A Guide to the ‘Felt Sense’
This might be helpful for thinkers learning to feel. It is inspired by the concept of focusing as described by Eugene Gendlin in his book ’Focusing: how to gain direct access to your body’s knowledge’.
Settle In. Find a quiet moment. Let your attention shift inward. You’re not looking for anything yet - just making space.
Bring Something to Mind. Choose a situation or feeling that been hovering. Not the biggest or hardest - just something slightly activating. Then ask yourself gently ‘How is this sitting with me?’ ‘What does my body have to say about this?’ Let the question hang in the air.
Wait for the Felt Sense. You’re not looking for an emotion (like anger) or a thought (like “I don’t know what to do”). You’re waiting for a vague, unclear body sense to form. Like a murky cloud inside. It might show up as a tightness, a pressure, a foggy feeling, a heaviness, or just a sense of ‘something’. Once you’ve felt it, welcome it.
Describe It. Now see if you can find a word or image that fits - it doesn’t have to be perfect, you are just aiming to capture something of the quality of the feeling. Try words like murky, tight, flat, ‘like a thick grey blanket’, ‘like a held breath’, ‘like something’s waiting’. Don’t rush this. Let the words emerge from inside, not from your head.
Check the Fit. After you’ve named it, check if that describes it or is something not quite right. If the word doesn’t fit, that’s okay. Wait. The felt sense might shift. When you find a match, your body will sigh, relax or soften. That’s called a felt shift.
Stay With It a Little Longer. Now you’ve met the felt sense, you can ask "‘What does this need? “What does it want me to know?”. You don’t need answers, just to make contact.
Close Gently. When you’re ready to stop, thank the part of you that showed up. Even if nothing happened - you still made space for your body to speak.
You won’t always feel something and that’s okay. You can’t force the felt sense, you can only invite it. This is not a technique to get an answer but a way to begin to befriend and become curious about your inner knowing.