SAT programme

1. Introduction

Version followed: the current modular SAT curriculum of the Fundación Claudio Naranjo (Spain), INTRO plus SAT 1 to SAT 5 and SAT Meditación, as described on programasat.com (Spain) and asociacionsat.com.ar (Argentina, 2026 calendar). Gestalt technique follows Naranjo's own book Gestalt Therapy: The Attitude and Practice of an Atheoretical Experientialism (Crown House edition; preview). Where the two national pages differ (module titles, what SAT 4 and SAT 5 contain), both readings are given.

What it is. SAT is not a single therapy. It is a multi-year, group-based programme of self-knowledge and psycho-spiritual transformation created by Claudio Naranjo (1932-2019), a Chilean psychiatrist and one of the three successors Fritz Perls named. It is delivered in intensive modules, about one a year, by teams the Foundation trains, and it is open to therapists, educators and lay seekers. Many Gestalt therapists in Spain, Italy and Latin America trained through it. [source: programasat.com modules page; gestaltclaudionaranjo.com; asociacionsat.com.ar; Wikipedia]

History (verified as far as possible). Naranjo trained with Oscar Ichazo at Arica (Chile) in July 1970. In September 1971 he founded the SAT ('Seekers After Truth', a name taken from Gurdjieff) group in Berkeley. It combined DSM-style character psychology with the enneagram of fixations, Buddhist meditation, Gurdjieffian attention exercises and Sufi stories. The 1971-73 enneagram teaching was given to two closed groups, and members signed commitments of secrecy. [source: Spirituality Studies 10(2), 2024] The relaunch in Spain is sometimes dated to 1987. That date and place are not confirmed. [uncertain] Today's pages describe a rooted, international network in Spain, Italy, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Uruguay, Ecuador, Portugal, Russia, Germany/France and the USA. [source: gestaltclaudionaranjo.com]

How change is thought to happen. Childhood conditioning makes us lose contact with our essential self, and a conditioned character (ego) forms in its place. Each person's character is organised around one dominant passion (an emotional bias) and its matching fixation (a cognitive bias), mapped as one of nine enneatypes and 27 subtypes. Change has three parts:

• Recognition: see one's own character in action, through 'Psychology of the Enneatypes', Gestalt work and group feedback.
• Repair: heal the bond with the parents and recover the capacity to love.
• Contemplative de-identification: use meditation to loosen identification with the ego.

The programme frames this as revising, reconciling and integrating the 'tres cerebros' (instinctive, affective and cognitive 'brains'), a Fourth Way idea, so that one meets oneself, others and the world in a more authentic and loving ('amorosa') way. Its name also signals a three-part ('trinitarian') view of the psyche, drawing on Gurdjieff's three forces and on Tótila Albert's inner father, mother and child. [source: asociacionsat.com.ar; gestaltclaudionaranjo.com; Ferrara 2012 abstract]

2. Framework

Format. The programme runs in group modules taken in sequence, roughly one per year. Each module is an intensive retreat-style block. The only module whose length a page stated was SAT 3: 9 full days (Argentina, 14-22 Oct 2026). Whether modules are residential, and how big the groups are, was not stated. [uncertain] Each module mixes:

• theory: the enneatypes, Naranjo's theories of suffering, Buddhist doctrine;
• daily meditation;
• a graded, supervised 'laboratorio de psicoterapia', where participants practise helping each other;
• expressive work: theatre, spontaneous movement and dance;
• in later modules, regression and body work.

Between modules, small follow-up groups ('encuentros de seguimiento') keep tracking passions and fixations in daily life. [source: asociacionsat.com.ar]

[source: programasat.com modules page; asociacionsat.com.ar; gestaltclaudionaranjo.com]

Criteria for moving on. The only formal criterion in the sources is completing the previous module. There are no published competence or readiness criteria. [uncertain] [synthesis] A clinician who borrows SAT elements for individual or group therapy can use these practical markers instead:

• Move from type study (INTRO/SAT 1 level) to parental and childhood work (SAT 2 level) once the client can name their own passion and fixation in live examples without self-attack.
• Consider regressive or perinatal work (SAT 3 level) only after a stable alliance, demonstrated affect regulation, and screening (see section 5).

Who delivers it. The official SAT is run only by Foundation-approved national teams. A therapist cannot 'run SAT' by themselves. What you can do right away:

1. Use the Gestalt attitude and techniques Naranjo published.
2. Use enneatype psychoeducation as a lens for case formulation.
3. Use simple meditation and interpersonal-awareness practices.
4. Refer suitable clients to an official module.

