‘And there’s something here perhaps that the body is offering you, something wanting, something, raw, something hurting…. Inviting it to feast at the table, the fullness of this experience, being empathically received in presence, just letting g it be the way it wants to be, allowing it to find it’s own way into its own healing and wholeness all in good time.’
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‘This is the alchemy that turns ore into gold, carbon into diamonds, pupa into butterflies.  The butterfly of the felt sense knows its own freedom, is unbounded, and natural…..’

‘We are intimately connected, we are all born of stardust and heat form the sun, and from the waters of the mighty oceans and lakes, from the earth, from the space around us. There is innate wisdom in these elements as they combine into animation, into us, just being available to this mystery of the life that runs through  us, how amazing.‘

‘This is the matrix for creativity, healing, flow the fresh edge that knows its own way, that knows its own direction, without restraint, without patterning, expressing itself in the moment spontaneously, playfully even.’

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Exquisite Alchemy of Focusing Support Attunements Reflections Exercises

These Playcises invite the Body to reclaim it's Soveriegn identity, shifting away from the thinking mind as owner to offer the possibility of deeper peace and presence

Noticing Playcises: What the Body is Noticing

This is a progressive inviation to come into relationship with experience, and for experience to be available to the subject as an insightful 'experience'

Insight invitations through Noticing and Resting Trilogy of Playcises

These Spontaneous Reflections offer a light hearted exploration into the forest of and maize of meanings relating to our Existential edges around what it means to be Human with a curiosity for life and its Mystery.  What is your experience of this 'edge'?  Do you have a sense of this 'Mystery'?  What resources and creative responses might help in this Human enigma?

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Human Dilemmas, The Mystery, Insight Curiosities and the Fresh Edge

Explore the meaning and practice of Presence for inner relationship as a premise for outer connection.

Presence for Teachers Guided Reflections and Presence Attunement

Allow your true self to shine through, let the sensing body reclaim itself back from the tyranny and repetition of dead-end stories and feelings!  Become available to the stars, mother earth and feel a sense of the whole once again, and live from there!
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Exquisite Presence Journey with fantastic cinematics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0-csaQ-zt8&t=3s

Relational Presence I for Healing Connection, Creativity, Community and Universal Wellbeing.

NOTICING Playcise 1 What This Body Is Noticing

NOTICING PLAYCISE 2 What This Body Is Noticing And Resting With That

Invite a very deep resting in the body as it reclaims its own sovereign nature. 

"Herein, Bahiya, you should train yourself thus: 'In the seen will be merely what is seen; in the heard will be merely what is heard; in the sensed will be merely what is sensed; in the cognized will be merely what is cognized.' In this way you should train yourself, Bahiya.

NOTICING Playcise 3. What The BODY Is Noticing and Letting It REST In ITSELF

Tired of being relentlessly stuck?  Overwhelmed and despairing about the stories and feelings you can't get out of?  Listen to this for inspiration ....... go to  Healing and Creativity Course to learn skills in deep freedom https://www.tickettailor.com/events/focusing

How does change REALLY happen? Find relief from STUCK Fear Anxiety Sadness Anger Hurt etc

Are we there yet? Are we on the wrong train, is every stop the wrong stop?  Where is the key to that door we are wanting to get through?  The finger that points to the moon is coming from a particular place, not just pointing 'at' something.  Is insight is a mystery  or a puzzle or is it nothing special at all? What is your take on all of this?

The Wrong Train and Universal Door Insight Reflection

Explore beyond your normal capacity to experience into the freshness of expansive and spacious Being. Enjoy a kaleidoscope of sensations, a Persian carpet full of experience. To what extent can you sense from Space ? To what extent can you sense from the Earth?

Coming from Your Senses Sound of Birds Focusing Attunement

Presence is a celebration of the fulness of life, an invitation into the sensing the mystery of the infinite.

Birds Singing Half Moon & Setting Sun Full Presence Meditation & rich sounds of Nature

Sensing is the portal into the shapeshifting nature of the body. Explore the mystery of your experience...... enjoy resting in your bigger nature.

