“Race politics, sexual politics, gender politics are so active, so igniting––as they should be. Because when I'm ignited, when I'm lit, when I'm activated, now I can move to action.” -Moin Subhani

Wondering what’s in the cards for the year ahead? I gifted myself a stunning new deck (info below) and immediately pulled a five-card spread for our 2022 conversations. The cards point to continued cultivation of our inner knowing from a place of self love. The best way to invite these vibes is via deeply moving chats. Enter Moin Subhani, a Toronto-based psychotherapist who practices the Gestalt method. Our discussion about the “everything-ness” of Gestalt, a modality he calls “applied Buddhism,” is revelatory - especially for those curious about the structure of this somatic practice and anyone grappling to stay rooted in the present while addressing traumas of the past. That’s about 99.9% of my fellow wounded healers.

“In Gestalt, we say lose your mind, gain the senses,” says Moin, who’s currently waiting out the cold and the ick in Mexico (and I’m moving in!). He likens the modality to emotional intelligence 101, an awareness of intra- and interpersonal truths. That inward/outward journey is one Moin knows well. ”Growing up in this society, especially as a Brown person, queer, it was hard for me to sit comfortably in my skin and love myself.” His corporate career made the task doubly difficult. In a setting where the aggressive male stereotype is at best tolerated and at worst celebrated, any show of displeasure or vocalized anger by a person of color is generally deemed a threat to rigid roles and accepted strategies for overpowering challenges to the reigning authority.

Y’all know that when anger is shoved down, it corrupts from the inside out. The emotion continues to simmer until it boils over, often in the gut of subsequent generations––and isn’t that what we’re experiencing now as the world is made to examine past injustices in order to create a more equitable future for all? In review, many of us are learning that anger isn’t the enemy emotion that some have portrayed. As Moin explains, Gestalt therapy guides clients to reveal and revel in the healthy, healing benefits of anger. “There's something about showing up in that position from a place of love,” he says, “that transcends the cliche.”

Moin feels that Gestalt fosters a more thorough unlearning and rewiring process. In an age of accelerated global reckoning, where our anger is regularly misunderstood or aggressively disregarded, there’s promise in reclaiming our anger as power with rather than power over.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

The Astrology Podcast

Astral Realms Crystal Oracle Deck

Gestalt Institute of Toronto

NARM - NeuroAffective Relational Model

GUEST CONTACT INFO & BIO

Moin Therapy

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Moin Subhani is a Registered Psychotherapist. As a therapist, Moin is compassionate, creative and playful. He completed his psychotherapy training at the Gestalt Institute of Toronto and is a life-long student of Eastern Spirituality.

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