Focusing provides an effective way of listening to the innate wisdom of the body, while art therapy harnesses and activates creative intelligence. Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy: Accessing the Body's Wisdom and Creative Intelligence is a ground-breaking book integrating renowned psychologist Eugene Gendlin's Focusing with art therapy. This new, Focusing-based approach to art therapy helps clients to befriend their inner experience, access healing imagery from the body's felt sense to express in art, and carry forward implicit steps that lead toward change. Written for readers to be able to learn the application of this innovative approach, the book provides in-depth examples and descriptions of how to adapt Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy to a wide variety of clinical populations including individuals and groups with severe psychiatric illness, trauma, PTSD, anxiety, depression, and more, as well as applications to private practice, illness and wellness, spirituality, and self-care. Integrating theory, clinical practice, and numerous guided exercises, this accessible book will enhance clinical sensitivity and skill, while adding resources for bringing creativity into practice. It will be of interest to art therapists, Focusing therapists, psychologists, counselors and social workers, as well as trainers and students.

This ground-breaking book explores the theoretical, clinical and training application of integrating mindfulness with all of the arts therapies, and includes cutting-edge contributions from neuroscience. Written by pioneers and leaders in the arts therapies and psychology fields, the book includes 6 sections that examine mindfulness and the arts therapies from different perspectives: 1) the history and roots of mindfulness in relation to spirituality, psychotherapy and the arts therapies; 2) the role of the expressive arts in cultivating mindful awareness; 3) innovative approaches that add mindfulness to the arts therapies; 4) arts therapies approaches that are inherently mindfulness-based; 5) mindfulness in the training and education of arts therapists; and 6) the neuroscience underlying mindfulness and the arts therapies. Contributors describe their pioneering work with diverse applications: people with cancer, trauma, chronic pain, substance abuse, severe mental illness, clients in private practice, adolescents at camp, training dance and art therapists, and more. This rich resource will inspire and rejuvenate all clinicians and educators.

Examining the actual moment-to-moment process of therapy, this volume provides specific ways for therapists to engender effective movement, particularly in those difficult times when nothing seems to be happening. The book concentrates on the ongoing client therapist relationship and ways in which the therapist's responses can stimulate and enable a client's capacity for direct experiencing and "focusing." Throughout, the client therapist relationship is emphasized, both as a constant factor and in terms of how the quality of the relationship is manifested at specific times. The author also shows how certain relational responses can turn some difficulties into moments of relational therapy.

The classic guide to a powerful technique that can increase your mindfulness and lead to personal transformation Based on groundbreaking research conducted at the University of Chicago, the focusing technique has gained widespread popularity and scholarly acclaim. It consists of six easy-to-master steps that identify and change the way thoughts and emotions are held within the body. Focusing can be done virtually anywhere, at any time, and an entire “session” can take no longer than ten minutes, but its effects can be felt immediately–in the relief of bodily tension and psychological stress, as well as in dramatic shifts in understanding and insight. In this highly accessible guide, Dr. Eugene Gendlin, the award-winning psychologist who developed the focusing technique, explains the basic principles behind focusing and offers simple step-by-step instructions on how to utilize this powerful tool for tapping into greater self-awareness and inner wisdom. As you learn to develop your natural ability to “focus,” you’ll find yourself more in sync with both mind and body, filled with greater self-assurance, and better equipped to make the positive changes necessary to improve and enhance every aspect of your life.

This book lays the foundation for a fresh interpretation of art-making and the therapeutic process by re-examining the concept of poiesis. The authors clarify the methodology and theory of practice with a focus on intermodal therapy, crystallization theory and polyaesthetics, and give guidance on the didactics of acquiring practical skills.

Drawing on mindfulness, body psychotherapy and positive psychology, focusing teaches clients how to identify their inner awareness to spur change and therapeutic progress. This guide explains how to use focusing to treat a range of issues.

The third edition of Approaches to Art Therapy brings together varied theoretical approaches and provides a variety of solutions to the challenge of translating theory to technique. In each chapter, the field's most eminent scholars provide a definition of and orientation to the specific theory or area of emphasis, showing its relevance to art therapy. The third edition includes many new chapters with material on a wide variety of topics including contemplative approaches, DBT, neuroscience, and mentalization while also retaining important and timeless contributions from the pioneers of art therapy. Clinical case examples and over 100 illustrations of patient artwork vividly demonstrate the techniques in practice. Approaches to Art Therapy, 3rd edition, is an essential resource in the assembly of any clinician's theoretical and technical toolbox, and in the formulation of each individual's own approach to art therapy.