[synthesis]

3. Guiding principles

• Psycho-spiritual unity. Emotional repair and spiritual realisation are treated as one process. In practice, sessions can hold both symptom work and questions of meaning or contemplation. [source: gestaltclaudionaranjo.com]
• Character, not symptom, is the target. Work on the passion and fixation that keep producing the problem. In practice, link each presenting difficulty to the client's characteristic pattern. [source: programasat.com; asociacionsat.com.ar]
• Self-knowledge through self-observation. Insight comes from watching yourself in action, not from being labelled. In practice, the client confirms a type from their own observation, and you never assign one. [source: asociacionsat.com.ar, 'investigating passions and fixations in everyday life']
• Integrating the three brains. Instinctive, emotional and intellectual work are balanced. In practice, alternate talking, feeling and body or movement work. [source: asociacionsat.com.ar]
• Love as the goal of cure. Emotional healing means restoring the ability to love oneself, others and the world, including the parents. In practice, judge progress by warmth and contact, not only by catharsis. [source: gestaltclaudionaranjo.com; Ferrara 2012 abstract]
• Here and now. "To experience, we must be present, we must be here, and now." [source: Naranjo, Gestalt Therapy, p. 49] In practice, bring 'there and then' material into present experience.
• Avoiding avoidance. Story-telling, anticipating, 'aboutism' (explaining, diagnosing, philosophising), 'shouldism' and manipulation are treated as ways of avoiding experience. In practice, gently interrupt them. [source: Naranjo, Gestalt Therapy, pp. 50-51]
• From sterile to fertile void. Emptiness felt when old supports are dropped is a bridge to contact, not a failure. In practice, help the client stay with 'nothing happening'. [source: Naranjo, Gestalt Therapy, pp. 49-50]
• Responsibility and authenticity. The client owns their present actions and omissions. In practice, invite 'I' language and 'I choose' statements. [source: Naranjo, Gestalt Therapy, p. 131]
• Siding with resistance. "You never overcome anything by resisting it" (Perls, quoted by Naranjo). In practice, amplify a defence rather than fight it. [source: Naranjo, Gestalt Therapy, p. 131]
• Atheoretical experientialism. Attitude matters more than technique. In practice, technique serves presence, so drop it when it gets in the way of contact. [source: Naranjo, Gestalt Therapy, title and contents]
• The therapist's own work. Character traits that interfere with helping are studied under supervision. In practice, keep tracking how your own type shows up in the session. [source: SAT 3 laboratory description]
• Group as mirror. Most SAT learning happens in a group, through shared observation and feedback. In practice, in group formats use peers' observations, given with care, as data. [source: SAT 1 laboratory description]

4. Intervention inventory

How to read this inventory. The official SAT pages name each practice and the module it belongs to, but they do not publish step-by-step instructions for any of them. [source: asociacionsat.com.ar, which says so explicitly] Here is how each part of the inventory is built:

• Purpose / when comes from the sources.
• Steps come from Naranjo's Gestalt book where available. Otherwise they are marked [synthesis]: a clinically conservative way to run the practice in individual or small-group therapy, not the SAT team's protocol.
• All example language is illustrative, unless it is in quotes with a citation.

The groups below follow the programme's own areas:

• A. Psychology of the Enneatypes (character work)
• B. Gestalt and the psychotherapy laboratory
• C. Contemplative practice
• D. Expressive and body work
• E. Regressive work
• F. Historical Berkeley-era practices

A1. Introduction to the Psychology of the Enneatypes (self-typing)

• Purpose / when: This is the INTRO module. It helps participants recognise their relational patterns and their effect on daily life, and it is the entry point for everything else. [source: programasat.com; asociacionsat.com.ar] Naranjo's nine types are each organised around a passion; his monographs carry titles such as Ira, Envidia, Lujuria, Pereza psicoespiritual, and on type 6 'cobardes, desafiantes y fanáticos'. [source: publisher listings found by search] The full mapping from passion to type number comes from Naranjo, Character and Neurosis (1994), which is not drawn on here. [uncertain]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Teach the idea of a passion (an emotional bias) plus a fixation (a cognitive bias) in plain language.
  2. Describe the nine character styles briefly, behaviourally and without ranking them.
  3. Ask the client to note, over 1-2 weeks, moments of strong reaction, and which description best explains the motive behind them, not just the behaviour.
  4. Review the notes together and test two or three candidate types against real episodes.
  5. Leave the type provisional. The client decides.
• Example language (illustrative): "Let's not pick a number yet. Bring me three moments this week when you overreacted, and we'll look at what you were protecting."
• Watch for:
  • Mistyping by behaviour rather than motive.
  • Using the type as an identity ('that's just how 8s are') or as a weapon in relationships.
  • Shame spirals.
  • It is working when the client starts to catch the pattern spontaneously and with some humour.

