Experiential Arts: Home of Expressive Arts Focusing ExAF Practice
Expressive Arts Focusing ExAF is processing in art form along intermodal avenues from felt experiencing (body-focused slow art with multi-sensory expression)
Experiential arts get the 'inner client' (the Felt Sense) being creatively involved in the therapeutic process: The 'inner client' turns to 'inner artist'. A client's 'inner artist' is main agent for Focusing-informed arts based growth
Experiential arts are no method but come from the living body and the body's forwarding of the creative life force. Any art activity (receptive or active experiencing of the arts) induces a More of something that is generating new life when it is forming from the body sense
Experiential arts engagment is a felt direction towards, a living and a pointing to something where a More of creative life is generating
How The Founder Of Focusing Prof. Eugene Gendlin Would Have Said It ...
Words are social forms. Arts are social forms. Arts themselves are not moving forward alike words are not moving forward when you use words or arts only. So taking arts only is not moving forward and interpretating arts only is not moving forward unless you approach arts experiential
This means to ask if there is a step coming when you are refering to your art. What I mean here is a step opening up to something. Even when you interprete a piece of art in best ways, the whole stays within a certain social form and social forms do not change. What changes the form and brings a shift, this little step forwarding, is to pause and wait for art to come. Art does not come from talent or art skills only. What comes as art comes through the body, and what comes through the body is social or cultural and with a More of that is not part of the social and the cultural. This kind of art has forwarding life energy in it. This kind of art is what I call experiential art
How Eugene Gendlin would have said it are words coming from an inner voice speaking Gendlinish. They are no original words of Eugene Gendlin. They come from an 'Inner Gene' having crystalized through reading Gendlin's work for decades after meeting him in person. They live from 'Inner Gene' and the aesthetic rhythm of Eugene Gendlin's language
FOCUSZART The Focusing Studio - Expresive Arts Focusing ©Monika Lindner
A Gendlin lecture at Humboldt House Achberg GER, venue of Gendlin's European teachings 1992-97. Video presentation of the German-Swiss Focusing Network (2023) at the hall where Gendlin gave this lecture
ExAF: A Multiplicity of Therapeutic Understandings and Approaches for Best Practice
Expressive Arts Focusing ExAF uses different therapeutic understandings and approaches in ways that individuals and groups get the most of experiential arts engagement
In this we follow the paradime of the pluralistic humanistic approach
The use is defined by crossing, an experiential concept introduced by Eugene Gendlin. Crossing brings out the very unique kind of More of all methods and tools put into action during session
Crossing happens through the living body. The body sense (both of therapist and client) provides information of what is needed next. It tells about therapeutic co-creation completion and coherent methods forwarding the therapeutic situation as a whole
Crossing is like mixing colors: A new color tone is created freshly. It has not been there before. It contains a More of all the colors being mixed in
Experiential Approach: Focusing
Focusing is a body-mind practice and a method of the person-centered and experiential approach developed by Prof. Eugene Gendlin
Focusing explores personal issues, relationships and situations from felt experiencing. Focusing works with body awareness from within, initiating organismic micro-changes, body shifts and new steps towards life solutions
We learned from international renowned Focusing pioneers and teachers who developed a wide range of Focusing approaches:
We use these methods
Experiential Approach: Focusing and the Arts
Focusing Oriented Expressive Arts FOAT® - video 1 | video 2
by Laury Rappaport, PHD, MFT, REAT, ART-BC
FOAT® is a mindfulness based approach for positive growth and change integrating Focusing and the Expressive Arts. FOAT® applications are supported
We use this method
Experiential Collaging
We use this method
Person-centered Approach
Person-Centered Psychotherapy and Counseling
with understandings of depth-oriented, critical-marxist, behavioral and existential concepts to enhance therapy within the collaborative therapeutic relationship at times
We use this method
Person-centered Approach and the Arts
We refer to the understanding of the multi-modal process named The Creative Connection©
We use this method
We refer to theory and application
Trauma-informed Approach
Sensorimotor Expressive Arts Therapy | Guided Drawing® - video
by Cornelia Elbrecht, BA, MA (ART Ed), AthR, SEP
Guided Drawing® is a sensorimotor and body-focused art therapy, using mindfulness, sensory awareness and trust in the guidance from within for trauma release
We use this method
Trauma-informed Expressive Arts Therapy
by Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPCC, LPAT, ATR-BC, REAT
We refer to the understanding of EXA traumatology
Art Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy
Museum art-based Therapy (Receptive Art Therapy)
Art Therapy using interactive strategies and receptive-active arts engagement in clinical psychotherapy, counseling, adult education and palliative care
We use this method
Dynamic Shape Drawing
Dynamic Shape Drawing is a meditative practice of anthroposophic art therapy. Basic forms are transformed through rhythmic moving and swinging lines following breathing
We use this method
Intermodal Expressive Arts Therapy
by Prof. Dr. Dr. Paolo Knill and Prof. em. Stephen K. Levine, Ph.D., D.S.Sc, REAT
We refer to the theories of polyaesthetics and IDEC®
More about polyaesthetics
Art Education
We cross therapeutic understandings with understandings of art education
Bauhaus Art Pedagogy
We refer to didactics of the Bauhaus Founders
Make space for artlife. Step into body-focused arts
We operate online from GER
FOCUSZART The Focusing Studio
Hirschauer Str. 50 | D-72070 Tübingen | 0049 1757228458
focuszart@email.de | https://expressiveartsfocusing.com
Memberships TIFI, IAFOT, IEATA, APCCA, PCE, EFA, BFA
