Reflective Presence: a Buddhist Hakomi Training
Training in Hakomi
The Hakomi Experiential Method is based on the work and creative genius of Ron Kurtz, who wrote Body-Centered Psychotherapy: the Hakomi Method, and who continues to develop and write about the work.
Hakomi has now evolved into a whole approach to personal development and human relations which expands the focus and application of the original Hakomi Method into a wide variety of other settings for individuals, couples, families, communities, organizations, agencies, and other health and wellness-focused lay and professional groups.
Hakomi training begins by establishing a focus on self-study and moves on to developing effective communication and relational skills based on mindfulness, compassion, and perceptual wisdom including good listening skills.
In the Personhood Series participants are introduced to Hakomi through a variety of experiential practices to cultivate gentle self-awareness and understanding, qualities of personal freedom and creativity, and a genuine appreciation for oneself and others. You’ll begin to learn and practise some simple yet powerful ways to respond more effectively to suffering.
In the Practice (Skills) Level, participants, having completed the Personhood Series, learn more about the techniques and skills of the Hakomi Method. Here you will explore many ways people express themselves verbally and nonverbally. You begin to help each other understand and transcend limiting beliefs and habitual behaviours.
In the Practice Level you’ll learn to use the method to discover how you organize your experience based on these core patterns, and to help each other find ways to be more authentic and compassionate, more connected with each other and with life.
The Applied Level is for those participants who have completed the Practice Level or equivalent Hakomi training and who wish to deepen their understanding and application of Hakomi for personal and/ or professional use. You will have many opportunities to practice using the method with supervision and to focus either on one-to-one or group applications of the Hakomi Experiential Method.
In a multi-level training, these levels are not linear. Each student in a multi-level training may be in a different phase of their own development. In all levels of the Hakomi training, the work is informed by a mind-body-spirit perspective toward personhood and community development. This focus provides both a strong foundation and the primary motivation for the learning.
"Be what you are: intelligence and love in action." (Nisargadatta Maharaj)
PERSONHOOD SERIES:
- The Practice of Loving Presence
- Quieting the Mind
- Nonverbal Communication
- Emotional Nourishment
More About the Personhood Series
The Practice of Loving Presence
In this workshop, participants learn how to create and sustain a compassionate state of mind, and to provide a space for someone to have an experience of being witnessed this way. We do this through a progression through several specific stages based on a series of experiential practices from the Hakomi Method. Once the experience of compassion is stabilized, we practice interacting as compassionate givers and receivers, in pairs and small groups. Through this process, participants develop more self-awareness, understanding and the capacity for deep listening. For therapists, this practice is a healthy alternative to stress and burnout, creating a context for gentle but powerful healing to happen.
Quieting the Mind
In this workshop, participants learn how to create and sustain a calm, sensitive, present-centered state of mind. Mindfulness is learned and practised. The basic idea is to become calm and to stay calm, while being present for others as well as for yourself. We’ll explore habitual tendencies and unconscious ideas that can (and usually do) disrupt such a state. And we’ll use the Hakomi Method to experience some alternatives to these old patterns. This kind of calm sensitivity is the necessary state of mind for loving presence and for using the Hakomi Method effectively in your personal life or in your professional work with clients.
Nonverbal Communication (Wisdom without Words)
Nonverbal communication expresses who we are, the present experience we’re having, our personal story, and history, as well as what we expect and what we really need from each other. In his bestseller, Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman reports that 90% of our emotional experience is communicated nonverbally. The learning here is experiential, using a quiet, calm state of mind, and doing little Hakomi experiments to bring to consciousness the underlying meanings hidden in nonverbal expression (our own and others): facial expressions, bodily gestures, posture, tone of voice, energy, pacing, and other signals.
Emotional Nourishment (the Art of Comforting)
Even having good intentions to witness each other compassionately and to be truly present and helpful to someone in distress, we may still experience feelings of helplessness in the face of suffering. There are effective ways to respond to others who need comfort or reassurance, and to help them realize that some kind of nourishing experience is available. In this workshop, we explore the ways we ourselves may be unable to take in the emotional nourishment that is being offered. And we use skills from Hakomi to learn how to recognize and communicate clearly and simply what it is that someone needs to hear and feel, and do this in ways that are appropriate and are received as nourishment.
Reflective Presence: a Buddhist Hakomi Training
