Emotional. A blog about Gestalt therapy and more

26/02/2026

What is Enneagram and how is it used in Gestalt Theatre?

Disclaimer: It's important not to view the Enneagram as a proven system of psychological types, but as a useful tool for working on self-discovery in motion.

In Gestalt Theatre, movement is central because we see a human being not only psychological — it is embodied. When we work with characters in a group, we strive to dismantle rigid, repetitive ego structures, — and these structures are visible in how we move, sit, walk, look, speak, and relate. In other words, by introducing challenge, uncertainty, or a change of role, Gestalt Theatre creates moments of destabilization. In these moments, the rigid pattern becomes visible.

Through music, movement, guided fantasy, and structured theatrical scenes, participants enact their habitual roles. In doing so, they reveal how their patterns organize their experience here and now. When a person chooses a role in a scene, it is usually something familiar — an extension of their character pattern.

The Enneagram, a model of nine interconnected personality types brought into Gestalt by Claudio Naranjo, is sometimes used as a supportive map — not as a system of labels, but as a way to observe recurring embodied patterns of defense, attention, and relational style. It helps the participants recognize how character expresses itself through posture, movement, emotional tone, and contact, making visible what usually operates automatically.

The Enneagram then serves as a lens to notice comfort zones, defensive strategies, and obstacles to contact — always in service of awareness, never as a fixed identity. Let me give you brief practical examples in group work.

The Nine Energies in Space: Participants explore different embodied relational energies (assertive, merging, observing, performing, doubting, etc.) and interact from them, discovering how contact styles shape the field.
The Moment Before Contact: A participant walks toward another person and freezes just before contact. The body reveals hesitation, control, longing, dominance, or withdrawal — the ego in motion.
The Pattern as Character: A participant embodies their habitual stance (e.g., controlling, pleasing, withdrawing), exaggerates it, then dialogues with it. Movement externalizes fixation. You can read more about Enneagram in Gestalt Theatre here: https://awakenedtherapist.com/enneagram-transpersonal-gestalt-therapy/

Our 3 days Gestalt Theatre Workshop "Presence, Expression, and Living Contact" at ashtangavienna can become for you an opportunity to have your first experience in Gestalt Theatre. More information about the workshop and registration: https://gestaltworkshops.eu/workshops/vienna-2026

23/02/2026

Today I want to introduce Jorge Gregorio Morales, whose first Gestalt Theatre workshop we host in Vienna this April. With over 35 years of experience in the theatre world and 15 years of practice combining theatre with therapy and personal development, he uses an integrative approach that incorporates the principles of Gestalt therapy, the SAS approach of Claudio Naranjo, and other methods such as Peter Brook's improvisational theatre or Jat Malmgren's techniques, which synthesized Carl Jung's psychological typification and movement in artistic practice.

Born in Zaragoza in 1972, Jorge Gregorio Morales had his first theatrical experience at the age of 14, participating in his high school's theatre group. By the age of 18, he had founded his own amateur theatre group. However, his professional life initially took a completely different direction: he got a degree in telecommunications engineering and worked in that field. However, his calling as an actor was very strong, and in 2004 he made a radical life change, moving to Madrid and enrolling in the acting school of the renowned teacher Juan Carlos Corazza, complementing his studies with vocal lessons and theatre pedagogy classes. He subsequently worked as an actor and directed his own plays in Madrid theaters.

The second key moment was his interest in Gestalt therapy: in 2011, Jorge became a student at the Gestalt Institute in Madrid, and later completed the SAT program of Claudio Naranjo, one of Fritz Perls's prominent followers. He also defended his dissertation, "Voices of Popular Theatre in Gestalt Therapy." Today, Jorge conducts courses and workshops at the "Teatro Popular Gestalt" he founded, as well as at various Gestalt institutes in Spain, combining Gestalt theatre with individual therapy sessions.

