Roland is a Certified Hakomi Practitioner and Trainer.

The Method

Donna Martin, Hakomi trainer, writes “Hakomi is an experiential method of assisted self-discovery that uses “little experiments in mindfulness” to discover how one’s experience is organized by habits and attitudes and beliefs.

Hakomi is also effective in many non-therapy situations involving human relations, from teaching to parenting and from customer service to hospice work.

In Hakomi, we work within four guidelines:

  • Use mindfulness to create an inner space where one can observe whatever is present.
  • Have an experimental attitude.
  • Focus on present-moment experience. We are more interested in the storyteller than the story and we do not focus on the past or the future, but on what is happening in the moment.
  • Move towards nourishment by creating nourishing experiences to create new possibilities in life.

Hakomi is based on five principles:

  • Mindfulness: the non-judgmental observer of what is present in the moment.
  • Mind-body holism: the fact that whatever is in the body is related to whatever is happening in the mind and vice versa.
  • Non-violence: the focus is never forcing to break through blocks, fears, and resistance, but rather on supporting them so they can be seen or heard, acknowledged, understood and dissolved in a loving and safe container of self-discovery.
  • Organicity: the fact that healing is a spontaneous process that is organic in nature, and the fact that all the resources are within the client and will emerge when we create conditions where these inner resources will be invited and feel safe enough to reveal themselves, cooperate, and actually lead the process.
  • Unicity: in that we are all related and everything we do affects others around us.

The Hakomi parctitioner’s role is to listen and follow rather than talk. The practitioner leads by following, that is by closely tracking and contacting the present moment experience in a state of loving presence, a key skill taught in Hakomi.

Hakomi was created by the late Ron Kurtz, who was influenced by BioEnergetics, Feldenkrais, Gestalt, Buddhism, and the Tao Te Ching, among others. The use of mindfulness and the technique of taking over are two of the innovative approaches to therapy created by Ron.

The basics of the Hakomi Method is learned in various formats of the two-year program, after which a student becomes a Certified Hakomi Therapist only upon the demonstration of competency to two trainers.

The Hakomi Method has been widely taught by the Hakomi Institute in many countries since the 1970s.

The Refined Method of Assisted Self-Discovery was later developed by Ron Kurtz. The Refined Method is taught by the Hakomi Educational Network (HEN) of teachers and trainers.

How I integrate this method into my approach

Hakomi is totally integrated into my approach. I try to do everything in a “Hakomi way,” and I use it in part or all of a session with my clients. Hakomi has taught me to trust the organicity and spontaneity as well as following the client rather than leading and directing the session.

It has taught me to track the present moment experience and contact it so that the client can see and feel that I am really present and following. It has taught me to move towards nourishment and to support defenses rather than try to break through them.

Most importantly, for me, Hakomi has helped me to go from “DOING” healing work to “BEING” with the client. What needs to happen then emerges effortlessly much of the time and the healing happens more quickly and organically.

Since I am not a licensed psychotherapist and do not practice psychotherapy, I work within the Hakomi principles and let the method inform, influence and guide my way of practicing in helping clients study themselves in mindfulness and discover how their experience is organized from habits and beliefs. I focus on creating nourishing experiences to foster well-being.

Books

Severals books are available on the method. You can find them on MyReadings page.

Web sites