Inner Relationship Focusing

Inner Relationship Focusing is a psychotherapeutic system and process developed by Ann Weiser
Cornell and Barbara McGavin, as a refinement and expansion of the Focusing process discovered and
developed by Eugene Gendlin in the late 1960s.[1] Inner Relationship Focusing is a process for emotional
healing, and for accessing positive energy and insights for forward movement in one's life.[2]

Cornell, while a graduate student in Linguistics at the University of Chicago, met Gendlin in 1972 and
learned his technique. In 1980 she began collaborating with him in teaching his Focusing workshops.[3]
Using her capacity for linguistics, Cornell helped develop the concept of Focusing guiding, and in the
early 1980s she offered the first seminars on Focusing guiding.[4] Her continuation of this process led to
her development, with Barbara McGavin, of Inner Relationship Focusing.

History
Inner Relationship Focusing took shape when Ann Weiser Cornell moved from Chicago to California in
1983 and began teaching Focusing to people who knew nothing about it.[5][6] She discovered that many
people who were not automatically adept at it needed new techniques and new language to draw out their
ability to learn the process.[5][6] Eventually her discoveries of what worked best for the majority of
people, combined with the input, inspiration, and insights of her British collaborator Barbara
McGavin,[4][7] evolved into Inner Relationship Focusing in the 1990s.[8] Cornell incorporated her new
techniques and insights into her first books, The Focusing Student's Manual (1993) and The Focusing
Guide's Manual (1994)[9][10] – both later revised with Barbara McGavin and published in 2002 as The
Focusing Student's and Companion's Manual – and in all of her subsequent books, which have become
classic textbooks on Focusing.[1][11][12]

Description
Inner Relationship Focusing is a refined and expanded form of Eugene Gendlin's original six-step process
of Focusing, which he had detailed in his 1978 book of the same title.[13] Inner Relationship Focusing
emphasizes being in gentle, allowing relationship with all parts of one's being, including parts that are in
conflict, parts often denied or pushed away as unacceptable or demeaning, parts that are overwhelming,
and parts that are so buried or subtle they need to be drawn out with patience and gentleness.[14][5][15][2]
In allowing all aspects of the personality to be held in acceptance and awareness, new insights and shifts
can emerge and healing can occur.[16][17][18] Inner Relationship Focusing therefore emphasizes the
relationship of the Self with the various inner aspects, however painful, and it relies specifically on a
quality of Presence, or the ability of the Self to be present with these aspects in a quality of friendliness,
gentle curiosity, and nonjudgment.[5][2] A major feature of IRF is gently finding out how a specific aspect
or felt experience feels from its point of view.[5][4][19][20] Another feature is giving awareness to parts of
oneself that are opposing – either afraid of or objecting to – a difficult or troublesome part.[2] Inner
Relationship Focusing radically allows and accepts all parts or inner experiences.[2][6][4] It also avoids the
extremes of denial/"exile" and merging/identification/overwhelm, through using the quality of Presence
to gently experience and navigate one's inner world in a calm, detached, but gently curious and inviting
way.[20]

Differences from Gendlin's original Focusing

Eugene Gendlin's original Focusing process, described in his 1978 book, is a process that he generalizes
as having six steps: clearing a space, allowing a "felt sense" to form, finding a handle, resonating, asking,
and receiving.[21] Inner Relationship Focusing, developed in the late 1980s through the late 1990s, is a
more fluid process, and eschews or modifies certain aspects of Gendlin's.[5][22][6] For instance, rather
than clearing a space, IRF uses a mental scan of the body for what feels open and alive, and what needs
acknowledging – without moving any issue "out" – in order to more fully accept or find what may be
wanting attention.[4][22][20]

Rather than "asking", the Focuser uses the quality of Presence[23] to allow what wants to be expressed –
hidden feelings, thoughts, and incipient information – to come forth. The guide, if used, gives gentle
suggestions rather than asking questions in order not to intrude on the process or deflect attention away
from the inner experience.[24] This stage, which includes the stage called "resonating" in Gendlin's
format, is an important and lengthy one in IRF,[19] and includes settling down with "it" (the felt
experience or the partial self), keeping it company,[14] and sensing its point of view, including what it
wants and what it does not want.[22][2][25][26]

An important principle in Inner Relationship Focusing is not denying or exiling any thoughts, feelings, or
partial selves – not even the inner critic – but rather empathizing with all parts and aspects and sensing
what they want to communicate and why.[2][6][27] Cornell calls this "the radical acceptance of
everything".[6][4][28] Another central principle is the aspect of Presence, or "Self-in-Presence": gentle
listening, with equanimity, to everything that comes up in the Focusing process.[29] In addition, specific
language and language/thought patterns are encouraged, which Cornell calls "Presence language", in
order to facilitate this process.[2][6][25] And as indicated by its name, Inner Relationship Focusing gives
high priority to the relationship of the Focuser to his inwardly felt experience or aspects of his inner
life.[8] The role of the guide, if one is used, is to support this relationship.[2][6]

