About Focus Pocus

The person behind the page

Focus Pocus is created by Susan Jane McCulley. The site gathers her essays, video logs, and teaching notes around a single thread: paying attention on purpose, then acting from that attention.

Her writing returns often to the body — grounding, interoception, proprioception, and natural time — and to the movement practice of Nia, whose principles, stances, and moves appear throughout the site.

She is the author of Octabusy: How to Let Go in a Sea of Doing.

Inquiry is the quiet art of turning toward experience without already knowing what we will find. It asks us to pause before reacting, to notice the sensations that arise before we name them. On this site, inquiry becomes a practice of asking what is actually happening in the body and mind, rather than what we assume or fear might be happening. This kind of attention softens the grip of old patterns and opens space for something new. When we inquire with genuine curiosity, we begin to see the difference between what we have been told and what we truly feel. That distinction is the starting point of real awareness.

Intent follows inquiry like a natural next breath. Once we have taken stock of what is present, we can choose where to direct our energy with clarity rather than habit. Intent is not about forcing outcomes or rigid goal-setting; it is a gentle alignment of action with what matters most. The body knows this kind of intent intuitively—a dancer steps into a movement with purpose before the foot touches the floor. Practicing intent means learning to move from a grounded center, letting each choice carry the weight of honest attention rather than borrowed obligation.

The felt sense of being in a body is a thread that runs through every page here. Grounding practices, interoception, and natural rhythms return us to the present moment again and again. When we can feel our feet on the floor, the rise and fall of breath, the subtle shifts of posture and energy, we become capable of responding rather than reacting. This embodied awareness is not an escape from life but a fuller engagement with it. It is the difference between rushing through a day on autopilot and meeting each moment with the kind of presence that changes everything.