EFA Posts
Prof. Heinz-Joachim “Hejo” Feuerstein – Coordinator of the International Focusing Institute in New York, co-founder of the Focusing Center Karlsruhe, co-founder of the European Focusing Association, and long-standing Professor of Applied Psychology at the University of Public Administration in Kehl – passed away on December 25, 2025, just a few days before his 81st birthday.
Hejo was born during the final phase of World War II. His early childhood was shaped by an atmosphere of constant threat and uncertainty. In many of his later Focusing sessions, these early experiences re-emerged: the nights of bombing, the dimmed lights, the tense silence, and the palpable fear of his mother trying to protect her child. His playgrounds were the ruins of destroyed houses—places where children played while adults struggled to comprehend and survive the aftermath of war. These formative experiences were never merely biographical facts for Hejo; they became a deep, implicit background for his lifelong interest in lived experience, embodied knowing, and the human capacity to find meaning even under extreme conditions.
Hejo was married and the father of three children: Marian, Lara, and Timon.
He studied psychology in Heidelberg and graduated as a Diplom-Psychologist. He later became Professor of Applied Psychology at the University of Public Administration in Kehl, where he gained wide recognition for his contributions to the development of team-based and process-oriented models in public administration. Alongside his academic work, his professional focus included organizational psychology, applied research, and the further development of psychotherapy, supervision, coaching, and training.
Hejo began working with Focusing in 1979 and became an accredited trainer for Person-Centered Psychotherapy and Counseling within the German Association for Person-Centered Psychotherapy and Counseling (GwG) in 1984. As one of the first German psychologists, he traveled to Chicago to meet Eugene T. Gendlin. Together with Dieter Müller, he conducted an interview with Gendlin for the German edition of Psychology Today, published in 1984. This encounter was followed by several years of intensive training at the Focusing Institute, then still based in Chicago. In 1986, Hejo was appointed Coordinator of the Institute.
In 1987, together with Dieter Müller and Reinhard Fuchs, he founded the Focusing Center Karlsruhe (FZK), where he served as scientific director. Over the years, Eugene Gendlin was invited several times to Karlsruhe for trainings and lectures. The Center hosted four International Focusing Conferences and became an important bridge between the American and European Focusing communities. This collaboration culminated in the book Focusing in Process (2000), edited by Feuerstein, Müller, and Weiser Cornell. Hejo also co-authored the foreword to the German edition of Gendlin’s Focusing: How to Gain Direct Access to Your Body’s Knowledge.
Hejo consistently emphasized that Focusing is more than a technique—it is a process deeply rooted in human experience. Central to his understanding was the insight that the human body is not only physiological, but also capable of knowing and generating meaning. This perspective shaped his lifelong commitment to holding the Person-Centered Approach and Focusing closely together, both theoretically and in practice. For him, their common ground far outweighed their differences, and he saw the TFI and the GwG as vital homes for the ongoing development of humanistic psychotherapy.
He played a key role in advancing training programs in Person-Centered Psychotherapy and Counseling. In 1999, together with Dieter Müller and colleagues, he initiated the training program Person-Centered and Focusing-Oriented Coaching and Supervision, which was recognized by the German Association for Supervision and remains highly successful today. In 2010, he launched Experiential Concept Coaching (ECC), and together with Heinke Deloch further developed Gendlin’s TAE (Thinking at the Edge), focusing on personal and scientific concept formation.
Even in his later years, Hejo remained intellectually active and creatively engaged. His most recent and perhaps most ambitious project was Experiential Decision Making (EDM)—a process model designed to support decision-making by integrating thinking and felt sensing, enabling people not only to decide, but to stand behind their decisions with inner clarity and freedom. In December 2024, the volume Focusing and Experiential Psychology was published by Adebar Verlag, edited by Reschke, Müller, Munz, Schudek, and Fischer. The book honors Hejo Feuerstein’s life and work as a co-founder of Focusing in Germany and a pioneer of Experiential Psychology in Europe, and it was dedicated to him on the occasion of his 80th birthday.
The many responses from the international Focusing community following his death speak clearly of his importance—not only as a thinker and teacher, but as a person. His contributions to the leadership of the International Focusing Institute and his role as an initiator of European cooperation were deeply respected. He was known for his ability to engage difference with openness, clarity, and genuine dialogue.
Finally, a personal word: Dear Hejo, for almost fifty years we walked a shared professional and personal path—through our work at the Focusing Center Karlsruhe and within the TFI and the GwG. Countless days were spent together in Alsace, developing projects and concepts, and many journeys took us to Chicago to learn from Eugene Gendlin. Yet what remains most vivid are not only the professional achievements, but the moments beyond work: nights in Chicago’s blues bars, travels across the United States after conferences—to Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, San Francisco, Boston, Toronto—and the many shared culinary discoveries in Alsace and Paris. You worked hard throughout your life, but you also had a deep sense of savoir vivre. It is a privilege and a source of deep gratitude that I was able to walk a long part of this path with you.
Dieter Müller
He is a licensed psychotherapist who has been deeply connected to Focusing for over four decades. He began his training with Eugene Gendlin in 1983, an experience that has shaped both his therapeutic work and his way of thinking ever since. Together with Hejo Feuerstein, he co-founded one of the first Focusing Centers in Germany. In December, he brought this work into a new form by publishing a Focusing-oriented fiction book for children.