Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Learn about the principles of Gestalt therapy with visiting professor Harmony Kwiker, MA, LPC, ACS.
In this video, we explore the core principles of Gestalt therapy and how they come alive in the therapeutic relationship. Gestalt is not about treating the client as a separate “other,” but about meeting them fully in the present moment—as they are. You’ll learn how presence, awareness, and contact form the foundation of meaningful therapeutic work.
We cover how clients continuously make and break contact with their environment, how therapists can recognize these patterns in real time, and how to support clients in returning to the present through the awareness continuum. You’ll also learn how Gestalt therapy works within a client’s window of tolerance, helping maintain safety while deepening emotional contact.
This video introduces the Gestalt understanding of contact boundary disturbances, placing them in conversation with psychoanalytic ideas of defense mechanisms. We also explore the concept of unfinished business—how unresolved past experiences disrupt contact in the present moment—and how Gestalt therapy works with these patterns as they arise now, not just as historical narratives.
Topics covered include:
Embodying Gestalt principles in therapeutic presence
Contact and the therapist–client relationship
The awareness continuum and returning to the present moment
Window of tolerance in Gestalt work
Unfinished business and present-moment disruption
The five contact boundary disturbances:
Turning away (withdrawal)
Introjection
Projection
Retroflection
Confluence
Whether you’re a therapist, student, or simply curious about mindfulness-based and experiential approaches to healing, this video offers a grounded introduction to Gestalt therapy as a living, relational practice.
Learn about the principles of Gestalt therapy with visiting professor Harmony Kwiker, MA, LPC, ACS.
In this video, we explore the core principles of Gestalt therapy and how they come alive in the therapeutic relationship. Gestalt is not about treating the client as a separate “other,” but about meeting them fully in the present moment—as they are. You’ll learn how presence, awareness, and contact form the foundation of meaningful therapeutic work.
We cover how clients continuously make and break contact with their environment, how therapists can recognize these patterns in real time, and how to support clients in returning to the present through the awareness continuum. You’ll also learn how Gestalt therapy works within a client’s window of tolerance, helping maintain safety while deepening emotional contact.
This video introduces the Gestalt understanding of contact boundary disturbances, placing them in conversation with psychoanalytic ideas of defense mechanisms. We also explore the concept of unfinished business—how unresolved past experiences disrupt contact in the present moment—and how Gestalt therapy works with these patterns as they arise now, not just as historical narratives.
Topics covered include:
Embodying Gestalt principles in therapeutic presence
Contact and the therapist–client relationship
The awareness continuum and returning to the present moment
Window of tolerance in Gestalt work
Unfinished business and present-moment disruption
The five contact boundary disturbances:
Turning away (withdrawal)
Introjection
Projection
Retroflection
Confluence
Whether you’re a therapist, student, or simply curious about mindfulness-based and experiential approaches to healing, this video offers a grounded introduction to Gestalt therapy as a living, relational practice.
