Right Brain Creativity Exercise: "Focusing"

Here's a basic description of the difference between the left and right brain and a guided exercise focused on tapping into the right brain. You can use this to access creativity and attend to the inner child that is still alive inside you. If you enjoy this, you might dive deeper into my Psychotherapy Toolkit course. Thanks for joining me!

Transcript

Here's an oversimplified explanation of the right brain versus the left brain.

The left brain is essentially where language happens,

Where structure happens,

Where mathematics,

Where you learn things,

You intellectualize things,

You cognitively understand things,

And you communicate them through words and language and symbols.

So that's the left brain.

What happens is we can get so caught up in this way of living that we miss out on this whole other side of the brain,

Which is the right brain,

And it's spatial,

It's creative,

It's relational,

It exists beyond words.

And as we grow older,

We can get so caught up in experiencing the world just through this language-based left brain thing,

Where we intellectualize everything and everything is mediated by words and language.

And that's really awesome and useful for a lot of different things,

But it can get us really stuck in the realm of feeling and emotion and our creative energy.

And so for that reason,

I find it really important both in therapy and just in life to do what I call brain balancing,

To make space for time and exercises and activities that are not instrumental,

Not meant to get you something,

But they're just ways of expressing and experiencing the raw energy that's inside of you.

And that might get you closer to directly in touch with the inner child version of yourself,

That side of yourself that existed before you had language,

Before you had this adult and mature way of understanding the world and communicating with other people.

That side is still a part of you,

And by tapping into the right brain,

You might be able to give it a voice.

So let's see if we can tap into the right brain here for the remainder of the session.

See if we can get in touch with a felt sense of things as opposed to an intellectual understanding.

And if you're not in a position now where you can find some stillness and go inward for a little bit,

You might pause here and then resume when you can.

You could also just follow along and then maybe try again later when you have some time for stillness.

But if you can,

See if your body has tightened up or has become tense or restless in some way.

Allow gravity to settle you into a really restful position here,

Feeling gravity pulling you down and then the ground below you supporting you.

If your eyes are open,

You might just close them gently here.

No need to,

But it might help you go a little bit more deeply into this experience.

So if you're comfortable,

Eyes closed gently,

Get a sense of the feeling of the eyes and let them soften.

You can take a couple intentional deep breaths here,

Breathing in deep and then on the exhale,

Letting go of your breath completely.

Noticing any effort to control it or restrict it and just see if you can let it go all the way completely and then wait for it to come back in on its own.

And then you can just settle into the natural rhythm of the breath here.

No need to change it at all,

Just feel what it's like.

Now I'd like for you to take a moment to get a sense of whatever it is that feels unfinished right now or unsettled,

Whatever that thing is that keeps popping up in your mind again and again that maybe you're worried about,

Maybe you haven't quite figured it out yet.

Like you get a sense of it,

Identify it,

And then see if you can place it in front of you.

Clearing a space in this room that we're going into,

Noticing that it's there,

And then just moving it to the side for a moment.

This could be something for work or relationship wise or whatever it is.

And then once you do that you might notice if there is another thing or maybe a couple other things.

And for this time here I'd like you to identify what those things are,

Maybe two or three,

Or just that one,

And see if you can really get a clear idea of what it is and then again clear out this room,

Just a little bit of space for you to just be here and place that thing in front of you or to the side.

You can get caught up in carrying this bag of things that we feel like we constantly have to be holding and constantly moving forward with the bag in our hands.

And it can be really helpful every once in a while to place the bag down,

Take the items that are inside,

Take them out and place them in front of you and just have them there so you're not carrying it for the moment.

You know you'll pick it right back up.

But just to take them all out and maybe take stock of what's going on for you right now.

And that's what we're doing here,

Just for another minute or so.

Take stock of these things that you're carrying and see if you can one by one just sort of place them in front of you and put them to the side for the moment clearing a little And so now with the sense of those items,

Those unfinished business pieces that are in the bag that you're constantly carrying,

Now having sort of taken those out,

Identified them and placing them in front of you or to the side and clearing out some space,

I'd like you to go maybe one level deeper.

One level deeper into any sense in the body that feels unsettled.

I'd like you to try to get at the core of what feels not at ease in your body.

And you might notice those parts of you that have tightened back up,

But that you can also allow to soften and that can come to a position of rest and being at ease.

It could be in your shoulders or your jaw or anywhere in your body that you noticed the tension,

But you can still allow it to again come to a place of ease.

And then beyond that,

What is it that remains not at ease?

What is it that remains some core level of discomfort?

Where do you find that?

Where can you locate that in the body?

The part that just doesn't seem to soften.

I can share that for me,

This is in my lower stomach area.

Even when my body feels like it's at total rest,

That area still just can't quite seem to become totally at ease.

So spend a minute exploring and really identifying what that feeling is for you.

Where does it live in the body?

Now that you've developed a sense of where this thing is and what it's like for you in this moment,

I'd like you to wait for an image or a word or a short phrase that this feeling pushes up to the surface.

And so it's important here to notice the left brain trying to come in and analyze this and say,

Oh,

This is what this thing is.

I'd like you to try to,

Again,

Leave that to the side and just wait for what feels right,

What feels like it's coming directly up from this sensation in the body.

So again,

It could be an image,

A word or a short phrase,

And just see if you can allow that and wait for it to arise from this feeling.

I can share that for me right now,

Arising from my stomach is this image of a rock,

Like a jagged heavy rock.

And that feels right for me.

And so I'd like you to wait for your image,

Your word or your phrase to arise really naturally out of this feeling.

Now,

Whatever has come up for you,

I would like you to kind of go back and forth between the raw feeling itself and this thing that's come up,

This label for it and see if it's accurate.