A2. Subtype diagnosis

• Purpose / when: SAT 1 deepens the enneagram work by diagnosing the client's subtype. Naranjo describes 27 subtypes, a figure taken from his book title 27 personajes en busca del ser. [source: programasat.com; asociacionsat.com.ar; publisher listing] The three instinct-based subtypes, self-preservation, social and sexual (one-to-one), come from Naranjo's writings and are not detailed in the sources. [uncertain]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Once the main type is fairly settled, look at where the passion shows up most: securing material and bodily safety, standing and belonging in groups, or intense one-to-one bonds.
  2. Gather examples from all three areas.
  3. Mark the one where the client is most driven and least free.
• Example language (illustrative): "Where does this envy bite hardest: your security, your place in the group, or your closest relationship?"
• Watch for: Subtype talk turning into intellectual sorting, which is 'aboutism' (see B2). Bring it back to a felt example.

A3. Behaviour change guided by the virtues

• Purpose / when: SAT 1 pairs subtype diagnosis with behaviour change guided by the virtues. Each passion has an opposite quality to cultivate. [source: programasat.com] The list of virtues is not given. In the Ichazo/Naranjo tradition they include serenity, humility, truthfulness, equanimity, non-attachment, courage, sobriety, innocence and right action. [uncertain]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Name the passion's typical daily trigger.
  2. Agree one small, observable 'virtue experiment' for that trigger, for example pausing and asking instead of envying, or giving without keeping score.
  3. Have the client log it and report back on what happened inside, not only whether they succeeded.
• Example language (illustrative): "This week, when you notice the urge to prove you're right, try one minute of simply listening. Then note what it cost you and what it gave you."
• Watch for:
  • Turning the virtue into a new 'should' (shouldism).
  • Perfectionist self-punishment.
  • It is working when the client reports choice where there used to be compulsion.

A4. Irrational ideas: the cognitive side of character

• Purpose / when: SAT 2 studies the cognitive side of character through each type's irrational ideas, that is, its fixation or implicit beliefs. Use it once the emotional pattern is recognised. [source: programasat.com; asociacionsat.com.ar]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Take a recent episode and ask what the client was telling themselves at the peak.
  2. Find the general belief underneath, for example 'if I need, I'll be rejected'.
  3. Examine where it was learned (link to A6).
  4. Ask the client to notice the belief arising in real time, before trying to change it.
• Example language (illustrative): "What would have to be true for that reaction to make perfect sense?"
• Watch for: Debating the belief too early. In SAT the emphasis is on observing it. It is working when the client can say 'there's the idea again' while it is happening.

A5. Psychodynamics and neurotic needs of the subtypes

• Purpose / when: SAT 2 explains how each subtype's neurotic needs grew out of early frustration. This gives a developmental formulation. [source: programasat.com; asociacionsat.com.ar]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. With the client, map the need the pattern tries to meet (love, recognition, security, and so on).
  2. Map the strategy the character uses to get it.
  3. Map the cost of that strategy.
  4. Then ask what a direct, non-neurotic way of meeting the need would look like.
• Example language (illustrative): "It sounds like being indispensable was the only reliable way to be loved. What would asking directly be like?"
• Watch for: Insight with no feeling. Pair this work with Gestalt work in the present (B2-B5).

A6. Work on the relationship with the parental figures

• Purpose / when: SAT 2 focuses on the parents and the childhood formation of character. Its aim is to repair the bond with the parents, and the programme describes the recovery of love towards one's parents and life as central. [source: programasat.com; gestaltclaudionaranjo.com; Ferrara 2012 abstract] The exact SAT procedure is not published. Older accounts link Naranjo's SAT to Bob Hoffman's Fischer-Hoffman 'parents' process, but this is [uncertain].
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Have the client write or tell, in sequence, how each parent treated them and which traits they took on or reacted against.
  2. In session, use a Gestalt dialogue (see B5) so the child self can say what was never said, with the therapist pacing the intensity.
  3. Then explore the parent's own history and wounds, to move from blame towards understanding.
  4. Close by naming which inherited traits the client chooses to keep or let go.
• Example language (illustrative): "Imagine your father in that chair. Tell him, in a sentence, what it was like being his son at ten." Later: "Now sit there as him. Who hurt him?"
• Watch for:
  • Retraumatisation in clients who suffered abuse. Do not push for reconciliation or forgiveness, and keep anger work contained (section 5).
  • Splitting into 'all-bad' parents.
  • It is working when anger and grief move towards a more realistic, compassionate view, without denying harm.

