About me | Living Focusing

I came across Focusing on a retreat in 2003, and since then I have not looked back. It has made a huge difference to my life. For me it is much more than a therapeutic tool: it connects to a whole approach to living. Focusing has helped me to contact what i deeply feel and value and live more from that space. it has clarified and resolved deeper tangles and has helped me to develop a deep empathy and acceptance within myself and towards others. Life feels richer since knowing Focusing. I am finding that the body has much to teach me, and I love teaching this to others.

I became a Focusing teacher in 2005 and am fully qualified with the British Focusing Association (BFA) and the Focusing Institute in New York to teach Focusing to individuals and groups. I have trained with Ann Weiser Cornell in "Inner Relationship Focusing" in the USA and Peter Afford in the UK. I am also a BFA mentor and Focusing Institute Coordinator offering practitioner and teacher training. Previous to this training, I spent 12 years practising and teaching awareness and meditation skills to groups and individuals in a Buddhist context.

I am also qualified in a related practice called Somatic Experiencing (SE), a short-term, body based approach to healing and easing the effects of trauma on our lives. More recently I have been training in nature connection with Wildwise and have trained in holding grief circles with Azul Valérie Thomé in Devon. Currently I am training to be a Forest Guide.

As well as being a Focusing teacher, I love photography. Many of the images you see on these pages are mine. I live in Stroud, Gloucestershire, with my wife, son and dog.

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What people say about Focusing and me…

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Peter’s seemingly light-touch and enabling facilitator style drew on his own deep immersion in Focusing. I found it deft, sensitive and encouraging

– J.N

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Your way of working, which felt very safe and grounded - along the Focusing style which avoids analyzing, so refreshing!! The course was a brilliant introduction to Focusing, with lots of space for practice in pairs. Peter\’s non-judgmental attitude made it very easy to ask questions and simply having a go at Focusing

– CT. Therapist

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The introductory course provided me with a very clear framework for understanding and practicing Focusing. Most impressive perhaps being the experiential depth achieved on the course - largely through dyad practice - despite it being online; a tribute to the power of Focusing and Peter's clarity as a guide!

– P.S

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For me, focusing has felt like one of those occasional treats in life when something new transforms the world from within. Peter's calm, safe and clear style, together with his passion for the practice, awaken a kind curiosity to delve into one's inner reality and benefit from the wisdom uncovered

– LT, Quigong Teacher

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I enjoyed the workshops with Peter and gained a lot. He has a gentle inclusive and totally non judgemental style mixed with humour that makes him both an excellent facilitator and also an inspiring exponent of the work. Focusing is a process of tuning into what's happening, listening in to your own body wisdom and making changes.

– Hilary Farmer, psychotherapist

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Focusing is my strongest tool in the box to pull out and use when needed. Whether I'm having a manic high or a crushing low, the practical guidance of Focusing and it's core belief of self compassion is a treasured method to me. Focusing is not something you can easily explain to anyone, it needs to be experienced. You don't require a reason or any life qualification, just a self invitation to explore the felt sense of where you are in present moment.

– Sue Donald, Bookkeeper

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"I like focusing because it honours my sense of what is right, my pacing and my wisdom - it doesn't try to impose ideas or hurry me." "I like focusing because it reflects my own intuitive sense that 'the answers' I'm looking for lie in my body and not in my mind and that life involves an on-going unfolding and discovery of who we are. I have really enjoyed Peter's workshops. The always seem very relaxed and unhurried but by the end I have really gone places and learnt loads. I have a sense that he deeply understands and honours what focusing is about and is able to communicate it in a very sensitive and clear way"

– Joy McKeith, Consultant

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I can warmly recommend focusing with Peter for anybody that is ready to be with themselves in a more connected, integrated way, and who would like some support in doing so. He helped create a safe and experimental environment to explore the feelings and sensations in the body, and did so with openness and generosity. It was a pleasure to work with him."

– Millie Baker, London

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