Influence
Since the early 1990s Cornell has taught Inner Relationship Focusing throughout the U.S. at venues
including Esalen,[30] the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine,[31] and
the American Psychological Association,[31] and also around the world.[32][4] Inner Relationship
Focusing is now used and taught all over the world,[33][34] including in Afghanistan and
Pakistan.[35][36][37]

Psychologist and self-help author Helene Brenner calls Inner Relationship Focusing "one of the most
powerful techniques I know for emotional healing".[38] CC Leigh, whose Inseeing Process of self-healing
and spiritual growth is largely based on IRF,[39] calls Inner Relationship Focusing a "highly refined
technology for getting in touch with the inner dynamics that typically lie beneath the threshold of
awareness, and befriending them from a state of Presence so they can open up and organically
evolve".[40] Inner Relationship Focusing has been recommended in several 21st-century psychology
textbooks,[41] stress-reduction manuals,[42] and other self-improvement texts,[43][44] and it is the
commonest adaptation of the Focusing form used today.[26][25]

See also
Ego-state therapy
Emotion-focused therapy
Internal Family Systems Model
Nonviolent Communication

References
1. Wehrenberg, Margaret. The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques: Understanding
How Your Brain Makes You Anxious and What You Can Do to Change It (https://books.goog
le.com/books?id=VcnUdBe5ZYMC&pg=PA149). W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. p. 149.
2. Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. "Inner Relationship Focusing" (http://www.focusi
ng.org/folio/Vol21No12008/03_InnerRelatTRIB.pdf). Focusing Folio. Volume 21, Number 1,
2008 (http://www.focusing.org/folio/Vol21No12008/FolioTribute2008WEB_r.pdf). pp. 21–33.
3. Cornell, Ann Weiser. Focusing in Clinical Practice: The Essence of Change (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=GXo2AAAAQBAJ&pg=PR31). W. W. Norton & Company, 2013. p. xxxi.
4. Kirschner, Ellen. "FOCUS ON: Ann Weiser Cornell" (http://www.focusing.org/newsletter/sif4-
2-2004/sif4-2-3.html). Staying in Focus: The Focusing Institute Newsletter. Vol. IV, No. 2 (htt
p://www.focusing.org/newsletter/sif4-2-2004/sif4-2-2004.html). May 2004.
5. Cornell, Ann Weiser. "The Origins and Development of Inner Relationship Focusing" (http://f
ocusingresources.com/the-origins-and-development-of-inner-relationship-focusing/). In:
Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. The Radical Acceptance of Everything: Living a
Focusing Life (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0972105832). Calluna Press, 2005. pp. 193 ff.
6. Van Nuys, David. "Focusing with Ann Weiser Cornell" (http://www.shrinkrapradio.com/214.p
df). Shrink Rap. July 30, 2009.
7. McGavin, Barbara. "The ‘Victim’, the ‘Critic’ and the Inner Relationship: Focusing with the
Part that Wants to Die" (http://focusingresources.com/the-victim-the-critic-and-the-inner-relat
ionship-focusing-with-the-part-that-wants-to-die/). The Focusing Connection. September
1994.
8. Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. "A Brief History of Inner Relationship Focusing".
In: The Focusing Student's and Companion's Manual, Volume 1 (https://focusingresources.c
om/learning/the-focusing-students-companions-manual/). Calluna Press, 2002. p. ii.
9. Cornell, Ann Weiser. The Focusing Guide's Manual (https://books.google.com/books?id=iE7
ntgAACAAJ). Focusing Resources, 1993.
10. Cornell, Ann Weiser. The Focusing Student's Manual (https://books.google.com/books/abou
t/The_Focusing_Student_s_Manual.html?id=ZOchHQAACAAJ). Focusing Resources, 1994.
11. Gendlin, Eugene. Advance praise for The Radical Acceptance of Everything (http://www.foc
using.org/eshop/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=FB-41). 2005. "Ann Weiser Cornell has been
teaching for many years in many countries and is well known worldwide. In her previous
book and her manuals she has created new specific and accessible instructions for focusing
as well as for the teachers of focusing. In person and through her students and writings she
has given Focusing to far more people than any other single individual. She is a powerful
force in making the world better. She has gone on to create different new processes in new
dimensions ...." – Eugene Gendlin, author of Focusing.
12. Gendlin, Eugene. Review of Focusing in Clinical Practice: The Essence of Change (http://bo
oks.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=4294972219). W. W. Norton & Company, 2013.
