By Claudia Sarolli
Claudia Sarolli is a communicator for development from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Perú and a Gestalt Therapist from the Centro Gestáltico del Perú. She is currently a student at the Instituto de Horticultura Terapeutica y Social (IHTS). From her project @bosque_pe, she promotes the rapprochement and relationship between humans and plants. She has created and accompanied therapeutic horticulture workshops since 2021.
Introduction
Lima was one of the cities hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America, with one of the highest mortality rates in the region. Between March and September 2020 alone, more than 14,000 deaths were recorded. Strict confinement measures accentuated isolation and made the process of saying goodbye profoundly difficult. Like many people at the time, I faced the loss of a loved one – my father – without the rituals and support networks that traditionally help sustain grief.
Shortly thereafter I undertook a project to accompany our difficult times through the contact and interaction of plants. I started offering planting kits with plants for beginners, and I was surprised with the reception. With a scenario where death seemed to be everywhere, I met dozens of people looking to learn how to cultivate the care of life. Today, thanks to the training in therapeutic horticulture at the Instituto de Horticultura Terapéutica y Social (IHTS) in Peru, I accompany workshops with the same approach.
In this blog I seek to illustrate a landscape of meeting points between Gestalt therapy and horticultural therapy, as well as to present an experience in a therapeutic horticulture group workshop. Finally, I consider it necessary to make both therapies visible as ways that can nurture and complement each other to meet the needs of growing urban populations.
HT and Gestalt Therapy Fundamentals
Both Gestalt Therapy (GT) and Horticultural Therapy (HT) are nourished by diverse foundations. Both are based on eclectic approaches, that is, they integrate values, ideas and techniques from multiple schools and philosophies. This openness allows them to adapt to different realities and needs, responding with sensitivity to the particularities of each person and group. In the case of GT, for example, it is a living synthesis of existential philosophies, phenomenology, body approaches, art and relational psychotherapy.
I clearly remember that the first time I accessed a traditional therapeutic space, the slogan was clear: to privilege thinking. Explaining, justifying, finding the reasons behind what I felt. But when I got to know Gestalt Therapy, a different alternative appeared: a more incarnated way. Instead of “understanding”, it was about feeling, naming and inhabiting the experience.
GT is a form of phenomenological psychotherapy focused on personal growth. In the same vein, Levine (2012) states that Gestalt therapy seeks to broaden awareness of how we relate, not only with people, but also with the world we inhabit. In its contemporary approach, GT pays special attention to the relational: it relies on the healing power of bonds and shared spaces with other people (Bloom, 2011; Yontef & Jacobs, 2010).
I was introduced to horticultural therapy during my time of grief in the first year of the pandemic when I read an interview to Matthew J. Wichrowski (Oakes, 2019). This practice is mentioned as using plants and plant-related activities as a therapeutic tool. According to Peña (2013), horticultural therapy (HT) is an active process, guided by a qualified therapist, within a structured plan, with defined therapeutic objectives. In turn, it is distinguished from therapeutic horticulture, which also promotes wellness, but does not necessarily involve a systematic evaluation or measurement of objectives.
A clear convergence between these two practices is that they invite the client to experiment, to leave the purely mental domain. Whether through direct contact with plants or through dialogical, corporal, artistic or psychological proposals, the therapeutic process unfolds from the concrete experience, not only from thought. It is a matter of feeling rather than explaining, of experiencing rather than analyzing.
I take the words of psychiatrist Stanislav:
It is impossible to justify life and find meaning in it by intellectual analysis and the use of logic alone. It is necessary to reach a state in which life is experienced emotionally and biologically as worthwhile.
Grof (2001)
The Body as a Therapeutic Resource to be here and now
Both GT and HT share a deep interest in the body and the senses to access the present and the emotional process. In Gestalt therapy, special attention is given to physical sensations as a channel to connect with emotions and favor awareness. In the words of Joseph Zinker:
When a person participates creatively in the gestalt process, I hope that she/he will move towards a fuller contact with he/his sensations, learning to smell, taste, touch, hear and see, so that she/he can appreciate all aspects of herself/himself.
(Zinker, 2000).