Presence as Portal Into The Shapeshifting Nature of Sensing

‘And in this spatial ocean quality of being something in us can sense the starriness of things, where the infinite meets the earth…..’
A gentle sense of landing. The birds are twittering happily, it’s a blue sky. This is an invitation feeling into what’s alive, from what’s alive. An image of a feather comes, landing on a lake, offering itself to the water with the faintest of ripples.  A soft contact.  Just sensing what you are inviting to land?  Maybe landing in the breath? Landing on the earth? Perhaps sensing your feet, or your body meeting the earth in some other way? A gentle touch. A landing with the clothing, soft material meeting then skin? A landing with the whole shape of the body, arriving in itself perhaps more fully? What else is arriving and landing? Maybe something subtle?  Maybe some sounds?  The sound of the birds, coming home. A sense of the pulse? A kind of perfuming into space, or space perfuming you? The natural order of things landing in themselves, all the elements. A soft and deep landing maybe an emotion immersing into a deep ocean of sapphire blue, sparkling diamond clear maybe jade green waters, becoming the ocean of being.  Being kissed by the horizon, by the sky - space and ocean are one.  And in this spatial ocean quality of being something in us can sense the starriness of things, where the infinite meets the earth, grounded aware, spacious, compassionate presence.  
Making room for what wants to land within….. something there under the ribs in the stomach or throat or elsewhere?  Being held by this oceanic spacious sense of beingness, being held by the sound of birds.  I wonder what the birds would like to say to those ‘somethings’ within? 
Making room for whatever is here.  Inviting a little hello to ‘that there’ That in the corner of the heart, that in the depths of the stomach, that in the periphery of being, or elsewhere.  Being sensitive to what it is calling for or calling from or to.  Just receiving it for whatever it is with compassion, a curiosity, a softness like the feather in a breadth like the deep mighty ocean.
Landing into its own sense of wholeness.  Resting here.

Becoming The Ocean Of Being Sapphire Blue Diamond Clear Jade Greens

Explore the element of creativity in Presence.

Embodied Creativity in the Freshness of This Moment

Life in abundance makes itself known as the Blue tit lands and feeds on the blossoms of spring, nature is bursting with life.  We too can burst with life in the availability of Presence.

Bird In Blossoms Focusing Attunement

Resting in the Mystery, the mystery rests in itself and can sense the life that runs through it.

Presence allows us to be receptive and available from our depths and even heights to the depths and heights of others allowing for an enriching and meaningful connection which is nourishing and evolutionary I believe.  Much of the meaning is shared through the impliedness or the silence of Presence, a quality of Beingness.  We always begin with the pause, a quiet availability, being open to the subtleties and nuances of experience and resting with it, indeed, letting it rest in itself.  As the body begins to emerge into and from its fulness, perhaps inviting a quality of warmth and care to keep us company.  And a whole shape of the body can emerge, at least from the skin’s perspective, and yet the body does not end there, as it senses itself into space, it’s space-body. Ultimately the sensing has not shape, it’s really a grounded and open dimension of beingness in which the stars and the moons partake, indeed all beings.  It could be there is one Presence, or maybe even, not one and not two!  It’s like that. Resting in the Mystery, the mystery rests in itself and can sense the life that runs through it.

Resting in The Mystery Presence Invitation

Becoming available from the body’s sense of itself.  It's like inviting a field of awareness, a field of openness, a kind of listening with the whole sensing, and there is a complexity and intricacy that perhaps wants to be known.  As the body sensing leans into all of that there might be an increased sense of subtlety, intimacy, nuanced-ness.  Its not a static field, it is more ephemeral, yet there is a sense of wholeness and solidity.  In the breathing more subtly and movement, from space back out to space, the vastness of sensing cannot be contained, and yet it can simply rest in itself.  The heartbeat and pulse, stillness movement and space.  And sensing the life running through all of this, another mystery offering itself into connection and resonance.  Just allowing the sensing t0 receive it all as it is.

The Vastness of the Sensing through Embodied Relational Presence.

The imaginal and Presence, how do they connect?  For me the ‘Imaginal’ can be very dissociated from Presence.  People can talk ABOUT an Elk, ABOUT stars, etc does it offer a true heart connection with the essence of that element? 

