Mindfulness and Spirituality

Moments of spiritual experience and understanding are often important endeavors in psychotherapy. Spirituality is said to be a fourth element of experience along with the physical, emotional, and intellectual aspects. Some people limit spirituality to religious beliefs. I have found instead that spirituality is most profoundly investigated as the exploration of how we find and create meaning in our lives.

Gestalt therapy theory has not specifically addressed itself to the spiritual, but I have found that most extended psychotherapy journeys directly or indirectly touch on the need for finding existential meaning. I have been attuned to this need over the decades of my work as a psychotherapist, and I am always open to bringing this existential quest into focus in our work together.

Mindfulness is just one of the ways that we can engage in a spiritual process. In all cases, the investigation of meaning is going to be unique to the individual client, not imposed and always grounded in one’s life experience. Sometimes it begins with an experience of awe, sometimes with contemplation, sometimes with insight, sometimes with uncertainty and doubt. There is no wrong entry point to this endeavor.