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Simon McKibbin
Cambridge CB1 2AD
- Grief
- Trauma
- Meditation
- Spirituality
- Wholebody Focusing
- Creativity
- Inner relationship Focusing
- Bodywork
- NVC
- Nature connection
Introduction
In 2008 I met Eugene Gendlin, founder of Focusing — an encounter that moved me deeply. Since then, I've been inspired to share Focusing's magic, so the fresh edge of what already knows its own rightness in you can show itself in fullness, and more.
What services do I offer?
What I Offer
I offer Natural Flow one-to-one Focusing coaching, meeting you wherever you are on your path and helping you deepen and refine your felt sense of presence. For those who already hold accredited Focusing skills, or their equivalent, and are ready to go further, the Practitioner Programme opens in September 2026 as the next step. I also bring Focusing into groups and communities - environmental, educational, and corporate, cultivating shared presence and resilience among those who practise together.
In my integrated practice, Focusing is woven together with Nonviolent Communication and Mindfulness, so that presence deepens across every discipline rather than being confined to any single one - known as Embodied Relational Presence. That same thread runs through my time at Cambridge, where years spent as Associate Mindfulness Teacher at the University shaped my approach to Focusing-based mindfulness. And through guest lecturing at the Møller Institute, I carry this embodied presence into executive coaching, helping leaders bring a more grounded, attuned quality of attention into their work.
My background in Focusing
Embodied Relational Presence
I first encountered Focusing in 1990, on a retreat where I was struggling — to say the least. Behind that struggle lay years of clinical depression and deep-rooted anxiety, and what met me on that retreat was so quietly transformative that I never let go of it. Thirty-five years on, I'm still following that same thread, and it hasn't stopped opening: a continuing spiral of the fresh edge, with no end in sight. What I offer today comes from that same wonder — from staying close to a process that keeps teaching me, and from having walked the road back to myself and found it changed me for good with a quality of freedom I could only have dreamed about.
Focusing sits at the centre of my work, but it doesn't stand alone. Behind it are thirty-five years of continuous mindfulness meditation practice and teaching, rooted in my Buddhist training as an ordained member of the Triratna Buddhist Order — and eighteen years of living and teaching Nonviolent Communication. Woven more quietly beneath all of this are years of study in NLP, Developmental Behavioural Modelling, Symbolic Modelling, and Ericksonian hypnosis — silent partners that shape how I listen, how I track process, and how I help people find their own way through. Together these strands have grown into something I now call Embodied Relational Presence — an approach that is tried and tested, not just in theory but in my own life, offering a grounded, responsive, and deeply available way of working that continues to transform me as much as those I work with.
Qualifications
Practitioner with BFA
Teacher with BFA
Mindfulness Associate Cambridge University (2017 - 2022) and continuing to offer Mindfulness Programs
Breathworks Mindfulness Based Pain Management (MBPM) Certified
Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) certified dot-b trainer
CNVC certified Nonviolent Communication Trainer
Moller Institute Cambridge University (Focusing in) Executive Coaching Guest Trainer
How do I practice?
Supporting mentor
I offer myself as a Supporting Mentor in the spirit the role asks for: a steady, unhurried presence a trainee can bring anything to — a stuck project, a wobble of confidence, a question that hasn't fully formed yet, or simply the wish for uninterrupted Focusing time. What I offer as a mentor is less about answers and more about accompaniment: the capacity to stay grounded and available when you are uncertain, to track process gently without steering it, and to trust — as I've learned to trust in my own life — that the felt sense knows its own way forward, given enough room and enough quality of attention. Whether the need is technical (refining a guiding skill, working through a training knot) or more personal (finding confidence, working with self-doubt), I aim to offer the kind of listening that lets you connect with yourself more deeply and to model, simply by being there, what it looks like to stay close to the process even when — especially when — it isn't tidy. Working with complexity is at the heart of Natural Flow Focusing support.
Prices: 55 hour
My availability: Available all year around
Testimonials
''Since completing the travelling lighter zoom focusing course I feel more connected to myself and the world around me in quite a magical way.
I have started to find ways to be with my experience in more openness, to be more curious and accepting and to be more grounded.
Simon helped us create a space of safety, openness and invariably humour, that we moved more deeply into together as the course progressed.
The course felt very spontaneous and alive and as Simon said at the beginning of the course, focusing is caught, not taught...you're in for a treat.'
Cath, Focusing participant
Simon's broad learning and practice of NVC and Mindfulness based therapy and his practice and experience in Focusing has facilitated a heartfelt encounter with deep listening. The three modules so far deepened my understanding and appreciation of the power of focusing. Our twice weekly sessions have facilitated a deep communal sharing which has allowed us to connect to our hearts and the felt sense of presence and deep listening.
Dharmabandu (Member of the Triratna Order)
‘I have found the Online Focusing Foundation course with Simon highly transformational and supportive on my own personal enquiry path. Focusing has a profound simplicity that has inspired me to continue on this journey in my life , noticing myself and others with new eyes at every moment. Sinhaketu’s guidance and accompaniment is exquisite, bringing spontenaity and vulnerability in the teachings has made this course unique for me, it resonates with a way of life I am heading as I keep remembering the way home.’
Marta Fabregat with love (Director An Tionol Compassionate Community and Retreat Centre, Galway)
The only way that I can make the word for the journey is to imagine it's like the wardrobe in the lion, witch and wardrobe. Or a pin hole camera! Focusing has been and continues to be almost as important to me as sleep - very important! This course with Simon was the biggest gift and I'll always be grateful to him for helping me establish a focusing practice.
Nagadipa Nathasha Lythego
‘I’ve developed a capacity through working with Simon to come into presence by myself, to hold myself more, to listen more deeply, to allow a little more fully, to become overwhelmed less often.
I’ve seen how he uses focusing to connect with nature and animals, as well as himself… and this is sneaking its way into my life too.’
Ruth Cohen-Rose
‘I have been doing this training over 3 modules now and it is wonderful, and absolute gem of a course and Trainer. Highly, highly recommended’!!!
Carolyn Jane Davies CNVC Trainer NVC London Community
My experience with the online focusing course has been of extremely important to me. I didn't know what Focusing was - I had only done one group session with Simon during a day of different workshops and I was struck by it, to the point where I didn't have to think twice when I had the opportunity to embark on this beautiful journey.
I’m very grateful to Simon for all his inputs - I see them as seeds that he’s passionately and lovingly sowed throughout this journey, both in our personal lives and within the space we shared over the past months, inviting a honest and safe sharing and lots of support on the way. I often struggled with noticing the body sensations and holding them more, and Simon has offered me different paths to come to term with it more.
Dominic
Mondays are a delicious treat I notice how I feel happier having been provided the space and inclusion for which I believe to explore and learn more about my inner world.
I am learning the art of pausing and sensing its all parts in me which have not
been given acknowledgement or even noticed with any understanding before they can be welcomed and respected for greater connection with myself.
I love the safety and trust I receive from our connection it really brings sensitivity and recognition to be seen. I also love the freedom and the chance to be nourished and supported without judging me.
I am only just awaking through this support so thank you very much for making possible all the above I am truly grateful you are in my life on Mondays.
Pam
‘I have found Focusing with Simon to be a deeply rewarding path to connecting with my emotional life. So many issues that were never allowed to be, just held inside me in a state of stuckness. Focusing has allowed me to release them and has brought lightness and joy to my being’
Andy Philpot
Thank you so much for the wonderful course. I learned so much and IIam experiencing great healing as a result. In appreciation and gratitude I say a big thank you.
Brenda
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