Hakomi Mindfulness-Based Somatic Psychotherapy
Hakomi – a Hopi Indian word meaning “Where do I stand in relation to the many realms?”
Hakomi is a mindfulness-based, body-oriented psychotherapy that emerged in the 1970’s by founder, Ron Kurtz. Kurtz gathered together an array of different therapeutic approaches and philosophies from the fields of Buddhism, Taoism, psychodynamic therapy, body centred therapies, and general systems theory to birth the distinctive method that is both gentle and powerful. It has since continued to evolve alongside and be affirmed by emerging neuroscientific research about how trauma is held and healed in the body. Hakomi is one approach, and may be used alongside other types of therapy or graded to meet the needs of the client.
The principles.
Hakomi is underpinned by the foundational principles of:
· Mindfulness – To pay attention to one’s internal world to uncover powerful information that lies below conscious awareness and ‘thinking’.
· Non-violence – To respect the client, their needs and pace, and not to assume a position of ‘knowing best’ or authority over them.
· Organicity – To trust that there is an innate impulse towards healing within people, that will wisely unfold when given the optimal conditions, rather than needing ‘fixing’ by the therapist.
· Unity – To acknowledge the interconnectedness of all things, both the parts at play within a person as well as the dynamic between the client and the therapist.
· Mind-Body-Holism – To uphold the connection between the mind and body in therapy, trusting that thoughts, emotions and bodily experiences are connected and that all levels of experience are meaningful in the process of healing.
The body has more to say than we think.
Hakomi is experiential in nature, and seeks to not only connect with the client’s story, but with the client as a storyteller. Clients sometimes come to therapy with awareness and understanding about why they do what they do, yet still find it difficult to do things differently. With the use of mindfulness and an orientation towards the physical experiences of the body in a moment, the therapist and client are able to evoke and travel together to deeper core material that drives patterns of thought and behaviour; information that often lies beneath the surface of insight and words. The therapist recognises that powerful unconscious beliefs, those we are not presently aware of and that perhaps were learnt much earlier than we were able to talk or think consciously, contribute to much of our behaviour in every moment. The body speaks its own language. It’s movements, impulses, and sensations are like a map that provide a pathway to understanding these unconscious beliefs, so that they can be ‘re-wired’ at the level of the nervous system.
What does it look like?
During a session, the therapist will support you to become more aware of and observe your present moment experience in a way that feels safe and manageable, and then create ‘little experiments’ to better understand what early life beliefs and unmet needs might underly this present experience. The therapist is guided in this process partly by theoretical knowledge, but most importantly, by the client’s feedback and individual experience of thoughts, sensations and impulses that are tracked closely and carefully. ‘Little experiments’ are used by the therapist to seek more information, and involve the therapist asking the client if they would like to try something, outlining the idea that they have, and seeing if the client feels it is of interest to them. This might be for example, the therapist saying a short phrase, or the client slowly repeating a physical gesture that seemed important when they were talking. If the client consents to the experiment, it is done mindfully to observe what happens internally for the client, and information that arises from the experiment continues to be studied in this way until core beliefs are better understood. From this place, the therapist and client are more accurately able to work with rich and meaningful emotional content, and provide some form of missing experience that heals in a somatic or felt way in the body and mind.
Gentle, yet powerful.
Therapy often touches on painful experiences, tender emotions and new territory that has never before been spoken about or felt. Often, people develop protective strategies or ‘parts’ that serve to protect them from feeling the threat of this pain or ‘not knowing’, and this can sometimes be referred to as ‘resistance’ or felt by the client as a hesitation to going deeper. For example, the client might notice a deep sadness, and when invited to explore that more, may feel a wave of anger and desire to run away. If pushed or pressured into feeling this sadness more, the client may not feel safe in the therapeutic relationship. Hakomi sees ‘resistance’ to experience as a source of valuable information in the therapeutic process, and one that needs to be approached with curiosity, respect and support. For if resistance is to be met with force, it is likely that one will resist further to protect him or herself, rendering the healing process less effective and potentially, harmful. Working in this way enables therapists to safely and effectively work with trauma and to support the client to process overwhelming emotional pain in a way that is manageable.
Resources.
Resources are used to aid this gentle therapeutic process, with resources being anything that supports the client to maintain an internal sense of stability and calm. These resources discovered and utilised during therapy can be used for self-support in the rest of the client’s life. Resources are creative! Examples may be the breath, feeling your feet supported by the earth, a person or object, a memory, a hobby, a phrase, a gesture….the list goes on. Together, we can uncover many resources you already have but might not know about, and explore new ones along the journey.
Would you like to experience some of this in therapy?
If this approach resonates with you, and you would like to know or experience some of this, you are welcome to contact us via the button below.
Warmly,
Megan.