Ruth Friedman

My experience with Whole Body Focusing is that it has helped me to reach parts of my psyche that nothing else had been able to get anywhere close. It has given me much needed distance in challenging relationships. It has given me a stronger sense of my Self as a person. Every day, it helps me to stay grounded and connected. With Whole Body Focusing whilst I can still get triggered, I now have the resources to return to myself without being reactive. These gifts have been profound and extremely valuable for me, I cannot express my gratitude enough.

Before I discovered focusing, I had experienced many different therapies and personal development processes – expressive dance movement, voice-work, visual art, tantra, encounter groups, CBT, amongst others. Nothing has helped me as much as Focusing, to stay present with my feelings and not be overwhelmed by them. It has helped me to build a compassionate relationship with all the aspects of myself, including the parts that challenge me, of which there were many!

It is the wish to share these gifts that most motivates my work.

I have completed the 4 levels of Inner Relationship Focusing with Anne Weiser Cornell as well as the Advanced Certificate in Relational Whole Body Focusing with Karen Whalen and Katrijn van Loock.

My works as a trainer is often about crossing focusing with other modalities – with expressive dance movement which I have been practising since 1994, with the expressive and creative arts, which I am trained in since 2011.

I work with colleagues in diverse fields and introduce focusing as a useful tool in diverse topics, such as burnout, tackling action blocks, handling challenging emotions.

I completed a study into Burnout and how it is impacting individuals in the corporate environment and how Whole Body Focusing could help support them. Copies of my report are available on request.

My work with individual clients, helps them to find more self-compassion and self-acceptance, and to connect with their own wholeness, supporting them to tackle their situations with more ease and balance.

I also use Whole Body Focusing to help clients gain access to their visions and dreams, and to achieve them.

I provide both introductory and longer focusing trainings, as well as individual client sessions, in person and via the internet.

My Professional background is diverse: I am trained and experienced as a scientist, in environmental and community issues, and as an educator. I have worked in corporate IT, in software consultancy, and in the public and not for profit sectors. Since 2012, I am working as a consultant, trainer and coach. My clients include senior level executives of large multinational companies, European public institutions, as well as individuals suffering from life challenges. I hold a Bachelor degree in physics and a Masters degree in environmental planning.

I have been running personal development workshops for over 20 years using dance, voice, and visual arts as tools for personal development. I am trained as a creative and expressive arts facilitator.

I trained in Mindful Self Compassion in 2012 and self-compassion is a thread that runs throughout my work. I am a trainer in Self-Compassion for the European Commission.

I am from the UK and I have lived in Belgium since 2004, and I work in English and French. I am a frequent visitor to the UK and I am developing a UK based practice in the UK as well as from my Belgium home base.

Profile photo by Jeffrey Baumgartner.