A7. Study of the passions and Naranjo's theories of suffering

• Purpose / when: SAT 3 offers a conceptual frame: suffering stems from the passion-driven character and from loss of contact with being. [source: programasat.com; asociacionsat.com.ar] Naranjo's detailed theory is in Character and Neurosis (1994) and The Enneagram of Society (2005), neither of which is drawn on here. [uncertain]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Give short psychoeducation.
  2. Ask the client to trace one current suffering back to their passion.
  3. Also trace what the passion tries to compensate for.
• Example language (illustrative): "How much of this pain is the event itself, and how much is the old hunger the event touched?"
• Watch for: Spiritual bypassing, where real grievances are explained away as 'just my ego'.

A8. Follow-up groups ('encuentros de seguimiento')

• Purpose / when: Small groups of graduates of INTRO or of a SAT module meet between modules to keep investigating passions and fixations in everyday life. [source: asociacionsat.com.ar]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Start with a short sitting.
  2. Each member reports one recent episode in which the passion took over, describing it as observation rather than confession.
  3. Peers say what they noticed, not advice.
  4. Each member names one practice for the coming period.
• Example language (illustrative): "Just tell us what happened and what you noticed in yourself. No need to fix it here."
• Watch for: Groups drifting into gossip or mutual typing. Agree a rule that nobody types anyone else.

B1. The 'laboratorio de psicoterapia' (three graded stages)

• Purpose / when: A supervised, graded set of therapeutic exercises in which participants practise helping each other. [source: gestaltclaudionaranjo.com] It runs in three stages:
  • SAT 1: presence, listening and authentic communication through 'shared observation of thought'.
  • SAT 2: the 'actitud gestáltica'.
  • SAT 3: supervised observation of interpersonal dynamics and of the character traits that interfere with the helping relationship.
  [source: programasat.com; asociacionsat.com.ar] The exercise formats themselves are not published. [uncertain]
• Steps [synthesis] (for a peer-supervision or training group):
  1. Work in triads: helper, client, observer.
  2. The client talks about something real for 10-15 minutes. The helper uses only presence and here-and-now Gestalt responses (B2-B3).
  3. The observer notes moments when the helper's character took over: rescuing, competing, withdrawing, moralising.
  4. Hold a feedback round: the client says what helped, the observer says what they saw, and the helper says what they felt. A supervisor links what happened to the helper's type.
  5. Rotate roles.
• Example language (illustrative): observer: "When she started crying you moved straight to advice. What happened in you just before that?"
• Watch for:
  • Feedback that turns into attack.
  • Personal material that is too raw for a training frame.
  • It is working when helpers can name their own interfering trait as it happens.

B2. Suppressive techniques (Naranjo)

• Purpose / when: These remove the ways a client avoids experience, so that present experience can come forward. Use them when the client talks about things instead of experiencing them. [source: Naranjo, Gestalt Therapy, ch. 4, pp. 49-51]
• Steps (paraphrased from Naranjo):
  1. Ask the client to stop all activity except attending to what they are experiencing now. Expect discomfort; the discomfort itself shows the avoidance.
  2. If emptiness or 'nothing' appears, invite them to stay with it and not fill it. In Naranjo's reading, the void becomes fertile once self-judging standards are dropped.
  3. Interrupt the main 'no-no's': story-telling (past narrative), anticipation (future), aboutism (explaining, diagnosing, philosophising), shouldism (moral demands on self or others) and manipulation (playing for a response).
• Example language (illustrative): "You're telling me the story. Stop for a moment. What's happening in you right now as you tell it?" Or: "That's a should. What do you actually want?"
• Watch for:
  • Interruptions that feel like scolding. Keep them warm and curious.
  • With fragile clients, staying with emptiness can tip into panic or dissociation. Shorten it and ground them (section 5).
  • It is working when speech slows down, becomes first-person and present-tense, and feeling shows.