What came earlier was an image of a fire, and someone dressed in a bear or Bison skin with their head covered by a fur, and he’s sat around a fire, and all faces glowing are expectant, looking up at this soothsayer, this bard and above are the stars, its almost like everything is partaking of the depths, this portal of the universe is about to utter and speak through this voice. And then the sharing takes place. The animals speak through this voice, the ancestors speak though this voice, the Mystery speaks through this voice. People are present, spirits are present, forms from other worlds.  And what it is that brings alive, what otherwise could be dead forms? And as we share there can be an availability to the earth, from which this body and your body are manifestations, this is the Universe speaking, and this is for each of us the universe is listening its kind of speaking and listening to itself, its inviting resonance and correspondence, so there can be an availability to the spaciousness and the stars above something can resonance from this stardust body to the sea of stars. Just sensing how your felt sense receives this invitation, this evocation, this incantation to be befriended by the mystery of these stars.  And indeed, even hearing birdsong, and what utters forth from the sound of a bird, or the sound of a river gushing, or waves lapping.  Maybe there are some metaphors or symbols that are personal to you that might appear for some correspondence or resonance just by the quality of availability from Presence.  And the felt sense will carry a meaning which is very unique and fresh in the revelation in what wants to be revealed through it, it can live itself forward through the felt sense into its next steps or inspired expression. Yes, it can live itself forward through the next steps gestures and expression that wants to be offered through this sensing. The story is alive and ‘storying’  through you.

The Imaginal Symbol and Metaphor Alive through Presence Attunement

Something in the light, something in the shadows wanting to offer its treasure.
The birds are twittering, it’s a time of dusk, and it’s a time of transition, a drawing in….. and the nocturnes will be making an appearance, like the Owls and Hedgehogs, creatures of the night.  We too have elements in our psyche, the shadow and the creatures there, and in the light, the sun, the warmth and the open spaces.  So Presence is an availability to it all from itself from its own self, everything has a home here. Just pausing on the threshold, leaning out and leaning in, with a sensitivity and availability, with a sense of the earth beneath the feet and the body.  Things can be held from the wholeness of things, the earth. Something in the light, something in the shadows wanting to offer its treasure.

Treasures in the Shadow Presence Invitation

"Certainly, Focusing and the Dharma are not separate in this world. They are like the ocean and the horizon, and the great sky above—not separate, breathing itself, living itself, reveling in the majesty of things."
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"The fullness of itself rests in the fullness of itself. In this way, there is no polarity, but neither would one call it non-duality, so no duality and no non-duality."

"Presence rests in Presence. So, I guess my language for the Great Liberation, you could say, is Presence: Pre-Sence, that which comes before sense, that Mystery."

"Focusing is not about focusing. When something becomes about something, Buddhism becomes about Buddhism, or Nonviolent Communication becomes about NVC, it’s as if we go to a revolving door and we keep revolving around inside it."

"The function of a revolving door is to act as a portal into the very space or different space that you are wanting to get to."

"Hopefully what is happening is I am entering my Humanity more deeply. It’s a natural expression of my Humanity, Focusing, NVC, Mindfulness, Buddhism, they are not about themselves, they are pointing beyond themselves in a way."

"All true liberation teachings, according to her, always point to direct experience. If they are pointing to ‘Talking about’ Enlightenment, the great freedom etc, then they are not the true teaching, they are merely a dichotomy promoting and reinforcing itself."

"She mentions this term ‘Being Perception’—becoming perception, entering the realm of perception, as if we drop into the realm of perception rather than talking about it, in this way becoming awareness itself."

"The felt sense is the heart of Gene Gendlin’s Focusing, not feeling, but the felt sense, which is more than a feeling, it’s the inclusive whole to an experience that is alive."

"When there is a whole perception of itself, it is an invitation into full sensory awareness from its own terms as it drops into itself, so to speak, there is neither a duality nor a non-duality, and it just rests in itself."

"As this body here is listening to these sounds, so to speak, it can also notice the earth, the body can sense the whole shape of itself even as these sounds manifest and the spaciousness from the skin’s perspective, as it were, radiating out beyond these four walls up into the blue or dark night sky with a trillion shimmering diamonds."

"It’s the pregnant empathic pause from the whole sense of itself, and as this does so, and as the words and labels and interpretations, as it were, are just offered to space in the totality of things, they no longer have dominion over creating a split."

"The whole of this that owns itself, that, as it were, is hearing back from itself, or even as it were, is pausing in the hearing, the availability of the hearing back from itself, the whole of itself, the whole of itself hears back from the whole of itself."

