Experiential Listening

Abstract

Experiential listening is listening to the not yet fully articulated felt sense from which a speaker is talking. It comes out of a combination of Eugene Gendlin’s philosophical work and Carl Rogers’s reflection of feeling response. It is a precise specification of what person-centered listeners (and many other therapists) ought to be listening for. This article explores first the historical development of experiential listening and then goes very specifically into how the author listens in an experiential way. The article ends with a paean to experiential listening.