Philosophy
GESTALT THERAPY
Every Gestalt therapist looks different from one another. The reason for that is because Gestalt Therapy encourages each therapist to be whole in the presence of his or her client. For example, if the therapist loves puppetry, horses, dance or meditation, the therapist will show up with his or her skills in these areas offering that element of themselves to the client as a possible tool for the client’s process. The goal is for client and therapist to be in contact with each other in the present moment as whole people. This is considered the basis of healing through Gestalt Therapy.
Founded in Existential, Humanistic and Zen philosophy, Gestalt Therapy works with the present moment in an experiential way. Once the couple, individual or member of a group becomes aware of how they are in the present moment, they can set up an experiment. For example, if there is a part of you that wants one thing and another that does not, then, we can set an experiment where these two parts dialog with each other without avoiding the conflict. In fact, what we are trying to do is illuminate the conflict. As the intra personal dialog continues, the two parts may find common ground and begin to work together for the well being of the individual. That is actually the definition of Gestalt: A group of elements that are so unified as a whole they can not be described separately.
So, Gestalt Therapy basically seeks to identify the parts of one's psyche and help to unify them. At the same time, it seeks to identify the whole of one's being and facilitate a larger view of the self. This way the clarity of the inner debate can be seen. Like the yin and yang, all aspects of ourselves have something to offer. Occasionally, they come into conflict internally on a sub-conscious level. For example, the things your mother taught you may be very different from the things your father taught you. These aspects of your adult Self have been internalized and may create conflict when you are faced with certain issues in life regarding, for example, career choice or intimacy. Through Gestalt Therapy, I might ask you to choose objects in the room to represent your mother, your father and yourself. Then, I may ask you to tell me what each of them want to say. You begin to own these parts of yourself and, perhaps, find ways in which the teachings of both people can act as useful advise to you in a given situation.
If there is no dialog, both sides are not contributing to the self Instead, they are blocking and holding the flow of your thought processes as well as your actions. An experiment makes the conflict clearer and less confusing. We often find that there are other forces present in the conflict once we begin exploring.
In Gestalt Therapy one is looking to identify areas of one's life that feel incomplete or unresolved. Then, one looks to actively participate in expressive therapy to complete and resolve these feelings. In addition, one begins to develop the means to identify and work through inner conflict outside of therapy.
Read more about Gestalt Therapy at that Gestalt Institute of the Rockies website
DANCE THERAPY
Dance Therapy uses movement to help heal the same symptoms and underlying issues that other fields of psychology work with. It is not so much the use of "artistic" dance performance for these purposes. Rather, it is a search for authentic movement composed by each own personal felt sense at the moment. ...therapy professionals that discovered that movement and body awareness are key components for healing and transforming beyond what talk therapy can achieve.
For Example, people tried to heal trauma through traditional talk therapy with very little lasting success. Many therapists have come to recognized that physical trauma continues to live in the area of the body where it was inflicted. The mind tends to reject that area the body and this can bring about the lasting negative effects of trauma.
Dance Therapy was created by modern dancers who, by diving into themselves and their student’s psyches, found that something very healing happens when improvising movement and composing dance, not from technique, but from their inner selves. On the East Coast, a dancer named Marian Chase started to work in psychiatric wards with a psychoanalytic foundation. While Freud was talking about free association of words, dancers and psychiatric patients were using free association of movement. On the West Coast, a woman named Mary Whitehouse was in a more private setting, following an analytical foundation. Studying Jungian theory, Mary Whitehouse led dancers to discover their dream world and the collective unconscious by allowing them to be moved improvisationally with eyes closed. All over the country, dancers were learning more and more about psychology and its relationship to their medium of expression. This foundation of Modern Dance and its connection to psychology was just what many dancers were waiting for: a more healing attention to dance and a return to a more shamanic dance. In the past our ancient ancestors used dance as a journey into healing using the basis for psychic healing that existed in their culture. Through modern psychology, Dance Therapists are able to exploit the healing power of movement and view it in the terminology of our existing science.
Much later, Christine Caldwell founded a Dance Therapy track in psychology at Naropa University and developed what she calls the Moving Cycle. Her influences are from Gestalt Psychology with somatic orientations such as Body Centered Psychotherapy, Hakomi psychotherapy, Somatic experiencing, Bioenergetics, Integrative body psychotherapy and other contemporary somatic psychology theorists. With all of these new arenas of psychological development, the Moving Cycle is a very unique and comprehensive model, combining the best of a variety of somatic pioneers. The Moving Cycle is a form of Dance therapy that starts with facilitating awareness of somatic tags or small unconscious movements such as a twitch or small scratch of an arm. Once the mover become aware of that movement, the mover goes deeper into that movement owning consciously the “tag”. As the mover deepens into their inner dance, the mover start to accept and integrate that body message or body communication into their cognitive self. By repeating, contrasting, specifying or generalizing a movement, the mover is able to uncover unconscious memories or revelations that seemed unacceptable before. The Moving Cycle can take form as a relationship work, character exploration, energy sequencing or birth and death session.
In Dance/Movement therapy, there is also the study of movement itself and qualities of movement in relationship to each individual personality. Through Body-Mind Centering, Laban and the Kestemberg Movement Profile, a Dance Therapist is able to diagnosis the imbalances of the body and through working with that help the mover achieve better reach or push in their lives. Or find more efficient ways to organize themselves with more clarity through boundaries that are clearly defined and developed from a stable foundation. Sometimes it is about getting in touch with his or her muscles, bones, ovaries or other parts of the body that might be neglected and in need for attention.
Even though there are many renowned dance therapists in the world , I believe, it will always be a field in development. Modern dance, like any other art form reflects the current issues at works in our society. This is also true for Dance Therapy. Psychology is also always coming up with new discoveries. Currently, a lot that is being developed in neuropsychology confirms Somatic Psychology’s theories, that the mind and body are one. More and more, what is accepted by mainstream psychology has been actively used by dance therapists for many years. Movement itself is becoming more and more recognized the tradition Western Medicine as a path to longer, healthier living.
