Gestalt Therapy International

A community of dialogue

Programs around the world

Facilitating authentic living & working

overview of 12 day introductory certificate of gestalt

Gestalt foundation • 6 days #1

 

Introduction to the Gestalt framework

• The meaning of Gestalt as a concept

• The historical context of the development of Gestalt

• The 4 pillars of Gestalt

• The correlation of Gestalt and Eastern approaches - Taoism and Zen

The power of the present

The use of awareness as a psychological tool

Awareness as grounded in body and sensory experience

The use of awareness as a key to transformative change

The relationship between blocks to awareness and unfinished business

The ingredients of authentic relationship

The basic dynamics of contact: meeting in difference.

The connection between contact and awareness

The significance of boundaries in communication

What happens at the contact boundary

Ways to achieve clarity in contact

Distinguishing feelings from thoughts

How to initiate repair when connection is broken

The issue of responsibility

The significance of language as a tool for contact

The nature of I-thou relating

I thou and I it

Vertical relating as power, horizontal relating as mutuality

Gestalt as related to group process

Introduction to interactive group

The here and now, I and thou, as applied to group process

The nature of each person’s creative adjustment

• Personal style

• The context which shapes us

• The essential nature of knowing self

The significance of boundaries in communication

What happens at the contact boundary

Ways to achieve clarity in contact

Distinguishing feelings from thoughts

Theories of change

A Taoist approach to fluidity vs stagnancy

The paradoxical theory of change

Interactive group

Evolving awareness and authentic relating

Further features of authentic dialogue

• Present focused

• Personal and owned

• Specific rather than generalised

The significance of boundaries in communication

What happens at the contact boundary

Ways to achieve clarity in contact

Distinguishing feelings from thoughts

Responsibility

Existential responsibility as liberating rather than burdensome

The Gestalt approach to responsibility

Field Theory

Non-linear causality

Field responsibility

Gestalt foundation • 6 days #1

 

Deeper overview to the Gestalt framework

• Gestalt as a way of life

• Gestalt as a practice

• Gestalt in the professional world

• Gestalt as a vehicle for relationship

The philosophy of the obvious

Starting with simple observations, the power to go very deep

Awareness that emerges when preconceptions are bracketed

Grounding in the body

Body awareness as sensation and emotion

Body awareness in the service of connected relationship

Augmenting relationship

Blocks to connection

Ways to deepen connection

Resentment

Responsibility, resentment, and appreciation

How to cleanly deal with resentments

Eliciting figures with Oh Cards

Using Oh cards to highlight key figures

Working with the figures in the group

Figure continuation

Continuation of working with the figures in the group.

Interactive group

Reiteration of interactive group

The here and now, I and thou, as applied to group process

The Gestalt experiment

Balancing support and challenge

Creative use of awareness to address unfinished business

Gestalt and dreams

Gestalt applied to dreamwork

• Dreams brought into the here and now

• Dreams played out

Gestalt and creative process

Using creative media to highlight awareness

Large themes

Identification of issues from the field - cultural and group

Cultural issues

Working with trauma in the cultural field

Collective process to address collective unfinished business

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