Expressive Arts Focusing ExAF is following the person-centered and experiential ethics of the pluralistic humanistic approach
Foundational Focusing and FOAT® prinicples (Eugene Gendlin, Laury Rappaport) are the main principles here, along with Empathic Curiosity for Differences (Christiane Geiser) and Aesthetic Empathy (Friedl Dicker-Brandeis)
Processing artistically at the edge of sensual awareness in ExAF based continuing education is leading to a More of ... ... (Eugene Gendlin). The More of is is the place where the Experiential Third (Freda Blob) is going to emerge
The Experiential Third is a space offering unpredictable shifts in body, arts and meaning. Those shifts are actualized through the living body interacting with all the components of the situation as a whole
Within the space of the Experiential Third interactive relations are characterized by co-reation and collaboration (same for both the fascilitator and the practitioner/participant). All activities of ExAF based continuing education are embedded in the space of the Experiential Third
The experiential process of the practitioners/participants is forwarded by empathic art making. Art making itself is a carrying forward: 'Any action or interaction is a carrying forward of the body' (Eugene Gendlin, The Process Model)
Forwarding goes hand in hand with pausing (The Revolutionary Pause, Mary Hendricks), a one minute wait for the body to carry forward experiencing with precision
Practicing the Revolutionary Pause in ExAF ways, experiential listening and repetitive art activities may occur simultaneously. For example: Holding on to autonomous bilateral drawing movements from the Whole Body (without using art materials or expressing content) is sometimes just the time the body needs to find its next right step
