Assisted self-discovery
This is a private, password-protected page for people who are taking the The Mindful & Proactive Edge of FOT course. It gives you materials to prepare for Session 5 of the course.
Required materials
Ron Kurtz describes assisted self-discovery
This session is based on Ron Kurtz’s perspective on what constitutes the DNA of change in therapy, something he called mindfulness-based, assisted self-discovery.
Ron Kurtz was not a Focuser. He developed Hakomi therapy. I find his approach to be very consistent with Focusing and very inspiring.
See: Ron Kurtz and the pleasure of self-discovery. The conversation is accessible both as audio and PDF transcript.
Note about “mindfulness.” Ron Kurtz does not refer to meditation or any specific practice. He’s using “mindful” as the opposite of “mindless.” Think about being engaged in what you’re doing instead of doing something mindlessly. So, something similar to the notion that Focusing is a way to engage with our experience mindfully.
Questions for self-coaching
Describe assisted self-discovery in your own words. How does this fit with how you work?
In what way do you see your work with a client as a dance?
Do you pay attention to how mindful the client is? How do you do it?
How does the notion of pleasure resonate with your experience of therapy?
Optional materials
There is another conversation with Ron Kurtz that overlaps a bit with the one above, and complements it: Ron Kurtz & Hakomi therapy.
If you’re interested in hearing more about mindfulness from this perspective, see conversation with Greg Johanson.
Both feature audio as well as a transcript.
Class Recording (June 11)
Practice Groups
Practice at least twice before our next gathering in groups of 2, 3 or 4 people. Err on the site of experimenting with new approaches, keeping in mind that there is a connection between experimentation and safety:
– If you are tracking what’s happening with the client and what’s happening inside yourself, you can respond early to signs that your experiment may not be working;
– If you experiment this way, you actually build attunement and connection.