Edward W.L. Smith, Ph.D. is a "therapist's therapist" - a teacher, trainer, mentor and author - whose writings from 1972 - 2009, capture the essence of Gestalt therapy's contribution to psychotherapeutic practice - the embodied patient. From Freud and Reich, to Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, to Perls and Polster - projection and retroflection, contact boundary disturbances, awe and terror in insight and expression, the meaning of the person of the therapist, and working with the client's breathing and posture - the essays and articles in this book incorporate Gestalt theory, applications, history and philosophical roots, yet they never leave the consulting room. Students, trainees and seasoned therapists alike will find themselves stimulated and energized in their work with clients. After earning a B.A. degree in psychology from Drake University, and an M.S. in experimental psychology and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Kentucky, Edward W. L. Smith taught at Georgia State University and then pursued an18-year full-time independent practice of psychotherapy in Atlanta. Returning to academia, he was the founding Director of Clinical Training for the Psy.D. program at Georgia Southern University, where he is now professor emeritus. Edward is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Clinical Psychology, and the Georgia Psychological Association. He has been an international workshop leader for nearly 40 years. He holds the certificate of the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) and was an early member of the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. His books include The Growing Edge of Gestalt Therapy (Ed.), The Body in Psychotherapy, Sexual Aliveness: A Reichian Gestalt Perspective, Not Just Pumping Iron: On the Psychology of Lifting Weights, Gestalt Voices (Ed.), Touch in Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice (Co-ed. with Pauline Clance & Suzanne Imes), and The Person of the Therapist. Edward pursues jazz with a tenor saxophone as an erotic balance to his logos-heavy professional writing. The poetry Muses sometimes beckon him, as well.

An international selection of authors provide a detailed exploration of Gestalt as a somatic and relational practice. Covering many aspects of this relationship, the chapters include discussion of our relationships with nature, the role of Eros, energy in Taoism, affect and methods of practice. Both theoretical and practical application of an embodied relational approach to GT are presented, and many chapters include case studies from the contributors’ own work. The overall view of the book is that our bodies are inextricably embedded and co-creating with the environment, and that we know our body and the world through our embodiment.

This book is a collaboration of some of the best thinkers in the Gestalt therapy world and offers a high-level summary of recent and future developments in theory, practice and research.

The Gestalt approach is based on the philosophy that the human being is born with the healthy ability to regulate needs and wants in relationship with the environment in which she/he lives. Heightening of personal awareness and exploration of needs is enabled by the therapist who actively engages in supporting and assisting the therapeutic journey of the client. Gestalt Therapy: Advances in Theory and Practice is a collaboration of some of the best thinkers in the Gestalt therapy approach. It offers a summary of recent advances in theory and practice, and novel ideas for future development. Each chapter focuses on a different element of the Gestalt approach and, with contributors from around the world, each offers a different perspective of its ongoing evolution in relation to politics, religion and philosophy. Incorporating ideas about community, field theory, family and couple therapy, politics and spirituality, this book will be of interest not only to Gestalt therapists but also to non-Gestalt practitioners, counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. Counselling, behavioural science and psychotherapy students will also find this a valuable contribution to their learning.

Exploring Masculinity, Sexuality, and Culture in Gestalt Therapy is an invitation to explore social and political issues within the psychotherapeutic framework. It describes and analyses the author’s journey of becoming a gestalt therapist in Poland and England through analyses of masculinity, sexuality, relationality, and culture. This book addresses the collective gestalts exploring the psychotherapeutic taboos of sexual transference, same-sex attraction, use or lack of touch, gender equality, and inter-cultural conflicts. Each chapter is an exploration of prejudices embedded in our cultures and therapeutic work, and provides a theoretical challenge to current practices within gestalt therapy and beyond. The author advocates for a more collective understanding of embodied sensations emerging in the therapeutic context as collective gestalts. Through the use of autoethnographic research methodology, this book shows how personal embodied experiences are intertwined with the social, political, and material context. It is essential reading for gestalt therapists, as well as readers interested in gestalt approaches.

Kepner not only shows how a client's posture, movements, and bodily experiences are relevant to therapy, but goes on to provide an insightful framework for incorporating these phenomena into a therapeutic framework. With a new introduction by the a

The therapist's body is a vital part of the therapeutic encounter, yet there is an inherent inadequacy in current psychotherapeutic discourse to describe the bodily phenomena. Until recently, for instance, the whole area of touch in psychotherapy has been given very little attention. The Embodied Psychotherapist uses accounts of therapists' own experiences to address this inadequacy in discourse, and provides strategies for incorporating these feelings into therapeutic work with clients. Drawing on these personal accounts, it also discusses the experiences that can be communicated to the therapist during the encounter. This description and exploration of how practitioners use their bodily feelings within the therapeutic encounter book will be valuable for all psychotherapists and counsellors.