Hakomi Mindfulness-Centered Somatic Psychotherapy by Halko Weiss

Author:Halko Weiss
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

CHAPTER 19

Working Through Core Beliefs

Manuela Mischke Reeds

IN TRADITIONAL PSYCHOANALYTIC work, “working through” refers to “the process of having the client face the same conflicts over and over again, under the analyst’s supervision, until he can independently face and master the conflicts in ordinary life” (English & English, 1958, p. 591). In Hakomi therapy, working through is a specific stage in the therapeutic process, called the processing phase, in which the client experiences and processes core material. “Core material” refers to the beliefs that the client’s soma-psyche organizes around (Johanson, 2015). Core beliefs are often unconscious or in implicit memory (Schacter, 1992) and have a powerful impact on how a person perceives and automatically reacts to the world and relationships, giving rise to the conflicts suggested in the definition above (Chapter 7). For instance, a belief that support cannot be trusted can lead to interpersonal clashes when genuine support is offered by a friend or partner but then refused. Core organizing beliefs are often unearthed through the techniques and interventions previously outlined in this section.

Many psychotherapeutic approaches acknowledge the significance of core beliefs, but how they are worked through differs. The Hakomi orientation approaches core organizers through inviting a shift to a mindful state of consciousness, so that clients can notice and study how their core beliefs automatically affect their perception and expression (Weiss, 2008). The state-specific learning that occurred when these habits and beliefs first formed needs to be accessed through mindfulness (Baer, 2003; Brown et al., 2007) or we risk remaining at the mercy of an already-organized ordinary consciousness. This slowed-down, contemplative, or self-reflective state enables clients to experience themselves in a deeper, more truthful way (Chapter 10). At this stage in the process, the therapist trusts that if clients can experience these beliefs safely and directly, then resources or gifts from the unconscious can surface and offer expanded choices in contrast to the choicelessness or automaticity (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999) of the limiting belief systems.

In the working-through phase, clients encounter the limitations of their core beliefs both emotionally and sensorially, as well as the formative experiences that lie behind them. This experiential process brings up their grief and pain, as well as offering them insight into why these core beliefs are operating. In this phase, clients somatically experience that these limitations have produced important survival-level strategies, appropriate at the time of their conception (Chapters 8 and 23), but at the price of narrowing their options in the present. When these beliefs are experienced and transformed, clarity of mind and somatic understanding can arise, along with negotiating barriers (Chapter 17) to fuller possibilities in life.

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