You can find the video recording of

the dialogue on Gestalt and Buddhist Psychology

which was held on Saturday September, 18th

here

 

There are many overlaps between Gestalt Therapy and Buddhist Psychology. Indeed Fritz spent some time in a Zen monastery during the evolution of Gestalt. 

Like Buddhism, Gestalt has many schools and therefore variations on the core philosophy and practice. 

The aim of this session is to open a dialogue with you on this topic based on our personal and practitioner experiences. 

Many of you will have grown up in a Buddhist religious context and be practicing Buddhism in some form so linking it with Gestalt would enable you to integrate this wealth of cultural experience into your therapeutic approach. 

We intend to introduce a few of these overlaps:

• Mindfulness/Awareness. (Buddhist term)
• Compassion (Buddhist term)
• Acceptance/Non-attachment  (Anitya),
• Suffering (Dukkha),
• Self and Non-Self (Anatma)

These are huge topics really requiring a session (or a year-long study) on each so the session is just opening the dialogue to see how it might be explored further.

The session will be led by John Leary-Joyce and Pragya Shrestha

John

I have been practicing Gestalt in my work and life for 40 years and in the last 4 years have been studying and practicing Buddhism. My understanding of Buddhism is from Western perspective – focusing on the spiritual fundamentals rather than the rituals of the religion. This exploration has identified the strong connection between Gestalt and Buddhism and a desire to build and develop this further to discover what Buddhist psychology can add to my Gestalt practice and life.

Pragya

I got connected with Gestalt in 2011, but practicing it after I started education in Gestalt since 2013. Gestalt became a foundation for studying Master degree in Applied Buddhism. Buddhism for me is not just academic education, but for exploration of art of living and peace of mind. The more I study and explore Buddhism, the more I found connection between Gestalt and Buddhism. This also means finding the connection or integration of western perspective (Gestalt) and eastern perspective (Buddhism) rather than focusing only on one side.

Registration: Please write an email to gestaltinstitutenepal@gmail.com

Fee: The fee for this event is 750 Nrs