Ayala Garby-Schafman is more than just a therapist; she’s a guide on the journey to healing both physical and emotional pain. Through modalities like Pain Reprocessing Therapy, The Journey method, and Mindfulness Self Compassion, she empowers individuals to release chronic pain and find inner peace. Learn more in her exclusive MysticMag interview below.
What can you tell me about yourself and your professional background?
My name is Ayala Garby Schafman. I am a therapist, teacher, and eternal student of life itself. My practice is focused on healing pain – chronic physical pain and emotional pain.
I am a clinical social worker and I specialize in a variety of modalities, such as Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), The Journey method, and Mindfulness Self Compassion (MSC).
What is PRT about?
PRT is an amazing technique that helps to alleviate chronic pain, even long-term pain which persists over many years. How is this possible? PRT considers pain to be like any other learned behavior, i.e. riding a bicycle, running, eating, etc. Pain = signals coming from the body and interpreted by the brain as “danger”. The brain activates the sensation of pain so that people focus their attention on what is happening and change their behavior.
For example, when you jog, fall, and twist your ankle…at first your ankle doesn’t hurt. The signal from the injury travels to the spinal cord. It isn’t painful yet. From there the signal travels to the brain. It isn’t painful there either. The brain receives the information, processes it and decides whether the integrity of the body is in danger or not. If the brain assesses that there is danger, it will trigger an internal alarm = a feeling of pain which is experienced in that location. At this point, you have to stop running and shift into rest and recovery mode.
When pain, for various reasons, exists in an area, and persists over time, the brain will begin to interpret any signal coming from that area as “danger” and that becomes an ongoing experience of chronic pain. This type of pain is called neuroplastic pain.
It is very real! Just as real as the pain experienced when you cut your finger. Because this pain process occurs in the brain, it is necessary to work with the brain, not the finger, the back, the leg, or any other body part. In fact, by learning a set of simple techniques, the brain can be taught to interpret these stimuli differently and more accurately. My goal is to teach people how to take care of themselves and release their pain.
What is MSC focused on?
MSC is a therapeutic modality that teaches people how to become their own best friend. Usually when friends or family members are “hurting”, we help them. We talk to them in caring tones, coach them to see things differently, and we tend to be compassionate, patient, and kind. However, as humans, when we personally fail and make mistakes, we become overly judgmental and self-critical. Self-critical behavior usually leads to paralysis and inactivity. An MSC session guides people to accept themselves and become their own best friend, especially when things are hard or difficult.
Why bother doing this? It has been proven that people who are more compassionate with themselves are more compassionate with their overall reality. They take more responsibility for their lives and their physical and emotional health. They are more capable of growing and learning from mistakes, and this makes them less critical of themselves.
This therapeutic approach can be used to identify places where people get stuck in old and painful patterns, and by incorporating various exercises can learn to create a compassionate and supportive inner space that promotes personal growth and change.
What is The Journey process?
Research shows that 85% of all illnesses are emotionally based. With such strong evidence from medical science, it is clear that removing emotional blocks is essential to vital health. When people are open to The Journey method, they can quickly restore the body’s natural ability to heal on many levels. It is a profound approach that involves processing and using emotions to heal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and different diseases that doctors often claim are incurable.
I treated a woman with multiple sclerosis, and once she discovered the emotional roots of her condition, she reversed her illness, which the doctor called a “miraculous” cure. I know it was not a miraculous cure. She worked very hard for two years with The Journey method. In her later sessions, she got in touch with the emotional roots of her problem. When the emotions were released, the problem was resolved, and the symptoms disappeared. People tend to push down their feelings, but when they work on them, open themselves up, and discharge all the stored hatred, pain, anger, and other negative emotions, they can feel and experience the amazing light that lives inside of them.
What other services do you offer?
I also incorporate EMID therapy in my practice. Eye Movement Imprint Decoding is a technique that focuses on eye movements and is especially good for treating PTSD. Developed in Israel, it is a method that combines finding the identities that people feel at the moment of a trauma with eye movement so that they can release the trauma.
I have personally experienced all of these methods and processes, and many others, as part of my own personal growth and transformation. I know they all work. Applying various combinations of modalities allows me to see people and their life situations from different angles and to choose the best treatment plan/s. This multidimensional approach helps me effectively serve my client’s needs and address their issues. It is so rewarding for me to provide people with the tools and space they need to live a positive, productive healthy life.
To learn more about Ayala and her work, you can visit www.ayalag-s.com
