Cultivating Bodily Knowing: An introduction to Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy
HELENA KALLNER assisted by Emmanuelle Almansa Golaz from 31 October to 2 November 2025
Preferential rate for Swiss Gestalt members
Dear colleagues,
We are pleased to invite you to an experiential seminar designed to explore bodily processes in psychotherapy, with the aim of enhancing your clinical practice.
We will approach this therapeutic work from a phenomenological stance, in connection with the process of human development.
Throughout the seminar, we will explore how needs, emotions, and desires manifest through gestures, posture, vocal tone, and other forms of bodily communication. These relational patterns—present from birth—often remain unconscious or overlooked.
Through guided movement exercises, participants will develop greater bodily awareness, allowing for more attuned and responsive engagement with their environment. By becoming aware of their kinesthetic responses, therapists can act in more grounded and appropriate ways.
This capacity—referred to as the aesthetic criterion in Gestalt therapy—helps therapists better perceive and respond to the bodily dimensions of the therapeutic encounter. Movement patterns between therapist and client often reveal existential and relational themes, offering a deeper view into the relational field.
Helena Kallner and myself, as assistant, will bring a phenomenological perspective to the practice of Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy™, a method rooted in the innovative work of Ruella Frank.
We will also draw on Helena Kallner’s latest research, based on her PhD dissertation:
Forming Form: How Movement Shapes Psychotherapists’ Practical Knowledge.
This workshop is an invitation to:
- Deepen your awareness of movement patterns
- Connect with your embodied presence
- Enrich your therapeutic and personal relationships
🔹 The seminar will be held in English
📎 For full details and to register, please visit the following link:
👉 https://forms.gle/T2UAivnxNMJw9xpDA