What is the Felt Sense in Experiential Therapy?

There is a concept known as the "felt sense" that is central to all modalities of experiential therapy, including EMDR therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Somatic Experiencing, AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy) clinical hypnosis (also known as hypnotherapy) and EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples).  

What is the Felt Sense in Experiential Therapy?

What is the Felt Sense?

Eugene Gendlin developed the concept of the felt sense in the 1960s and he included it as a central part of his experiential therapy known as Focusing.  Since the 1960s, the felt sense has become an essential part of all cutting edge experiential therapies.  

Experiential therapists help clients to develop a felt sense by teaching them to tune into their embodied experiences of emotions and memories.  

By tuning into these embodied experiences, clients increase their awareness of the connection between their physical and emotional experiences, which is the integration of the mind-body connection (see my article: Experiential Therapy and the Mind-Body Connection: The Body Offers a Window Into the Unconscious Mind).

How Do You Detect the Felt Sense?

Developing an awareness of the felt sense takes practice.  It starts with turning your attention inward to notice what you're aware of in your body.  

For instance, when you close your eyes and focus on your body, you might notice you feel a tightness in your throat, and your therapist would ask you to stay with that sensation in your throat if it felt tolerable to you.  As you continue tuning into your throat, you might sense not only that the muscles in your throat feel tight but you also feel an emotion connected to that physical sensation--sadness.  

As you continue focusing on that bodily sensation and emotion in your throat, you might also become aware that this is a very familiar experience to you--you have felt it many times before when you tried not to cry.  

Then, as you continue focusing, a memory might come of your father telling you, "Don't cry. Big boys don't cry" and how you choked back your emotion in shame when you heard your father say this (see my article: Overcoming Shame in Experiential Therapy).

As you continuing focusing on your physical and emotional experiences in your throat and you tell your therapist what you're experiencing, you might feel a loosening of the muscles in your throat as you release the emotions that have been pent up for a long time.

This example is just one of many that clients in experiential therapy have experienced.  Other examples could include noticing a heaviness in your chest that's related to pent up sadness or a tightness in your jaw that's related to unreleased anger and so on.

A skilled experiential therapist can help you to modulate your experiences in session so that they remain manageable for you and you're not overwhelmed (see my article: Expanding Your Window of Tolerance).

How is Working With the Felt Sense in Experiential Therapy Different From Talk Therapy?

Talk therapy usually focuses on helping clients to develop intellectual insight into their problems.  While this is important, it often doesn't change clients' problems (see my article: Why is Experiential Therapy is More Effective Than Regular Talk Therapy?).

As shown in the example above, the felt sense in experiential therapy isn't just about intellectual insight.  It's an embodied experience that integrates both the mind and the body, and as such, it brings greater awareness on both levels and offers a window into the unconscious mind.

Getting Help in Experiential Therapy

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, experiential therapy includes many different mind-body oriented psychotherapy modalities.

Clients who work with experiential therapists usually discover that using the mind-body connection to work on their problems is a more integrative approach that brings about transformative experiences in less time than regular talk therapy.

If you have been struggling on your own, you're not alone.  An experiential psychotherapist can help you to overcome the obstacles that are getting in the way of making positive changes in your life.  

Rather than continuing to struggle on your own, seek help from an experiential therapist so you can live a more fulfilling life.

About Me

I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT and Somatic Experiencing therapist (see my article:  The Therapeutic Benefits of Integrative Therapy).

I work with individual adults and couples.

One of my specialties is helping clients to overcome traumatic experiences (see my article: What is a Trauma Therapist?).

To find out more about it me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 or email me.