"Ann Weiser Cornell and I have been working closely together for thirty years, and she
knows as much about Focusing as I do. Ann has a knack for making the complex
understandable and the theory of Focusing accessible to all readers. This book will be
helpful to anyone who wants to know my philosophical work and better understand how to
bring Focusing into clinical practice. I recommend it very strongly." – Eugene Gendlin,
author of Focusing.
13. Gendlin, Eugene. Focusing. Bantam Books, 1978.
14. Brenner, Helen G. I Know I'm in There Somewhere: A Woman's Guide to Finding Her Inner
Voice and Living a Life of Authenticity (https://books.google.com/books?id=PnBMx3VEGioC
&pg=PA51). Penguin, 2004. p. 51.
15. Leigh, CC. Becoming Divinely Human: A Direct Path to Embodied Awakening (https://www.a
mazon.com/gp/reader/0983546215/ref=sr_1_1?p=S00H&keywords=%22inner+relationship+
focusing+is+a+highly+refined%22&ie=UTF8&qid=1381043529). Wolfsong Press, 2011. pp.
8–9.
16. Bray, Joseph. "The wisdom of the body" (http://www.therapytoday.net/article/show/2257/)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20131202231036/http://www.therapytoday.net/article/
show/2257/) 2013-12-02 at the Wayback Machine. Therapy Today. Volume 22, Issue 1;
February 2011.
17. Daffner, Diana. Tantric Sex for Busy Couples: How to Deepen Your Passion in Just Ten
Minutes a Day (https://books.google.com/books?id=YzezFK-d72kC&pg=PA185). Hunter
House, 2009. p. 185.
18. "What is Inner Relationship Focusing?" (http://www.greylynncounselling.co.nz/our-therapist
s/suzanne-carson/) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20131203004930/http://www.greyl
ynncounselling.co.nz/our-therapists/suzanne-carson/) 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine.
GreyLynnCounselling.co.nz.
19. Cornell, Ann Weiser. "The Focusing Technique: Confirmatory Knowing Through the Body" (h
ttp://www.focusing.org/fot/cornell_focusing_technique.html). In: Palmer, Helen (ed). Inner
Knowing: Consciousness, Creativity, Insight, and Intuition (https://www.amazon.com/dp/087
4779367). Tarcher/Putnam, 1998, pp. 159-164.
20. Cornell, Ann Weiser. "Relationship = Distance + Connection: A Comparison of Inner
Relationship Techniques to Finding Distance Techniques in Focusing" (http://focusingresour
ces.com/relationship-distance-connection-a-comparison-of-inner-relationship-techniques-to-
finding-distance-techniques-in-focusing/). In: Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin.
The Radical Acceptance of Everything: Living a Focusing Life (https://www.amazon.com/dp/
0972105832). Calluna Press, 2005. pp. 207 ff. (First presented in 1995, at the First
International Conference for Focusing Therapy. [1] (http://www.focusing.org/newsletter/sif4-2
-2004/sif4-2-3.html))
21. Gendlin, Eugene. Focusing. Bantam Books, 1978. pp. 103–107.
22. Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. "Gendlin's Focusing Terms – Definitions and
Comparisons" (https://focusingresources.com/learning/the-focusing-students-companions-m
anual/). In: The Focusing Student's and Companion's Manual, Volume 1. Calluna Press,
2002. pp. A-15–A-18.
23. Leigh, CC. Becoming Divinely Human: A Direct Path to Embodied Awakening (https://www.a
mazon.com/gp/reader/0983546215/ref=sr_1_4?p=S00H&keywords=%22inner+relationship+
focusing%22&ie=UTF8&qid=1384567402). Wolfsong Press, 2011. pp. 86–87.
24. Cornell, Ann Weiser. "Questioning Questions" (http://www.focusing-center.de/storage/artikel/
Questioning%20Questions.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20111111235402/htt
p://www.focusing-center.de/storage/artikel/Questioning%20Questions.pdf) 2011-11-11 at the
Wayback Machine. The Focusing Connection. March 2001.
25. Hicks, Angela. "Examining four styles of Focusing – the similarities and differences" (http://w
ww.focusing.org.uk/pdfs/focusing_styles.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2013120
2225525/http://www.focusing.org.uk/pdfs/focusing_styles.pdf) 2013-12-02 at the Wayback
Machine. Focusing.org.uk.
26. Nickerson, Carol. "Attachment and Neuroscience: The Benefits of Being a Focusing
Oriented Professional" (http://www.focusing.org/folio/Vol23No12012/04_Nickerson_Focusin
gResearch.pdf). Focusing Folio. Volume 23, Number 1, 2012 (http://www.focusing.org/folio/
Vol23No12012/Contents_FocusingResearch_rev.pdf). pp. 47–57.
27. Kugel, Jennifer A. "An Inner Relationship Focusing Approach to Transforming the Inner
Critic." (https://books.google.com/books?id=qhq6ZwEACAAJ) PhD diss., Alliant