B3. Psychological judo: the direct way and the opposite way; working with cues

• Purpose / when: A strategic choice the therapist makes at almost every step. [source: Naranjo, Gestalt Therapy, ch. 9, pp. 131-133]
  • Direct way: ask the client to be genuine and take responsibility now.
  • Opposite way: ask them to exaggerate the very avoidance or trait at issue, so that its energy can be owned and transformed.
  • Cues: when the direct request fails, treat the failure as a cue. Work it through amplification, explication, development and identification.
• Steps (paraphrased):
  1. Make the direct request. For example, ask them to say what they feel towards you.
  2. If they deflect, notice how (looking away, joking) and ask them to do more of it, deliberately.
  3. Ask them to put into words what the amplified behaviour 'says' (explication).
  4. Let it develop into a fuller action, then ask them to identify with it in the first person ('I am the one who...').
• Example language (illustrative): "You keep looking at the floor. Do it more, deliberately. Now give the floor-looking a voice. What is it saying?"
• Watch for:
  • Using exaggeration with a client who would feel ridiculed. The effect depends on the therapist's real trust in the client's constructive drive.
  • Not recognising neurotic character. Naranjo names both of these as preconditions. [source: p. 132]

B4. Expressive techniques (Naranjo, ch. 5)

• Purpose / when: To bring unexpressed experience into action and words, and to complete it. Chapter 5 is listed in the contents but not drawn on, so the breakdown below follows standard Gestalt practice and Naranjo's 1980 Techniques of Gestalt Therapy. [uncertain] Typical forms:
  • starting an action the client has been holding back;
  • repeating a key phrase or gesture;
  • exaggerating it;
  • making it explicit or 'translating' it into words;
  • acting it out;
  • speaking directly to the person concerned (or an empty chair) instead of about them.
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Spot a small, live expression: a sigh, a fist, a half-sentence.
  2. Ask for it again, then bigger.
  3. Ask what it would say.
  4. Have the client say it directly to the relevant person, imagined in front of them.
• Example language (illustrative): "Say that last sentence again, louder. Now say it to her."
• Watch for: Pushing catharsis past the client's window of tolerance. Follow expression with integration (B5).

B5. Integration techniques (Naranjo, ch. 6): inner dialogue and owning projections

• Purpose / when: To integrate split-off parts and projected traits. Chapter 6 is not drawn on. The forms listed here are the usual Gestalt ones (dialogue between inner parts; taking back projections by identifying with them), and the attribution of these to Naranjo's chapter is [uncertain].
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Name two conflicting parts, for example a demanding part and a resisting part, or the client and an introjected parent.
  2. Give each a chair or a place.
  3. Have the client move between them, speaking in the first person and in the present tense.
  4. For a projection, ask the client to describe the irritating trait in someone else, then say 'I am...' with it and test how it fits them.
  5. Close by asking what each side needs from the other.
• Example language (illustrative): "You say he is arrogant. Try saying 'I am arrogant' and notice what's true in it for you."
• Watch for:
  • Using chair work with clients who have unstable identity or psychosis. Avoid it or adapt it (section 5).
  • It is working when the two voices soften and an integrated position emerges.

B6. Dream work

• Purpose / when: Naranjo's book has a dream-work chapter (ch. 11) that is not drawn on. [uncertain] The usual Gestalt approach is to treat each dream element as a part of the self.
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Have the client tell the dream in the present tense, as if it were happening now.
  2. Pick charged elements and speak as each one ('I am the locked door...').
  3. Set up dialogues between elements (B5).
  4. Ask what the dream says about the client's life right now.
• Example language (illustrative): "Be the door. Describe yourself and what you're keeping out."
• Watch for: Interpreting for the client. In Gestalt the client finds the meaning by identifying with the element.

B7. Free association ('asociación libre de ideas')

• Purpose / when: Listed among SAT's therapeutic means for 'educating spontaneity'. [source: gestaltclaudionaranjo.com] The procedure is not described. [uncertain]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Ask the client to say whatever comes to mind, without censoring, for a set few minutes.
  2. The therapist only tracks what happens and notes the points where the client hesitates or censors.
  3. Afterwards, explore those censored moments in Gestalt terms: what did you avoid saying, and what do you feel now?
• Example language (illustrative): "For three minutes just let words come, even nonsense. I'll only listen."
• Watch for: Over-control, which you can work with directly (B3), and flooding.

C1. Introduction to Buddhist meditation

• Purpose / when: Starting in SAT 1, meditation is a daily pillar of the programme. It cultivates attention and loosens identification with character. [source: programasat.com; asociacionsat.com.ar] The specific methods taught were not stated. [uncertain] Naranjo's own meditation books are On the Psychology of Meditation (1971), How to Be (1989) and The Way of Silence and the Talking Cure (2006). [source: Wikipedia list of works] His book also has a 'Gestalt and Meditation' chapter. [source: Crown House contents]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Teach a 10-20 minute sitting: stable posture, attention resting on the breath.
  2. When the mind wanders, notice it and gently return.
  3. Add 'noting' of thoughts and feelings as they arise, and link what is noticed to the client's passion (A1).
• Example language (illustrative): "When you notice you've drifted, just note 'thinking' and come back. No need to judge the drift."
• Watch for:
  • Trauma-related intrusions during silent sitting. Offer eyes open, shorter sits, or movement.
  • Using meditation to avoid feeling.