"The map is not the territory, the finger pointing to the moon is the finger pointing to the moon, this is invariably an invitation for the moon and the light of the moon to inhabit itself. It just bathes itself in its own light."

"Focusing has been a portal for me personally into the mystery of the whole of this, playing itself out. Focusing, which of course, is not about focusing!"

Focusing Insight Duality Non-duality & the Wisdom of The Felt Sense

An exploration around what it means to come into relationship with parts of ourselves.  Focusing is about exquisite relationship, it’s about the relational field that we can inhabit fully, but normally, to be fair, we have learned the Cartesian paradigm, of ‘I think therefore I am’ something believes it is fixed, and it lives in its head, something like that. And it’s anchored into thinking as its core identity.  So, Gene Gendlin offered the Focusing paradigm realising that the sensing home, was the heir to meaning, to life itself, to a flourishing quality of living that was not hostage purely to ideas, beliefs and thoughts. So, this is just a quick, how do we meet and greet parts of ourselves how do we say hello to them, in a way that honour them, that can begin the process of healing and forward movement. Well, quire simply, we just pause, in the chaos and movement, its still going to be chaotic and moving, but something in us is a bit stiller. 
This something stiller can sense feet on the earth the body on the seat/settee, and the sensing body can just begin to land in itself more fully, clothing on the skin, breathing in the breathing, whole body breathing, and if you like you can place your hand on your chest or tummy, it sometimes helps. Allowing your body to sense outwards into space, into your room, and beyond up into that sea of stars. We are born of course from that sea of stars, we are stardust, stardust on the edge of its own growth and evolution. The universe with its hand on its chest or tummy, sensing within inviting a gentleness, a care, a warm awareness, and giving what ever is inside here, lots of space to be the way it wants to be to come alongside us if it will let us, to keep it company. It is a something inside of us, some body of experience, clear or not clear. Or not a lot going on, we can welcome that. And if you like, if its ok by it, just offering a little kindly hello, I’m just keeping you company, from the whole of this, and you can find a home in your own unique way I call this Embodied Relational Presence. As we complete, I am not abandoning anything, I can keep close to you if you want me to or give you space, and remaining in presence as we complete, if that works for you.

Compassionate Approach Saying Hello to Vulnerability Within

Letting Things Be the Way They Want to Be
I think, in my own focusing evolution, I’ve changed tack slightly. I’ve shifted my approach to letting things be the way they want to be. Now, it feels more contextual for me. There’s an awareness around it that I didn’t have before.
Recently, I worked through a small bubble of old trauma. Occasionally, it still comes through a little, and the process has been quite interesting—at times, even intense. But yes, in true focusing fashion, when something arises, you receive it, make space for it, and say:
"Hello! There you are! This is it?"
I would like to add something to this principle. I believe we each learn, in our own way, how to relate to different parts of ourselves. It’s not just about passively letting things be the way they want to be; it’s about receiving something fully. It’s an incoming—an incoming experience, an incoming awareness.
Classically, we might push against it, repress it, or freeze. But in focusing, we come into full relationship. Full relationship means being open to receiving, but also open to offering back—a way to be with what arises.
For example, when something turns up, we say: “Hello.” That itself is a response. Over time, I’ve come to understand the subtle dance of receiving fully—letting something be as it wants to be, rather than partially, which can take time.
Sometimes, when past trauma surfaces, I find myself offering it information or inviting it to explore something. This can be done through open questions. You might sit with yourself and say:
"Hello… Oh yes, it’s like that. And now, it’s moving into this… or shifting slightly. It’s becoming less intense… or maybe more intense."
That’s what we do, right? But I think there’s also a more active side of focusing. We can offer something like:
"How would 'all okay' be for you right now?"
"How would 'all okay' begin to be for you in good time?"
"What would bring more ease, peace, or resolution to this part within the whole of you?"
These are gentle, respectful invitations. There’s a practice called dyads that involves listening to these invitations. They’re quite beautiful, and I’d love to explore them more.
This is where my perspective has shifted: I now see that letting things be the way they want to be includes offering. There are caveats to this, of course, and I wouldn’t suggest it lightly. But if a new way of being presents itself, it can be gently offered.
I’ve been experimenting with this and have noticed some interesting shifts. Sometimes, I say:
"I’m inviting you to sense more spaciousness, more ease, more peace right now."
This might be pushing the boundaries of traditional focusing, as it usually doesn’t involve such direct guidance. But I’m playing with it, and I’m finding that it brings fascinating results. I offer this with deep respect and sensitivity because, ultimately, it’s for each individual to explore in their own way.

