Talk-and-touch techniques help the mind heal the body.

Kim Bull lies back on a massage table while Gilly Thomas gently runs her fingers down the length of his right arm.

Thomas, a Certified Rubenfeld Synergist, observes that Bull’s right shoulder is tightening into a hard round knot. In a voice a soothing as her touch, she asks her client how it feels.

Bull, the owner of a renovation company, says it’s as if he’s trapped a ball between is head and his shoulder, and that to keep it there he has to scrunch up his whole body. His right arm, the one with the Harley-Davidson tattoo, is stiffening up.

Thomas then uses a series of talk-and-touch techniques to help Bull let go of this imaginary ball and find a way to release the tension from his shoulder.

Partway through the exercise he’s starting to feel different, if not better. “My whole body feels really loose and floppy except for my right arm,” he says. “It feels like a piece of wood.”

Rubenfeld Synergy, created by orchestra conductor Ilana Rubenfeld in the ’60’s integrates bodywork, intuition and psychotherapy. Synergists use talk, movement, awareness, imagination, humour and touch to give clients relief from physical and emotional pain. They aim to teach their clients how to heal themselves.

“It’s very much at the cutting edge of body-mind work,” Rubenfeld, a lifetime New Yorker until January, says from her new home in Ashland, Oregon.

“It’s also not threatening; there’s so much care in it and people have taken to that very much, they feel it. There’s a he artfulness in it, a compassion and a heartfulness that many people are yearning for.”

Thomas, who has completed four years of training under Rubenfeld, lives and works mainly in Jasper, but also sees clients in Calgary and in Sherwood Park, where she works out of Tri-Essence Massage and Wholistic Centre once a month.

“People come to see me generally because they are in some kind of physical or emotional pain,” Thomas says. “They don’t deliberately put themselves in a position of pain. It’s just once they get there, they don’t know how to get out of it, and they are not even aware of all the things that are contributing to it. This work, very gently, helps people find a comfortable place to be.”

Before she discovered her desire to become a Synergist, Thomas was unconsciously heading towards it. She had been a student nurse and a schoolteacher. She had earned degrees in both education and psychology. “I would say I was a seeker,” she says. “It was like I was always looking for something that would integrate the intelligence of the mind with something more, something that was carried in people’s bodies.”

After investigating several methods of talk/touch therapy, Thomas decided on Rubenfeld Synergy. She trained under Ilana Rubenfeld, visiting New York three times a year over four years, graduating in October 2000.

Rubenfeld Synergy sessions are usually 50 minutes in length. Clients lie on a massage table, sit in a chair, stand up or move around the room. It’s their choice.

Thomas encourages them to talk about what’s on their minds while she cradles their head in her hands, or gently rubs their feet.

‘When I put my hands on somebody I may be aware of an emotion like joy or sadness or anger,” she says. “And that could either come through the physical contact or the verbal message because I’m listening with my ears, as well.

“I listen to the congruence between what is said and the body message. By brining somebody’s awareness to what their body is saying, it brings their unconscious awareness to a level of awareness and then they can choose what they are going to do. If you are not aware that you are really unhappy, then you can’t change it.”

She says it’s not uncommon for clients to tap into deep wells of feelings under her guidance. As in psychological counseling, there may be tears or outbursts of anger.

“It’s a very gentle touch, and it allows people to access emotions. I’ve had it said it’s like when you were an infant, and you had a mother who cared about you. It can take people back to that place, and sometimes people might not have felt that since their mother held them like that.”

When his session ends, Bull slowly gets back on his feet. He’s “buzzing” with an unexpected lightness, a feeling that he’s deeply relaxed, at peace, yet full of energy.

“It’s amazing how communication opens up when somebody touches you,” he tells Thomas.

“This is a welcome touch.”

For more information about Rubenfeld Synergy, try these resources: The Listening Hand: Self Healing Through the Rubenfeld Synergy Method of Talk and Touch, by Ilana Rubenfeld

Go to www.rubenfeldsynergy.com for more background or to contact synergists in Canada or the United States.

by David Howell Journal Staff Writer Sherwood Park

EDMONTON JOURNAL Monday, October 15, 2001

 

Are you ready to feel better and enjoy the benefits of enhanced performance?  

Let’s get started!  Contact Evolution Ergonomics today.

Gilly Thomas brings Rubenfeld Synergy to Hinton – and it’s definitely not your traditional treatment

Gilly Thomas turns off the overhead fluorescent lights, leaving a much softer, warmer glow from a set of table lamps. I am sitting on a massage table at the Mountain View Chiropractic Clinic, about to get a hands-on demonstration of the Rubenfeld Synergy Method.

She asks me to lie back, relax and close my eyes.

“What do you notice about how your body feels?” Asks Thomas.

I didn’t have to think hard about it. My shoulder was enflamed and stiff from throwing baseballs a day before when helping coach little league.

“My right shoulder is bugging me,” I say, and tell her about ball practice.

Thomas starts by putting her hands gently under my left shoulder and raising it ever so slightly.

The Rubenfeld Synergy Method combines healing the mind, body, spirit and emotions in one holistic therapy session. A synergist uses light touch combined with talk therapy to encourage the body to heal itself.

“Less is more, and you can have gain with no pain,” says Thomas.

She says the gentle touch heightens a person’s physical and emotional awareness, encouraging communication between the person and the synergist.

“It’s a gentle, supportive method; it takes people to their own healing,” says Thomas. The underlying philosophy is that you are your own best healer.”

******

Ilana Rubenfeld, creator of the Rubenfeld Synergy Method, developed the technique while she was studying to become a music conductor in New York. She had been seeing a therapist who specializes in body posture, because of a pain in her shoulder. Oddly, when the therapist touched Rubenfelds’ pained shoulder she sometimes broke into tears.

