The subject of the paper is one of the basic units of the theory of understanding therapy being developed by the author. This unit is "experiencing - empathy". The author analyzes the structure of empathy as a therapists's communicative act. This structure includes a number of elements, such as the understanding operator, modus of experiencing, modality of experiencing and others. With special emphasis on semiotic and expressive aspects of empathy, the author discusses possibilities of varying empathic remarks and functions of these variations in the therapeutic process.