IMPRESSIONS OF THE EFA GATHERING 2026

An impression by Millie Baker (UK)
Two things really stood out for me in attending this EFA gathering for the first time. Firstly, that there was no pre-planned schedule for the days. That came together creatively and dynamically, with those offering a workshop or an interest group (or a song, or a prayer) given the space to feel into exactly what they would enjoy before formulating it and finding a time to offer it. This somehow neutralised the stress and performance pressure that can be triggered in this kind of setting, and was such a relational way to organise, so fresh and creative, that I felt encouraged to offer a workshop myself.
Secondly, I was impressed by how welcome I felt, despite the fact that most of the people there knew each other already, and some for a long time. It can sometimes be hard for a newcomer to enter a group where the others have such established relationships, but actually the opposite was true – I felt actively welcomed, and immediately at home. Everybody was friendly, and everybody was interesting. How often can you say that.

A reflection on the Plant Arrangement by Hanspeter Mühlethaler (Switzerland)
During the opening session of the gathering I (Hanspeter) resonated with the arrangement of plants, alive and dead ones, placed in the middle of the circle of chairs. This motivated me to spontaneously propose the experimental and experiential workshop. In an initial tuning in, I invited the participants to connect to the arrangement and to alter the attitude between ʺbeing here, looking at the arrangement over thereʺ and ʺbeing part of the installation, or the latter is part of themʺ, the participants could experience the difference this change makes in them. This can be seen as an instance of interaction first, fundamental in Gene Gendlin’s Philosophy of the Implicit. In a second part we walked in the monastery garden and all of us collected our own objects. Back in the conference room we co-created our own arrangement in a playful way.

The experience of Lindsay Gibson (Scotland)
It was such a smooth and enriching gathering; I will be basking in its glow for some time to come.
In the first Home Group, we sat in a circle and had a big beautiful plant in the centre. I was struck by the negative space created by the leaves of the plant, ie., the space seen between each leaf and stem and each other leaf and stem. It’s a way of looking which you can lean into when you’re drawing a picture. It helps when you are trying to get proportions and perspective correct.
The entire gathering unfolded in such a gentle, spacious and inclusive way that by its end I felt that I had been basking in a warm bath of acceptance which I had been looking for for a very long time.

Let me first offer some metaphors. From Gendlin:
“If we want the bigger system to work with us, we have to leave it some room,”
and, from Tagore (the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, and often referred to as the Bard of Bengal):
“The leather binding and the title-page are parts of the book itself; and this world that we perceive through our senses and mind and life’s experiences is profoundly one with ourselves.”

Then, my suggestion that we can view:
* Solo Focusing being like one letter of the alphabet, defining itself against the plain page
* Partnership Focusing like the formation of a word, or a couple of sentences formed from many micro interrelationships
* A group of Focusers may form paragraphs and entire pages of text
* But what we did in Scotland in September 2026 was very special. Room was made for the margins, the negative space that frames the entire gathering

Thank you everybody so, so much.”……