This attention to the sensory experience is also reflected in clinical practice. As a therapist, it is common for me to hear clients, amid anxious stories marked by demanding routines, express phrases such as: “it’s like I need a break“. In those moments, I propose a pause. I invite them to close their eyes and redirect their attention to their body and their breathing. I accompany the process of consciously inhaling and exhaling. Little by little, the client can regulate his/her experience and access a different, calmer state, from which he/she can contemplate his/her present situation with greater clarity.
Similarly, in horticultural therapy, direct contact with soil, water, aromas and textures activates the senses and promotes integration between mind and body. This sensory immersion not only contributes to emotional self-regulation but also strengthens the bond with the natural environment. As several studies point out, the concrete experience with the cycles and rhythms of nature, lived through the five senses, reduces feelings of isolation and promotes feelings of reciprocity and belonging (Berger, 2009; Cahalan, 1995; Harris, 2009).
In both therapies, the “how” is prioritized over the “why”. Rather than seeking explanations or rationalizing what is felt, we are invited to describe the experience as it manifests in the present, without judgment. This approach not only fosters greater authenticity but allows for a deeper connection to the here and now-an essential foundation shared by both therapeutic approaches.
Starting from the present moment, it is essential to recognize that unresolved conflicts from the past continue to exert influence in the here and now. Unmet psychological and emotional needs, if not fully processed or integrated, remain active and shape our current experiences and behaviors (Sanchez, 2015). As therapists, our role is to support patients in identifying and addressing these lingering needs that persist in their present lives.
In Gestalt therapy, this is done through the phenomenological method of noticing, which promotes the observation and experience of what is happening in the present moment – what is being felt, thought and done – rather than focusing on interpretations, memories or future ideals (Yontef, 2002). Similarly, in horticultural therapy, the act of caring for a plant, observing its growth, or preparing the soil requires an active presence, anchored in the here and now. This connection with the living promotes mindfulness that, beyond words, facilitates contact with the essentials of the present experience, opening a space of calm, meaning and transformation.
Creative and Experiential Processes
The most visible aspect of Gestalt therapy is its techniques. Gestalt therapists are practical people who focus, above all, on accompanying others in their emotional maturation (Latner, 2007). To do so, they are trained in tools such as psychodrama, the empty chair technique, dream work, art, organ connection, among others. These practices allow maximizing the potential benefits of the therapy, whose experiential and corporal approach has proven to favor the processes of emotional transformation. A characteristic example of gestalt communication is the emphasis on feeling over thinking.
Horticultural therapy (HT) is a treatment modality that uses plants and plant materials to promote the physical, cognitive, social, psychological and general well-being of those who participate in it (Simson & Straus, 1998). Through activities such as sowing seeds, pruning, cleaning leaves, watering or simply touching the soil, a reencounter with natural rhythms is encouraged, promoting an internal balance. This form of intervention, both practical and symbolic, facilitates emotional expression, awakens creativity and stimulates personal development.
Like GT, HT proposes a path of interaction and presence that transcends the merely verbal or cognitive. It offers alternative codes to inhabit the inner world and the environment, opening other ways of contemplating, sustaining and transiting emotional processes.
In this sense, the projective power that emerges when we relate to plants or observe the cycles of nature is evident. The anthropomorphization of these processes – for example, seeing in a withered plant our own fragility – facilitates a profound reflection on our existence. Passive techniques, such as working with the senses and projections, prove to be accessible and effective in reconnecting with nature, from which we often feel dissociated (Scull, 2009; Jordan, 2015). As Selhub and Logan (2012) suggest, directing attention to environmental processes can generate a restorative therapeutic effect.
Personally, I am moved to observe how the cycle of germination, flowering, withering, wilting and transformation into compost mirrors our own life cycles. These rhythms invite clients to reflect deeply on their moments of growth, loss and renewal.
Contemplation as a resource, both in horticultural therapy and in Gestalt therapy, plays a fundamental role. In the latter, not only the external world is contemplated, but also the internal universe. The client is accompanied to observe his or her own internal dialogues – the so-called intrapsychic links – and to recognize, for example, the relationship between the “demanding” and the “demanded”, roles that often appear in the therapeutic space.
This type of work favors a new way of relating: not only with other people, but also with oneself and with other living beings. The shared experience with the environment allows us to open to a broader and more sensitive reconfiguration of reality.