C2. Interpersonal meditation

• Purpose / when: Named in SAT 1 together with presence, listening and authentic communication. [source: programasat.com] The format is not described. [uncertain]
• Steps [synthesis] (generic paired awareness practice):
  1. Partners sit facing each other.
  2. They take turns: one speaks briefly about present experience while the other only listens, then they switch. Optionally, end with a period of silent mutual presence.
  3. Debrief what was hard: being seen, not responding.
• Example language (illustrative): "Just say what you're aware of right now, in front of your partner. The listener doesn't answer."
• Watch for: Social anxiety or shame. Allow eye contact to be optional.

C3. 'No hacer' (non-doing) practice

• Purpose / when: SAT 2, within an introduction to Mahayana ideas. It prepares a finer observation of the mind that goes beyond its contents. [source: programasat.com; asociacionsat.com.ar]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Sit without a meditation object.
  2. Make no effort to control, correct or achieve anything.
  3. When effort is noticed, notice it and let it relax too.
  4. Afterwards, talk through which kind of 'doing' (striving, managing, monitoring) belongs to the client's character.
• Example language (illustrative): "For these minutes there's nothing to do and nothing to get right. Notice the urge to do something, and leave it."
• Watch for: Dysregulation in clients who rely on control to stay stable. Keep sittings short and give a simple anchor.

C4. Vajrayana / Tibetan Buddhist meditation

• Purpose / when: The meditation strand of SAT 3. [source: programasat.com; asociacionsat.com.ar] The specific practices are not described. [uncertain] [synthesis] Practices from a religious lineage should be taught by a qualified teacher. In therapy, keep to secular attention and compassion practices unless the client already belongs to that tradition, and do not improvise them.

C5. Meditation with reflection on transformation (SAT 4, SAT 5, SAT Meditación)

• Purpose / when: Mornings of meditation followed by open reflection on the psycho-spiritual process. SAT Meditación adds other introspective techniques. [source: programasat.com; gestaltclaudionaranjo.com]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Sit (C1 or C3).
  2. Write freely for 10 minutes on 'what is changing in me and what resists'.
  3. Share in a small group without commentary.
• Watch for: Spiritual comparison and competition, which can itself be a passion at work.

C6. Music listening for compassion and the sacred

• Purpose / when: SAT 5 in Spain, SAT 4 in Argentina. Listening to music is used as a way into compassion and a sense of the sacred. [source: programasat.com; asociacionsat.com.ar] Which music is used, and how, is not stated. [uncertain]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Choose a piece the client does not associate with a painful memory.
  2. Listen in silence, eyes closed or softly open, attending to what the music moves in the body and the feelings.
  3. Afterwards, invite a few words or a drawing, without analysing.
• Example language (illustrative): "Let the music do the work. Afterwards, just tell me where it touched you."
• Watch for: Grief or memories that come up unexpectedly. Leave time to process them.

C7. Group 'monólogo libre' (free monologue)

• Purpose / when: A group exercise in the late modules. [source: programasat.com; asociacionsat.com.ar] The format is not described. [uncertain]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Each person speaks without interruption for a set time about whatever is present for them.
  2. The group listens without reacting, and nobody comments afterwards.
  3. The facilitator watches for anyone becoming overwhelmed.
• Watch for: Monologues used to perform or to dominate. Point this out kindly in a later debrief.

D1. Therapeutic theatre

• Purpose / when: Therapeutic theatre is used from SAT 1 onwards to educate spontaneity and to embody the character. Italian accounts also name a 'Teatro Trasformatore' and other therapeutic-theatre models within SAT. [source: programasat.com; gestaltclaudionaranjo.com; Ferrara 2012 abstract] The procedures are not published. [uncertain]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. The client plays their own character in an everyday scene, exaggerated (compare B3).
  2. Then they replay the scene from the 'virtue' (A3) or from the opposite pole.
  3. Group members can play other roles.
  4. Debrief: what was it like to step out of the usual role?
• Example language (illustrative): "Play your envious self at the party, fully, as a caricature. Now replay the same scene as someone who is simply glad to be there."
• Watch for:
  • Ridicule from the audience. Set a norm of respect.
  • Clients with social phobia. Let them start with small roles.