It's kind of like the tip of the tongue phenomenon.

There's something that is in your mind,

You know it's there and you're getting closer to it.

Then you might say,

Oh,

Is it this thing?

No,

It's not quite that thing,

But I'm close.

And so with this image or phrase or word,

Get a sense of that.

You have a felt sense of what's really accurate for this feeling.

And notice how close you might be and then see if you want to adjust it at all to something that feels even more deeply organically arising out of this feeling.

So for just a few more moments,

Resonate back and forth between this label that you come up with and the feeling itself.

We can finish with this exercise there.

This is something that we could go deeper and deeper with and we might even use that feeling and that image or word to get to a deeper level.

What comes up now?

But we can leave it here for now.

I'd like you to become aware of how this feeling might have shifted through this whole process.

Getting a sense of what it's like now,

Maybe relative to what it was like at the very beginning of this exercise.

This is a way of kind of sidestepping the left brain and getting a more direct access to the right brain.

And then maybe we can build a balance of the two for a more integrated and more fully human experience that is not always so mediated by structured language.

And that might give us more access to our true raw inner child and allow us to come to a place of more genuine and deep acceptance and care for that version of ourselves by really calling it up and giving it a voice.

So I hope that exercise was interesting and useful and maybe allowed you to get a little bit creative.

That exercise was based on a practice called focusing,

Which was developed by the psychotherapist Eugene Gendlin.

And have a good day.

Reviews

Really enjoyed this exercise. Felt a real shift in my state of being.. I feel lighter after the practice. 🙏🏽✨

This piqued my interest to further explore the focusing technique. Thanks Charles

Thank you. That was really revealing and insightful.

Short and powerful! I started out with an image of a meditating statue and ended up flying through space so fast and that lead me to “control.” Thank you, Charles

Thanks for this super clear review (for me) of the basics of focusing. Helpful and calming. 🙏

What amazed me most was how quick the time went by. Would love a longer version. 🙏💚

Wow this is a meditation on another level!
I now always listen to this tracks while going to sleep.
This track I’m very able to connect and visualise with without having to try to hard. However the effects for me with this track is very vivid dreaming. And usually words/speaking are prominent with this track, rather than the creative side which seems to surface when I awake from the listening.
I feel awoken after having slept to this track.
I’ve actually been thinking I’m no longer just listening to people and their words, most of it’s not worth listening to anyway.
I’ve been drifting more to noticing the body language, surroundings and actually noticing and enjoying the atmosphere more.
Looking forward to what the next listening brings!!

My discomfort runs along my entire spine and my first thought is misalignment. Setting that assessment aside the image revealed is a steep hillside. My thinking on this: my spine (root to crown) is my life of never enough and the fear that goes with that. The steep hillside is life's unending struggle. If I can only get to the top, I will have achieved "enough" and I focus on each step, trudging upwards but as I near the peak, a taller incline looms behind it as I continue to push my tired, aching body upward. I forget to pause and rest. I don't know to turn around and back in my accomplishment; to enjoy the view. I never see how far I have climbed nor the battles won. In pausing and setting aside my lack and fears, I am surrounded by blooming wildflowers, floating butterflies, singing birds; they were there all along. Now I am old and my body hurts but the flowers have fragrance, the birdsong soothes me, and I recognize the butterflies as old friends. I think I'll rest here, for awhile.
(Edit: bask in my accomplishment)

Thank you, Charles. This is a very helpful exercise. Have a good day.

Awesome. Stayed a few more minutes to get beyond my initial words and realized a deeper sense of where /how my pain originated.

This was the first time ever that Focusing worked for me. What a gift. Thank you, Charles.

Extraordinary, as are all of Charles Freilich’s recordings and Lives. (If you have not tried his regular Inner Child sessions, I recommend them too.)

Clearest explanation of left/right hemispheres I have ever encountered (and I have encountered a lot)—and the exercise itself was hugely helpful to me.

A simple and effective exercise in soothing the inner child and freeing her creativity and potential. Thank you Charles, I feel unburdened and lighter.

This was interesting. Relaxing. I’m going to come back to this again. Thanks 🙏🏻💕

very intense and very interesting with unexpected discoveries💫thank you very much 🎀

Thank you for you meditation,i will visited again soon.
Blessing with love

This was really interesting, I will revisit this again. I am interested in exploring other meditations and courses that you have here. Thank you 🙏🏻 so much!

This was so effective! Wow!
First of all your voice is such a beautiful thing, I literally felt held and captivated by it.
My sensation that I immediately was drawn to was the chest, very heavy like a slight suffocation, and it radiates to my throat...
The image word that came immediately was stagnation, holding space with that fear I was shown is fear... and just beneath those two energies... excitement! And impending joy, potential, and the possibility held within the abundance the universe holds for me when I step into action by simply leaning into the fears and allowing moment from the divine self, the divine source to move through me. I felt, saw also in that space the speaker took me to.... a sigh of relief, emotional tears of joy, relief and calm enter this space. I saw that all the work I’ve been doing is indeed freeing me from the limiting beliefs and energies that have held me frozen in these false energies of stagnation, fear, and in action...
I am reminded of some advice from Barry Kerr, my mentor teacher and astrologer.
To ask the divine three things; “show me, teach me, guide me, use me”....
This was so powerful for me, you helped me to go to the root, to see, feel, shift, and allow the divine, to show me, teach me and guide me... from that space I am humbled, grateful, as I am learning to surrender to how the divine intends to use me in this life.
Namaste

Really good at deepening the sensation. Thank you.

Thank you Dr. Charles for this empowering meditation as it took me into a deep cleansing of my inner child lasting beyond the meditation itself allowing me to connect more dots. 🙏🏻