International University, California School of Professional Psychology, San Diego, 2010.
28. Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. The Radical Acceptance of Everything: Living a
Focusing Life (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0972105832). Calluna Press, 2005.
29. Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. The Focusing Student's and Companion's
Manual, Volume 1 (https://focusingresources.com/learning/the-focusing-students-companion
s-manual/). Calluna Press, 2002. pp. 57–60.
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p://www.esalen.org/learn/workshops/leader). Archived from the original (http://www.esalen.o
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31. Ann Weiser Cornell – Selected Past Speaking Engagements (http://focusingresources.com/
speaking/)
32. Ann Weiser Cornell in Hamburg, Germany (http://www.focusing-center.de/ann-weiser-cornell
-en/) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20131203005438/http://www.focusing-center.de/
ann-weiser-cornell-en/) 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine. Zentrum für Focusing
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33. Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. The Focusing Student's and Companion's
Manual, Volume 1 (https://focusingresources.com/learning/the-focusing-students-companion
s-manual/). Calluna Press, 2002. p. A-22.
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ationship%20Focusing.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20120508083955/http://w
ww.focusing-center.de/storage/pdf/PS%20Inner%20Relationship%20Focusing.pdf) 2012-
05-08 at the Wayback Machine. Zentrum für Focusing Kompetenz.
35. Cornell, Ann Weiser and Barbara McGavin. "Inner Relationship Focusing" (http://www.focusi
ng.org/folio/Vol21No12008/03_InnerRelatTRIB.pdf). Focusing Folio. Volume 21, Number 1,
2008 (http://www.focusing.org/folio/Vol21No12008/FolioTribute2008WEB_r.pdf). p. 21.
36. Omidian, Patricia and Nina Joy Lawrence. "Community Wellness Focusing: A Work In
Progress" (http://www.focusing.org/folio/Vol21No12008/24_CommunityWellTRIB.pdf).
Focusing Folio. Volume 21, Number 1, 2008 (http://www.focusing.org/folio/Vol21No12008/F
olioTribute2008WEB_r.pdf). pp.291–303.
37. Koch, Sabine C.; Fuchs, Thomas; Summa, Michela; Müller, Cornelia. Body Memory,
Metaphor and Movement (https://books.google.com/books?id=IaovW-rP-RcC&pg=PA390).
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38. Brenner, Helene G. I Know I'm in There Somewhere: A Woman's Guide to Finding Her Inner
Voice and Living a Life of Authenticity (https://books.google.com/books?id=PnBMx3VEGioC
&pg=PA136). Penguin, 2004. p. 136.
39. Leigh, CC. Becoming Divinely Human: A Direct Path to Embodied Awakening (https://www.a
mazon.com/gp/reader/0983546215/ref=sr_1_4?p=S00H&keywords=%22inner+relationship+
focusing%22&ie=UTF8&qid=1384567402). Wolfsong Press, 2011. pp. 79–85, 239.
40. Leigh, CC. Becoming Divinely Human: A Direct Path to Embodied Awakening (https://www.a
mazon.com/gp/reader/0983546215/ref=sr_1_4?p=S00H&keywords=%22inner+relationship+
focusing%22&ie=UTF8&qid=1384567402). Wolfsong Press, 2011. pp. 8–9.
41. Lebow, Jay L. Twenty-First Century Psychotherapies: Contemporary Approaches to Theory
and Practice (https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=s4uUKOKjaEgC&oi=fnd&pg=P
A122). John Wiley & Sons, 2008. p. 122.
42. Davis, Martha; Eshelman, Elizabeth Robbins; McKay, Matthew. The Relaxation & Stress
Reduction Workbook (https://books.google.com/books?id=nA8XAMZ7H30C&pg=PA218).
New Harbinger Publications, 2009. p. 218.
43. Jones, Michael. Artful Leadership: Awakening the Commons of the Imagination (https://book
s.google.com/books?id=6RlYAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT172). Trafford Publishing, 2006. p. 172.
44. Connor, Jane Marantz and Dian Killian. Connecting Across Differences: Finding Common
Ground with Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime (https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1892005247/
ref=sr_1_3?p=S092&keywords=%22inner+relationship+focusing%22&ie=UTF8&qid=13845
67402). PuddleDancer Press, 2012. p. 311.

Further reading
Cornell, Ann Weiser. The Radical Acceptance of Everything: Living a Focusing Life. Calluna
Press, 2005. ISBN 9780972105835

External links
Official site (http://focusingresources.com)
Official certification (https://focusingresources.com/learning/focusing-resources-certification-
as-an-inner-relationship-focusing-professional/)

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