“Can you fix me?” one of my clients asked a few years ago in our first meeting. Though said in a jokingly manner, we explored the question together and discovered two underlying beliefs, that are very common: “I need to be fixed, because there is something wrong with me” and “I don’t trust myself, tell me what to do”.

From the first moment we were engaging in the collaborative process of therapy, exploring and discovering how these convictions were held in the body, the emotions connected to it, the origins of these beliefs and how they show up in her life currently. However, with increasing awareness she also experienced a felt sense of already being whole and that there was nothing wrong that needed to be fixed. In addition, while being guided in the process, she also experienced that she was an equal partner and her own expert. Together we supported her shift in the present moment from a habitual pattern to a new, felt experience of being empowered. Instead of just talking about it, we shared a meaningful experience, that changed us both.

This example illustrates two principles that we truly value as Gestalt therapists: working experientially within the therapeutic relationship, in the present moment including body, heart, mind, and spirit. By exploring how we have organized our experiences into habitual, often stuck patterns, we increase our awareness so we can access new ways of being, that were previously not available. We can consciously choose how to respond to situations in a meaningful way in contact with our innate wisdom.

It also shows, that when we are fully present with what is, there is no problem, but an experience of aliveness and love, a truly transformative power. As Bruce Tift says: “You can’t solve one’s life. Life isn’t solvable. It’s not a problem to fix. It’s a process that we can participate in. Things are always improving. They’re always falling apart.”

The knowing, that we are inherently whole and have an innate ability to heal, is also at the center of Transpersonal Psychotherapy. Our approach is deeply embedded in our own spiritual practice, especially in Adyashanti’s non dual teachings and Thomas Huebl’s path to collective healing.