The weekend was astoundingly spiritual and provided a powerful display of human love and connectedness. It also provided me with a way to process deeper compassion and empathy for others.
The workshop was an exhausting, mind-boggling, eye opening and rewarding experience and I thank you for that. It is so amazing!
The workshop was an excellent blend of intellectual and practical Gestalt techniques; also appropriate blend of physical, emotional, spiritual components.
The workshop was offered with a warm and generous gesture of what we are all striving for in becoming human.
I wish I could have stayed in that room forever; the amount of love coming from everyone in that room… well, I have never experienced something so beautiful, cleansing and necessary.
Thank you so much for a beautiful afternoon of healing; I loved being in community with all of those dear people, and I feel a strong renewal of love energy right now. Love and gratitude to you.
As I watched the hot seat work, the tears just flowed in admiration of your team’s love and caring. I have been blessed, you all are a blessing.
I am not the same person….I am not as afraid….I am excited by my life for the first time….I am grateful.
What worked for me really well was writing down my intention for this workshop right in the beginning. My goal was to become more and more “fearless” and, looking back, I realize the workshop changed my whole outlook on being fearless. Instead of visualizing a fully armed and shielded warrior who defeats fear with sheer strength and willpower, I now see another option: to simply conquer my fear with love by comforting myself with a song or a poem or a picture. The concrete suggestion of listening to “Bridge over Troubled Water” when I experience fear was very useful to me!
There are no words to express how deeply I have been affected by this past weekend. For the first time in my 59 years I feel I’ve broken free from my parents and am free to be ME. The safe, warm, kindness of you and all the group members has given me the opportunity to break my silence, to end the secrets. Now I have a barrier protecting me – and I feel safe, and no longer alone. A hundred blessings on all who were there this weekend.
The work I did at the Gestalt weekend helped me to make a break from my pain & anger. I finally got my head to break the surface of water to take that first gulp of air. Each person’s experience helped the rest of the group to heal. Everyone helped me to heel! It brings tears to my eyes. I felt like a weight was lifted off my chest after that weekend. You brought all of us this amazing healing as you conduct it and know just what needs to be done and when to prompt the group and in which direction to help the individual doing the work. The amazing thing is that all in the group benefit from each individual’s work. It is just unbelievable!
The weekend reminded me that I am vulnerable, that I have hurts, guilt and anger from long ago that had not been directly expressed. I surprised the heck out of myself in the power of my emotions, especially my rage.
I am looking at myself differently, more kindly than I have in a very long time. I actually looked at myself in the mirror a few days after I got home and said…” Maria, I love you”. I smile at myself. I feel more comfortable with myself. I firmly believe that anything you do for yourself enriches what you bring to others, either personally or professionally. I think others in my life know it is safe to be vulnerable with me.
After working with the Gestalt Center, I continue to make positive changes in my life by staying true to myself. I speak kind words and affirmations daily, and refuse to accept the negativity of those I encounter.
This has profoundly impacted my life. For example, the inner dialogue I now have with myself is more loving and caring than it has ever been. I greet myself in the mirror several times a day to say I love myself! That is wonderful improvement for me! I take strong stands on issues and feelings that concern me. I am at a place that I refuse to allow anger and resentment of others to impact my life. Than you for this.
I feel myself honoring myself and my feelings more after this work. As a result, this is changing the dynamics in all of my relationships. For the relationships that I have that are healthy, this is a positive change and a change that is well received. In other relationships that are less healthy, my change and focus on myself is challenging those relationships. I will however continue to honor myself and communicate to all the people around me as respectfully and carefully as I can but I will not revert back to placating others at the expense of myself.
Thank You so very much for touching my life with love and helping me to move into a higher level of life. All of you are a true blessing!
Absolutely, I do. Just realizing the metamorphosis in these last several weeks has been amazing… changing my whole mindset. Realizing it isn’t magic. I am going to have my “bad” days and that when I do, I have to deal with them and not hide from them. Knowing there are people out there that are supportive and that are not necessarily judgmental. I am being judgmental when I am not giving people a chance because I KNOW they will “judge” me. Makes no sense. That’s where my head was before that weekend. I feel like a dark blanket was removed from my head and I am finally able to see sunshine again. I feel uplifted and alive.
