Hakomi Therapy

Christian Appraisal

Theory of Change

Positives from the Christian perspective:

• Mindfulness

Theory of

Psychopathology

• For the individual, these models are just the way the world is, without the luxury of doubt that consciousness affords
• Bringing these models into consciousness, where doubt is possible, is a first step

• The single factor that best predicts success in psychotherapy is whether or not the client can stay with his or her experience.

Christian Appraisal

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matthew 7:7-11

Sources of Spiritual Nourishment:

Theory of Change

• Mindfulness means looking inward, being aware of feelings and sensations in the present moment.
• Nonviolence means avoiding judgments, and making space for a natural unfolding of the healing process.
• Unity of mind and body means that our painful experiences are "somaticized," or incorporated into our bodies in the form of habitual muscular tensions, restricted movements, and energy restrictions.

“Named must your fear be before banish it you can.” -Yoda

Theory of Personality -

Key Assumptions:

Hakomi practice in a nutshell

Hakomi is lacking in that it does not seek Christ for spiritual nourishment, but instead goes to Hakomi itself, and looks for nourishment from the client.

• We organize our experiences by apply meaning to them, to the world, and to ourselves;

• Active focus on the client’s bodily expressions.
• The therapist then creates interventions to bring emotionally charge experiences to light.
• Attention shifts to working with the emotions and memories.
• release of emotion and the realization of the long-term meaning initiates long lasting change.

• These organizational decisions come to operate as unconscious "core beliefs"

Theory of Psychopathology

Focus of Hakomi

• These core beliefs limit our ability to function spontaneously and to live effectively through systematic, characterological habits.

Christian Appraisal

Eastern Philosophy, Taoism, Buddhism were

all big influences in Kurtz's theory, with Kurtz

having practiced yoga since 1959, and macrobiotics (Taoist principle based diet) since 1972.

Science was also a strong influence for Kurtz and from that influence came a passion for systems theory.

Positives from the Christian perspective:

Christian Appraisal

• nonviolence

• Bringing core beliefs into consciousness.
• This allows the client to examine and change their beliefs.
• This is done using mindfulness, by looking at immediate reactions and methods of organization.

Hakomi's negative connotations:

• Yoga
• Mindfulness
• Eastern traditions
• Buddhism
• Taoism

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Psalm 91:1-2

Theory of

Psychopathology

• Hakomi is the evocation of experience in mindfulness.
• The therapist is always giving important messages.
• These actions speak directly to the unconscious, as words rarely do.
• Hakomi is a "new method of psychotherapy"
• When the client is in mindfulness and experiences are evoked, there is no confusion about the source.

Theory of Psychopathology

Theorist

The entire world of past experience [is] embodied in the present in the form of character attitudes. A person’s character is the fractional sum total of all past experiences.... The doctor does not need to reconstruct a traumatic moment; the traumatic moment continues to exist in every breath the patient takes, in every gesture he makes.

- Wilhelm Reich (1949) Character Analysis

The method draws from:

• general systems theory
• Reichian work
• Bioenergetics
• Gestalt
• Psychomotor

• Feldenkrais
• Structural bodywork
• Ericksonian Hypnosis
• Focusing
• NLP

Christian Appraisal

Theory of Psychopathology

Positives from the Christian perspective:

• Ron Kurtz began psychotherapy in 1970, and by 1979 The Hakomi Institute was founded.
• After graduate school Kurtz began teaching and taking workshops.
• A few years later he started private practice.
• Shortly after the Hakomi Method was brought into being.

Hakomi's Principles:

• Unity
• Mind/Body/Spirit Holism
• Organicity
• Mindfulness
• Non-Violence.

These tenets inform every aspect of the work.

Theory of

Psychopathology

Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped,when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Ephesians 4:13-16

The focus on connection between beliefs and experiences gives body psychotherapy its power.

Habitual bodily expressions are considered reliable indicators of core beliefs, but not all core beliefs need changing.

• A relationship is required at the level of the unconscious
• The unconscious waits for a caring ally.
• Understanding bodily expressions lets the therapist find psychological information.
• The body also stores memories through experiences that therapists learn to can access.
• Hakomi builds off of a belief in the mind-body connection.

Two main advantages of Hakomi:

• supports personal responsibility

• avoids confusion

Theory of

Psychopathology

When beliefs are conscious, doubt becomes possible. Change becomes possible. The key thing is to get the connection between the beliefs and the experiences.

Theory of Personality -

Key Assumptions:

References:

Theory of

Psychopathology

• Core Material: “Some of this material supports our being who we wish to be, while some of it, learned in response to difficult situations, continues to limit us."

Hakomi Therapy

• The purpose of therapy is to become fully human, alive, spontaneous, open-hearted and caring, with the ability to be equally effective acting in interdependence with the world or autonomously.

The healing relationship involves two basic things:

• therapist has to demonstrate that they are trustworthy, non-judgmental and compassionate
• therapist has to demonstrate that she is present, attentive and really understands what’s going on for the person.

http://bti.edu/pdfs/Kurtz_Development-of-Hakomi.pdf

http://www.hakomibc.ca/

http://www.flowingbody.com/hakomi.htm

http://bti.edu/pdfs/Kurtz_Bodily-Expression-and-Experience.pdf

http://www.fit4heaven.com/files/Hakomi%20Discussion.pdf

ESV: Study Bible : English standard version. (ESV text ed.). (2007). Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Bibles.

https://vimeo.com/69644901