More about SOF

 

Throughout one's life, interaction with others is an engine for growth and development.

We are born in and from interaction, and within interaction the self is defined and evolves.

In Social Oriented Focusing, we Focus on and in the shared interpersonal space and develop a sense for social interaction.

 

​This social sense enables and empowers many aspects of our life, giving us:

• The space and the freedom to be who we are, to be ourselves in relations with others.

• The ability to be attentive both to ourselves and to others at the same time, without "swallowing" them or "being swallowed".

• To free ourselves of subconscious barriers that limit us and prevent us from fulfilling ourselves in relationships.

• The confidence to give ourselves in to social interaction, to influence and be influenced, to see and be seen, to meet and be met, in a manner that feels right both to ourselves and to others.

• The ability to recognize what awakens within us as well as between us and the other, to find a language that allows sharing, understanding and acceptance in the joined experience.

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Thus, we form the ability to gently dance between our various personal needs and desires, within an inclusive space which allows personal and interpersonal growth during life's journey both as ourselves and as a part of a group.

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Using simple tools and powerful techniques, we will learn how to free ourselves of unhealthy relationships, how to feel comfortable in social interactions, how to promote important relationships without being disappointed time and again and how to see every interpersonal encounter as an opportunity for discovery, processing and growth.

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We are part of a human tapestry, in constant interaction with the environment around us, and we come to know our world from within the complex system of reciprocity among body, mind and the environment. Focusing on a group interpersonal space opens before us the opportunity to observe the ways with which we form relationships and paves the way for change. Social Oriented Focusing is done out of a connection to my felt sense, to your felt sense and to our mutual felt sense.

 

This course is a space that contains and enables, within which we can let go of the mechanisms that no longer serve us, and takes us forward to a place that's, more aware, more relaxed and freer. The human connection unfolds and allows transformation and change.

  

​Who is this course suited for?

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• People with a basic background in Focusing processes who are interested in developing new tools for interpersonal communication.

• People who are looking for a way to form deep and meaningful relationships.

• People who have challenges with interpersonal or group encounters.

• Educators, trainers, group guides, parents, therapists and professionals who are interested in influencing their social environment.

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What graduates are saying about SOF

• SOF is about relating to others while staying connected to yourself.

Through the body, we remain intimate with our present moment experience as we navigate "I" space and "We" space with others.

 

• It's the first modality I've experienced that isn't a practice you do alone, hoping that the benefits "follow" you into relationship. It's a modality that only exists in relationship with others. It is birthed in relational space and helps you stay "home" in yourself while you're in the presence of others. Over time it gives you courage to be in relationship more stably anchored in yourself.

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• SOF gave me skills to come out of loneliness, to transmute past frozen feelings of social interactions, and to connect in relationships to joy ease, and love. The course brought me increased life energy and new possibilities.

 

Ortal, quoted from Facebook (Awaken the Body):

Dear Yehudit, that feeling from the Social Oriented Focusing introduction evening still lingers inside my body.
I arrived skeptical, the only thing the word "Social" conjured in my mind was the thought that all we're going to do is a group focusing session, I had no idea how powerful and influential it would be and how direct it would be in creating new coding for past catalogs.
It brought into focus that which I've known and lived with, that through work we can change our experiencing of our place in the world, our point of view and our ability to form and understand relationships anew.

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Hila, quoted from Facebook (Focusing Israel):

Last spring, I took part in Yehudit First's Social Oriented Focusing workshop and once again during the summer. These meetings were very meaningful for me, and in both I got a very strong sense - of how significant the meeting and interaction with the other are for me, and how much healing we all need in this context. And it is such a safe and amazing experience to practice it with Focusers, with people who live this internal connection and are well practiced in performing the internal motion of listening to what's happening within me and why it is needed, and who know how to maintain this space with sensitivity for the other.

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Elior (from Facebook):

Yet another meaningful and unique session, that touches on the vital points with precision and makes us move forward. These sessions with you, Yehudit, are extraordinary in the Focusing arena specifically and in the therapeutic space in general. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to learn and evolve, to connect thought and feeling, body and mind, idea and action, expectation and fulfilment, and person to person.

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Vered:

Social Oriented Focusing helps me look into things that lie in the deepest of places, subjects that relate to my being here in this world, to my desire to gain recognition, to be loved, to be wanted, to be significant, and the prices I pay for these things that drive me.

Questions that relate to belonging, having a place in the world, harmony and disharmony, competitiveness, authenticity, pleasing, loneliness and being part of something much bigger than myself arose and became clearer during these sessions. Conflicts of feelings and actions that I need to find a balance between that is right for me at any given moment.

The epiphanies that grow from the personal processes that take place during these sessions let us bring them forth into any space, into any social interaction, where we stay or act, to see what my story is and how I would like to update it in a way that would bring me to act in a more authentic and self-connected way in the world.

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Oren:

I had a serious case of abandonment anxiety. Without noticing, without having even set it as a goal, I suddenly noticed that after a few sessions of Social Oriented Focusing- the anxiety just disappeared. Months have passed and the anxiety and me are no longer together…

I tried many forms of therapy, including "one on one" Focusing, and no method or framework were so meaningful as Social Oriented Focusing. Thank you so much!

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