In his classes, Jorge offers his students the opportunity to experience theatrical and therapeutic techniques in an accessible environment based on community spirit and empathy. Jorge's first 3 days Gestalt Theatre Workshop — Presence, Expression, and Living Contact at ashtangavienna studio will be a unique opportunity to tap into the entire world of Gestalt Theatre. More information about the workshop and registration:
https://gestaltworkshops.eu/workshops/vienna-2026
For the first participants, we offer a Founders price, a way to thank those who wish to support this project and be part of its first step.

16/02/2026

In anticipation of our first Gestalt Theatre workshop in Vienna, I want to tell you more about this approach. How does Gestalt Therapeutic Theatre work? It includes many different group experiments. What they share is a focus on lived experience, the body, and discovery rather than explanation. The following is just one simple example — yet it often opens something surprisingly deep.

Participants work in pairs. One person speaks a word that feels meaningful in the moment and then expresses it through a bodily “sculpture.” The partner observes carefully — the direction of movement, tension, breathing, posture — and then recreates the same sculpture in their own body. Afterwards, they share what they experienced, not as interpretation, but as lived sensation.

Then the process shifts. The first person creates the physical opposite of their sculpture — not the mental opposite, but the bodily one. Again, the partner embodies it. And again, they notice what changes: energy, feeling, inner movement.

But the most interesting part comes next. Slowly, step by step, they begin to move from one pole to the other through several transitional positions — almost like passing through invisible landscapes of the body. Finally, they search for a “zero position” — a place that is neither one pole nor the other, but a dynamic, aware middle where conflicting forces balance and something new can emerge. In such moments, we do not choose one side against the other.�We discover a third path — not abstract, but lived.

Learn more and sign up for the workshop "Presence, Expression, and Living Contact" with Jorge Gregorio Morales, where you can experience Gestalt Theatre for yourself in a small international group. April 10-12, Venue: ashtangavienna, Vienna. Registration: https://gestaltworkshops.eu/workshops/vienna-2026

13/02/2026

The Body Does Not Need Destiny

Surely you have experienced a similar situation? The mind asks: Is this the right decision for my whole life? And your body asks something simpler: Is this step livable now? In moments when choice feels heavy and irreversible, the mind searches for certainty and finds none. The body does not live in imagined futures — it responds to what can be lived, carried, and embodied now.

In the humanistic and somatic approaches, awareness is not mental control but lived sensing — noticing tightening or easing, contraction or opening, heaviness or lightness. Not destiny, but process. When inner pressure - to secure the whole future - softens, something more basic can reappear: contact with the simple sense of what is possible now.

Carl Rogers expressed this trust in process with beautiful simplicity: “People are just as wonderful as sunsets if I can let them be.”

Somatic support does not remove fear or guarantee outcomes. But it often restores something more fundamental — the capacity to move while still uncertain. And sometimes, when the body is listened to, what once felt like an irreversible leap becomes simply a human step — grounded, imperfect, and alive.

Photo: "Solaris" (1972) by Andrei Tarkovsky.

12/02/2026

Gestalt Therapeutic Theatre workshops come to Poland! In May, Łódzkie Centrum Gestalt will be holding first Gestalt Theatre workshop in collaboration with EMOTIONAL workshops. From May 15th to 17th, the Spanish psychotherapist, actor, and founder of the Madrid-based "Teatro Popular Gestalt", Jorge Gregorio Morales, will hold his workshop "Introduction to Gestalt Theatre," at this wonderful center. The workshop will be in Polish language.

Tego jeszcze nie było‼‼ Zapraszamy Was serdecznie na warsztat wprowadzajcy do teatru Gestalt.

Teatr Gestalt jest podejściem, które poszerza rozumienie procesu terapeutycznego o wymiar ciała, ruchu, głosu i ekspresji, pozostając głęboko zakorzenionym w świadomości „tu i teraz” oraz w relacyjnym kontakcie. W wielu krajach, szczególnie w Ameryce Łacińskiej i Hiszpanii, stanowi ważny nurt pracy terapeutycznej i szkoleniowej; w Europie Środkowej jest wciąż mało znany.

