Embodied Gestalt Practice

An international selection of authors provide a detailed exploration of Gestalt as a somatic and relational practice. Covering many aspects of this relationship, the chapters include discussion of our relationships with nature, the role of Eros, energy in Taoism, affect and methods of practice. Both theoretical and practical application of an embodied relational approach to GT are presented, and many chapters include case studies from the contributors’ own work. The overall view of the book is that our bodies are inextricably embedded and co-creating with the environment, and that we know our body and the world through our embodiment.

Edward W.L. Smith, Ph.D. is a "therapist's therapist" - a teacher, trainer, mentor and author - whose writings from 1972 - 2009, capture the essence of Gestalt therapy's contribution to psychotherapeutic practice - the embodied patient. From Freud and Reich, to Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, to Perls and Polster - projection and retroflection, contact boundary disturbances, awe and terror in insight and expression, the meaning of the person of the therapist, and working with the client's breathing and posture - the essays and articles in this book incorporate Gestalt theory, applications, history and philosophical roots, yet they never leave the consulting room. Students, trainees and seasoned therapists alike will find themselves stimulated and energized in their work with clients. After earning a B.A. degree in psychology from Drake University, and an M.S. in experimental psychology and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Kentucky, Edward W. L. Smith taught at Georgia State University and then pursued an18-year full-time independent practice of psychotherapy in Atlanta. Returning to academia, he was the founding Director of Clinical Training for the Psy.D. program at Georgia Southern University, where he is now professor emeritus. Edward is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Clinical Psychology, and the Georgia Psychological Association. He has been an international workshop leader for nearly 40 years. He holds the certificate of the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) and was an early member of the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. His books include The Growing Edge of Gestalt Therapy (Ed.), The Body in Psychotherapy, Sexual Aliveness: A Reichian Gestalt Perspective, Not Just Pumping Iron: On the Psychology of Lifting Weights, Gestalt Voices (Ed.), Touch in Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice (Co-ed. with Pauline Clance & Suzanne Imes), and The Person of the Therapist. Edward pursues jazz with a tenor saxophone as an erotic balance to his logos-heavy professional writing. The poetry Muses sometimes beckon him, as well.

This book is a collaboration of some of the best thinkers in the Gestalt therapy world and offers a high-level summary of recent and future developments in theory, practice and research.

The Gestalt approach is based on the philosophy that the human being is born with the healthy ability to regulate needs and wants in relationship with the environment in which she/he lives. Heightening of personal awareness and exploration of needs is enabled by the therapist who actively engages in supporting and assisting the therapeutic journey of the client. Gestalt Therapy: Advances in Theory and Practice is a collaboration of some of the best thinkers in the Gestalt therapy approach. It offers a summary of recent advances in theory and practice, and novel ideas for future development. Each chapter focuses on a different element of the Gestalt approach and, with contributors from around the world, each offers a different perspective of its ongoing evolution in relation to politics, religion and philosophy. Incorporating ideas about community, field theory, family and couple therapy, politics and spirituality, this book will be of interest not only to Gestalt therapists but also to non-Gestalt practitioners, counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. Counselling, behavioural science and psychotherapy students will also find this a valuable contribution to their learning.

Traditional psychotherapy approaches, focusing on working with and correcting mental events and conditions, have placed little importance on the fundamentally physical nature of the person. Yet many of the problems people bring to therapy are linked with or manifested in the body--such as obesity, psychosomatic distress, chronic tension, and sexual problems. This book provides a therapeutic approach that addresses both the physical and mental nature of clients. In this book, James Kepner shows that a client's posture, movements, and bodily experiences are indeed relevant to therapy, and he offers an insightful framework for incorporating these aspects into a therapeutic framework. This comprehensive treatment explains how body work can be integrated with the aims, methods, and philosophy of psychotherapy, offering a framework within which practitioners of different theoretical approaches can better appreciate body processes in the context of the whole person, rather than as isolated events. This book, including an updated introduction by the author, explores the range of body work in psychotherapy, from the development of body awareness to intensive work with physical structure and expression. And it demonstrates how this approach can be particularly effective with a range of clients, including survivors of sexual abuse, recovering drug addicts or alcoholics, or those suffering from chronic illness.

