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Office@hakomi.org
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Hakomi is a gentle yet powerful experiential psychotherapy that uses mindfulness and somatic interventions to heal attachment wounds and developmental trauma. Created by internationally renowned therapist and author Ron Kurtz, with assistance from a core group of colleagues, Hakomi draws from general systems theory and body-centered therapies to create a powerfully transformative healing modality.

Key Aspects of Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy

Experiential

Hakomi embraces the belief that "the patient needs an experience, not an explanation” (Frieda Fromm Reichman). Although sessions include talking, our experiential approach deepens therapy beyond insight and words to access the "blueprints'' that shape our present-day experiences.

Mindfulness-Centered

For over 40 years, Hakomi has pioneered the psychodynamic use of mindfulness in therapy. In sessions, clients learn to cultivate a compassionate, self-observing presence where gestures, tensions, voice tone, facial expressions, and other "somatic indicators" become routes to the formative experiences we call Core Material.

Transforming Core Material

Core material consists of formative experiences and resulting emotional attitudes, memories, neural patterns, and beliefs that organize our lives invisibly and automatically. This core material leads to character adaptations that help us survive difficult circumstances when we're young but eventually prevent us from growing into our fullest selves. Once these adaptations are conscious and directly experienced, interventions unique to Hakomi can transform core material and the habits that create disharmony in our relationships and inner lives.

A Safe and Attuned Relationship

The healing relationship is central to Hakomi as attachment issues are often vital elements of core material. Hakomi practitioners develop exquisite sensitivity and attunement to others through tracking and contact, bi-directional mindfulness, and loving presence. These skills make Hakomi paradoxically powerful: It is gentle and nonviolent yet goes deep and often yields dramatic and rapid results.

Body-Centered

We use "bottom-up" processes (i.e., from sensing to meaning) to access our clients' embodied knowing. The body's structures and habitual patterns are an experiential route to the root of their self-organization and a portal to new possibilities.

The “Missing Experience”

Hakomi supports transformation by providing what Ron Kurtz called the "missing experience." Integrating an individually tailored experience missing from childhood can rewire neural pathways and reconsolidate implicit memories in ways that allow new, more nourishing experiences to unfold.

The method continues to evolve in response to ongoing discoveries in neuroscience, traumatology, attachment theory, and other related fields.  While primarily a method of psychotherapy, Hakomi fits with many mind-body, educational, coaching, and wellness modalities. Some of its inspirations include Reichian work, Bioenergetics, Gestalt, Psychomotor, Feldenkrais, Structural Bodywork, Ericksonian Hypnosis, Focusing, Neurolinguistic Programming, general systems theory, Buddhism, and Taoism.

The Hakomi Institute, founded in 1981 by Ron Kurtz and a core group of trainers, is the original and most extensive Hakomi training organization worldwide.

The Institute offers workshops and professional training in Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy and advanced training and supervision for graduates through regional training centers in The United States, Canada, Brazil, Germany, Spain, Israel, Japan, China, Australia, and New Zealand.

Resources & Services

The Hakomi Institute offers numerous resources and services to its members as well as the public, including:

• Workshops and trainings in Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy
• Hakomi-inspired specialty programs (e.g., attachment, trauma, relationships, couples work, sexuality, group, organizational work, etc.)
• An International Directory of Hakomi Therapists and Practitioners
• Continuing education (CE) credits for our professional courses
• A professional journal published from 1985 - 2016
• Videos, books, articles, and other resources on Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy

For a detailed description of the Comprehensive Training and curriculum, please see our brochure: Hakomi Therapy Training.

The training is primarily designed for individuals practicing and/or studying in the fields of psychotherapy, counseling and social work. However, Hakomi training has also proved invaluable when integrated with coaching, group/organizational work, and other healing modalities.

Testimonials:

“Hakomi presents some astounding methods for getting to core material. It is well grounded in theory and revolutionary in its results.”
– Association of Humanistic Psychology Newsletter

“A visionary contribution to mindfulness in psychotherapy.”
– Daniel Siegel, author of “The Mindful Therapist”, “The Developing Mind” and “Mindsight”

“Hakomi is an excellent system for developing key emotional intelligence skills.”
– Daniel Goleman, author of “Emotional Intelligence”