Unable to explain the emotional outbursts, she saw a talk therapist in search of answers. But after some time, she found that she could not still explain her outbursts.

During one session, exasperated from trying to talk out why she cried when the posture therapist touched her, she blurted out, “Touch my shoulder and I might be able to tell you what’s going on.”

The talk therapist said he could not touch her, that it was not part of his therapy method. After that, a seed was planted in Rubenfeld that grew into a therapy that combined touch and talk.

*****

I’m lying on the massage table, utterly relaxed. Thomas is gently prodding and prying my arm, with a touch that wouldn’t disturb a sleeping baby.

“What do you notice about how your left shoulder feels?” she asks.

I tell her that my left shoulder feels like it is in the right position, lie it’s … content. Thomas’s light touch and her soft voice, combined with the stillness of the dimly lit room, are caressing me into a sleepy state of deep relaxation.

“How can we make your right shoulder more like your left?” She asks.

I’m in no rush to answer as I focus on how my left shoulder feels different from my left.

In a lazy voice I say, “I guess it’s kind of pulled back. I could move it forward a bit.”

When I really paid attention to my shoulder I could consciously relax muscles that I didn’t even realize were tense.

After my shoulder, Thomas worked down my left side to my feet and up to the side to finish at the spot where I had complained about pain. When she lifted my foot, she asked me if any colours came to mind; Rubenfeld Synergy uses metaphors for people to approach their physical and emotional pains.

“Sometimes it is really simple, but also totally profound,” says Thomas

*****

Immediately after the session, I couldn’t feel an iota of pain in my shoulder. Later that day the pain returned, but over the next couple of days it disappeared completely. Thomas also suggested that I throw a baseball by generating more power out of my legs, and less from my shoulder.

Already a teacher with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Calgary, becoming a synergist seemed like a natural transition for Thomas. She spent four years in New York studying under Rubenfeld to complete her synergy training.

Thomas is now practicing once a week in Hinton at the Mountain View Chiropractic Clinic. Her private practice is based in Jasper.

She also conducts workshops for individuals, businesses and convention groups. She can be reached at the Mountain View Chiropractic Clinic or in Jasper at 780 852 4161 or by email.

by Jim Gates

The Hinton Parklander – Monday, May 5, 2003

Are you ready to feel better and enjoy the benefits of enhanced performance? Let’s get started!  Contact Evolution Ergonomics today.

Nights spent memorizing the stucco patterns on bedroom ceilings or channel surfing long after Conan and Leno are off the air are common for many people with the frenetic pace of life these days.

According to www.getsomesleep.com, a website about insomnia and the health risks that accompany it, more than 50 per cent of adults experience some insomnia a few nights per week or more.

The increasing number of drug advertisements for sleep aids is also a testament to the fact that we aren’t getting the shuteye we need.

So how can we get better quality sleep when we need it?

For those not content to let the animated cartoon butterfly from the popular sleep drug commercial put them to sleep, one former Jasperite just might hold the key to sawing some more satisfying zees.

Gilly Thomas will be bringing her unique bank of health knowledge to a workshop aimed at helping people sleep better by getting more revitalizing sleeps.

“It’s good for all sorts of sleep problems. When you have a good sleep you just have energy for life,” said Thomas.

Thomas has a background as a practitioner of Rubenfeld Synergy Method and teacher. Her goal through her variety of training has been to help people become aware of themselves physically, emotionally and energetically so they can live full, self-aware lives.

Now based in Vancouver, Thomas grew up in Jasper and developed a reputation for bring innovative self healing and health techniques to this small community.

Her practice led her to the Sounder Sleep System developed by Michael Krugman, a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher since 1987.

After learning the Sounder Sleep techniques, Thomas taught it to a number of her regular clients who were experiencing sleep problems and the results were very encouraging.

Though not an insomniac herself, Thomas has found the techniques beneficial in helping her attain more restful sleeps.

According to what Krugman has experienced, Thomas said that workshop attendees could expect to experience a solid difference in their sleeping patterns within a few weeks.

Thomas describes the workshop as a solid introduction to the Sounder Sleep techniques and said that students can go on to further their practice through materials sold by Krugman such as Cds.

The Sounder Sleep System consists of gentle movement and breathing techniques called Mini-Moves used to relax the body, calm the mind, and lull a person into a blissful, restorative slumber.

For people who are looking to reduce stress and tension throughout their daily lives, Thomas said these Mini-Moves are also easily incorporated into the daily routine.

As explained by Krugman on the Sounder Sleep website: “When your life is more peaceful, your sleep is more peaceful.”

Thomas said the system helps practitioners heal themselves by giving them exercises and breathing techniques that trigger the body’s parasympathetic nervous system to bring on a state of rest and recuperation.

Just as the fast, vigorous, physical movements that we do during sports or physical activities trigger the sympathetic nervous system to be ready and alert, the Mini-Moves that Thomas will be teaching in her upcoming workshop are designed to have the opposite effect.

The Mini-Moves take only minutes to perform and can be done anywhere including at a desk at work or while lying in bed.

“What I like about it is it’s simple… it’s not a big chore,” she said. “It’s almost like walking yourself to sleep.”

To read more about the Sounder Sleep System visit www.soundersleep.com or to learn what Thomas is offering in Vancouver visit www.evolutionergonomics.com.

By Alisen Charlten, The Jasper Booster, Wednesday, October 25, 2006

 

Are you ready to feel better and enjoy the benefits of enhanced performance?  

Let’s get started!  Contact Evolution Ergonomics today.