EFA-Newsletters past
Dear Focusers,
With this newsletter we wish you a healthy and prosperous year 2025!
Joining the 2025 EFA gathering in Belgium in September
From Wednesday 17th to Sunday 21st of September
The EFA gathering takes place – 5 days/4 nights – in the beautiful retreat center Koningsteen in Kapelle-op-den-Bos in Belgium.
The gathering starts Wednesday night 17th of September with a dinner (18.30 hrs) and ends Sunday 21st after lunch (13.00 hrs).
THE REGISTRATION/BOOKING starts on MARCH 1st!
The primary purpose of the annual EFA gathering is for European Focusers to connect and inspire each other, and to create European work relationships.
The programme will be co-created at the beginning of the gathering. Any ideas, proposals or travel plans from participants can be given/seen on the Communication Platform.
In the October EFA Newsletter you can read the experiences of the 2024 gathering.
THE VENUE LOCATION
The venue is located between Antwerp and Brussels, outside the beautiful town of Mechelen (9 kms). On the website www.koningsteen.be/ you will see pictures of the location and the green surrounding fields where it will be a pleasure to stay.
THE ACCOMMODATION IN KONINGSTEEN
The venue has 20 bedrooms with 43 beds. Some shared rooms have 2 beds and other 3 beds. We promote the use of sharing your room, so more people can stay at the venue. If you do not know with whom to share, we will do some match-making.
THE REGISTRATION/BOOKING
On March 1st you will find the registration/booking form on the EFA website and you can book your participation and accommodation. You can indicate your room choice on the registration/booking form.
For more detailed information about the location and prices please go here to the EFA website.
We hope you will join us in Belgium! Welcome!
The Carrying Forward Activities
The Interest Groups
Here as a reminder of the titles and contact info of the existing as well as the envisioned interest groups. For details, click here
- Teachers Group
Facilitated by: Amona and Ria, every second Monday of the month, 19 hrs CET.
Please inform Ria to receive an invitation/link.. - Environmental-Centered Experiencing / Climate Change
Please email Teresa as the facilitator.. - EFA Certifications (Freda)
- Free Creative Sweet Spot (Freda)
- Flowcusing
Focusing & Flow, meet 3 or 4 times per year (Olaf) - Conscious Connecting
Non-violent communication + U Process/Otto Scharmer (Eveline). - Bringing young people to EFA
How to ensure Focusing is passed on from the Elders (Danny & Olaf) - How would that Focusing City look like? (Monica)
- Social Oriented Focusing
How to bring Focusing into our daily actions (Yehudit)
In the next EFA newsletter we would like to include updates from (the initiators of) each interest group. What’s been happening? Has something carried forward? Would you like to offer an update to EFA members via our newsletter? Please let the steering group know by replying to this email.
The Discussion List
So far, few people have signed up for the EFA discussion list . We invite you to subscribe for the discussion list as it is a simple way for EFA members to communicate with each other. Sign up and share your interest or topic or request and … Sign up here
Peter Afford (UK) joins the Steering Group
After the stepping back of Fiona Parr, we have now a new member from the UK in the Steering Group. Peter has been involved a long time in meeting with other European Focusers before the European Focusing Association officially formed its mission in 2017.
The last two years Peter participated in the annual EFA gatherings and expressed his liking to contribute to carry EFA forwards and be part of the steering group. We welcome Peter heartfully and are looking forward to his participation!
Hejo Feuerstein’s 80th birthday-present
Hejo, one of the founders of the European Focusing Association’s mission and who left the steering group last year, celebrated his 80th birthday last month.
His friends, colleagues and staff offered him a book (in German) that presents selected fundamentals, potentials and new application contexts of Focusing and experiential psychology in overviews by various authors. The book is available here.
At the end of the book it includes a word of appreciation (in English) by EFA (complied by Fiona Parr and Ruth Hirsch) with an overview of the history of EFA. You can read an excerpt here and for all of it, see the EFA post here.
“… We’re remembering a number of times when many of us Focusing colleagues met for a weekend to collaborate and create something together. We each spoke about our vision for EFA and what was important to us. Hejo spoke movingly about Germany’s recent history and how it brought a heavy burden for the German people. He felt that EFA could be a way forward, bringing hope and healing. He has said that EFA is like a peace project, embodying a real need for collaboration for Europeans to work together. This is what inspired many of us to contribute to the project….”
If you have something you want to share via the Newsletter, please let us know.
We wish you all a prosperous year 2025!
The EFA Steering Group
Sari Pekki, Amona Buechler, Ruth Hirsch, Dietmar Steinbach, Ria van Hage, Cornelius Gehrig, Lucy Hyde, Peter Afford
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