Ron Kurtz Bio
Modest Master Psychotherapist

The late Ron Kurtz was the principal creator and a founder of the Hakomi Institute.

Be sure to read Ron's evolving vision for his advanced method of Hakomi. 

"Hakomi is the absolute cutting edge of modern therapeutic technique."

"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



The Late Ron Kurtz & Carol Stuart.

What is Hakomi?

Hakomi therapy is practiced in a state of Mindfulness and incorporates the overlapping and interlinking principals displayed in the above diagram.

Mindfulness

Is a practice of turning our attention inward with a receptive attitude.
We deliberately decide to observe present experience without interfering with it.
Mindfulness begins...with a preference for tasting over doing, a preference for noticing, how one is being touched and moved in consciousness, how one is organizing one's experience.
Mindfulness finds its roots in meditative traditions such as Buddhism.

Organicity

Refers to the natural unfolding of one's psycho-spiritual journey toward more ease, satisfaction and wholeness.
Healing is an act of self-recreation...
The principle of organicity asserts our respect for life and our faith in the healing power of the individual.
It creates an atmosphere of freedom, self-determination and responsibility for the client and it allows the therapist to act and feel more like a healer than a mechanic.

Non-Violence

Is born of an attitude of acceptance and an active attention to the ways events naturally unfold.

Non-violence guides me, as the therapist, to emphasize the client's experience, rather than advice, interpretation or my agenda.

In Hakomi, we do not oppose the client's efforts to manage her experience; we support these ("defenses") in an effort to give the client a safe and controlled way to explore the experiences more deeply and completely...

By gaining the cooperation of the unconscious and following and supporting the client's own pace and process, we create a situation where those experiences that need and want to happen have their natural place.

Mind-Body Holism

Recognizes that the mind and body influence each other, hence in therapy, we attempt to work constantly at the "mind-body interface."

In Hakomi, we are especially interested in how core beliefs and significant early memories influence the self, and how changes in these beliefs and images can lead to the transformation of experience.
We pay careful attention to how limiting patterns of the personality show up in the somatic realm (the body) and how we might invoke the body's healing energies and resources.

Unity

Speaks to the shared humanity of client and therapist, to our ultimate equality as far as facing the vicissitudes and joys of life.
Unity also speaks to an important goal of therapy: inviting all parts of the self into the dance toward wholeness.
The Unity principle states that the universe is fundamentally a web of relationships in which all aspects and components are inseparable from the whole and do not exist in isolation...

We embrace (Unity) when our way is acceptance and curiosity; when our goal is to bring together all aspects of the person: mind/mind, mind/body and self/universe; when we know as part of our being that we are connected, to each other and this world.

That knowing is the healing power of this work.

Late Ron Kurtz' Personal grant of permission to share and promote his work.

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