Gestalt workshops
Why attend a Gestalt group?
- You will get in touch with a deeper experience of yourself.
- You will explore new ways to bring yourself into connection.
- You will discover the use of awareness as a means of real change.
- You will be introduced to creative ways to develop new skills.
- You will experience the benefits of viewing your immediate problems from a larger perspective.
- You will discover the value of meeting in differences.
- You will be supported to enhance the quality of your relationships.
- You will experience a new sense of power to make positive changes in your life.
How are Gestalt groups run?
Gestalt work is based on four pillars
- Awareness
- Wholeness
- Relationship
- Experiment
Gestalt groups use these approaches to support the growth and development of group members.
1. Awareness
...is facilitated by the focus on the now - what do you feel/see/want now? Awareness includes body and mind, emotions and metaphors. The emphasis is on being with what is.
2. Wholeness
...is supported by attention to the larger context - what are the factors which have brought you to the place you are now? The empowering principle here is interconnectedness - seeing and really experiencing larger patterns in the field.
3. Relationship
...is explored through authenticity - the statement of what is true in each person’s experience. It is also developed through noticing and stating the impact others have on you.
4. Experiment
...is permission to be creative. To try new approaches to old and stale situations. To discover new ways of thinking, acting, feeling and expressing. To take moderate risks in trying something different. And to get immediate feedback about what does and doesn't work. The group here is a great forum, providing many resources for this kind of creative experimentation.
Open ended
Gestalt groups do not follow a prescriptive program. We pay attention to what arises, where the energy is, and what needs become apparent. Sometimes people need support, sometimes they need a little challenge. Sometimes they need to discover resources they didn't know they had.
The facilitator orchestrates the group, steps in, and steps back, in order to allow each member to discover more fully who they are, and come forward with their own truths. The emphasis is on meeting, knowing, learning, and growing.
Sometimes this process brings up old pains. Often its fun, even playful. The end result is people leave feeling more enlivened.