Dates: 
    For U.S.: Fridays, June 17, 24 and July 8, 15, 2022
    For Asia: Saturdays, June 18, 25 and July 9, 16, 2022

Time: 3:00 - 5:00PM PDT - Click here for your time zone

Cost:  $125.
Includes all 4 sessions. Individual sessions not available for purchase.

Registration Deadline: June 14th, 2022

About the series 

We are excited to offer this rejuvenating 4-session series!  Our goal is to co-create a supportive group that will meet to practice specific FOAT® exercises to enhance resilience, cultivate self-compassion and compassion toward others. Each week will include one main Theme-based FOAT® integrating Focusing with user-friendly methods for arts expression. Through this weekly FOAT® practice group, small steps towards wellbeing, positive change and growth will be nourished and supported. 

This group is open to people who are new to FOAT® as well as experienced in FOAT®! If you wish to learn more about FOAT®, click here.

Certificates of Completion (not CE approved) are available upon request at the conclusion of the course!

The 2022 schedule will be as follows (Click on each session for details!)

  • June 17: The Focusing Attitude: Being “Friendly” to Your Inner Experience

    The “Focusing Attitude” teaches us to bring a curious and “friendly” attitude toward our inner experience and creative expression– and helps to transform our inner critic. We will practice the Focusing Attitude– and then find a new “attitude” that we would like to bring into our lives (such as kindness, gentleness, compassion, etc.).

  • June 24: Peaceful Place

    Taking the time to focus on a peaceful place (a place you know or make up in your imagination) helps the body to relax and restore, which is helpful during times of stress. Focusing and the arts are integrated into the experience.

  • July 8: Clearing a Space with Arts

    Clearing a Space with Arts is an exercise that teaches how to identify stressors and to imagine setting them at a distance, outside of your body. It is based on Eugene Gendlin’s Clearing a Space exercise which has been researched showing its benefits for stress reduction. The exercise also helps us to access an inherent place of wellbeing that is always there. The arts are used to concretize and carry forward the benefits from the experience.

  • July 15: Source of Strength

    This FOAT® exercise helps to become aware of something in your life that is, or has been, a source of strength or support. We will take time to Focus on the source of strength, get a felt sense and symbol (a word, phrase, image, gesture, or sound) and express it through writing, art, movement, or sound. This Source of Strength can continue to nourish you in an ongoing way.

All presentations will be recorded and available for viewing in the course page for 2 months– so if you cannot attend the Live Teleconference meeting, you can still access the material!


About the FOAT® Faculty

Doreen Meister, MA, LMFT, is a Certified Focusing Trainer: Specialization in FOAT® (TIFI), Certified Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) Practitioner, and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist - specializing in creative arts expression, existential contemplative psychotherapy, mindfulness, and developmental trauma. For over 15 years, she has been helping adults connect with their natural, authentic resources to develop resilience, regulation, self-compassion and authenticity. Located in Oakland, California, her areas of training include: FOAT®, guided imagery, somatic touch for resilience and regulation, self-inquiry, and existential humanistic contemplative psychotherapy. Doreen has over 20 years mediation experience in non-dual traditions and expresses her creativity through jewelry design.

Lic. Evelyn Ammon is a Certified Focusing-Oriented Therapist— granted by The International Focusing Institute (TIFI), a Certified Focusing Practitioner (FOAT Institute), and has trained in Children’s Focusing (TIFI). Evelyn is on the faculty for the Focusing and Expressive Arts course at The Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG). She graduated from Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala with a BA degree in Clinical Psychology. Evelyn worked for 18 years as a volunteer psychologist in a home for at-risk girls using art therapy techniques with Person-Centered Expressive Arts. She works in private practice and is a facilitator of workshops teaching the Open Studio Process.

Lic. Frances Ingouville is a Certified Focusing Trainer: Specialization in FOAT®— granted by The International Focusing Institute (TIFI). She is also a Certified Focusing Facilitator (FOAT Institute) and graduated from the Person-Centered Expressive Therapy Institute (PCETI) in Argentina. She received her degree in Psychology from The Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG). Frances is on the faculty for the Focusing and Expressive Arts course at UVG, and assists/teaches other courses in the Post-Graduate Expressive Arts program. She has taken on leadership roles to bring the expressive arts to Guatemala through the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA).