When we increase our awareness of our somatic sense of self, we can create new options for developing more effective psychological and physical patterns. This experiential workshop blends slow, developmental movement explorations with individual and group Gestalt work to address how habitual, unconscious beliefs and behaviors formed early in life lead to habitual ways of responding that limit life experience.

Through mindfulness, explorations of forgotten movement patterns, and Relational Gestalt  Practice, we contact the here-and-now, where change and growth are possible. As we become more present in our bodies, we may discover an inability to identify what we are feeling, or that — because of painful memories, and difficulty experiencing feelings directly — we have been avoiding them.

This is a relational process. Working in an empathic, supportive group setting creates a container in which new ways of moving and being can be expressed and explored. This workshop provides the experience of making contact with people who are present and accepting, making it possible to develop a greater capacity for feelings. We can then learn to use our feelings as guides that help us live more authentically, moving beyond habits of being and relating that no longer serve us. In addition, changes in habitual muscular holding patterns result in a body that is better able to support changes made on any level — emotional, physical, or psychological.

Recommended reading: Korb, et al, Gestalt Therapy: Practice and Theory; Mann, Gestalt Therapy: 100 Key Points and Techniques; Feldenkrais, The Potent Self; Kurtz, Body-Centered Psychotherapy, Hanna, Somatics