In our modern world it’s easy to lose connection with ourselves, others, and our environment. We often get caught up in distractions, thoughts about the future or the past, and avoidance of the present. Gestalt therapy, at its core, is about “I and thou, here and now,” meaning there is a focus on the quality of our relationships and our ability to experience the present moment. Instead of analyzing the past or future, we bring curiosity to what’s unfolding right now—emotionally, physically, and relationally. After all, so much of our work as clinicians is to support our clients in meaningfully engaging in their lives. It is imperative that we remember living can only happen in the present.
Central to Gestalt therapy is the use of creative techniques designed to help clients engage more directly with their inner experience. Therapists often use tools like the empty chair, a method where clients speak to an imagined person or part of themselves seated across from them, to externalize internal conflict or unexpressed emotion. In two-chair work, clients alternate between seats to enact a dialogue between different parts of themselves.
Gestalt therapists also pay close attention to language and to a client’s physicality. The purpose of these awarenesses is to help clients learn more about their current experience, expand their repertoire of behavior or coping strategies, and process what has been left unfinished. Examples of this may be helping clients speak in ways that reflect their own agency. For instance, a Gestalt therapist may help a client shift from a statement like, “that’s aggravating” to “I feel aggravated”. Another example may be noticing a shift in posture, a held breath, or a hand movement. By bringing attention to these moments, therapists can help clients learn to listen to their bodies so that they may start to experience thoughts or feelings that may otherwise stay unexplored or unprocessed.
For couples, Gestalt therapy offers a path toward intimacy and clearer communication. Rather than getting lost in stories about past pain, partners are invited to notice how they are speaking with each other, not just what they are saying. With the therapist facilitating awareness of body language, tone, emotion, and interruption patterns, couples begin to recognize and shift their dynamics. Using the contact cycle, therapists can help each partner notice where they lose connection and practice new ways of engaging with each other.
Gestalt invites us, as therapists, into a different way of being. We’re not neutral observers—we’re responsive, authentic, and present. The therapeutic relationship becomes a co-created field of awareness, where growth happens through the clinical relationship. Using self-disclosure, immediacy, and moment-to-moment tracking, we model a level of aliveness and honesty that helps clients feel truly seen.
Want to learn more about Gestalt Therapy? Join Arielle Seidler for "Gestalt Therapy with Individuals and Couples:"
- Friday, May 16 | 8:45 am to 12:00 pm (ET)
- In-Person at The Hilton Garden Inn, Owings Mills, MD
- Earn 3 CEUs