Gestalt practice in everyday life – discover unknown possibilities with the Wielkopolska Gestalt School

The mainstay and at the same time a tool for navigating the world of diversity is awareness – a fundamental state of mind in which a person acquires the data necessary to recognize the inner and outer world in life lived in the “here and now”.

Consciousness is understood here as access to one’s own desires and needs and the ability to realize them. Work on expanding consciousness takes place on three levels – personal, relational and in the collective reality space that surrounds us. Workshop conditions are a kind of laboratory space where personal phenomena and difficulties can be examined in relatively safe conditions, until you see through the lens “How am I here?” and “How do I want to be?”. The group becomes a mirror, representative of the world in which the experience takes place. Participants receive additional and necessary information from the outside world (other participants in the group) related to the experience with which the person operates. Expanding the perspective with an objective view of the trainer or group members is a special resource. It becomes essential to embed a broader perspective in creating constructive and rewarding change. Change assumes optimal form because it is embedded in a reprocessed reality.

Another key element of Gestalt theory is connection, which refers to the rooting of the self in the inner world of personal resources (body, emotions, and mind). By taking root in the body, emotions and thinking, experience changes and, as a consequence, becomes our competencies, which are permanently included in the available set of behaviors and ways of working. By strengthening our connection to resources, we see boundaries clearly and opportunities emerge more clearly. We build an adequate picture of the real situation, and move steadily into new situations. The study of phenomenology at the frontiers of communication secures choices that become more constructive and/or creative. Acknowledging reality as it is frees energy from unrealistic desires and directs it to places that are truly accessible and allow for satisfaction. The search for complete connection with oneself and the world is a resource that sustains dynamism in the current situation, with the opportunity to use resources to co-create the future and build relationships. Connection is supported by living presence, and closeness becomes intimate and nourishing.

About the workshop:

Group boundaries become a safe place where participants can find other ways to be with themselves and others. For the experience to be corrective it must be present in the appropriate conditions with professional support.

The therapist, together with the client, examines the existing organization of the field and focuses on certain aspects of the field, which are understood as the interdependence of the mental field and the environment in which the person is. The therapist recognizes the client’s problems as a creative adaptation, and the best possible way to deal with the problems available at the time. The coach remains impartial towards clients’ choices and needs, and goes with the flow process – it does not impose direction, goal or solution – supporting freedom and confidence in respecting the client’s personal process, as well as natural self-regulation as a healthy lifestyle. He uses his inner world and real experiences to work for personal development, staying present and engaged in the shared connection created from one moment to the next. Uses experience to learn, explain, and open up new possibilities. Uses verbal and non-verbal tools and works with the physical aspects of self. The intervention direction is the area of ​​awareness and communication that supports the natural potential for change in clients.

Under these specific conditions, challenging content, topics, or problems, as well as the mechanisms that separate us from them, begin to unravel into corrective communication. Their vitality awakens and requires due attention, communication and sympathetic relationships, satisfying the shortcomings inherent in us. The world becomes multidimensional and the ways of living life become totally intense.

The group microclimate opens up space and builds security, creating a basis for working with defense mechanisms. They were initially protection from extreme or difficult situations, and currently they are like a rigid structure that limits the freedom of life. Making range of motion more flexible is associated with an uncertain search for other avenues to experiment. The reaction or co-creation of reality is associated with uncertainty and the experience of the “new” reality. The solid shield that plays an important role in the process of communication, surrounded by a supportive presence and closeness, slowly gives way and a different quality appears, a different way of being “I”. The moment a person regains the inaccessible pole becomes fuller and more multidimensional. Disarming your defense mechanisms is a process of expanding your capabilities with the spontaneous reactions that are naturally present in us to meet our needs.

The method of change refers to the paradoxical theory of change, according to which change occurs when we become what we are. It is a natural process that occurs through awareness, connection, and assimilation, which is co-created in the I-Thou relationship. The restoration of aspects that are inaccessible to or cut off by defense mechanisms is the revival of the latent ability, its possession and disposal in any way.

Gestalt gives special importance to subjective experiences that appear at the boundaries of contact, and recognizes the moment when real, vivid feelings “here and now” emerge as exceptionally significant. Available and directly experienced in the present moment, it is the indisputable source of subjective reality. Respecting this moment through contact and awareness of sensations (body, emotions, thoughts) expands personal resources, and also provides the opportunity to obtain information about the reality of the participants. This is the perfect time to experiment and explore the phenomena we experience in a real relationship.

Presence and presence in a common dialogue helps to reframe and give meaning to the phenomena experienced. It helps the participants and the group to notice how typical patterns of relationships might appear in the current reality. As a result, it helps the client to make more free choices and take more responsibility for the way they interact with the environment and with themselves.

Authors – Aleksandra Reblin, Isa Jaskolska