THE FOCUSING PROCEDURE

Peter Graham

9 January 1994

The Focusing Procedure' is essentially an attention procedure. It involves the viewer exercising his or her ability to place and maintain attention on selected persons or things. The aims are to help a viewer attain a greater ability to focus and control attention at will, to increase the amount of "free attention" available to the individual and to expand the viewer' s awareness. A person' s awareness is his or her most valuable resource.

Definition: Attention is essentially awareness that is being directed towards something or is spread over several things. Attention is basically directed or selective awareness2.

When doing this procedure, the viewer normally focuses his attention on the facilitator and works on enhancing the basic abilities being exercised (being here and focusing attention). However, the procedure can also be used with selectedpersons, objects or things to help handle blockages or reactivity concerning them. In other words, the procedure can be done with any entity that can be perceived, such as a person, an object, a photograph, a drawing, a model, a symbol, a living creature, a body part, and even a physical feeling or sensation. For example, an artist could do this exercise with the painting tools he/she uses.

The Being Here Procedure (per the article "The Being Here Procedure " of 9 January 1994 by the same author) is not a pre-requisite for the Focusing Procedure, but it provides a natural stepping stone towards enhancing the ability to focus attention. A person needs to be in the here and now before he can place his attention on something and while he/she is doing so. However, the Focusing Procedure also directly enhances a person' s capacity to be (and to continue to be) in the here and now.

Note that the term "focusing" as used herein does not imply excluding or blocking out anything from one' s consciousness. It simply means placing one' s attention on or beholding a specified person, object or thing and continuing to do so. It is "simple awareness" of the entity or thing.

The FocusingProcedure

1. 	"Put your attention on me and keep it there " (eyes open)

   	or (if his attention is to be focused on someone or something else)

   	"Put your attention on (eg. that book) and keep it there "

2. 	After a period, check how the viewer is going or what occurred or is occurring by saying "OK" and asking a question or questions such as:

	"How did that go?"  or "How are you doing?"  or "What did you experience (while doing this exercise) ? "

The Focusing Procedure is directly based on the works of others. See the section "Acknowledgments" below. The Focusing Procedure is also referred to as Attention Procedure A-1 and is one of a number of procedures that directly address or work with attention. 2 In his book "Beyond Psychology: An Introduction to Metapsychology", Dr. Frank (Sarge) Gerbode refers to repression as directed unawareness or unconsciousness of a specific idea, phenomena or thing (page 295).

	or (if something is observably occurring):

	"What 's happening ? "  or "What are you experiencing ? " or "What was that ? "

	or (if something did observably occur):

	"What happened (while you were doing the exercise) ? " or "What did you experience (while doing this exercise) ? " or "Was something triggered (while doing this exercise) ? " or "Did that trigger something?"

3. 	If something was triggered while doing the exercise, the following can be asked before the Remind Questions: "What are/were your perceptions of that? "

	If the person's attention is on something in particular or an automatic response occurred, handle by asking the following (and/or do another handling as mentioned below):

	"Does that remind you of something ? " "Does that remind you of something else ? " (until no more answers).

4. 	Accept and acknowledge whatever the person says and (if appropriate) ask:

	"Is there anything else you would like to say (about that) ? "

5. 	Continue from 1. above to a suitable End Point.

Application Guidelines

When being done for the first time, start with a small time frame (eg. 5 seconds) and see how the person goes. Find out what the person experiences during that period. Do not be surprised if the person can only do it for brief periods on a continuous basis without something happening automatically or involuntarily. Gradually stretch the time out as the person is able to do it for longer periods (focusing attention continuously without experiencing unwanted automatic responses). For example, start with 5 to 10 seconds, then 15, then 20 and so forth up to minutes (and then eventually up to hours, if being done as a major exercise).

Facilitate the viewer by giving assistance and coaching as described in the article "Facilitation Actions for the Being Here Procedure and the Focusing Procedure " of the 1 0th of January 1994 (by the same author).

Help the person to become more aware of and more able to identify things that occur (in his or her own personal world) while doing the procedure, especially those things that occur involuntarily or sub-consciously. To do this, the facilitator can (as needed only, not every time) ask one or more questions such as:

"What did your attention do (while doing the exercise) ? " and/or "Did your attention go onto anything in particular?" and/or "Were there any thoughts?" and/or "Did you experience a particularfeeling (or sensation) ? " and/or "Did you have any images or impressions ? " and/or "Were there any changes in your perceptions ? " and/or "Did something occur automatically (while doing the exercise) ? " and/or "What did you do (while doing the exercise) ? " (or similar questions).

