On Presence
I have learned many things about being present from many different teachers, and like Gene, I want to keep all that I have learned about being present very close to me, but set to one side, so that what I know about being present does not get between me and actually being present with myself, with another person, with another subgroup, or with the group as a whole.
Here are some of the major contributors to my understanding of the process of being present
THE PRIMACY OF HUMAN PRESENCE -- Eugene T. Gendlin (1990)
https://focusing.org/gendlin/docs/gol_2110.html
Due to copywrite laws, I may not without written consent, simply quote as I would like to do all this first section of Genes paper entitled "The small steps in the therapy process: how they come and how to help them come." But using the hyperlink above, you may view this section and the paper in its entirety.
But I am guided by his practice of setting to one side all "my troubles and feelings ... over here, one one side, close" and "all the things I have learnt ... (I wish I had even more)" on his other side ... Then I am just here, with my eyes, and this other being. If they happen to look, they will see I am just a shaky being .... the slightly shy, slightly withdrawing, insecure existence that I am."
TWENTY EMBODIED PRACTICES FOR HEALING TRAUMA AND ADDICTION-- Jan Winhall (2025)
Jan is the person who introduced me to the work of Eugene Gendlin, with whom she studied for 30 years. I have been studying with Jan for some five years now, becoming one of her Certified Felt Sense Polyvagal Model Facilitators.
Of Presence, Jan writes "Embodied change requires slowing down and repeating embodied practices... In this new way of being more connected to your body, you slow down and realize that every time you bring your attention down into your body, it is fresh and new... As you pause you invite something new to come. It takes patience, and the ability to pause and notice ... pause and notice ... pause and notice." (page 43)
THE MINDFUL THERAPIST: A CLINICIAN'S GUIDE TO MINDSIGHT AND NEURAL INTEGRATION -- Daniel J. Siegel (2010)
For Dan, Presence is the first of intrapersonal 15 skills required to become a Mindful Therapist.