Gestalt Therapy & Somatic Practice
Bridging Western psychotherapy with Eastern contemplative presence to shift from left-brain mental chatter into the true aliveness of right-brain somatic awareness.
Certifications & Accreditations
Participants receive a Certificate of Completion in Gestalt Therapy from the Bay Area Gestalt Institute for all training hours. In CA and other states, CEUs are provided by the Bay Area Gestalt Institute (CAMFT Provider #1355771). For clinicians in Puerto Rico, CEUs are issued by the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine (ORCPS Provider #00225).
Ways to Work Together
Select the pathway to restore balance and deepen your capacity for present-moment awareness.
Oakland, CA & Zoom. An experiential 4-month training meeting every other week. Designed for licensed/pre-licensed clinicians and students (exceptions made for highly interested non-clinicians). Includes Bay Area Gestalt Institute Certificate.
Try Session 1 for $75Rincón, Puerto Rico. A day-long immersion to dismantle conditioned anxiety and recover sensory presence. Open to both clinicians and non-clinicians. Includes Bay Area Gestalt Institute Certificate for hours completed.
Join the WaitlistIndividual & couples (CA). Psychotherapy focusing on moving past intellectualized talk therapy into somatic, present-moment resolution.
Request ConsultationPhilosophy
Freedom and joy are your birthright. Suffering, constant mental resistance, and chronic anxiety are deeply unnatural states that consume an exhausting amount of energy each day.
The craving for ease and peace is not an abstract spiritual milestone; it is the natural drive of organismic self-regulation returning home. True liberation begins by bringing awareness to the ego/superego dynamics, allowing us to dis-identify from our conditioned thoughts.
"Lose your mind and come to your senses."
- Fritz Perls, Founder of Gestalt TherapyThe 8-Session Curriculum
Gestalt Approach to Life and Therapy. Earn 22 CEUs. Oakland, CA & Zoom. Starts Feb 12, 2027.
Map the Ego and Superego dynamics driving mental chatter, and practice the awareness continuum to shift back into organismic presence.
Learn Gestalt’s approach to working with therapeutic impasses, parts work, and applying the Paradoxical Theory of Change.
Understand the four main contact boundary disturbances and how to use in-the-moment anxiety as a clinical pointer.
Harness biological intelligence to contact and release retroflections, allowing clients to heal trauma stored in the body.
Through introjection exercises, learn to disidentify from a constructed self-image to actualize your true authentic Self.
Explore confluence and projection through experiential exercises to reclaim disowned energy and master self-responsibility.
Move beyond interpretation by enacting dreams in the here-and-now to unlock existential messages from the Field.
Explore the natural rhythm of Contact and Withdrawal. Practice resting in awareness and integrate these tools into practice.
Learn from the inside out. Witness a master Gestalt therapist at work and experience the shift from narrative to somatic resolution in real-time.
Download Full SyllabusFrom Participants
“Out of any of the continuing education courses I have attended, your Gestalt ones have been by far the most impactful.”
- Fall 2025 Workshop Participant
“Gestalt with Srini blew my mind this semester, he structures and allows his class to be a potent space for both integration and growth. The emphasis on being in the now while exploring the edges of the mind and body was very profound for me.”
- Fall 2025 Workshop Participant
“This was an amazing course! Srini really made the course the experience of Gestalt – teaching through creating experience vs telling.”
- Fall 2021 Workshop Participant
Secure Your Seat
Starts on February 12th, 2027 and ends on May 21st, 2027. Classes are held every other Friday from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM PST.
Attend the first 3-hour session to experience the methodology firsthand. If you commit to the full 8-session series, your $75 is fully credited toward the total tuition.
Strictly limited to 8 in-person and 8 virtual participants.
Day-Long Immersion
Open to all clinicians and non-clinicians. Bay Area Gestalt Institute Certificate of Completion provided.
Designed for therapists seeking personal renewal and individuals looking to break free from chronic internal pressure. We accelerate this shift of awareness through core somatic and boundary exercises designed to break the machine's grip. Step out of anxiety-driven thoughts and into your senses to recover stillness and silence within.
Identifying the Superego “Program” & Ego Anxiety. Introjection exercises to separate internalized rules from authentic yearnings.
Right-Brain Presence & Somatic Flow. Breath regulation, retroflection release, and sensory grounding in the present moment.
Private Practice
For professionals, creatives, and couples navigating major life transitions, communication impasses, or the emotional numbness of chronic anxiety and depression. We move beyond cognitive explanations to harness what is most alive in the present moment as a portal to true health and healing.
In a safe and deeply caring space, I use open, direct, and empathic questioning to challenge habitual behaviors and beliefs. By untangling internal self-criticism and exploring underlying needs, we support the discovery of your authentic voice, helping you and your relationships recover your natural aliveness so you can live in a choice-full way.
★★★★★“Srini provides a deeply grounded, safe container where genuine emotional shifts happen. He cuts through circular intellectualizing and helps you tune into what's actually happening in your body.”
- Verified Google Review
About
Srini Katragadda is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) with over 20 years of experience as an educator, psychotherapist, and workshop facilitator based in Oakland, California.
Before dedicating his career to psychotherapy, Srini co-founded a tech startup that was acquired by Google. This background provides him with a firsthand understanding of the high-pressure environments, intellectualized burnout, and constant striving that often drive modern anxiety.
As a co-founder of the Bay Area Gestalt Institute and faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), Srini bridges rigorous clinical theory with Eastern contemplative practice. Today, he teaches Gestalt Therapy locally in the San Francisco Bay Area and leads immersive, experiential training retreats internationally across China, India, and at his boutique hotel in Rincón, Puerto Rico. This is a dedicated space designed specifically for holistic healing and somatic integration.
On His Teaching
“Srini teaches the Gestalt class as a jazz musician plays on stage. He is so knowledgeable and has so much experience that he is able to improvise while attending to the here and now. Quite masterful.”
- Fall 2023 Cohort Attendee
“Srini teaches by modeling. He lives Gestalt, shares examples from his personal and professional life, and makes space for each student to come to their own understanding and experience.”
- Spring 2025 Participant
“Srini is phenomenal. I did not expect to enjoy this course as much as I did. He embodies Gestalt in such a way that the knowledge seeps into students in a profoundly embodied way.”
- Fall 2025 Participant
Connect
Whether you are looking to book a psychotherapy consultation, have questions about the upcoming clinical cohort, or want to discuss organizational training, I welcome you to reach out.
Free eBook
A short introduction to the theory, the practice, and what a session actually feels like.
Download the Free Introduction to Gestalt Therapy eBook