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