Gestalt Experiential Workshop

Gestalt Training Level 1

(25th – 29th September, 2023)

Gestalt therapy is an approach to psychotherapy that helps clients focus on the present to understand what is actually happening in their lives at this moment, and how it makes them feel in the moment, rather than what they may assume to be happening based on past experience. Along with person-centered and existential therapy, it is one of the primary forms of humanistic therapy.

The term “gestalt” is derived from a German word that means “whole” or “put together.” Gestalt therapy was developed in the 1940s and 1950s by Fritz Perls, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and his then-wife, psychotherapist Laura Perls, as an alternative to traditional, verbally-focused psychoanalysis. Their foundational premise is that people are best thought of as a whole entity consisting of body, mind, and emotions, and best understood when viewed through their own eyes.

The gestalt philosophy rejects the notion that any one particular trait, episode, or indeed a diagnosis could define a person. Instead, their total self must be explored, discovered, and confronted. As they encounter and gain awareness of other parts of themselves, individuals can take greater responsibility for themselves and hopefully gain a greater sense of what they can do for themselves and others.

Instead of simply talking, clients in gestalt therapy are often encouraged to engage in intellectual and physical experiences that can include role-playing, re-enactment, or artistic exercises like drawing and painting. In this way, clients can learn to become more aware of their thoughts and actions, of how negative thought patterns and behaviors may be blocking their self-awareness and making them unhappy, and how to change them. .

Gestalt therapy can help clients with issues such as anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, relationship difficulties, and even some physical concerns such as migraines, ulcerative colitis, and back spasms. People who are interested in working on their self-awareness but may not understand the role they play in their own unhappiness and discomfort could be good candidates for gestalt therapy.

Gestalt techniques are sometimes used in combination with dance, art, drama, body work, and other therapies.

The duration of the training is 5 consecutive days.

Each day contains 4 segments within:

1)         Group process – sharing process is done in a group setting.

2)         Individual work with the trainer – an opportunity to watch how individual work in Gestalt methods is done and analyzed by the trainer

3)         Theory – in this segment participants will learn about the Gestalt concepts  like figure-ground formation, polarities creating experiments and closure

4)         Practice– in this segment participant practice working un Gestalt Method with themselves and receive feedback by the trainer implementing whatever is learned in the theory segment

At the end of the training participants will receive a certificate of completion:  Gestalt Methods level -1 from Gestalt & Creative Arts for Human Growth & Development, Israel and Zorba The Buddha, India

BENEFITS OF GESTALT TRAINING LEVEL 1

 Mind-body connection: Experiential exercises foster awareness of bodily sensations, and understanding responses to situations for holistic well-being.