Resistance is one of the most frequently encountered dynamics in coaching. Sometimes, the client is aware of feeling stuck, even when seemingly motivated towards change. For some, it may appear as defensiveness, avoidance, or hidden patterns of “stuckness.” In conventional approaches, resistance is often viewed as an obstacle to be overcome. In Gestalt coaching, however, resistance is redefined as valuable information—evidence of an intelligent adjustment by the client or system to maintain equilibrium. When chosen with awareness, it is a way of managing one’s boundaries to preserve identity, well-being and choice. However, when we, any of us start operating habitually, a pattern of unawareness resistance can end up interfering with what we want, or need.
This short article is a modest exploration about how resistance functions, how Gestalt coaches understand it, and some practices to support it’s transformation into awareness and authentic change.
Resistance in Gestalt Coaching
It is wise to understand that “resistance” is a core dynamic in coaching. As a coach, it may be experienced as defensiveness, avoidance, or repeated patterns of “stuckness.” In conventional approaches, resistance is often viewed as an obstacle to be overcome. In Gestalt coaching, however, resistance is redefined as valuable information—evidence of an intelligent adjustment by the client or system to maintain equilibrium.
In Gestalt practice, resistance is not eliminated but explored. It signals that:
- The client is protecting something important—a value, identity, or need.
- Change may feel unsafe, premature, or overwhelming.
- The system is attempting to maintain equilibrium, often through familiar patterns.
Rather than “pushing through” resistance, the Gestalt coach engages it with presence and curiosity. Resistance carries energy, meaning, and potential wisdom.
Gestalt Principles for Working with Resistance
(from: A Gestalt Coaching Primer: The Path Toward Awareness Intelligence-2nd Edition)
- Awareness before action
Gestalt coaching emphasizes awareness as the first intervention. Coaches invite clients to notice bodily sensations, emotional responses, and thought patterns in real time.
Example: “As you describe feeling stuck, what do you notice in your body right now?”
- Resistance as creative adjustment
What appears as resistance is often the client’s best available strategy for staying safe or balanced in their current context. This reframing shifts the narrative from obstacle to intelligent adaptation.
Gestalt Coaching Intervention: How has this _______ (name the pattern) served you?
- Field perspective
Resistance rarely originates solely within the individual. It arises in the relational field—including the coach–client dynamic, organizational culture, and historical or systemic forces. Exploring the field reveals why resistance makes sense.
Gestalt Coaching Intervention: What does this (_____name the behavior) say about (your system, your relationship, etc.)
- Experimentation
Gestalt coaching uses and creates safe experiment that allows exploration of small shifts in awareness, dialogue, or behavior. These “safe” explorations enable clients to test new possibilities without abandoning protective strategies.
Gestalt Coaching Intervention: Take a moment, what are you aware of as you say this/explore this/feel this.
- Paradoxical theory of change
Lasting change comes not from forcing oneself to be different but from fully acknowledging and accepting one’s way of being which can be understood as the force of and power of “what is”. As an embodied and wholistic awareness of one’s way of being expands, resistance can soften, making space for greater ownership of one’s way of being which is what creates movement for more creativity and energy for new possibilities.
Gestalt Coaching Intervention: What changed?
Since championing the first Gestalt coaching program in North America, I wished to further normalize and make available the power of gestalt coaching theory by introducing the concept of Awareness Intelligence, which can be understood as the coach’s ability to use presence, discernment, and choice to facilitate growth. Resistance that is outdated, habitual and becomes a block to awareness and choice is “that” pattern that could benefit from coaching support and intervention. The client’s unaware resistance is the signal to the coach to offer observations and inquiry which can stimulate client awareness and resultant choice . It seems small but the impact of a person becoming aware of an outdated and nonproductive pattern often is experienced with surprise and energy for new possibilities.
Key contributions from A Gestalt Primer include:
- Awareness Intelligence: Staying grounded and attuned so the coach can use presence and timing to transform resistance into learning.
- Use of self as instrument: The coach’s own reactions to resistance (in oneself and in the coaching relationship) provide vital data about the relational field.
- Cycle of Experience (COE): Resistance often signals a block in the COE—such as diminished sensing, inchoate awareness, reactive emotions, contained action, incomplete contact, interruption, or avoidance of closure. Awareness of these points reveals growth edges.
- Respecting timing and pacing: Resistance may indicate that a shift is premature. Gestalt coaching emphasizes adjusting pacing and honoring readiness.
From Resistance to Transformation
When Gestalt coaches “meet” resistance with awareness, curiosity, and relational presence, they create the conditions for transformation:
Resistance that may have begun as a protective stance can evolve into a pathway toward deeper learning and meaningful action.
Learn More: Upcoming Advanced Learning Module
For coaches seeking to deepen their capacity to recognize and work with resistance, HCC is offering an Advanced Learning Module: Meeting Resistance in Coaching: Patterns and Opportunity for Development.
📅 Session Date: Tuesday, October 28th, 8:30 am – 12:30 pm PT
💲 Regular Price: $557.00 CAD | $395.00 USD
🎓 CCEs: 3–4 units (pending ICF approval)
This session will provide in-depth exploration and practical application of the Gestalt coaching stance toward resistance, equipping you with frameworks and interventions to transform resistance into a powerful catalyst for growth.
Register here to secure your spot and expand your coaching practice with the wisdom of Gestalt.
