Bala JAISON-ROSEN

BALA JAISON-ROSEN Bala died peacefully amid her family on March 7, 2023, from late-diagnosed heart failure. Bala was an amazingly energetic and dynamic personality, who went through many 'incarnations' in her lifetime. As a young adult, she embraced being a singer like her mother, Betty. Soon, she was also acting in regional productions of such musicals as Jesus Christ Superstar in which she played Mary Magdelene. She was also at this time an avid yoga practitioner, and in her late 20s she attended a yoga teacher training course in Quebec. There, she was given the yogic name of Bala (little wise one); and she subsequently legally adopted the name. Upon completing her training, she was offered a teaching position at Yoga Centre Toronto run by Franz and Helen Achatz, who were her mentors for the many years she taught at the Centre; and in 1982, she and Wendy Cole started their own Yoga teacher trainings there. In 1975, she met Marc Rosen, a writer and professor at York University, and they married in 1980. After earning a Ph.D. in Psychology, she transformed her healing work from yoga and meditation to psychotherapy. Her approach was profoundly influenced by Gene Gendlin, founder of the Focusing Institute; She was deeply involved with the the Institute for 40 years, co- editing the Focusing Folio with Paula Nowick, teaching workshops for the Institute and offering training courses with Mary McGuire in Chicago and Toronto. Bala also organized and ran a Focusing training program in Toronto for decades. In 1987, she and Marc were blessed by the birth of their daughter, Evany, now a successful television writer and comedian. Soon after Evany's arrival, reconnecting with her Jewish roots, Bala joined the Habonim synagogue. All through the 1990s and early 2000s, she pursued her work as therapist, workshop leader, lecturer and writer. Continually seeking to enrich her skills, she became a practitioner of Solution Focused Brief Therapy having realized how this apparently contrary approach could be a wonderful compliment to Focusing. In 2015, based on her now extensive clinical experience, she wrote a book published under the title Integrating Experiential and Brief Therapy: How To Do Deep Therapy Briefly and How To Do Brief Therapy Deeply (available from Amazon books). She was devoted to her work, and continued seeing clients until a few weeks before her death. She is survived by Marc and Evany; her sister, Amy-Beth Fischoff; her nieces, Zoe, Christine, Laura, Carly, Emma, and Laina; her nephews, Michael, Phillip and Jürgen; her sisters-in-law, Joanna, Libby and LilyAnn; and her brother-in-law, Bill. Bala lived her life passionately and to the full. She will be lovingly remembered by her family, friends, clients and students. A Celebration of Life is being planned for June 4, in Toronto. If you are interested in attending, please contact her sister at abfischoff@icloud.com.