The Hakomi Method of Mindful Somatic Psychology is an elegant, comprehensive and highly effective approach to human change and development. Hakomi is an in depth, mindfulness-based somatic modality originated in the mid-1970’s by therapist and author Ron Kurtz as the Ron Kurtz Method of Body-Centered Psychotherapy. Drawing from an enormous range of influences – Buddhism and Taoism, physics, body-centered therapies such as Gestalt, Reichian work, the Feldenkrais Method, Bioenergetics, Focusing, NLP and Ericksonian Hypnosis, and General Systems Theory, it synthesized a pioneering approach to somatic psychotherapy, combining mindfulness, gentleness and experiential explorations of client behavior. In 1981, recognizing that the work stood on its own, Ron formally changed the name of the work to the Hakomi Method, based on a Hopi Indian word that asks “ how do you stand in relation to these many realms” or, more simply, “who are you?” That same year, Ron and several of his advanced students created the Hakomi Institute, a nonprofit educational corporation whose purpose was to promote the work.