Felt Arts are the foundation of the Expressive Arts Focusing ExAF approach
Felt Arts is a processing along embodied felt expression in any kind of art, and an art form
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Felt Arts is not a method. It is not affiliated with any therapeutic school, art discipline or art movement
Felt Arts come from the living body itself, and from the body's forwarding of the creative life force
The body's forwarding is a fundamental force of nature, as is creative expression. Any art activity (be it receptive or active engagement with the arts) induces a more of something that generates new life, especially when it is formed from the body sense
Felt Arts is a felt direction towards, a living and a pointing to something where a more of creative life is generating
Felt Arts is also an art form. It speaks a language all of its own, and this is what makes it so different from any other art form
The Language of Felt Arts
Art speaks for itself. Art holds a language that cannot be looked up in a dictionary (as Eugene Gendlin would have said it)
The language of Felt Arts transcends psychological, philosophical or art theoretical concepts. Its vocabulary is thicker with meaning than the vocabulary of any analytic or reflective observation can reveal
Art and arts engagement (therapeutic or non therapeutic) are Felt Arts when the body takes the lead in artistic expression, processing and meaning making
Trust in the innate human potential for creativity is another ingredient of Felt Arts. The Inner Artist can mobilize enough energy to engage in Felt Arts activities over and over again, even when blockages (psychological or artistic) stand in the way
Artistic efforts (no matter how small and unskilled) manifest artistic language authorship. Consistent artistic practice leads to a more of aesthetic understanding, and to a more of self-understanding. This given, artistic activity can promote a new sense of self when it comes from experiential Felt Arts language
How The Founder of Focusing Prof. Eugene Gendlin Would Have Said It
Words are social forms. Arts are social forms. Arts themselves are not moving forward alike words are not moving forward when you use words or arts only. So taking arts only is not moving forward and interpretating arts only is not moving forward unless you approach arts experiential
This means to ask if there is a step coming when you are refering to your art. What I mean here is a step opening up to something. Even when you interprete a piece of art in best ways, the whole stays within a certain social form and social forms do not change. What changes the form and brings a shift, this little step forwarding, is to pause and wait for art to come. Art does not come from talent or art skills only. What comes as art comes through the body, and what comes through the body is social or cultural and with a More of that is not part of the social and the cultural. This kind of art has forwarding life energy in it. This kind of art is what I call experiential art
How Eugene Gendlin would have said it are words coming from an inner voice speaking Gendlinish. They are no original words of Eugene Gendlin. They come from an 'Inner Gene' having crystalized through studying Gendlin's work after meeting him in person
A Gendlin lecture at Humboldt House Achberg GER, venue of Gendlin's European teachings 1992-97. Video presentation of the German-Swiss Focusing Network (2023) at the hall where Gendlin gave this lecture
ExAF: A Multiplicity of Therapeutic Understandings for Best Practice
ExAF uses different therapeutic understandings to make individuals and groups get the most of their therapeutic endavours
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When using approaches of different therapeutic understandings, we work in an integrative manner while following the ethics of the person-centered and experiential approach
Our understanding of 'integrative' is defined by crossing, a concept introduced by Eugene Gendlin. Crossing brings out the very unique kind of More of all therapeutic methods that are put into action during the session
The moment of crossing cannot be willfully induced by the therapist but comes from the client's living body as it actualizes its felt knowing (term by Dr. Rappaport). The choice of methods to be crossed is determined by this way of knowing, moment-to-moment and in each session anew
The body sense (very often of both client and therapist) provides information about what is needed next. It tells about the quality of the therapeutic co-creative interaction, and it shows coherent ways for the therapeutic situation to be moved forward as a whole
In artistic terms, crossing is like mixing colors: A new hue is created. It did not exist before. It contains a More of all the colors that have been mixed in
Experiential Understandings: Focusing
Focusing is a body-mind practice and a method of the person-centered and experiential approach developed by Prof. Eugene Gendlin
Focusing explores personal issues, relationships and situations from felt experiencing. Focusing works with body awareness from within, initiating organismic micro-changes, body shifts and new steps towards life solutions
We learned from international renowned Focusing pioneers and teachers who developed a wide range of Focusing approaches:
Focusing Gendlin
Inner Relationship Focusing Ann Weiser Cornell
Intermodal Focusing Plus Focusing Network FN
Existential Well-being Counseling Mia Leijssen
Wholebody Heartfelt Conversation Kevin McEvenue
Focusing with the Whole Body Astrid Schillings
Integrative Focusing René Maas
Dynamic Expressive Focusing/Being Seriously Playful René Veugelers
Focusing oriented Expressive Arts FOAT® Laury Rappaport
Focusing-Oriented Relational Psychotherapy Lynn Preston
We teach these methods
Experiential Understandings: Focusing with the Arts
Focusing Oriented Expressive Arts FOAT® - video 1 | video 2 | video 3 | video 4
by Laury Rappaport, PHD, MFT, REAT, ART-BC
FOAT® is a mindfulness based approach for positive growth and change integrating Focusing and the Expressive Arts. FOAT® applications are supported by publications and research
We teach this method
Experiential Collaging
by Prof. Dr. Akira Ikemi
We use this method
Person-centered Understandings
Person-Centered Psychotherapy and Counseling
with understandings of existential, depth-oriented, behavioral and critical-marxist concepts to enhance the person-centered concept within a collaborative therapeutic relationship, and adapt to the client's individual needs
We use this method
Person-centered Unterstandings with the Arts
Person-Centered Expressive Arts Therapy PCEAT by Nathalie Rogers, PhD, REAT - video
We refer to the understanding of the multi-modal process named The Creative Connection©
Person-centred Art Therapy PCAT, pioneered by Liesl Silverstone - video and forwarded by Ani de la Prida, BA, MA, Adv.Dip. to Person-centred Creative Arts
We teach this method
Client-centered Art Therapy by Dr. Norbert Groddeck
We refer to theory and application
Understandings of the Expressive Arts Therapies
Sensorimotor Expressive Arts Therapy | Guided Drawing® - video
by Cornelia Elbrecht, BA, MA (ART Ed), AthR, SEP
Guided Drawing® is a sensorimotor and body-focused art therapy for trauma release, using mindfulness, sensory awareness and trust in the guidance from within
We use this method
Trauma-informed Expressive Arts Therapy
by Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPCC, LPAT, ATR-BC, REAT
We refer to the understanding of EXA traumatology
Intermodal Expressive Arts Therapy
by Prof. Dr. Dr. Paolo Knill and Prof. em. Stephen K. Levine, Ph.D., D.S.Sc, REAT
We refer to the theories of polyaesthetics and IDEC®
Understandings of Art Therapy
Receptive Art Therapy
Art Therapy (Petzold 1999; Franzen, Menzen 2022) using receptive-active arts engagement in clinical psychotherapy, counseling and palliative care. Receptive Art Therapy is also refered to as Museum-art based Therapy
We use this method
Dynamic Shape Drawing
Dynamic Shape Drawing is a practice of anthroposophic art therapy, developed by artist and special education teacher Hermann Kirchner (GER) and Waldorf school pioneer Rudolf Kutzli (CH). In Dynamic Shape Drawing, basic forms are transformed through rhythmic moving and swinging lines following breathing
We teach this method
Understandings of Art Education
We cross therapeutic understandings with understandings of art education
Bauhaus Art Pedagogy
We refer to didactics of the Bauhaus Founders
Museum-art Pedagogy
We refer to didactics of MoMA