`I think this book may well act as both a stimulus for therapists and an important reminder of the vulnerabilities that we all have, but do not always choose to share′ - Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis This book sets out to explore the various ways in which a therapist can be a living expression, or embodiment, of his or her chosen theoretical approach. The book consists of expert practitioners articulating their own particular ′embodied theory′ answering the questions: how do we live different psychotherapeutic theories? How do they guide or clarify the lives of therapists? What aspects of theory resonate with the ways therapists understand themselves and relate to others? Contributors Michael Jacobs, Windy Dryden, MalcoLm Partlett, Dorothy Rowe, Miles Gorth, Anthony Stevens, John Rowan and Alvin Mahrer.

Therapy with traumatised clients can be fraught with problems and therapists working with these clients seek greater understanding of the specific problems they encounter. Trauma Therapy and Clinical Practice weaves together neuroscience research and the experience of trauma, taking a fresh look at how original Gestalt theory informs our current understanding of trauma therapy. The book: Places trauma and trauma therapy in a relational field model Includes material on change processes, triggers, dissociation, shame, enactment and resources Describes clearly the neurobiology of trauma and the role of the body in maintaining trauma reactions and in the recovery process Offers experiments for deepening the therapist's embodied presence Provides numerous clinical examples and an extended case study Miriam Taylor offers readers a theoretical basis for interventions and shows how simple Gestalt concepts can be applied in trauma therapy. By creating the conditions in which awareness, choice and vitality can grow, contemporary relational Gestalt is shown to be exceptionally well suited for trauma clients. The book is presented in three parts covering theory, the phenomenology of trauma and the therapeutic relationship. Including a glossary for readers unfamiliar with Gestalt therapy, case studies and reflection points, this book is a thoughtful and coherent guide for trainees and practitioners in counselling and therapy. "Miriam Taylor has done a simply tremendous job in articulating an expanded Gestalt approach to trauma treatment that is informed by, and integrated with, modern neurobiological approaches to trauma ... This book should be read by everyone treating trauma and I expect it to become a foundational text in our field." James Kepner, Gestalt therapist and international trainer in Gestalt Body Process Psychotherapy "Taylor's book is a theoretically and clinically sophisticated approach to working with trauma from a phenomenological vantage point. Her book hadan immediate effect on my work." Lynne Jacobs, co-founder, Pacific Gestalt Institute, USA "Destined to become a classic in Gestalt therapy literature. Well-written, insightful, compassionate, and practical, it will assist many a therapist." Malcolm Parlett, Visiting Professor of Gestalt Psychotherapy, University of Derby, UK (now retired) "I am profoundly grateful to Miriam Taylor for writing this book. I just wish that she could have written it before 2002 when I began my own training in Gestalt psychotherapy. There is a section at the beginning called ‘Praise for this book’ which includes very positive prepublication comments from Malcolm Parlett, James Kepner, and Lynne Jacobs. Now that I have read the book for myself, I find myself in agreement with their comments and want to add my own round of applause ... I consider that Taylor has made a major contribution to our field in taking this enterprise forward." British Gestalt Journal2014, Vol. 23, No. 2, 47–58 "Taylor’s remarkable contribution is a reminder that Gestalt Therapy Theory is alive and kicking and demonstrating how Gestalt can and should become the therapy of choice for trauma workers." Review published in Self and Society

Exploring Masculinity, Sexuality, and Culture in Gestalt Therapy is an invitation to explore social and political issues within the psychotherapeutic framework. It describes and analyses the author’s journey of becoming a gestalt therapist in Poland and England through analyses of masculinity, sexuality, relationality, and culture. This book addresses the collective gestalts exploring the psychotherapeutic taboos of sexual transference, same-sex attraction, use or lack of touch, gender equality, and inter-cultural conflicts. Each chapter is an exploration of prejudices embedded in our cultures and therapeutic work, and provides a theoretical challenge to current practices within gestalt therapy and beyond. The author advocates for a more collective understanding of embodied sensations emerging in the therapeutic context as collective gestalts. Through the use of autoethnographic research methodology, this book shows how personal embodied experiences are intertwined with the social, political, and material context. It is essential reading for gestalt therapists, as well as readers interested in gestalt approaches.