If a meter is being used (very useful and recommended but not essential), ask "What's that?" or "What 's happening ? " or "Did you have a thought (just then) ? " or "Did you experience something (just then) ? " (or similar) when a definite meter response (such as a fall of about inch or more) is observed as different than the normal pattern of the needle for that person.

What the viewer' s attention goes onto and what he becomes aware of are very important. The facilitator should help the person identify them as they occur and do a "handling" on them if appropriate. The standard (usual, routine) handling is to ask the Remind Questions (as given above), which is usually enough. However, there are also several other handlings which can also, or alternatively, be done if needed, as described in detail in the article "Facilitation Actionsfor the Being Here Procedure and the Focusing Procedure " of 10 January 1994.

As a general rule, seek to work with what is occurring now and what the person is experiencing now (very recently in the session or right now). Even with the Remind Questions, one is asking what the person is being reminded of (now, in the session) and none of the things spotted (such as a past incident) are taken up or otherwise handled. If the images or feelings of a past incident tend to persist or keep coming up, the facilitator can ask "What is it about (the thing the viewer 's attention is currently on) that reminds you of that (the incident) ? "

If it appears that the person is doing something else (other than just being here and placing his attention), ask "What did you do (while doing the exercise) ? " or "What do you do (while doing the exercise) ? " and handle appropriately ie. with discussion, education, encouragement, and so on.

As the person gets better at doing the basic exercise and can do it for longer periods (and needs less facilitation), let the person "go through things" more and more before pausing the exercise to find out what is happening or to do a handling. If appropriate, consult the viewer over this. Let the procedure do its own special work and run its own cycle without unnecessary facilitation, intervention or interruption and work toward giving the person successes and building his confidence and abilities.

Focusing attention and doing nothing else for the very first time may be a personal achievement for the viewer (and would be an end point). However, as the person progresses, the procedure becomes "being in the here and now, focusing attention and doing nothing else, and continuing to do so". If a viewer has great difficulty with this, it may help to discuss the role of intention in doing the exercise and to possibly do an Intention Exercise3 to give him/her a better understanding of intention and how to maintain and increase it.

The end point for the procedure depends on its usage. If the procedure is being done as a remedy, then it is generally complete when the viewer has had a win or success and/or when a point has been reached when he is doing the focusing exercise successfully and nothing is currently turned on. However, if the procedure is being done more for personal expansion, the procedure itself can be ended on any of the following: a substantial success, a major realization or insight, a prolonged period of just being here and focusing attention with no automatic responses occurring or the attainment of a personal milestone. End each session at a good point or when nothing is currently turned on.

Rather than doing the Focusing Procedure continuously for long periods, it is more optimum to alternate it with the Being Here Procedure (especially in the early stages). In other words, do the Being Here Procedure to a success or a "good point", then some Focusing Procedure, then more Being Here Procedure, and so on, gradually building up to longer periods of each and more expansive successes. When used as a remedy or in the early stages, it works well to do one and then the other in same session. Note that the Focusing Procedure can also be done as part of a series (program) of procedures that are cycled through a number of times until a particular result has been achieved.

Remedies

If the person' s attention keeps snapping back onto himself or his body or onto some particular thing and it is not resolving, run Attention Procedure A-2 repetitively to an End Point:

      	"Put your attention on me (or my body)"
      	"Put your attention on yourself (or your body) "

This approach was developed by Eddie Mace. It attempts to run out the automaticity of the person's attention snapping back onto his body. Acknowledge the person each time he does it. When completed, return to and complete the Focusing Procedure to its end point.

Where the person is having a lot of trouble continuing to hold attention on a particular person or thing and it is not resolving, do an Intention Exercise (as mentioned above) and/or Attention Procedure A-3 can be run repetitively:

      	"Put your attention on (person, object or thing) "

Check "Did that trigger something ? " after each answer to start with and thereafter whenever there is some indication of it (such as a meter read or some other energy manifestation). If so, ask "What are/were your perceptions of that? " Take the item (person, thing or object) to a definite success or achievement of some sort (an end point). Then, return to and complete the Focusing Procedure to its end point, unless the viewer has already had an excellent success.

Acknowledgments: The Focusing Procedure is essentially the same as a procedure developed by Eddie Mace in 1987-89 known as "Procedure Attention Zero". This procedure included the practice of doing it in a formal session (and on a meter) and helping the person to become aware of what happened at the point of or just prior to a reaction occurring. It was originally a remedy for persons who could not run objective procedures successfully. ColinMacDonald later developed and added the Remind Questions, which added a bit more "punch" to the procedure. The practice of asking if anything was triggered (and for his/her perceptions of that) was developed by Alan Walter as part of his "Clean Slating Procedure".