EMBODIED RELATIONAL GESTALT
“Through attention and dialogue based on our mutual embodied awareness we can explore relational patterns of our clients and create alternative experiences and supports for change and growth. This approach is presented in contrast to the cultural patterns of desensitization and objectification of our bodily and relational experience. Gestalt therapy focuses on the interactive and body dialogic aspects of the field created by the therapist and client. To practice gestalt therapy in this way requires a discipline to notice our own embodied presence.”
From The Interactive Field: Gestalt therapy as an embodied relational dialogue
Michael Clemmens, PhD
Michael Clemmens, Phd
Michael Clemmens is a licensed psychotherapist with a private practice in Pittsburgh, PA working with individuals and couples. He is a lead faculty member at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland and Esalen Institue in Big Sur, CA. He travels extensively nationally and internationally teaching and offering experiential learning opportunities.
Michael is the author of Getting Beyond Sobriety: Clinical Approaches to Long Term Recovery, other articles on Gestalt Therapy, and co-author with Arie Bursztyn of “The Embodied Field: Culture and Body” published in The Bridge: Dialogues Across Culture. His newest publication is “The Interactive Field: Gestalt Therapy as an embodied relational dialogue” to be included in the upcoming textbook by Routledge. Gestalt Therapy: Advances in Theory and Practice. Michael’s main interest is in the interaction between physical processes, relational dynamics and the larger contextual field.