Informacje i zapisy:
https://lcg.dot.pl/warsztaty/

07/02/2026

Emotional responsability

Sometimes, when we talk about misunderstandings with a partner, we use the expression "It's as if we're speaking different languages." What's the reason we can't find common ground, and how can we find a path to understanding? The key here is emotional responsibility.

In Gestalt therapy, when tension arises between two people, there are two primary pathways: Contact and Adaptation.

Contact – is when something new emerges between two people: both people are affected, even slightly, and a sense of movement and change arises.

Adaptation – is when contact fails, and instead, the relationship between people is stabilized through substitutes such as detachment, intellectualization, politeness, routinization, distraction, and "reasonableness." These adaptations (in Gestalt they are usually called Creative Adjustments) aren't inherently wrong, but when they completely replace contact, intimacy weakens. Many people learn to regulate pain through substitutes—activity, detachment, rationality, structure, even kindness—instead of real contact.

The relationship may continue, but something vital disappears. As Isadore From suggested, when one partner tries to say, name, or feel something, and the other structures, holds back, or explains, the relationship survives, but at a cost: it dies from within, and both suffer.

We suffer not because we feel too much.
We suffer because we regulate our feelings instead of truly connecting.
Emotional responsibility lies in both partners' ability to maintain contact – not adapting or adjusting themselves, but changing together.

Image: "American Gothic" by Grant Wood (1930) and its models

03/02/2026

Is Trauma Stored in Our Body?

Published in 2014, psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk's book "The Body Keeps the Score" became one of the most influential books on trauma, especially for those who adhere to somatic approaches such as Gestalt. It explores the idea that trauma is "stored" in our bodies, meaning it affects not only our thoughts but also our physiology. So what exactly does this statement mean: "Trauma is stored in the body"?

It's important to understand that this phrase is somewhat general and metaphorical: repeated bodily reactions do not "store" memories or emotions separately from the brain. The body reflects emotional stress, but it is the brain that generates and interprets it. In other words, the body displays the consequences of emotional and stressful processes, but - as neuroscience has shown in recent years, - emotions are generated by complex brain networks that interact with bodily states. It is precisely the simplified understanding of these processes in Bessel van der Kolk's book that has drawn criticism from scientists and even accusations of pseudoscience.

However, it should be remembered that "The Body Keeps the Score" provides very detailed and thematically organized descriptions of stress reactions and trauma-related symptoms. Therefore, in a practical sense, this book is a very useful "textbook" for therapists and anyone interested in emotions.

27/01/2026

Have you ever heard of Erickson's hypnosis approach? When I first read about the method of American psychotherapist Milton Erickson (1901-1980), I was struck by how his approach didn't seem "hypnotic" in the conventional sense. Instead, it was strangely reminiscent of Gestalt therapy.

In both approaches, the therapist is not a detached expert, but rather a responsive presence—tuning in, adjusting, and following the client's process step by step. Erickson's method—the use of metaphors, images, and stories—often invites the client into an inner landscape that is alive, corporeal, and interconnected. A metaphor offered by the therapist during a session—for example, a flying eagle—is not an externally imposed interpretation; it is a suggestion, something the client can experience in their own way, at their own pace. And this is very much in the spirit of Gestalt therapy.

Both Gestalt therapy and Ericksonian hypnosis rely on imagination not as a means of escape, but as a means of connection. Sensations in the body, awareness of space, subtle changes in the poses of the therapist and the client, their breathing—changes occur not through explanations, but through experience. Perhaps what most closely resembles Gestalt and Ericksonian hypnosis is a shared trust, a trust in what is happening here and now.

The photo of Erickson working with a client is taken from Jerome Beatty's article "Feeling No Pain," American Magazine, 1945.

18/01/2026

Many people understand the term "narcissist" as a symbol of manipulativeness and egotism, but Argentine philosopher Florencia Abadía sustains that narcissism and egotism are fundamentally different.