Finally, horticultural therapy sessions provide concrete opportunities to experience a sense of accomplishment, caring and pride. This is especially valuable for people in depressive states, where growing a plant or sustaining one’s life can symbolize and activate the recognition of one’s own strength and resilience as a living being.
TH Workshops: Accompanying Grief and Embracing the Cyclicality of Life
There is life
Walter Lezcano
on the other side
of fear.
But first
there is fear.
After World War II, group therapy began to boom because of the demand for mass care. Thus, American and British hospitals became hotbeds of group therapists (Kaplan and Sadock, 2001). Joseph Pratt, one of the pioneers in group therapy, found that more important than his words, was the climate created in the group itself: the bond between the members of the group produced improvement.
In group therapy, both client-client and client-therapist interactions are used to produce changes in the participants’ processes. Thus, the group becomes a setting that serves as an instrument of change (Varas, 2011).
In this way, with confidence in the healing of the social bond, I have offered several therapeutic horticulture workshops since 2022. In this blog, I mention a workshop held in May 2024.
For Mother’s Day, I offered the workshop “Love that Transcends”. This was a space to give place and time to the mourning of women whose mothers had passed away. We invited them to evoke memories by connecting with the body. During the workshop, women were asked to write a letter and make a floral bouquet to honor the life and departure of their mothers, helping them transform loss.
In this workshop the emotional terrain of the mourning of the mother figure was explored through therapeutic horticulture and Gestalt therapy. Flowers, substrates and textures, helped anchor the mind in the present moment.
Peru remains among the least happy countries in the world, ranking 25th out of 30 according to the latest Ipsos Global survey (2025). At the same time, Lima has the lowest coverage of green areas among other capitals of the Americas (El Comercio, 2024). Although the causes of well-being and quality of life are multiple and complex, I consider it urgent to support initiatives that alleviate the pressure of the urban rhythm on the physical, emotional and social health of its inhabitants.
From the communication for development standpoint, our mission should focus on improving the living conditions of people and their environment. In my case, my transit as a Gestalt Therapy patient revealed to me the power of emotional, corporal and cognitive processes as invisible roots that nurture personal and collective transformations. In addition, my experience in horticultural therapy showed me how it is possible to open practical and scientifically proven ways to approach wellbeing with a holistic vision.
In contexts like Lima – marked by urban stress and environmental inequality – horticultural therapy and therapeutic horticulture have a unique transformative potential: they link people to the land, activate creative and community processes, and restore a sense of agency to those who live in painful or disconnected scenarios. After years of accompanying therapeutic processes, I reaffirm the importance of cultivating care and remembering that, many times, just trying is enough. Pause, calm and growth are possible.
I imagine these therapies as living seeds: they are sown from the bond with a therapist, and over time, they sprout with their own strength, opening their own path also in their environment. As Donna Haraway (2019) says, in urgent times it is not enough to understand: we need to create spaces where life and care are interwoven. In my practice, I have witnessed that weaving. Accompanying people and plants, I have learned that growing-when there is fertile soil-can be a gentle, sustained, and deeply meaningful process.
References
- Regional Distribution of COVID-19 Mortality in Peru. Journal of the Faculty of Human Medicine, Ricardo Palma University, Lima, Peru. Retrieved from http://www.scielo.org.pe/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2308-05312021000200326
- Research Institute of Biomedical Sciences (INICIB). Ricardo Palma University, Lima, Peru.
- Naranjo, C. (2002). The Old and New Gestalt: Attitude and Practice of Atheoretical Experientialism.
- Yontef, G. (2002). Gestalt Process and Dialogue. In Essays on Gestalt Therapy.
- Zinker, J. (1991). The Creative Process in Gestalt Therapy.
- Latner, J. (2007). Gestalt Fundamentals.
- Varas, M. (2011). Group Therapy: Manual of Gestalt Orientation.
- Haraway, D. (2019). Staying with the trouble.
- https://elcomercio.pe/lima/lima-es-la-capital-que-tiene-menor-cobertura-de-area-verde-en-toda-america-por-que-se-necesitan-mas-arboles-noticia/#google_vignette
- https://www.ipsos.com/es-pe/indice-de-felicidad-2025