Letting things Be the way they want to Be reflection

So I was asking you—how do you know when you're moving into a healing mode? And how do you know when you're not?
What's happening inside of you? What's going on in there?
How do you know?
Do you know? 
Because sometimes I say to myself, when there's an edge, when it's a bit challenging: Where's the healing edge in all of this? Is it in the whole thing? All of it? Because I'm not quite sure where it is. So I just ask: Where's the healing edge in all of this?
And I wait, you know.
Sometimes, it comes back and gives me something—maybe a certain shape in the body.
Sometimes, it doesn’t. But it's like—oh, it's like that.
It’s like that in there.
That’s the healing edge. Oh, okay. And then I can say hello to that, right?
So it's an open curiosity rather than an interrogative, pointed question. See what I’m saying?
For me, the question is: Where does the felt sense begin? And where does it end?
And I'm asking you with curiosity—where does the felt sense begin, and where does it end?
Just drop into that. Ask your whole body—what does that mean to it?
Does it begin in the heart area? The tummy? The throat? The face?
And where does it end? Around the shape of the heart? In the torso?
Does it begin in the sternum? Or is it more intense there?
Wherever it might be—does it radiate outward?
Does it end where the feet meet the ground?
Where the body meets the chair, or the bed?
Does it end at the skin, with the sensation of clothing?
Or does it extend to the shape of the room, or even beyond?
Where is it alive?
And if there’s something going on—say, a bird chirping or sunlight on your face—is that part of the felt sense? Or not?
What do you mean by the felt sense?
This is really important when it comes to healing.
Because—what’s the point of it?
I mean, maybe it’s heresy to ask—why do we have a felt sense?
I mean, it’s so mechanistic. But if you did ask, it’d be interesting to see what answer comes back—if anything comes back.
And if it did, it wouldn’t be a definitive answer.
I don’t think it would be. It would probably be quite complex.
Or maybe the answer would come through a gesture, or a sound, a symbol or metaphor
So—is the felt sense static? Or dynamic?
Is it in one place? Or many places?
Can you sense it in the whole experience? Or just in a part of it?
All these curiosities—along with many others—are questions.
And they all relate to the meaning of healing.
Because—well, what is healing?
And how does something know how to offer freshness from the old?
How does it know how to do that—especially with something that’s been stuck for 10 or 20 years?
And then, suddenly—there’s a surprise when you feel that melting into something genuinely different.
There’s a freshness appearing.
Where does that appear in a felt sense?
So—those curiosities.
Yeah. I’m wondering how that lands with you—without coming so much from your head.

.

Tsunami Surfing, Healing, Liberation and the Thrill of the Felt Sense Reflection

Identity and the Mystery of Language
I want to come back to this word: identity.
It seems to me to be the crux of so many issues in the world — and in our own worlds, too.
It’s not just the world — it's the bounding off, the compartmentalization, the fixing.
Healthy on a certain level, yes. But in Focusing, there’s an invitation:
Who am I?
What am I?
Am I a man? A woman? Neither, or both?
Am I defined by the group, by another individual, by something in me?
Would a rose be just as sweet if it were called something else?
How does the label define the identity, and how does the identity define the label?
Language and experience — it’s a very curious mystery.
"Terrorist" or "freedom fighter" — what is this?
There are no true "nounings" — there are some, but predominantly, experience is verbing.
A sense of this-isness rather than "I am," "you are," "we are going to do."
Fixed identity — the "I Am" — creates a rigid duality. Then the problems start:
My nation, your nation. My goods, your goods. What's yours is negotiable; what's mine is mine.

