The Clown and Gestalt

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How does clown and therapy work?

Clown work is useful to develop the person’s self-esteem and treat performance anxiety, because the art of clown is about being seen in one’s vulnerability: weakness, contradictions, hidden fear and shame.

In my practice of clown work I have found that there are usually common beliefs interrupting individuals from going into certain emotional or expressive territories (i.e. don’t show off, you have to stay small, don’t show up, etc). These beliefs inhibit the person from developing his/her full potential and, in general, they  are responsible for stage fright because the act of holding  catastrophic assumptions about being exposed or withholding  fear of being rejected tends to make people freeze or feel a bit ‘crazy’. My work is to facilitate the possibility of contact, which is to help you be in touch and accept whatever is happening in the here and now and connect with your spontaneity. I have noticed in my practice that when the individual in front of the audience allows him/herself to unleash his/her emotions outwardly, it goes directly into the clown state and interestingly feels less ‘crazy’.