D2. Movimiento Espontáneo / 'movimiento auténtico'

• Purpose / when: From SAT 1, and again in SAT 4 afternoons. It educates spontaneity through movement drawn from dance. [source: programasat.com; gestaltclaudionaranjo.com] SAT's own technique is not described. [uncertain] [synthesis] The name echoes Authentic Movement, a mover-and-witness practice from dance-movement therapy, but the link is not confirmed.
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Eyes closed or lowered, in a safe space with a witness present.
  2. Wait until a movement starts by itself rather than performing one. Follow it.
  3. After 10-20 minutes, the mover speaks about their experience first. The witness then reports only what they saw, not interpretations.
• Example language (illustrative): "Don't decide how to move. Wait, and let the body begin."
• Watch for:
  • Dissociation.
  • Falls or collisions. Clear the space.
  • Trauma survivors needing their eyes open.

D3. 'Danza para la conciencia'

• Purpose / when: SAT 4. Movement that integrates the 'familia interna' (inner father, mother and child), moving from introspective experience to expression, with the aim of self-support in 'amor triunitario'. [source: gestaltclaudionaranjo.com] The procedure is not described. [uncertain] [synthesis] A therapist can adapt the idea: three short movement improvisations, each embodying one inner figure, then a fourth that combines them. Do not present this adaptation as the SAT method.

D4. Body work to reconnect with the 'animal interno'

• Purpose / when: SAT 4 afternoons. Body work to recover instinctive vitality, the 'instinctive brain'. [source: programasat.com via gestaltclaudionaranjo.com; asociacionsat.com.ar] The methods are not described. [uncertain]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Run graded instinct-oriented movement: stretching, sound, playful animal movement.
  2. Throughout, agree consent around touch and any physical contact.
• Watch for:
  • Shame.
  • Sexual or aggressive arousal. Keep clear boundaries.
  • Physical limits.

D5. Work on money

• Purpose / when: SAT 4. It aims to free money from 'unnecessary suffering' inherited from patriarchal and family systems, and to put it at the service of the transpersonal. [source: asociacionsat.com.ar] The format is not described. [uncertain]
• Steps [synthesis]:
  1. Map the family's messages about money across generations.
  2. Link the client's money behaviour to their passion: for example hoarding with avarice, or status spending with vanity.
  3. Agree one experiment in a freer relationship with money.
• Watch for: Pressure to give money away to a group or teacher. That would be an ethical red flag, not a technique.

E1. Regressive work to the perinatal experience ('Renacimiento')

• Purpose / when: SAT 3. Regression to perinatal experience is meant to allow an experienced 'rebirth' into a higher state of consciousness. [source: programasat.com; asociacionsat.com.ar; gestaltclaudionaranjo.com] The method is not published: it is [uncertain] whether it uses breathwork, guided imagery or Gestalt regression. [uncertain]
• Steps: None given, because none are published. [synthesis]
  • This is an advanced, high-arousal procedure. It belongs only inside the official, staffed SAT 3 or a comparable specialised training.
  • It should not be improvised in individual practice.
  • Do not use physical restraint or 'birth simulation' by pressure or wrapping. Such methods have caused deaths outside SAT and are not described by SAT.
• Watch for (for referral and aftercare) [synthesis]:
  • Contraindications: psychosis, bipolar disorder, severe dissociation, unprocessed complex trauma, perinatal loss, pregnancy, cardiovascular or respiratory illness, current crisis.
  • After the module: disorientation, sleep disturbance, emergence of uncorroborated 'memories', or idealisation of the experience. Help the client integrate it without treating its content as literal history.

F. Berkeley-era practices (historical)

• The 1971-73 SAT groups also used Gurdjieffian attention exercises and Sufi teaching stories, and signed secrecy commitments. [source: Spirituality Studies 10(2), 2024] Current module pages do not list these, so I cannot say whether they are still used. [uncertain] [synthesis] Do not ask clients for secrecy commitments. A teaching story can be offered as a reflective metaphor, but no SAT procedure for it was found.

5. Handling problems

The SAT sources say nothing about handling problems. Everything in this section is [synthesis] unless a source is cited. It draws on Naranjo's Gestalt principles and on standard clinical safety practice.

