By Jaffy Phillips, MA, Hakomi Topic Expert Contributor

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Prospective clients often ask what first drew me to study Hakomi therapy. My answer: the principles. (And a touch of fate or providence.)

I first encountered Hakomi by way of a lucky accident. Someone left a copy of Ron Kurtz’ book (Body-Centered Psychotherapy: The Hakomi Method) on a windowsill in a house I moved into. I quickly read it from cover to cover. As a body-worker at the time, I was interested in the relationship between body and mind, but the main thing that kept me reading was the chapter about the principles. As I read it, I felt myself relax and settle in. I felt a sense of relief, like a big exhale: finally, something that made sense to my heart! It was like the feeling of coming home after a long time away. Read the rest of this entry

By Aylee Welch, LICSW, Body Psychotherapy Topic Expert Contributor

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Human beings are fascinating bio-psycho-social organisms. What makes up a person? Traditional psychotherapy works toward congruence in a person’s thinking, emotions, and actions/reactions. There are many therapeutic techniques that have been developed over time to explore and improve these aspects of our life. We do exist on several levels simultaneously, but are we limited to thoughts, emotions and actions? If we look at life and the human experience we see that there are five basic levels on which we function. There is the Intellect/Thought, and the Emotions and Actions as mentioned above, and we also exist in the physical realm, the level of the Body. For many people there is also an acknowledgment of something larger and beyond ourselves and the “seen” world that contributes to our life force. Many people have experiences in the Spiritual realm that is considered an additional level of existence. Therefore a person is a psychosomatic unity (psyche plus soma, meaning physical) that exists on all five levels. Body-oriented therapy (Somatic approaches, Core Energetics, Core Evolution, Bio-Energetics, Bio-dynamics) understands that the body is profoundly affected by our life experiences and the body, in turn, affects our future. Read the rest of this entry

By Aylee Welch, LICSW

Click here to contact Aylee and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

In the world of western psychotherapy “Body Oriented Psychotherapy” appears to be a new trend. But in reality Body-Psychotherapy dates back to the days of Sigmund Freud. Body-Psychotherapy was pioneered by Wilhelm Reich, who lived from 1897-1957. Reich grew up on a farm in what is now the Ukraine. He was tutored at home and spent most of his time outside. He was a natural scientist, known to experiment with breeding insects and animals as a child. He fled his home in 1914 because of WWI. After the war He went to medical school and by 1920 he was active in Freud’s inner circle and considered one of Freud’s most promising students. By 1922 he had his own “bio-psychiatry” practice and was an astute researcher and lecturer.

At this time Freud was hypothesizing that “neurosis” was caused by denial of our natural sexual instincts which leads to frustration. He called this sexual energy “libido”. It is well known that Freud later diluted this idea, in part because of his reaction to patients telling him about sexual abuse, and because of the complicated social implications of the discovery.

Meanwhile, Reich was conducting experiments that led him to conclude that life energy can be qualitatively measured in the body and that the natural build-up and discharge of this energy heightens one’s sense of well-being. Or, if it is frustrated, it can lead to the development of physical armoring and psychological problems. Reich was able to confirm the existence of this biological energy (which is more than sexual excitation) that he called “orgone energy” in the human body. He also verified its presence in the earth’s atmosphere; he developed instrumentation to observe and collect it in plants, and he harnessed it for a variety of purposes. It is because of Reich’s work that science made progress in areas such as cancer treatment, motor power and weather experimentation. But Reich’s passion and his life study was human behavior. Read the rest of this entry