Hakomi: Answering, "Who are you?"

By Mark Fearer

      In 1980, a student of psychotherapist Ron Kurtz heard the word, "hakomi" in a dream, but he didn't know what it meant. After doing some research, he found that the term translated to, "Who are you?" in the Hopi language.

      When Kurtz heard the word, he knew it was the name he needed for a new form of therapy he was creating. His eclectic therapy drew on the influences of Gestalt, bioenergetics, Buddhism, Hinduism and the works of noted body therapy creators, including Wilhelm Reich, Moshe Feldenkrais and Ida Rolf. Shortly after that, Kurtz moved from Connecticut to Boulder and, along with eight other psychotherapists, co-founded the Hakomi Institute in 1981.

      Hakomi is "body-centered, experiential psychotherapy," says Laurie Adato, administrative director of the Institute. While some therapists focus exclusively on Hakomi, the practice is also used by a number of other psychotherapists, body workers, social workers, substance abuse counselors and others in their own practices who have received training from the Hakomi Institute.

      Hakomi goes beyond talk therapy by answering the question, "Who are you?"

      "We assist you in discovering who you are," says Kurtz. "All the methods and techniques are designed to bring into consciousness the beliefs, memories, decisions and emotional attitudes you incorporated a long time ago (as core material), which are basically running your life. Since it's so habitual, it's automatic and not examined. (A Hakomi therapist will ask) who you are physically, emotionally and spiritually."

      Hakomi is based on what the therapy calls core material-that is, how we interact with the world, how we show up in relationships and how we feel about ourselves. Hakomi practitioners believe they can improve lives by changing core material which consists of attitudes, memories, images and beliefs, and by listening intently to the body's messages.

      Hakomi therapists say core material is at the center of who we are, and Hakomi allows clients to access it in a way that's safe, gentle and immediate. Many people experience significant results within the first couple of sessions, and often begin to experience changes in their lives. For example, Kurtz describes a woman who, during a group session, sat by herself and seemed negative and isolated. As she talked about her mother, she started getting cold and began shaking; half an hour later, this previously withdrawn woman started "melting" as she realized, "There is warmth available for me" from the people near her. The next day, after sleeping the whole night (something she had never done before), she joined the group and, says Kurtz, "You could see in her face how much she had changed."

      A typical session might start out with establishing safety and trust; the therapist is calm and attentive, never pushy. The patient might name some issues he or she would like to work on, and the therapist helps the patient become more present, focusing on the breath and feelings in the body.

      The therapist would then try to access deeper levels of the client's consciousness, which may involve talking about early childhood memories and examining feelings in the body.

      "We in Hakomi believe that the body contains and represents experience, and the body can talk," says Melissa Grace, a faculty member and national trainer with the Hakomi Institute. A Hakomi therapist "listens" to what the body is saying. For example, suppose a woman has a tightness in her stomach after an interaction with her boyfriend. A Hakomi therapist might ask, "If that tightness could speak, what would it say?" Suppose the tightness says, "He doesn't really love me, because I'm unlovable." The therapist would then offer probes-positive statements that are usually the opposite of the negative belief. So, for example, the therapist might have the client respond to the core belief "I'm unlovable" by saying, "I am a lovable person."

      The therapist might then see if the core belief "I'm not lovable" is connected with the client's early memories. "We work with what we think about as a childlike state of consciousness, something that is separate from our adult awareness," says Grace. "It's a more direct experience of the memory, where we can feel what it felt like in a more direct way." The idea is that children form inaccurate and all-encompassing ideas and beliefs-such as "I'm not loveable"-based on their experiences.

      "I might say, 'Be with that experience, that feeling, and notice what happens in you when you hear the words, 'You're a lovable person,'" Grace says. "In doing that, we're tying to find out even more about how this belief is organized inside (the patient). Often, something will come up at this point, like a question about or reflection of the (experience). Something in them will say 'No, that's not true.' Staying with that often will lead to some contact with memories-how do you know, how do you get the information from your body or experience that you're not lovable?"

      Hakomi is useful for anxiety and stress, depression, grief and self-esteem issues, but it's "most effective for people who are dealing with ordinary adult developmental issues-relationships and intimacy, work that is satisfying to them, and feeling happy with what's in their lives," Grace says.

      She adds that Hakomi by itself is probably not effective for people with personality or anxiety disorders, although it might be useful when combined with other types of treatment. It's most likely not effective or appropriate for children, or for people who are in a psychotic state or battling addiction. Grace noted that 65 to 75 percent of her clients-and probably clients of others who use Hakomi-are women. "It focuses on relationships and emotions," Kurtz says. "Women get that. Men are more likely to be vested in their egos," and are less attracted to therapy-any kind of therapy-than are women.

      Sessions usually last an hour to an hour and a half, and can continue for six weeks to years, depending on the issue. Certified Hakomi instructors in Colorado typically charge $50 to $120 per session. For more information, call the Hakomi Institute at 303-499-6699, or check out the resources in the box "Resources, local and beyond."

 

Resources, local and beyond

. Body Centered Psychotherapy by Ron Kurtz (LifeRhythm, 1990)

. Experiential Couple Psychotherapy by Rob Fisher (Zeig, Tucker and Theisen, Inc., 2002)

. Hakomi Energy Network, www.hakomieducation.org

. Hakomi Institute, www.hakomiinstitute.com

. Ron Kurtz, www.ronkurtz.com