Jane Quayle B.C.H.C.
What I love about Whole Body Focusing is that it holds all of the richness, creativity and healing potential of Gendlin’s Focusing and it gives us more. Shining a light on the body, in posture, gesture and movement as a way of symbolizing the felt sense and as a doorway into the felt sense, offers a whole new richness in the possibilities we have in our Focusing practice.
How I came to Whole Body Focusing. I first met Kevin in 2007 at the Focusing Institute Summer School. I have continued to work with Kevin on a regular basis and was invited to assist him in teaching at the FISS in 2012. Whole Body Focusing seemed a natural fit for me, I have a long time interest in the Alexander technique, the Feldenkrais method and I am trained as a Yoga teacher. I found that being aware of my body in this new way, letting it move, letting it inform me, was a light bulb moment for me. It showed me how to listen with my whole body; it showed me clearly how my preconceptions limit what my body is capable of.
I was intrigued by Kevin’s notion of the body as a safe container for our experience. I wondered how this works for people for whom their experience of life has lead them to a place where the body is an unsafe place. With Whole Body Focusing I discovered the natural body, the body which has evolved to be nurtured and sustained by this planet. I found that my feet are on the ground and the energy of gravity does hold me to the earth. These are such simple tangible experiences of life, which open up a whole universe of possibilities.
I have many influences in my teaching and I know it wouldn’t be what it is without the contribution of Kevin’s Whole Body Focusing.
I am psychotherapist and Focusing teacher, I have a private counselling practice and I teach at a number of tertiary institutions in the Sydney metropolitan area. I am a member of the board of Trustees of The Focusing Institute. I have a varied background which includes bodywork, Yoga, information technology and training. I first learned Focusing in 1998 and was certified as a Trainer in 2001 and a coordinator in 2011. I have taught Focusing in a variety of contexts since the early 2000’s, including as an emerging teacher at the Focusing Institute’s Weeklong and an assistant to Kevin McEvenue at the Focusing Institute Summer School.
I am passionate about bringing Focusing into counselling training. I have developed and delivered a Focusing Oriented Therapy program at the Jansen Newman Institute. It is a great thrill to me when my students discover for themselves what Gendlin discovered all those years ago. The felt sense is the place where change happens.
My passion for bringing Focusing into the world extends beyond the counselling profession. I work with Dr Greg Walkerden at Macquarie University bringing felt knowing into environmental decision making. In my private teaching practice my students are drawn from a wide cross section of professions and interests, people who want to learn Focusing to enhance their own lives, people who want to enhance their professional practice, in creative arts and play writing, dog training, netball coaching Yoga teaching and more...
What I love about Focusing is that it helps each one of us go directly to the place of creativity, change and healing in our own life. It helps us to find ourselves beyond the fears and conditioning of our life context. This frees us to be all that we can be, in our relationships, in our life and our work. We live in a world where we prioritize our rational logical thinking over our own body knowing. It is a breath of fresh air to realise that we can have them both.
My Qualifications and memberships
Bachelor of Counselling and Human Change
Dip. Dru Yoga Therapy
Certifying Coordinator, The Focusing Institute
Certified Focusing Trainer
Clinical Member – Australian Counselling Association
ACA College of Supervisors