In our Gestalt training curriculum, we speak of being present to our clients. I believe that one is fully present to the client when the therapist s mind, heart, and soul bid the client to be fully visible and known. So presence, for me, is a transpersonal expression, a transpersonal experience.
Presence is about vitality, connection, and full awareness in the moment.
The rainbow can be seen in the sky but becomes present to me when I consciously and actively unite with the weaving of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet in a perfect arc of white light. I not only see, but I also experience the phenomena of refracted light. When the fawn is running toward her mother in the woods and I stop hiking and experience the union, I become present to nature and nature becomes present to me. We are in communion. To the extent that I am fully aware of the client s life experience in the moment with an engaged mind, heart, and soul, I become present to the client and the client becomes present to me.