Embodied Creativity & Transformation (panel: art as therapy)

In this contribution, the potential of embodied creativity for transformative processes is discussed. The experiences of participants of a gestalt therapeutic self- experience workshop called the Heroine’s/Hero’s journey is used to highlight moments of lived experiences where the body is the vehicle of transforming experiences.

The Heroine’s/Hero´s journey is scripted as a holistic change process based on the theory of Staemmler & Bock (1987) and based on the mythological work of Joseph Campbell (2008). Rebillot (2011) created a one-week long workshop, using methods from theatre, gestalt therapy, body - work, dance and indigenous rituals to create a holistic concept. The heroine/hero is the archetype who starts an adventurous journey following his or her call and intuition out of dilemma and crisis. The person separates from his or her known environment and spends one week with a small group for an archetypical self- and group discovery experiencing the desires of the heroine/hero and the resistances of the antagonist as conflicts and dilemmas. Through the embodied experience of the various opposing forces, symbolized as heroine/hero and antagonist, the participants receive a broader view on their desires, needs and actions.  

This contribution draws on a qualitative research of the Heroine’s/Hero’s journey workshop in 2018 based on narrative oriented interviews which highlight the potential of intuitive, non-rational, bodily and relational experiences in transformation processes as also described in transformative learning theories by Kasl & York (2012).