Cederberg Sampler

I've just had a refreshingly wild experience in the Cederberg, South Africa. This area has been designated a "wilderness area" and doesn't dissappoint. In preparation for a workshop this coming weekend I spent two days and two nights camping at Nuwerus and hiking alone in the surrounding mountains.

Once out of the valley where the camp site is located I felt perfectly isolated from the world outside. The rugged, red rock seemed to bounce the early summer heat back under my sunhat in an attempt to parch my skin, pale from the cloudy English summer.

I'll update "wild gestalt" when I have more time. But so far I've nearly put my hand on a snake while clambering out of a rock pool in the river (wearing nothing but a startled look!), patted a tame springbok, stared at the night sky white with stars, watched the meteors as they fizzed across the immense African sky and watched a small mountain buck bounding effortlessly over the broken rocky terrain.

I can't help wondering about the lives of the early inhabitants of these mountains in their hunter gatherer bands.

More soon.

On Seasons, Cycles and Excitement

It has just gone 6pm as I sit and write this in my London apartment. Outside, the streetlights are on and the last remnants of the sunset sillouette the trees outside. Nature has ended a cycle of growth and is pulling back into itself for the long northern winter. Wind over the past few days has blown the autumn leaves into ankle deep drifts on the pavements keeping the streetsweepers very busy indeed. In spring it all starts again, the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.As a Gestalt practitioner, this cycle of life is reflected in the theoretical model of "cycles of experience". My life is a cycle, every meeting is a cycle, every experience is a cycle within a cycle. Sometimes a cycle is interrupted, I'm not fully present, perhaps anxiety gets in the way, transposing itself over the excitement. So I'm not fully present and I don't really see the other person, or really experience the moment. Part of me isn't quite there.The power of working in a Gestalt way whether as a therapist, coach or facilitator, is to work with the present awareness, to really get inside the current experience on all it's levels and in all its complexity. What's my heart doing, how am I breathing, what physical sensations can I feel, how do I really know that I'm happy, sad, anxious, excited? Do my thoughts actually correspond with everything else I experience in myself? What do I do to interrupt the cycle of experience and to keep me from a full engagement with the present?As I write I can feel my own excitment bubbling up through my body. As the winter draws in in England, I am planning a workshop in South Africa next month. The thought of this future event results in pleasure and excitement now. The season for working outdoors is drawing to a close in the UK and another is starting (for me at least!) in the Cederberg in a few weeks.So while there is always something to look forward to and to plan for, there is always a rich present experience to be had right now! Sometimes pleasant, sometimes unpleasant, but rich and exciting nevertheless!

A Woodland Weekend

I've just spent a long weekend camping in woodland near Battle in Sussex. I participated in a workshop led by Martin Jordan (http://www.ecotherapy.org.uk/) which looked into psychotherapy in the outdoors. The combination of experiential work in the woods, and the sharing of ideas and thoughts was an incredibly rich learning experience. And there is more too it than that.

As I write this I am sitting in my flat in Wimbledon looking out into the trees in the garden and on the Common beyond, I am very aware that I have brought more than just ideas to do with the work back home with me. I notice a feeling of connection with the greenery outside and yet I am also feeling very present in my indoor world. The television is on and from time to time I catch up with the latest in the financial crisis as I tap away on my keyboard.

Ecopsychologists talk about how as humans we have "split off" our relationship with the planet. Denying our essential relationship with the planet, believing ourselves to be something apart from the natural world. And that the excessive materialism and consequent environmental crisis is a direct result of this alientation from the very organism we depend on for our survival as a species.

In nature, there is a "self-regulation" that works. Maybe because it is a whole system. Perhaps the banks are in such a mess today because they were not regulated in terms of the whole system i.e. the governments left them alone. Having been watching the BBC's Big Cat Live, I can't help comparing this to taking the preditors off the Mara and watching the herd animals graze themselves into a desert and their own demise! The bankers left to their own devices have overgrazed, the system is lopsided, we need to let the preditors back in to regulate the system.

My experience of being out in the woods and coming back to the city has emphasised my place in the greater whole and has left me feeling peaceful. The world's financial crisis somehow put back in perspective. At one point on Sunday I lay alone in a sunny meadow munching on a sweet apple picked fresh from a lone apple tree. The sun, as it dipped low in the sky, picked out a network of fine spider webs that seemed to link every blade of grass in the field. Millions of spiders were at work doing what we all do, surviving as best we can on planet earth. And I am part of this web of connectedness, whether I realise it or not. Where I lay in the grass, hundreds of webs were destroyed. I can't avoid making an impact in the world. Every action, every meeting with another person or another creature changes something. A good example of Field theory, used by Gestaltists, that says everything is in some way connected.

