The Focuser’s Focus Vol.22, No.1, Spring Issue 2019
Hong Kong Report
Mieko Osawa (TIFI coordinator)
I happened to visit Hong Kong in March 2019. So, I got contact to some Focusing leaders in Hong Kong.
Peter
I was introduced Peter Cheung for the first time by Ann Weiser Cornell in Awaji International Conference in 2009. I have been watching his striking achievement since then, and this time I could know his new project with his wife, Grace. Their non-profit Company is called Family Heartfelt Reconnecting. This program, “Love Inhering Focusing”, is to help reconnecting between individual and family, especially in life’s crucial moments, through teaching and practicing relevant aspects of “Focusing”, the Satir Model, and related spiritual, philosophical, social, psychological thinking. Association activities of 6-month period were all organized towards ‘facilitating reconnecting and resolution for “unfinished business” between individuals (young and old) experiencing sickness, aging, and imminent death and their significant others’ in end-of-life situations.
Farther information is Cheung Ka Hing Peter PhD : cheungkhp@gmail.com.
Grace & Peter Grace & Peter and Mieko
They put on the picture of Norman Rockwell, which is very much like Focusing. I liked their sense of art.
Chee-seung & Josef
“Hong Kong Focusing Institute” started in 2015. Joseph Shin is now the president after Peter Cheung. They invited many teachers from other countries and gave many workshops and teachings.
Chee-seung Chan, who is the writer of the newsletter, is now retired and enjoying the clues around the world with his wife.
I would like to add one more essay by Amos Cheung, the son of Grace & Peter Cheung. Amos attended the first Asia Focusing International Conference in Kobe in 2017. He wrote the beautiful feedback about the workshop of the “3.11 and Focusing”. This workshop started in 2011 at the Focusers’ gathering when the great earthquake and Tsunami had happened in Northern Japan.
The experience of the “3.11 and Focusing, and “…” Ⅶ” at the Asia Focusing International Conference
As a外人 and a person coming from a place with no experience of any earthquakes (to provide a little bit of the background, Hong Kong, though being regarded as part of China, is a very independent city with very few natural disaster, apart from occasional typhoon during summer), one would not expect that such a workshop would carry the appeal for a conference attendee to join. Added to the fact that the workshop is nearly entirely conducted in 日本語, a language that is rather foreign, any rational thinking person would expect the experience of the workshop with such a background, to be an out of place and awkward experience.
However, the actual experience is one that is totally the opposite of the expected. Upon reflection, my decision in attending this seemingly very “local oriented” workshop is not driven by logic but a response to the “something” I felt from my felt-sense. It is like an inner still voice that called me to join. And this is a decision that I do not regret.
Though my日本語is rusty, the information and emotions contained and carried by the images, videos, and subsequent sharing transcend the barrier of language. The impact goes much deeper than words can relay and the connection between all the participants of the workshop are built on something more than any mere simple abstract symbols can describe.
The process is filled with tears and sadness, sorrow and despair. It is just like a re-enactment of what had happened on that very day when the disaster struck. The impact and the emotional shock are just as new. The video served as a very good entrance and assisted in setting the scene.
From a focusing process perspective, it is such an amazing experience. Under normal circumstance, one would only expect a focusing experience to go as deep as the most suitable symbol can be found, articulated, and communicated across. Yet this workshop is one that managed to go beyond symbols of abstraction and communication, but to form a connection between the hearts and souls among participants through the use of focusing. Indeed, focusing can be facilitated by the use of language, but not bound by language, meanings can be communicated and shared across individuals coming from various cultures, reminding us all that we are all humans, where we share more similarities than differences.
“May those who fall rest in peace,
May those who live hold the courage,
This I pray to the God Most High”
Dr. Amos C.Y. CHEUNG
Registered Clinical Psychologist (HKPS)
President, The Hong Kong Psychological Society (2013-2014, 2017-2019)
Hong Kong