"For me, narcissism is the need to be loved by others, with the addition of one element: the assumption that the other person loves me on the condition that I am something, that I correspond to a certain ideal," she said in an interview celebrating the release of her book, 'Narcissus: The Ego in the Age of the Image' ".

"In the myth, Narcissus is captivated by an image he sees in a fountain. At first, he doesn't even realize it's his own image, and in some versions, he throws himself into the water and drowns, giving his life to this image, or dies because he can't separate himself from it. Thus, the narcissistic mechanism isn't about being content with who you are, or about selfishness, about putting yourself first. It's about sacrificing your life to maintain an image in which you believe you're loved. It's about putting your own bodily needs aside for this purpose."

Living for show, the desire to conform to societal and media standards, and to be 'perfect' in the eyes of others (rather than being true to oneself) leads to a tragic denial of oneself and one's needs. Therefore, narcissism has nothing to do with true self-love.

06/01/2026

Modern pop 'psychological culture' teaches us self-love, but it overlooks a crucial point. By calling for the protection of boundaries and self-love, it can lead us to withdrawal and avoidance. Why might this happen?

Because it's impossible to live in a sterile world, and in any relationship there will always be moments of asymmetry, misunderstanding, and dependency. It took me many years, and my recent experiences and feelings were especially crucial, to understand: what's truly important isn't searching for the perfect relationship, but being able to navigate it without losing myself — and without demanding the other erase themselves. This leaves room for risk, attachment, love.

In Gestalt terms, this is the ability to experience relationships as contact, not as support, and to sense "this is difficult" without losing the balance between Figure and Field. I stay in a relationship as long as I can remain in contact without interrupting myself.

29/12/2025

Couples therapy. This is a special area of ​​therapeutic work that certainly requires the therapist to use a wide range of skills. What tools can help in Gestalt couples therapy? I believe integration with Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT-C) can be particularly effective. This approach is very popular in the US, while it's not yet as widespread in Europe, although interest is growing.

EFT-C is a cognitive approach based on attachment theory that helps couples recognize and transform emotional patterns that hinder their relationships. This therapy reveals how unmet needs from childhood or previous relationships shape couples' lives.

What Gestalt therapy often views through figure-ground dynamics and unfinished business situations, EFT-C formulates as a distinction between primary adaptive emotions (such as sadness, melancholy, fear of loss) and secondary or maladaptive reactions, such as detachment, criticism, or emotional numbness. Integrating this distinction can help Gestalt therapists orient a couple toward an underlying need rather than a reactive interaction.

For example, a couple experiences a typical cycle: she criticizes his emotional distance, and he becomes silent and distant. Over the course of several sessions, the therapist helps him connect with the core emotion underlying the detachment—for example, the fear of his own inadequacy—while simultaneously helping her recognize that her anger is built around a deeper desire for certainty and security. As these core emotions are named and shared through communication, phrases like "You don't care" or "I'll fail again" begin to lose their meaning, and an understanding of each partner's needs emerges, enabling them to build a dialogue and seek mutual understanding.

24/12/2025

For me, as for many people, Christmas and New Year's Eve are a time when everything is felt much more intensely and one is more vulnerable than usual. This is a time when we test our relationships with family and close ones. Neuroscience shows that our brain reacts faster and more emotionally to familiar people than to strangers. Christmas amplifies the attachment system — the need for closeness, safety, and shared meaning. That’s why family member's or partner’s silence, distance, or warmth can affect us very strongly at Christmas, when the nervous system is already oriented toward belonging, these reactions can intensify.

And when close people are absent, the nervous system becomes even louder. In these moments, the longing that arises is not a failure of resilience but a healthy attachment response. From a Gestalt perspective, self-attunement begins with awareness rather than correction: rather than distracting from it or judging it, self-attunement means gently naming the feeling (“I miss connection”). Instead of pushing it away, one stays in contact with this feeling and can support oneself through simple, rhythmic acts of care. In this way, Christmas spent alone can turn into a moment of searching for inner harmony, warmth and inner strength.

Merry Christmas! ✨