I feel I have stronger boundaries with other people whereas before I allowed others to run all over me more easily. I let my needs and wants known a bit more. I feel like I am definitely “testing the waters” in this regard a little more. I am trying to be a lot less passive-aggressive and more assertive.
I am grateful for the opportunity to learn how to love myself better. That a seed for everything else in my world. That little bit of self love begins to allow growth in me and in the impact I can have in the world through being more open to truly live ‘with’ others.
After doing this Gestalt work with you, I am more open to love, more open to letting my wife into my life, and I had a great chance to grieve my Mom’s recent death.
I know that there is no danger in asking for what I need now. I was afraid of rejection before and I guess I became needless and wantless. Asking for something, instead of always taking care of others, has always been a challenge. I now know that I will never be alone since I can really be myself, without shame.
I am more honest and open with others. This makes my relationships truly intimate since I am sharing who I am, warts and all, insecurities, fears, whatever! I can be myself with my loved ones, friends, neighbors and customers.
As I said, it is life affirming and life changing.
I was in a down place yesterday and it culminated in a long talk late in the evening. I was going over how my life “was.” I couldn’t believe the way I allowed people to treat me. I saw what a position of victimhood I had assumed, what a caretaker role I had taken on. That was my calling although I did not know where I received the calling from until working with you guys!
Suddenly such a feeling of gratitude came over me. I realized how far I had come. Recovery opened the doors but the real healing was in gestalt therapy work with you guys.
I’ve learned that the key of loving myself is profound. It takes me down the right road whether in my interior spiritual life or relationship life or work.
Subtly I sense my release into deeper levels of commitment in my marriage and my inner life. I’m bringing more of me to my interpersonal relationships and contributing more.
Being accepted and loved, plus providing a place where I can contribute that to others and it be received in this workshop has impacted my relationship with myself and others.
I do feel hopeful and the weekend definitely helped. It emphasized for me the importance for me to stay connected to people and that I heal best in a group environment. Doing it alone isn’t likely to be successful for me.
Every workshop that I have been to creates a safe and sacred place for people to truly share themselves without fear of criticism or negative repercussions. Many people feel this safety and sacredness at such a deep level that they are able to share things with total strangers what they may have never told anyone else before. Then the entire group is able to learn from each other and heal through genuine and authentic caring for one another.
I always leave the workshops feeling that I have witnessed and partook in something very special and have made memories and created feelings and bonds that will stay with me forever. I draw on these positive experiences when I need to and they help me to feel blessed and grateful for my life.
I am able to go deeper into my emotions to find out what I really need and want and the conversations I have with myself are much more pleasant and productive. When I am happier this rubs off on the people I surround myself with.
This past weekend experience brought a better awareness to my actions, my direction and my overall outlook. It opened my back up to love and what’s important. I have learned that I feel very alive and connected during the workshops and I am now seeking more opportunities to be in a safe community of people working on themselves. I think that I have a new career path in the field of personal development and healing work.
My relationship with myself has improved dramatically. I am really learning how to truly love myself and be gentle with myself. I stop and check in with myself, listen to my body and take care of my needs. I have also learned how to better relate to others by creating a safe sacred place to listen and accept them for their authentic selves.
These workshops have given me such a loving place of healing, processing and community. From that foundation, so much is possible.
The workshop gave me insight as to how to shift my perspective on showing up for myself differently than I otherwise would.
This workshop provided the opportunity for me to practice being SEEN and HEARD in an accepting, non-judgmental group setting, which is always the base for change for me. Whenever I have a positive experience like this, as in being seen and heard and speaking from my authentic ME, it seems to broaden my sense of self, my boundaries, and then I am able to take that out in to other relationships in my life.
I was so glad to be present with people who understand the importance of this work and want to create a space to allow themselves or others to do it. It’s such a path to healing, and then that individual healing goes on to create healing in the world with others.
After the workshop I have been more proactive with both reaching out to others and also setting necessary boundaries with others. It has helped me to be more vulnerable and more cognizant of how I respond to myself and to others when I feel vulnerable.
I really appreciated the hot seat work and group exercises, both witnessing and participating. I believe this is the core of Gestalt through which all of insight, awareness, contact, and connection flows. The scenes created surpassed anything we could have orchestrated on Zoom. I’m really glad that I came.
The sharing with each other at the end of the one-day workshop in particular provided helpful feedback on how others see me, and an opportunity to be really authentic with others.