher, and Lorena Bertin). Each one took the time to consider their proposals and how to move forward with them in a collective sharing. The experiences of the Focusing Elders (Isabel Gascón and Elena Frezza) were shared with kindness and sincerity, as well as the gift of Tai Chi with Beatriz Delgadillo in the mornings. I can feel that a mudra she shared with us still resonates within me: “I open, I surrender, I trust, and I am grateful.” That is life.
with Ellen Caetano
Words cannot describe an event that is like the expanding universe. Being together is like feeling that we merge with each other, with the group, with our inner being. It is in that moment of shared glances and laughter that magic emerges, magic that is born from each person's being and from their essence. Each process was unique, authentic, and at its own pace. Each person tuned in to their own clock, their own timing, and their own experiences.
It was wonderful to hear different languages and learn about all the countries that were represented, including Argentina, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Canada, Spain, Chile, Argentina, the United States, Brazil, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Greece, Bolivia, and Ireland. During the workshops, the translation team (Flor Sassoli, Suzanne Noel, Marta Fabregat, María Cecilia Ortiz, Flávio De Assis Clímaco, Veronica Delger, and Beatrice Blake) served as a bridge between languages to support us and bring us closer together.
Different ways of communicating between different countries and languages also emerged, through smiles, glances, hugs, and presence. Language barriers did not exist; everyone communicated in their own way. Focusing gives us back the hope of being a single community, without borders, just beings connected like mycelium in the earth, where each one contributes and nourishes.
Focusing brings hope to each person, hope transformed into a seed that germinates uniquely in each experience. It is the collaboration of beings, souls, hearts, and commitments. It is play, laughter, music, and fun. It is the joy and desire to share knowledge with those who want to take it, without haste, without pressure, and without restriction. The Weeklong conveys the message that each being can take what he or she needs to heal—what drives him or her, what fulfills him or her, and if along the way they want to leave it, that's okay, because Focusing invites us to be consistent with ourselves in order to be consistent with others. Connecting with the inner child expands us and connects us with life. Each of us being in SILENCE, but not the silence that isolates, rather the SILENCE and the gaze that connects. That is power, the power to trust in the process of the other, in their wisdom. To be a participant in the beauty of the miracle of being, of being with every part of the self.
The night of the ceremony was a night of harvests. Each person walked across the paper carpet -- the Focusing Timeline where participants had written or drawn their own experiences and moments. Recipients of certificates were accompanied by a Coordinator and supported by the singing voices of a strong and connected community. Each person walking, remembering, and giving thanks for what they have experienced, with the hope in each step of continuing to contribute to bringing the seed of Focusing to others. That seed that for many has meant healing, reunion, peace, salvation, connection, and self-love.
The bonfire on the last night accompanied us as we sang, laughed, played, and also wrote down our wishes, good intentions, and messages of hope. It was a fire that rose to the sky to connect us in gratitude for Eugene Gendlin's immense contribution. It was a fire that allowed us to transmute and connect with the cosmos.
I remember in my soul those warm glances in the hallways, the conversations that formed between groups, in pairs, or those conversations in the moonlight. It was also finding a pack to howl with and a tribe to live consciously with.
This experience is one of those that remains etched in the heart forever. It is also the impetus to continue growing. It is a feeling that still resonates within, that is still settling in. The Weeklong experience was like being in a colorful field of flowers, where each person contributed their nectar, their own honey that spreads to a fraternal and lively community.
Translated by Beatrice Blake with DeepL.com (free version)
Heazel Martínez is a Focusing Trainer and Coordinator. She supports groups of girls, adolescents and families from the presence of Focusing, strengthening skills for the prevention of gender violence, self-care and healing. She is the Founder of Leer para Soñar.
Short videos
Thank you Eduardo Esquivel for taking some short videos to help us remember:
Honoring the Implicit
A living and felt account of the experience at the Weeklong for Advanced Focusers 2025, Buenos Aires, Argentina
By Cleiciane de Medeiros
Leer En Español / Leia em Portuguiês
Cleiciane de Medeiros (Brazil) shares her experiences of the Weeklong including the Gallery of Feeling: a poetic and experiential account of everything that blossomed between what the body knows and the encounters that bloom.
Florencia Ganly (Argentina) shares her Weeklong experience: finding a space of resonance where her own music could expand because the environment allowed it.
Read the article in English here.
Lea el artículo en español aquí.
Norah Ximena Flores Moscoso (Bolivia) shares her Weeklong Experience en Español aqui.
Corina Viola (Argentina) offers her appreciation of the Weeklong:
Thanks to the Dr. Janet Klein scholarship, I was blessed to participate in the 2025 Weeklong in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and to have this experience:
Life has given me the opportunity to have two families. I feel that Focusing is my second family, that I belong to this deeply human community, so attuned to its essence and its deepest identity. The Weeklong facilitated my journey ever closer to my most authentic self, in communion with others. The respect, the freedom, the selfless offering of one's own life and experiences filled me with serene joy and was the impetus to forge new paths, to spread Focusing, and to continue growing so I can share it.
En Español
Gracias a la beca Dr. Janet Klein tuve la bendición de participar del weeklong 2025, en Buenos Aires Argentina y tener esta experiencia:
La vida me ha dado la oportunidad de tener dos familias. Siento que Focusing es mi segunda familia, que pertenezco a esta comunidad profundamente humana, tan en sintonía con su esencia y su identidad más profunda. La Semana me facilitó un camino cada vez más cercano a mi yo más auténtico, en comunión con los demás. El respeto, la libertad, la entrega desinteresada de mi propia vida y experiencias me llenaron de serena alegría y fueron el impulso para forjar nuevos caminos, difundir Focusing y seguir creciendo para poder compartirlo.
