The Living Process. Practices in Experience and Existence

Guest Professor Mia Leijssen: The Subtle Energy of Embodied Awareness, E11S02 of The Living Process with Dr Greg Madison Our Guest this time is Mia Leijssen, Ph.D. - Professor (Emeritus) Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the University of Leuven, Belgium. Prof. Leijssen learned Focusing early in her training many years ago at Leuven University. She is well known in the worlds of Focusing and Client-centred Psychotherapy as well as existential wellbeing and has published widely. Some of her best-known work is on Focusing microprocesses, spirituality, and professional ethics. She is a longtime Focusing Therapist, Teacher, and Coordinator for the International Focusing Institute. Mia is the academic director of the massive Open Online Course: Existential Well-being Counseling: A Person-centered Experiential Approach. You can discover more about this course and contact Mia at these addresses: https://www.edx.org/course/existential-well-being-counseling-person-kuleuvenx-ewbcx www.existentieelwelzijn.be https://existentialwellbeing.com In this episode, we talk about Mia’s initial introduction to Focusing early in her training at Leuven U and how meeting Gendlin and participating in a demo with him was a turning point for her. Throughout our conversation, Mia emphasises the subtle energetic connection between the focuser and listener and the powerful impact this can have on the quality of the interaction. We explore the essence of living forward and its knowing of how we should develop, the art and discipline of therapy, and the issue of directivity in client-centred therapy. We also touched on the question of ‘parts’ and not getting too concrete about parts and how living forward is asking for new organising, beyond structure. At the very end, we acknowledge the mystery of life itself in a way that respects its mystery. #existentialism #gendlin #psychology #counselling #existentialtherapy #personaldevelopment #focusing #selfcare