At the End of the Map What then

Identity 'I Am' 'Something in Me' Who are you? Existential Focusing Reflection

Sitting with the Felt Sense
The felt sense comes alive when we sit alongside something and be with it just as it is. This is perhaps the most challenging thing a human can do. On one hand, you don’t want to be with it. On the other, how do you be with it? And what is it, anyway? Many things come up around that. Yet when one entertains it, I believe it can be incredibly inspiring. Something in you will catch it and go, “Right. Okay.” It’s like one’s whole universe potentially shifts. When one is entertained by the felt sense, it's like Lyra, Philip Pullman's character with the subtle knife. She cuts through the air and enters another reality. I think that’s exactly it. The Edge of the Map
There’s a deep sigh of recognition about what’s heard here. It’s continually reminding itself of that, because it’s not a habit. It can’t be. That’s the beauty. It’s on the borderline of habit and non-habit. It’s at the edge of the map. You come to the edge of the map, and then what? It’s freeform. It’s like finding a whole new map. But the map can be different every time. A whole new place. Multi-dimensional. And it can only be a map in retrospect. You can’t have the map to begin with—it’s not there. Map is linear. This is more multi-dimensional. The map runs out, and you look back and go, “Oh, now I have a new map.” You can’t look forward with that map. It’s a new kind of way of being.

Metaphor, Creativity, and the Limit of Language
It’s very nourishing just to chat about it. Something in me gets it. It’s like that. It can only ever be a “like that” from this perspective. In a way, it’s another map—a metaphor or symbol. Like a pair of wings, like a surfboard. I talk about surfing. But maybe you have your own metaphor that fits better. This is where true creativity happens. It’s the place of the artist, the creative to create. And if someone is creating from a map, they’re not truly creating.

Shifting Paradigms
It’s a different paradigm. It’s liberating. I was talking to a friend. I used the phrase "going south." We’re a bit far north—let’s go south. It’s tough. Then they talked about being below the waterline—what’s happening there? We recognize that from different traditions. In a sense, we’re coming to the same point. And then the whole conversation calmed. And it was like—that’s it.

All We Have Is Relationship
Relationship. That’s it. We’re not having a relationship—we are relationship. We are interaction. We’re not having an interaction. The relational field is always alive. When you stop thinking about people as fixable objects—relationship emerges. What brought me into this was wanting a better relationship with my wife. Then I realized I needed a better relationship with what’s going on in here. It turns out all we have is relationship. When you get there—it’s all relationship.

Felt Sense as Portal to Living
The felt sense is a portal into the “thisness” of direct living. You could say direct intuitive living, though intuition can be misunderstood. Korzybski, the Polish semanticist, said “the map is not the territory.” We need maps. But we don’t need to be fooled by them. The left brain is a map. People are fooled because they believe them. They believe dichotomous ways of seeing the world as absolutely true—when they are just maps. Language is a map. A belief is a map. But ultimately, it’s not true.

Perspective and the Limits of Knowing
There’s always another view. My teacher spoke of this: look at the Plough, your favorite constellation. It’s beautiful. But if you called someone on Mars and said, “The Plough’s out, can you see it?” they’d say, “What are you talking about?” From their view, it doesn’t exist. If you go toward it—after 30 billion light years—you’d be inside it, and it wouldn’t look constellated. What we take as real is relative. It’s only real from the perspective of the seer.

End of the Map and Felt Sensing Beyond  - Reflection

A lively discussion including contributions from Manvir Hansra and Raffi Campbell. 

The felt sense is a bit like a precious pearl in the ocean, and the narrative is a bit like—what could it be? It’s like a big trawler’s fishing net, you know, that’s really thrown out far and wide, pulling up all kinds of debris. But the real felt sense, that’s—the narrative is the trawler and the net. The felt sense is the pearl. And she sits quietly there. It’s like that. It’s a metaphor, right? But you get what I mean by the trawler.

It's gonna feel very real. Yes. We've got all this stuff in the net. Oh, what have we got? Oh, we got an old dustbin. Oh, we caught a dolphin. Need to put that back, right? And—yeah—maybe I'm doing a disservice to the narrative. But maybe it has a place to do a bit of a disservice to it, that’s trying to run the show, is trying to steal from the ocean right in this kind of way. Maybe the ocean itself is sensing in its fullness.
The Call of the Heart and the North Star
• Focusing offers a vital path to authenticity — following “the North Star of your heart.”
• It invites openness where we’d typically close down, setting us apart with empathic presence and humility.
• Both focusing and meditation rest on the Mystery — not mechanical methods, but a living relationship with inner freedom.

