Gestalt is…
Gestalt is a German word that means ‘configuration’ or ‘pattern’. Gestalt therapy is a way of
experiencing the world as a whole person embedded in our environment. We learn by
adjusting to our situation and are constantly developing creative adaptations to manage.
We are always impacting our world and it always impacts us. When we are more aware of the
way we organise ourselves and the impact we have on others we can attune to create a more
deeply relational engagement. This is a method of becoming aware of our feelings and being
able to express them in a way that connects. Over time, our responses change as we create
new wholes or patterns.
The Gestalt approach is much more than a psychotherapy which enables people to cope
better with their daily lives. It is a beautifully ingenious philosophy that also provides a
practical method of viewing the world — especially through an inclusive emotional lens — and
once embraced becomes a way of life. It’s about awareness, acceptance, being fully alive and
experimenting with being creative in all kinds of ways.
One aim is the awakening of a person’s full potential, supporting what is most alive and
energising which paradoxically can sometimes be through collapsing.
Read a Dream Case Study.
My approach involves awareness of….
Embodiment: In line with neuropsychology, I understand the strong connection between body
and mind. I believe that our psychology is embodied and that our feelings have an impact on
our bodies as do our bodies on our feelings.
I treat each person who comes to see me individually so this may take various forms. It does
however include an invitation to pay attention to how we experience certain feelings or
situations within our bodies. We are not usually encouraged to pause and attend to ourselves
within our bodies and yet this approach can bring important insights.
In addition to this I focus on how we have developed certain themes of feelings and
embodiments in our lives, for example a person who was bullied at school may keep his or
her head down. This is not an invitation to correct the person’s posture but to attend to the
feelings related to what happened. This may or may not then lead to changes in the way
people who come to see me position their bodies, breathe or look around.
Relational therapy: I focus on how we build and participate in relationships both inside and
outside the therapy. Relationships are important to our life and wellbeing, they are also a
place where most of our problems originate.
Diversity: I believe that therapy is about embracing the diversity both within ourselves and
outside. Emotional health depends on our relationship with our community.
Experiment and creativity: Use of art, sandplay and role playing situations can enrich the
awareness clients have around parts of self and impact on others. Exploration of this nature
often brings more compassion into the system.
I am also a long-term yoga practitioner and meditator so draw on the knowledge and
experience of both western psychology and the eastern wisdom traditions, including
cultivation of awareness and mindfulness techniques, deep relaxation, somatic/body
awareness, breathing and meditation techniques.
Sense Of Self
Our sense of ourselves starts with our embodiment and integrates thought, feeling and
speech as we live as emergent beings; we are always simultaneously embedded in our
shared experiential fields and co-shaping our shared experiential situation. Our work focuses
on contemporary relational perspectives in gestalt therapy. Emphasis is on working with the
nuances of emotional process, repeated themes, therapist-client interaction and the use of
experiments in a relational therapy.. I also use meditation techniques to enhance well-being.
Gestalt Therapy Today
Today, Gestalt Therapy is one of the mainstream psychotherapies in the world. It is practiced
by professionals in health, educational and organisational fields. It has moved from the
confrontational methods of the past to a more supportive appreciation of what occurs
between the therapist and the client today. Still centred in the here and now, it describes the
what and how of what we experience and connects past to present, part of self with part of
self and self with the other. Through the therapy, the client becomes aware that of the impact
they have on the situation and how the situation impacts them.