• Stuck client: intellectualising the enneagram ('aboutism').
  • Name the pattern gently and bring the client back to the present (B2).
  • Ask for one embodied example and stay with the feeling.
  • Naranjo treats talking about as avoidance. [source: Gestalt Therapy, p. 50]
• Resistance.
  • Side with the resistance and do not fight it: amplify it and give it a voice (B3).
  • "You never overcome anything by resisting it." [source: Perls via Naranjo, p. 131]
  • If the client rejects the enneagram altogether, drop the labels and work only with observed patterns. The Gestalt attitude does not depend on typology.
• Mistyping, and typing as a weapon.
  • Keep the type provisional and owned by the client.
  • Ban typing others in group settings.
  • If the label fuels shame or contempt, set it aside.
• Overwhelm during expressive, chair, movement or regressive work.
  • Stop the technique.
  • Orient to the room: open eyes, feet on the floor, name objects.
  • Slow the breathing, without hyperventilation.
  • Reduce the intensity next time: shorter, more distance, the therapist more active.
  • Screen first for PTSD, dissociation, psychosis and bipolar disorder before using cathartic or regressive work (see E1).
• Anger at parents that does not move.
  • Contain it in session, with clear limits and no damage to property or self.
  • Do not push forgiveness or reconciliation.
  • Where abuse occurred, prioritise safety and validation over 'love towards parents' as a goal. Present the programme's aim of recovering love as an option, never a demand.
• Spiritual bypassing.
  • When 'it's just my ego' or meditation is used to avoid grief, anger or practical problems, return to the concrete feeling and the concrete situation.
• Non-adherence with practice.
  • Explore the non-practice as the character in action: what the passion says about practising.
  • Shrink the practice to a minimum the client can actually do.
  • Avoid turning it into a 'should'.
• Ruptures.
  • Gestalt directness can feel like attack. Acknowledge your part openly in the here and now ('I pushed too fast').
  • Invite the client's anger at you as legitimate contact. Repair before going back to technique.
• Group-specific problems (laboratory, follow-up groups).
  • Feedback turning into attack, idealisation of leaders, and sub-grouping by type.
  • Responses: clear agreements (observations, not verdicts), facilitator modelling, and rotating roles.
• Programme-specific risks, and when to refer.
  • Intense, multi-day intensives can destabilise vulnerable clients. Advise a client who is considering a SAT module to discuss their history with the organisers first, and plan support after the module.
  • Treat as red flags in any group: pressure towards secrecy, financial pressure, discouraging outside therapy, or presenting perinatal 'memories' as literal fact.
• Suicidality or self-harm emerging during the work.
  • Pause the experiential work.
  • Carry out a standard risk assessment and safety planning, including lethal-means counselling (safe storage or removal).
  • Increase contact. Resume depth work only once the client is stable.
• Therapist's own character interfering.
  • Following the SAT 3 laboratory principle, take the pattern to supervision or personal work. [source: programasat.com, SAT 3]

Sources

Sources:

• Módulos SAT (Programa SAT, Fundación Claudio Naranjo, Spain)
• Programa SAT (gestaltclaudionaranjo.com)
• Programas – SAT (Asociación SAT, Argentina)
• Claudio Naranjo – Programa SAT biography page
• Naranjo, Gestalt Therapy: The Attitude and Practice of an Atheoretical Experientialism – Crown House look-inside PDF
• Ferrara, A. (2012). Dalla Gestalt al SAT. Quaderni di Gestalt 1/2012, 31-36 (abstract)
• Spirituality Studies 10(2), Fall 2024 (article on Naranjo and the SAT Institute, excerpt)
• Claudio Naranjo – Wikipedia

Further reading (not drawn on unless stated above):

• Naranjo, C. (1971). On the Psychology of Meditation (with R. Ornstein).
• Naranjo, C. (1980). Techniques of Gestalt Therapy.
• Naranjo, C. (1989). How to Be: Meditation in Spirit and Practice.
• Naranjo, C. (1990). Ennea-type Structures: Self-Analysis for the Seeker.
• Naranjo, C. (1993/2000). Gestalt Therapy: The Attitude and Practice of an Atheoretical Experientialism (preview).
• Naranjo, C. (1994). Character and Neurosis: An Integrative View.
• Naranjo, C. (1995). Enneatypes in Psychotherapy.
• Naranjo, C. (2005). The Enneagram of Society.
• Naranjo, C. (2006). The Way of Silence and the Talking Cure.
• Naranjo, C. 27 personajes en busca del ser and the Psicología de los eneatipos monograph series (Ediciones La Llave).

Not verified: the 1987 Spanish relaunch, the Fischer-Hoffman link, the list of virtues and subtype names, and the step-by-step formats of SAT exercises. [uncertain]