Mindfulness: Dharma vs. Method
• Mindfulness is not meditation; it is Dharma — a liberating relationship with reality.
• Breath counting and body scans reduce mindfulness to mechanical practice, mistaking means for ends.
• The true heart of mindfulness points to dignity and inner freedom, not control.

The Pitfall of the Fixed Self
• Much mainstream mindfulness implies a fixed self that must control experience.
• Terms like “body scan” reduce us to machinery; “bring it back” creates an inner dualism.
• This model implies failure if thoughts stray, reinforcing judgment and tension.

The Organic Way: Focusing as Meditation
• Focusing is emergent, inclusive, and organic.
• No “bringing back” — just allowing what’s already here to unfold.
• The body senses itself. Stories are welcomed. There is no central controller.

Presence Instead of Meditation
• Presence carries fewer preconceptions than “meditation.”
• It can arise anywhere — at a bus stop or in bed.
• It’s about letting the body notice, not doing something to it.

Cosmic Context and Imaginal Sensing
• The body can sense the stars — not through sight, but through imaginal awareness.
• This cosmic felt sense brings vastness and belonging.
• There is something in us that quietly knows this larger context.

The Meaning Body
• Beneath emotion is the felt sense — a meaning-laden, pre-verbal sensation.
• It streams knowing not through thought but direct bodily experience.
• This “meaning body” is:
o Where intuitive knowing lives.
o A portal to wisdom and compassion.
o Life sensing itself in wholeness.

The Pearl and the Net
• The felt sense is a precious pearl in the ocean.
• The narrative is a trawler’s net — often pulling debris, sometimes treasure, but rarely the pearl.
• Mistaking the net for the ocean blinds us to the subtle truths within.

Focusing as Resting in Itself
• Focusing is the whole self resting in itself — not effort, but natural unfolding.
• There may be gentle intentionality, but even that fades.
• The process eventually looks after itself.

Sensing as Portal
• Sensing is not the end — it’s the portal to the "more" that knows its truth.
• It bypasses conceptual frameworks like duality or non-duality.
• The evaluating mind cares for labels; the body simply is.

Beyond Non-Duality
• Chasing “non-dual experiences” often leads to mental tangles.
• The body doesn’t care for duality or its absence — it just lives truthfully.
• Presence offers a refuge beyond all categories.

Focusing Meditation and The Dharma Discussion

The Deer, the Forest, and the Tiger

It's a bit like sitting next to a deer that comes out of a forest. You come down on your haunches and you wait. You see that deer. You don't run at it. You don't say, "Oh, there's a deer!" and run at the deer. It's like—oh my God, the deer runs off. Well, why wouldn't it? It knows something's there.

So we sit down. We wait. The deer comes close. The deer goes, "Oh, this is safe." And then it may finally come and lie down by you. And you go... you put your hand on the deer. Well, you might not. But there's a lot of beauty in this.

And then comes out a tiger. And we go, "Oh..." and then we really feel the ground. I mean, you look down slightly because you don't want to freak the tiger out, right? And we see its beautiful shape. It's a beautiful creature. Very, very beautiful. It's 500 pounds of sheer power and beauty, and it comes weaving over. It too sits down by the deer and by you. And you put your hands on both of them.

And you say: Welcome. That is presence.

Then the tiger gets up and wanders off. And you go, "Okay. It's cool." It's all me, in a way. 

Now there's a deep sigh because it recognizes the complexity of all that. And the beauty of befriending our monsters and our magicians, you know? And how they're not really there to attack us. They're there to serve us, really, underneath it all—if we take time to let them be and sit by them.

But we need to be in presence. We need to be grounded. That's the difference. Once we're there, whatever we do or say will be connecting.

And then Comes a Tiger

Padmasambhava the Magician, Transformer and Fearless Friend.

Padmasambhava's Realm a short Invocation to Accompany you

Presence Deep Rest Meditations and Reflections inspired by Focusing, Mindfulness and Nonviolent communication Embodied Relational Presence training and personal coaching.  https://www.living-presence.co.uk/

NOTICING PLAYCISE 2 What This Body Is Noticing And Resting With That

Simon McKibbin Presence Meditations & Reflections