Thinking At the Edge (TAE)

As someone who has had a basic understanding of Focusing, I have deeply appreciated the unique approach which Dana and Baruch teach in their basic course. They go beyond technique to a process of transforming the way we perceive life, ourselves and the rest of creation. As with their Art of Prayer courses, I have found their teaching in the Basic Focusing course invaluable for my personal journey, my work as a spiritual companion and teacher in spiritual formation programmes, and as a Feldenkrais and embodied living teacher. Dana and Baruch are excellent teachers, highly skilled in working together to provide a rich experience for their students, gradually building on aspects of the process with each lesson so that our practice gradually becomes more intricate and rich. I highly recommend this both as an introductory course for those new to Focusing, as well as enriching and expanding the understanding and skill of those already experienced with it. I look forward to continuing my study of Focusing with Dana and Baruch in further courses.

The Art of Focusing course with Dana and Baruch has changed my life. Through the Focusing process they teach I have discovered a relationship with the Divine, which I have been seeking for so many years. This process has taught me there is so much more to draw on when navigating life’s challenges. Focusing is taught artfully and prayerfully by Dana and Baruch and is now becoming a way of life for me. It is a very special course.

The Focusing course opened a gateway for me into a vast field that stretches far and deep—into infinity—until I discovered within it a clear, wild presence… Through an accessible, magical, and direct language, it connects participants straight to the source, to the spring that flows within each of us. And they do all of this on Zoom! Without losing any of the raw and complete quality of the language they have developed. I warmly recommend this course to anyone who wishes to live life with full presence.

Through the Focusing course, I was introduced to a new language—an entire rich world that holds real magic, quite literally. This language is filled with fascinating nuances—it’s full of exciting and surprising discoveries, yet it feels completely natural. It is abstract and elusive, yet full of presence and power. It is gentle but challenging, so simple and yet so complex… Dana and Baruch facilitated the course on Zoom in a smooth and engaging way, and the dynamic between them always felt natural and precise, with each of them bringing their own unique color into the learning space.

Thank you, Dana and Baruch, for all you put into teaching the Holy Commitment class. I appreciate your pure and skillful dedication to really standing on holy ground… Many thanks.

When I first learned Focusing I was delighted to find a process that helped with my situations and problems… As I struggled to understand Gendlin’s philosophy, I found a resonance with my own spiritual background which grew when I started studying with Dana and Baruch. In this course, through Kaballistic writings and Gendlin’s philosophy, Dana and Baruch share the mystery of how revelation comes into the world, unfolding depths of what it means to be a human being. Through their unique understanding I have discovered a process of steps through which I can shift my usual perception of life to a greater dimension, what Gendlin called the larger system and mystics call the Infinite… it transforms my felt experience …, a new way of being in the world.

Dana and Baruch teach Focusing not by providing a list of instructions, or by using a familiar curriculum that is tweaked here and there. Not only WHAT they teach, but also HOW they create and teach, every level and aspect, is consistent with Gendlin's process model. I arrive at radically new understandings, uncovering the hidden wisdom, through inner depths of felt experiencing, revelation. In addition, we learn focusing directly from Gendlin's writings, in APM, alongside ancient texts from the Kabbalah. The result is a shockingly deeper and wider focusing process: focuser and listener participating in the ultimate process of life, experiencing ourselves as part of the most essential and meaningful reality. It's astonishing - to leave a whole framework and to learn how to turn toward a deeper space, entirely unfamiliar, much more subtle, and still more real. In one class, I had a sudden realization that I am with the Divine, referred to in class as the "field of the Divine". Reverence came as I was overcome with the truth of this. Then understanding came. Previously, in the usual Focusing framework, this place of the unknown, where nothing was happening that I could grasp, was not a place I had reverence for, or valued, so it was a place I wanted to move on from. This insight was a revelation that validated these deeper layers as being real, and worthy of my time and attention, day to day.