Not either-or but both, and more. What is Gestalt therapy?
We live in a polarised society. There is good, and there is bad, right and wrong, happy and sad. And usually, if you’re one, you cannot be the other. The world outside reflects our internal conflicts and polarisations. And it’s not easy to live like this - with the labels pushing us more and more into separation and dissociation. But it doesn’t have to be. We can allow harmony to unfold.
Psychotherapy is a powerful tool to integrate what we dissociate and investigate into ourselves to achieve more balance, wholeness, and peace in life. And Gestalt therapy is one of those approaches that put presence, integration and awareness in the centre of its interest.
Holistic Approach To Human Experience
Gestalt therapy is a humanistic method of psychotherapy that takes a holistic approach to the human experience. It stresses individual responsibility and awareness of present psychological and physical needs. Like other humanistic therapies, Gestalt therapy assumes that we have an innate inclination to health, wholeness, and the realisation of our potential.
A healthy person recognises their experience and is able to define their needs to which they respond appropriately. For example, a person who has just received an insult may be angry and express their boundaries in a calm yet decided way. A neurotic, in this scenario, might be angry but may partially or entirely repress awareness of this anger or project it onto others.
Integrating The Shadows
Sometimes we find ourselves doing things that create internal tension; we feel trapped, frustrated, helpless, oppressed by our environment, failed by other people, relationships, work, alienated or not fitting in. These feelings might rightfully describe momentary experiences or might linger for a longer time and cause distress.
If such feelings become a regular part of our lives, our default mode, our “personality”, we fail to see our true potential and disown and reject parts of ourselves that prevent us from growth and happiness. We are not in contact with our authentic self-support system and remain stuck in avoidance patterns. We are full of internal conflicts and ambiguities that cause our suffering. We demand and judge; we feel helpless, dependent and resourceless, and we throw ourselves to manipulate, seeking to mobilise in others that which we fail to find in ourselves.
Gestalt therapy is one of the most potent approaches to do “shadow work”. It aids you to become aware of significant sensations within you and cues in your environment so that you can fully respond to any situation. Gestalt is a practice of being present — the focus is on “here and now” rather than past experiences. It is the awareness of the present moment that opens the door to confronting and resolving past conflicts and “unfinished businesses”.
Be In The Present, Explore The “How”
What is also distinctive in Gestalt is that it searches for the “how”, not the “why”. It recognises the futility of digging for the “why” when dealing with our present issues. I’ll use Ken Wilber’s excellent example here: “It’s almost as if you had, in the dark, inadvertently turned on a radio switch while you were trying to sleep, and the machine is now blaring away in full blast. To pause, reflect, and search out possible reasons for why you turned it on does no good whatsoever — you could sit there and theorise forever… with the radio accompanying you. On the other hand, if you can find how you turned it on — where the switch is and how it operates — then you can easily turn it off”.
Gestalt is not like other “talking therapies” — it engages the whole experience, the body, the mind and the spirit. It facilitates powerful and fundamental changes and growth in those who endure it with awareness. We start to assume responsibility for our thoughts, emotions and actions, thus gaining control over our life. We connect with our spontaneous self, the one able to differentiate authentic needs from neurotic desires and respond to the world in a creative, respectful and rewarding manner.
There is power and depth in Gestalt therapy that make a real difference in creating lasting change and growth.
Gestalt and Other Modalities
Gestalt combines well with different body-based practices, as the body is equally present and important in the therapeutic process as the mind. As a certified TRE® provider (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises), I use both modalities as I find they powerfully complement each other. My mission is to help people feel empowered to live authentically from the heart, and Gestalt therapy and TRE® are my main tools.
