Ron Kurtz
Ron is the original developer of the Hakomi Method, beginning thirty-nine years ago. He has been leading workshops and trainings since the mid-1970’s. He led the first training in the Hakomi Method in 1977. In 1981, along with Pat Ogden, Ph.D. and Dyrian Benz-Chartrand, Ph.D., he founded the Hakomi Institute. Together, they did the first Institute training. Pat, Dyrian and Ron have since left the Hakomi Institute. Pat started her own training organization, the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute. It can be found at: www.sensorimotorpsychotherapy.org. Dyrian is a core faculty member of the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute. Ron founded Ron Kurtz Trainings, Inc. and joined with trainers Donna Martin, Bob Milone, Flint Sparks, Georgia Marvin, Jeff Chernove and several others, in founding the Hakomi Educational Network (Int’l).
For his work developing the Hakomi Method and the Refined Hakomi Method, Ron received a Lifetime Achievement Award. He now describes what he does as Mindfulness-Based, Assisted Self-Discovery. In July of 2008, he received an honorary doctorate from the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute.
Ron has published three books in English and three others in Japanese. The first book was The Body Reveals, written with Hector Prestera, M.D., was published in 1976. It was about reading the body for psychological information and it contained numerous photos and illustrations. His second book, Body-Centered Psychotherapy, published in 1991, described the Hakomi Method. The third was Grace Unfolding, written with Greg Johanson. Since then, Ron has written many essays, on training handbooks and manuals.
In recent years, the method has been refined and expanded. It is now called, The Refined Hakomi Method. This version is taught by trainers and teachers of the above mentioned Hakomi Educational Network (Int’l) whose trainings are available in the U.S, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Argentina, England and Ireland.