Gilad Schafman Msc.D. LMT, is a multifaceted International Evaluator, Practitioner, Teacher, and Therapist specializing in Structural Integration, Neuro Developmental Functional Approach Therapy (NDFA) Therapy (Balancing The Senses), and the Journey Method. With a unique blend of modalities, Gilad achieves remarkable results, whether it’s hands-on work for physical issues, emotional healing through the Journey Method, or a combination of both. Explore the depth of his expertise and his personal story in this exclusive MysticMag interview.
How did you get into massage therapy and what sparked your interest in it?
I started practicing rebirthing in 1988. It was not only rebirthing but a form of spiritual guidance that in today’s terms called coaching. Then, a bit after that, I received a letter with an offer to come and learn Structural Integration or Rolfing®. I called the school, Reidman College, and asked, “Can I learn that?” The reply I got was: “Well, there’s a prerequisite. You need to first learn massage.” I said, “Okay, I’ll come learn massage,” and I fell in love with the whole field of healing touch and the possibility of using healing touch in conjunction with the emotional bodywork. This has been the biggest part of my work for the last 33 years.
What is Structural Integration?
Structural Integration, also known as Rolfing, is a Myofascial manipulation modality. In the original modality, there’s a series of 10 sessions that have a certain progression, which brings the body into better alignment and function. It’s not just a hands-on technique, but also an educational process where a person is learning what their center is, where it is, how they can connect to it, and how they can live and function from it, both physically and emotionally. As a result, that person can get a better quality of life, reduction of pain, and better range of movement with ease and grace.
What is the Journey Method?
The Journey Method is a profound emotional healing process. It’s a guided interactive introspection that is very dynamic according to the client’s needs. It’s a process that takes a person into the exact place where they need to do the healing, into whatever is stored in their body and in their consciousness and allows for cellular as well as transformational healing.
I’ll give you a simple example. I had a woman come to me and say, “I need to improve my relationship with my husband.” We started working, but her husband did not come up in the processes even once. All the things that came up were issues from her childhood that were projected into the present and into her relationship with her husband. Once that healing was done, she called me one day and said, “I’m done. My marriage is now exactly as I want it to be. I’m very happy.” This is the healing power of the Journey Method. People see a lot of healing in their relationships, in health issues, and in their ability to express themselves at work, in life, and in all other areas of their lives.
Can you walk me through a Journey Method session?
Well, as each session is very individual, there isn’t a general procedure that would be used in all sessions. In the beginning stages, there is a recipe or a script that can be the backbone of the process, and still, each session has its own progression.
Generally speaking, what we do is to choose the topic, and that is the starting point. That topic starts bringing up some emotions, and as we start “going down the layers,” meaning that we connect into the different emotions that are around that topic, we get to the starting point of the issue. A memory from the past, a picture or memory that is hidden in a person’s consciousness and often in their subconscious. Possibly, on the back side of it, maybe they were not aware of it earlier, and all of a sudden, it rises up to awareness. At that point, we can start to process it. We can use different tools to facilitate for the healing and the change through looking at it in a different way and through observing what the beliefs are that were created in that incident and changing them. In that way, we’re getting to a place that I would call forgiveness. Forgiveness is basically real healing. It is the thing that facilitates for profound release at the cellular level and a shift to a new inner place. It’s not just looking at something and feeling it; it’s also getting to that place where you reach wholeness within yourself. In that place, there’s a possibility to live life in wholehearted way.
As a Theta Healing practitioner, can you tell me what the benefits of Theta Healing are?
Theta Healing is a modality that uses prayer or connecting to the Creator to facilitate healing. However, the most important aspect that makes the healing possible is investigating and looking into the beliefs that a person has around the issue. Understanding, realizing the different beliefs that a person has congealed around a certain topic or event that they’ve had in the past, allows us to do the healing process that is called Theta Healing, and the change can happen, based on shifting into healthier beliefs.
Our beliefs, in general, are the filter through which we respond to the world, so when we facilitate a change in what we believe, there’s a different way to experience the world.
Is there anything else that you’d like to add?
What I really like about the work that I do is that there’s a variety. I do hands-on work for people who have physical issues, I do emotional work for people who come and want to heal their emotional world and issues that do not work in their lives, and a lot of my work is actually a combination of both. I combine the healing touch and the journey method and we can get better results because we’re getting the tissue, not just in the mind but also in the body, to shift and heal. That creates wonderful changes that people really love and appreciate.
To learn more about Gilad and his work, you can visit www.schafman.net