My snooze in the meadow effected the spiders, the reckless City bankers are having an effect on the economy which in turn will impact me to a greater or lesser extent. The economy will recover and the spiders will continue spinning their web in the field.

I suspect the feeling of peace I'm left with today has something to do with my raised awareness of the interconnectedness of things, and my place in it.

Workshop: Cederberg Mountains, South Africa

I will be running a three day workshop in the Cederberg Mountains near Cape Town, South Africa from 20 until 23 November 2008.

This rugged mountain range provides the backdrop for getting in touch with the self, others and the greater whole in which we live.

For more information go to my website: www.wildreaches.com and click on "library".

I look forward to meeting you on the mountain!

Go well!

Paul

Gestalt Experiential Weekend: September

Put this provisional date in your diary for the next Wild Gestalt outdoor workshop.

13, 14 & 15 September 2008

More details to follow.

If you would like to be kept informed about the weekend please send me an email.

In brief, the weekend will consist of gentle hillwalking combined with Gestalt enquiry into the here and now. Emphasis is on awareness of yourself in relation to the group, the natural environment and your internal processes.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards
Paul

"The mind in its natural state can be compared to the sky,

covered by layers of cloud which hide its true nature"


Kalu Rinpoche

My recent trip to the hills of Snowdonia was a rich and meaningful experience. I was reminded what a fertile place a group can be for personal learning. And my belief has been reinforced that the natural environment provides a unique setting for this sort of work.

I have been trying to write something that explains what happens out there, what's different from working indoors, but this has proved difficult. When I've come up with words that do justice to the experience I will share them. Meanwhile, please add your thoughts on what it is about sitting on a wild Welsh hillside that stimulates heightened awareness of oneself and in relation to others and the broader world.

I found a quote that seems apt given that we experimented with silence and because I often bring back my feelings from wild places and enjoy them in the bustle of the city.

"Go Placidly

amid the noise and haste,

and remember what peace

there may be in silence"

(from Desiderata by Max Ehrman)

Take Care,

Paul

Going Wild in Devon

I recently had the great pleasure of working with a great group of people down in Devon. As part of a training workshop we spent a day exploring the possibilities of Wilderness therapy in a beautiful piece of woodland on the River Dart.

For most of the day I was able to shadow the facilitator and add my comments and observations when I felt I had something useful to contribute. I did, though, have the privilege of leading the group through an awareness exercise while sitting on the earth beneath the trees. I’ve led groups through such exercises before and have participated in similar exercises many times, but usually sitting on chairs in a stuffy, airless, centrally heated conference room, sitting. Climate control in the woods consists of zipping my coat higher and pulling my woolly hat lower!

As I talked the group through the exercise, I realised how much I enjoyed the richness of the experience. In a room I would be likely to concentrate on my thoughts, emotions, heartbeat, breathing, bodily sensations quite easily. I would be aware of my backside on the chair and my feet on the carpeted floor. I would hear perhaps the gurgling of the radiator (or someone’s stomach!) or the whirring of a fan. But out in the woods as I closed my eyes and talked the group through the exercise, I could feel the breeze on my cheek, the soil and leaves under my body, I could feel the earth with my fingers. And as we went deeper, I heard a woodpecker start up somewhere, not too far away, in the trees. I experienced this as a poignant and very special moment. Poignant because of the richness of the experience for me as a facilitator and special because it reaffirmed by belief in the potential of nature to enhance our awareness.

For me the awareness exercise will normally enhance my awareness of my whole self. When I participate in this exercise in a conference room I become more aware of how my body holds information about my emotions, how my feelings effect my physiological reactions and how much more my existence can be than just thoughts. This can be an affirming and sometimes quite a powerful experience. In the woods, I felt this whole awareness and I also felt this in relation to my surroundings in a way that I rarely, if ever, feel when I’m doing this work indoors.

The thing that I’ve found most interesting is that this more “holistic” awareness results in me being much more present. My feelings, thoughts and physical experience have become more integrated. Since I have been exploring this awareness in the outdoors, I have been much more able to integrate my experience of the world around me with my internal world. Is it a coincidence, I wonder, that I find myself looking up at the rooftops and upper floors of buildings when I walk through London, taking an interest in more than just the pavement and the gaps between the other pedestrians? Perhaps. Since I’ve been paying attention to myself and the natural environment I’ve been noticing much more about my relationship with urban environment.

Smell the Morning!

I was talking to Nick Ray recently about the African bush. It's something that we've both experienced close up and for extended periods. We agreed that after a while the whole feel and touch of the place really becomes ingrained, part of who we are. Then I said something that just slipped out naturally and seemed insignificant until Nick remarked on it. I was remembering what it was like to wake up in the bush after a night under the incredible stars of the African sky (something else I could go on about for hours!). I said something like, "...and waking up under a thorn tree and smelling the morning...". I was about to carry on but Nick smiled and stopped me.

