Transformation through ritual enactment is the
fundamental theme of Paul Rebillot's work. To his present work
in personal growth he brings an actor's confidence in the capacity
of bodily gesture to reveal and to transform the point of view
of the mind and the attitude of the
heart.
From his work as actor, director, and teacher in classical and contemporary
drama, Paul brought to his practice of Gestalt therapy a deep appreciation
of the power of myth to enrich and to heal personal biography and to awaken
individuals to the transpersonal dimensions and goals of their lives.
The ritual structures he has created, beginning in 1973 with "The Hero's
Journey," invite participants to discover and express the dimensions of
their own inner drama in a mode that is both safe and creative.
These structures allow groups of people to support one another in their individual
journeys. This experience of groupsupport is one of the most healing aspects
of Paul's work.
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For over twenty-five
years, Paul has been leading groups at Esalen Institute in Big
Sur, California and at growth centers throughout Europe through
such processes as “The Hero’s Journey,” "The
Lover's
Journey: A Quest for the Inner Man and Woman," "Owning the Shadow," "Exorcising
the Demon Should," "Death and Resurrection," and "Rituals
of Transformation."
In
July 1988 Paul inaugurated inSwitzerland his new School of
Gestalt and Experiential Teaching, a four-level professional
training
program which combines gestalt theory and practice with theater, ritual,
myth,
and
group process in a uniqueapproach to
education. In France, this training program was offered in collaboration with
Claude Vaux and Eliane Jung of the Cabinet de Psychologie Humaniste of
Strasbourg. The first class in the North American School of Gestalt and Experiential
Teaching completed the training in September1996 at Mount Madonna Center in Watsonville,
California.
In the spring of 1996, Paul and Ilse Schmidt-Zimmermann began a new Rites
of Passage training program in Germany. Taking place over four years, this training
offers practicing therapists an opportunity to learn about the nature of an experiential
workshop and of Paul’s transformational
structures in particular.
Paul’s first book, The Call to Adventure: Bringing the Hero’s Journey
to Daily Life, was published in July 1993 by Harper San Francisco, a division
of Harper Collins Publishers Inc. of New York. Written with the aid of a grant
from Laurance S. Rockefeller, the book fully describes and guides the reader
through the “Hero’s Journey” process. The German edition was published
in 1997 by Kösel-Verlag GMBH & Co. |
