Hakomi Institute Anti-Oppression Statement 

This is a living statement that will be updated as we continue to learn, grow, gather momentum and make more substantive changes toward our goal of anti-oppression.

In alignment with our principles of unity, nonviolence, mindfulness and organicity, as well as our core practice of loving presence, the leadership of the Hakomi Institute and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Group are committed to taking an active role in dismantling racism, patriarchy, homophobia, transphobia, ageism, ableism and other forms of oppression, marginalization and discrimination.

As a community dedicated to individual and collective holistic healing and growth, we realize that one aspect of discriminatory and oppressive behavior and structures is implicit bias. We are actively engaged in acknowledging and bringing our biases to conscious awareness. We honor and are grateful for the long history and lineage of Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Queer and Trans Communities working diligently toward healing and social justice—bringing awareness to the need to uncover and transform unconscious bias as part of healing for all people.

We are in solidarity with this effort and want to play our part in unraveling harmful beliefs and behaviors and creating new, more generative and supportive cultures. We know that we cannot be healthy and healed when the societies in which we live are sick from the belief that there is a hierarchy of human worth based on identities. We know that these limiting core beliefs continue to cause harm to people with marginalized identities as well as to the people that hold them.

Who we are

The Hakomi Institute, faculty and board are primarily white people. We have valued members of our community of many races, gender identities, sexual orientations, abilities, religions and cultures from many countries across the globe. In this statement, the use of the term “we” and the responsibility to do better, learn and grow primarily refers to the majority white leadership and faculty. We also honor the greater “we” in all the members of our community and their rich and diverse identities

Our Commitment

The founders of Hakomi wanted to combine the philosophy and spiritual practices of the East with the psychological thinking and techniques of the West to form an entirely new method of psychotherapy. Six men—Ron Kurtz, Jon Eisman, Phil Del Prince, Greg Johanson, Dyrian Benz, Halko Weiss, and two women—Devi Records and Pat Ogden—were pioneers and activists. During the ‘60s and ‘70s, they individually engaged in fighting racism, misogyny, homophobia, the military industrial complex, and challenging the white dominant male power structure. Nonetheless, they were white, able-bodied, and cis-gendered people from various economic backgrounds. As much as they were trying to change the structure, they were also a product of that structure and influenced by the dominant culture’s unconscious beliefs, active power dynamics and unearned privileges.

We also know that many of the Hakomi principles and methods reflect the common needs of humanity across the globe, beyond identities. We want to continue to offer that richness to the world through the lens of responsible, unfolding awareness and understanding and the deeper embodiment of our principles. The leadership of the Hakomi Institute is committed to actively becoming anti-discriminatory in all forms. We commit to examining and owning our unearned, identity-based privileges, to recognizing and transforming our implicit biases, and to becoming more culturally humble and aware. We are actively committed to increasing the diversity in our leadership, faculty and community and working to center and learn from marginalized perspectives.

Our Learning Edges

Hakomi faculty members are at differing levels of awareness, education and commitment in doing this work. Given this reality, expect us to experience our own learning edges as we work alongside you in our trainings and workshops. When working with issues of identity and oppression, we’re committed to interacting in ways that support deep truth-telling grounded in Hakomi’s core principles of mindfulness and nonviolence.

Although unintentional, we are aware of times when our unconscious biases and lack of skill have caused harm. We are working toward creating an accountability structure that will ensure that when this commitment does not play out in real time and people with marginalized identities are harmed, there is a way for students and members of the community to be heard and attended to. We are committed to setting up systems through which the work of repair can be done. We recognize that we must learn from the harm that is caused and evolve our faculty and staff so that the same harm is not caused again.

Our Overarching Goal

Our goal as an organization is to break free of the unhealthy power dynamics into which we’ve been socialized. These include racism, heteronormativity, ableism, transphobia, homophobia, patriarchy, classism, and other forms of oppression based on identity. We want to become a vibrant, diverse, actively anti-racist and anti-oppressive, culturally humble and supportive community. We know we will need to stretch to do so. It will require a lifetime’s work, if not the work of several generations. Our commitment to this goal arises from several things that matter deeply to us: embodying Hakomi’s principles more fully in our lives and in our work, developing compassionate, humble, anti-oppressive and self-aware helping professionals, and creating a learning environment that is as safe, inclusive, welcoming and accessible as possible.

Hakomi’s DEI Committee informs our work to support diversity, equity and inclusivity. For more information, please contact [email protected]

To offer feedback or suggestions about how to improve diversity, equity and inclusion within the Hakomi community, or to seek repair for culturally insensitive interactions within our community, please contact the administrator or director of your Hakomi regional training.