I'd hadn't realised that just sitting there in my Wimbledon flat, I could smell the bush of northern Namibia. And how often do I smell the morning now? What do my mornings smell like now? The pleasant aroma of my morning coffee. The heavy industrial smell of diesel and petrol fumes as I stand at the bus stop. The rich smell of decaying vegetation on Wimbledon Common.

So this conversation, and memory, reminds me that there are many ways to experience the 'now'. Working holistically with clients I am often exploring their experience of the present including physical sensations, emotions, thoughts etc. But I've never considered the sense of smell. Perhaps it is not relevant in a stuffy winter counselling room. Yet, while working with clients in the Wilderness, it would seem like an ideal way of exploring the present. Another aspect of the vibrant, vivid now experience.

What do you smell in the morning?

Something About Gestalt

For those of you unfamiliar with what Gestalt therapy is, I thought I would write a few quick lines by way of introduction.

There were a few things that attracted me to this way of working. I like the emphasis on working in the here and now. While the past contributes to who you are today, I am much more interested in your experience in the present and what it is like during our meeting now, than I am in your past or your future. So as a gestalt therapist I want to find out about your past to contextualise and better understand our meeting in the present. According to Gestalt theory, the healing happens most effectively in the live, here and now relationship.


Awareness is the cornerstone of gestalt. Some writers say that awareness is the goal of gestalt therapy. We are often not aware of aspects of who we are. Sometimes I might have feelings that perplex me or cause me difficulty in my interactions with others and with the world. By becoming aware, in other words, by really understanding myself, getting to know myself and ultimately accepting who I am, I will be able to cope with my life much more effectively.



Gestalt uses what we call experiments to help raise our clients awareness. These experiments are used to give the client a different perspective on their experience of themselves in the here and now. Some therapists may make use of drawing, writing, sculpting etc which aid the client in their exploration and experience of themselves. Perhaps the most well known experiment is the "two chair" or "empty chair" experiment. This is where the client imagines another person or an aspect of themselves sitting in an empty chair in the room. This sounded strange to me when I first heard about it but I've discovered that it can be a very powerful way of getting in touch with aspects of the self that are out of awareness.



I should also say that I don't use experiments in every session, or even with every client. Much of the work is listening, letting the client be really heard, and trying to understand my client's experience.



Perhaps I need to bring the subject back to my relationship with the wilderness and the main purpose of this blog. Over the course of my life I have loved being in the outdoors whether it be on a mountainside, by a river, a lagoon, a beach or in a desert. I have noticed that when I am in these places I feel different. Somehow I feel freer, better, more able to see myself and my life. When I return to my urban life, my perspective seems to have shifted in some way. So I have become curious as to what happens when I am "out there".



My theory is that, much like the gestalt experiment, I am given a different view of my own life. Sometimes this may relate to having some "me" time to think through a problem. Some space, physically and psychically. As I read back over these last few lines I notice that I've said, "I am given...", when actually it may be more true to say that "I give myself", and maybe that is part of what feels so good about being out there.



The wilderness then, it seems to me, has the potential to be a wonderful place for a gestalt experiment! A place where people can experience themselves in a different way, get to know different aspects of themselves.



Stay tuned!

Aims and theories

I am working on producing some more detailed information with regards my thinking about working in the outdoors. Briefly though here are some snippets:

Humans evolved on the African savannah. On some deep level there is a memory of this. The wilderness is part of what it is to be human. Our instincts have evolved to survive in and live in the wilderness and to co-operate with each other to achieve this survival
Part of the problems faced in the world, both by individuals and on a larger scale (in society, politics, environmental destruction), are likely to be exacerbated or even caused by our alienation from the planet as a whole. We no longer consider our place in the natural world and as such we have lost touch with the interconnectedness of the organism we call Earth. This disconnectedness is reflected in how we treat the environment, each other and ourselves.
Hypothesis: Working on ourselves, in a group, in the wilderness may be an effective way of reintegrating our relationship with the planet, the organism that gives us life. We may then be able to move closer to making meaning of our lives.
Working in the wilderness rather than indoors may provide a new perspective on our lives by locating ourselves in the larger whole.
The new perspective provided by just being in the wilderness may provide an environment conducive to examining ourselves in ways that working enclosed by four walls may perhaps not.

The Begining

Welcome to my blog!

As the well known quote says: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". And as I know all too well, this is often the most difficult part. I've thought a lot about taking the psychotherapy practice of Gestalt into the outdoors over the years but until recently I haven't felt ready to put my ideas into practice. This spring I am starting an exciting journey that will take my ideas into the outdoors.

I am writing this blog to share some of my experience with you.

Warm regards
Paul