The full demo is streaming for free on Patreon for one week.
In this third session of our ongoing therapy series, we begin to track a clear polarity has emerged in his system.
On one side, he becomes hyper-focused on his body. Tracking symptoms. Monitoring sensations. Trying to manage or solve the pain. His attention narrows and tightens around what is happening physically. The vigilance makes sense. Chronic pain has trained him to stay alert.
On the other side, when the intensity feels like too much, he abandons the body altogether. He checks out. He zones out on YouTube. Hours can pass. It looks like rest, but it is not restorative. His body is left behind.
In this session, I facilitate a two-chair dialogue between these two parts: the hyper-focused monitor and the abandoning, checking-out self. As they begin to speak to one another, we see that both are organized around protection. One believes that if he watches closely enough, he can prevent more pain. The other believes that leaving is the only way to survive it.
Rather than trying to eliminate either side, we stay with the polarity. We slow it down. We honor the intelligence in both positions. And something begins to reorganize from within.
This is transpersonal Gestalt work in action. We do not override the nervous system. We bring awareness to the contact boundary and allow organismic self-regulation to emerge.
You can listen to the full session free on Patreon for one week.
About Harmony
Harmony Kwiker, MA, LPC, is the founder of The Awakened Therapist Approach and Lead Gestalt Faculty at Naropa University’s Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Counseling program. She is the author of Reveal: Embody the True Self Beyond Trauma and Conditioning, Align: Living in Loving from the True Self, The Awakened Therapist, and Holistic Co-Regulation. Through her teaching, writing, and live demonstrations, Harmony integrates Gestalt therapy, somatic awareness, nervous system science, and spiritual attunement into one cohesive clinical framework. Learn more at awakenedtherapist.com.
Learn With Us
If these live therapy demos speak to you, there are several ways to deepen your work.
The Awakened Therapist Level 1 is a six-month live training that integrates somatics, trauma-informed care, polyvagal theory, Gestalt experiments, and transpersonal awareness into a clinically grounded, spiritually attuned framework. Participants receive 12 NBCC CEs and join a community of therapists committed to practicing from sovereignty and coherence.
Harmony also offers small, closed supervision groups for clinicians trained in transpersonal and Gestalt counseling, as well as individual supervision, consultation, and professional mentorship for therapists building their clinical voice, their business, or their body of work.