Questions to Ask in Gestalt Therapy

Finding your wording and language as a gestalt therapist can take some time. Discovering how to allow your authentic engagement, awake awareness, and present moment centeredness to be reflected in the words you use is a process of trial and error. Seeing the impact of your words on your client is the biggest indicator of whether or not your words are aligned with your intention. Does your client seem to have increased awareness and contact in response to your question? Or have they moved into aboutism and left contact with the present moment?  

If you’ve studied gestalt therapy, you know that gestalt questions are a powerful and potent way to invite your clients awake awareness to be the guide of their healing. The questions a gestalt therapist asks are open-ended, present moment questions that begin with what or how. Additionally, closed questions that are present in nature can be helpful in gaining clarity and consent (i.e. “Do you feel that right now?” or “Do you want to try an experiment?”). 

Here are some examples of questions that DO NOT align with gestalt principles:

• “What would it be like to forgive them?” is not a gestalt question because it is leading and based in the future. 
• “Where do you feel that in your body?” is also not a gestalt question because it invites the client to extrapolate whether or not their body sensations are connected to their meaning-making, bringing them into aboutism. 
• “What does it feel like to say that?” is not a gestalt question because the word it both objectifies and disrupts contact. 
• “How does that make you feel?” is not a gestalt question because it bypasses self-responsibility and reinforces a victim narrative. 
• “How would it feel (to give love to that sensation/inner young one/etc.)?” is not a gestalt question because a client cannot anticipate how they will feel in the future doing something they haven’t done yet. Also, the use of the word it depersonalizes and disrupts contact.

Instead of using questions that bring a client into their mind or out of presence, it’s important that your questions affirm your trust in your client’s innate wisdom as the guide for their healing. The intention, or why, behind your questions is more important than the question itself. 

What is the intention of questions in gestalt therapy?

• Gestalt therapists ask questions to create openings, allowing the client’s energy and awareness to expand rather than contract.
• Gestalt questions invite the client into the present moment, where they have access to direct experience of the here and now. 
• Gestalt questions deepen contact, where the client begins to embody themselves as they are, not as they think they should be. 
• The use of questions serve to increase awareness, where the client begins to see the ways they disrupt contact with themselves and their environment. 
• Instead of interpreting or analyzing, gestalt questions affirm your trust in your client’s innate wisdom and natural movement towards health. 

Once you’re clear on your intention, having an understanding of certain ways to frame your questions can support and strengthen the intention. While most of the questions used in gestalt are open-ended and begin with what or how, sometimes closed questions can be very impactful in creating clarity, inviting the client into the here and now, and confirming consent for an experiment. 

Here are a list of questions that you you can ask your client in a gestalt therapy session (You can also download this printable PDF of gestalt questions):

Questions that invite the client’s wisdom to lead the session:

1. How would you like to use our time together?
2. What’s here for you right now?
3. What part of this pattern are you ready to transform?
4. What do you really want for yourself?
5. What is true for you at this moment (after resolving an unfinished situation)?

Questions that deepen awareness:

1. What do you notice as you share that with me? 
2. What do you notice in your body as you say that?
3. What is your relationship (to that sensation/thought)?
4. What do you notice as you talk about (that person in your life)?
5. What just happened? (when you notice a drastic shift). 
6. What do you notice about yourself in this moment?
7. What are you experiencing (in this moment/in your body)?
8. How do you seem to yourself right now?
9. What is pulling the attention of your mind? (as your client seems to be in their head)
10. What are you aware of at this moment?
11. Do you notice that right now? (after they described a persistent feeling/thought)

Questions that invite the client to listen to the wisdom of their body:

1. What do you notice about your breath right now?
2. What do you notice (in this specific part of your body)?
3. If this (body sensation) had a voice, what would it say?
4. What does (this sensation/thought) need from you (right now)? 

Questions to honor the client’s emotions:

1. How do you feel being here right now?
2. If (this emotion) had a voice, what would it say?
3. What does (this emotion) need from you right now?
4. How does (this emotion) seem to you right now?

Questions to bring the focus back to the client:

1. How is that for you (when they seem this way you just described)?
2. What do you want for yourself (right now)?
3. What do you notice as I say that? (in response to a reflection)
4. You seem (attuned reflection). What do you notice there?

Questions to use in experiments:

1. Would you like to try something? (getting content for an experiment)
2. Are you open to repeating that statement?
3. Is there anything you want to say (to that other chair/younger self/etc.)? 
4. Does this (experiment/session) feel complete to you?
5. How does (that aspect of yourself in the other chair) seem to you?

To learn more about gestalt therapy and other transpersonal counseling techniques, check out our trainings: https://thespirituallyaligned.com/online/

To listen to our podcast, follow this link: https://thespirituallyaligned.com/awakened-therapist-podcast/