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About Avinoam

Avinoam Lerner, Cancer Trauma & Recovery Specialist, Author, TEDx Speaker

Growing up in a war-torn part of the world, where loss and trauma are rampant, I remember this seminal moment, at the age of six, witnessing a woman I looked up to breaking down after learning her husband did not return from the war.

The look in her eyes, of fear and loss, burned into my brain with intensity. I wanted it to go away so badly! But, being so young, I couldn’t do anything; I felt powerless and helpless.

Many years later, I saw the very same look in someone else’s eyes, a cancer patient who came to me for a consultation seeking relief. At that moment, I was no longer that helpless child; I had the tools and the knowledge and could finally help.

That patient changed the direction of my practice and gave it a clear and defined focus – to help people facing cancer and trauma break through to recovery.

I am asked sometimes – how can you do it? How can you stay so present, focused, and content in the face of others’ fears, trauma, and grief? My answer is – it’s what I am here for. I can support people this way because that’s who I am.

As an army veteran, I know the value of discipline and pushing through. Cancer is a battlefield of a sort, which is why my approach is goal-oriented and result-driven. And yet, as a parent of two daughters, I’ve learned to be nurturing and grounded. That is what I offer those I work with, a safe and structured place for healing of both mind and body.

Professional Training

I earned my degree as a Holistic Therapist from the Reidman International College for Complementary and Integrative Medicine in Israel in 2000. I am certified as a Clinical Hypnotherapist by the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) and the National Federation of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NFNLP) in the USA.

About Mitchell

Mitchell Kossak, Ph.D., LMHC, REAT, has been a licensed mental health counselor, since 1994, and a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist (REAT) since 2005. His clinical work combines expressive arts therapies with body-centered approaches with a variety of populations addressing concerns related to chronic pain, recovery from trauma, depression, anxiety, life transitions and relationship issues.

Dr. Kossak has trained in a variety of mind body modalities including Polarity Therapy, Craniosacral Therapy, Deep Tissue Massage and Bioenergetics.  In Expressive Arts Therapies he has training in, music therapy, experimental theater, psychodrama, and authentic movement.  

He studied Sound Healing with pioneers in the field of sacred sound and transformation of consciousness, such as Dr. John Beaulieu author of Music and Sound in the Healing Arts and Silvia Nakkach director of the Vox Mundi Project.  

In addition to these trainings, he has studied and practiced contemplative based healing forms such as Tai Chi, Chi Gong, Vispassana meditation, and Iyengar yoga for over 30 years. He earned his doctorate from the Union Institute and University in interdisciplinary studies with a concentration in Expressive Arts Therapy and Transpersonal Psychology.  

He has written about and presented his research on rhythmic attunement, improvisation, psychospiritual and community based approaches to working with trauma and embodied states of consciousness at conferences nationally and internationally.

He is the Associate Editor of The Journal of Applied Arts and Health and Co-Chair of the Institute for Arts and Health at Lesley University where he has been a professor since 1999.  He is the author of Attunement in Expressive Arts Therapy: Toward an Understanding of Embodied Empathy – https://www.ccthomas.com/details.cfm?P_ISBN13=9780398081362.

What is Muscular Therapy?

Muscular Therapy was developed in the 1960’s by Ben Benjamin, PhD (Sports Medicine). This bodywork system incorporates Swedish massage, deep tissue bodywork, and myofascial and friction therapies.

According to the Benjamin system, in most cases of chronic pain the real culprit is adhesive scar tissue formation. The body responds to soft tissue injury by producing scar tissue wherever muscles, tendons or ligaments are located. When adhesive scar tissue forms, all movement that pulls, stretches or compresses the injured and inflamed tissue causes pain.

Muscular therapy treats a variety of pain, injury, body perception and muscle tension problems. Techniques are used specifically to reduce scar tissue that accumulates because of injury to soft tissue structures in the body.

What is Deep Tissue?

Deep tissue and myofascial work address the muscular and connective tissues using various methods that elongate and alter the fascia layer, increasing range of motion and pain free mobility, as well as releasing trigger points, often called ‘knots’, within the muscle itself. This deep work requires extra time to warm up the tissue, breaking up scar tissue (adhesions), and releasing trigger points. This work is highly recommended to rehabilitate injury or to alleviate chronic pain.

About Mary Gail

Mary Gail Sullivan is a 1993 graduate of the Muscular Therapy Institute (MTI) in Cambridge, MA, and taught at MTI for 15 years, including a stint as department chair of the Massage Technique department. She has been in private practice since 1992, focusing on injury evaluation and treatment.

Mary Gail is certified in the Benjamin system of musculoskeletal injury assessment and treatment (also known as Orthopedic Massage), and has taught orthopedic massage workshops alongside MTI founder Dr. Ben Benjamin for the past decade. She is Nationally Certified in Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork and is a member of the AMTA .

Mary Gail played competitive Rugby for twenty-two years. In 1991 as Team Captain, she led the USA team to victory in the first Women’s World Cup against Great Britain. When she is not chasing after her dog, two cats, parrot or hamsters, Mary Gail stays active with off-road uni-cycling, snowboarding, rollerblading and restorative yoga.

About Samvedam

Samvedam Bettina Randles, Dipl. Psych. is a German Psychologist who graduated from Wilhelms-University in Muenster, Germany. In the US, she is licensed as a mental health counselor and as a bodyworker. After training in traditional Psychology, she spent several years in India studying and experiencing the Eastern approaches to inner growth and transformation.

Samvedam trained in Wilhelm Reich’s methods of body oriented Psychotherapy, combining breath work with deep tissue massage work (Postural Integration) and became certified by The National Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. She co-founded the Center for Body Oriented Psychotherapy in Somerville, MA.

Samvedam worked as a trainer for the International Breath Institute, Colorado and eventually designed her own breath training, which she has been conducting over the last 8 years. She studied the systemic work of Bert Hellinger, Family Constellations, and is a graduate of the Hellinger Institute USA. She incorporates the constellation approach in her work with individuals, couples and groups. Samvedam is the founder of the Inner Arts Institute.

About Peter

Peter Wayne, Ph.D., is the founder and director of the Tree of Life Tai Chi Center, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and director of the Tai Chi/Mind-Body Research Program at Harvard Medical School’s Osher Research Center.

Peter has been trained and certified to teach by numerous internal arts masters including Robert Morningstar, Arthur Goodridge, Mantak Chia, and Michael Winn. During 2000, he studied in China and received certification from the World Academic Society of Medical Qigong.

A seasoned nationally recognized practitioner and teacher with 30 years of experience, Peter enjoys sharing his knowledge of the internal arts with all interested students. He particularly enjoys drawing on the principles of Western Science to help elucidate the ancient principles of traditional Oriental healing arts.

Between 2000-2007, Peter was the Research Director of the New England School of Acupuncture, where he developed and oversaw studies evaluating all branches of Chinese medicine.

Peter’s current research at the Harvard Medical School includes clinical and basic research evaluating the effectiveness of Tai Chi for numerous medical conditions including balance disorders, cardiovascular health, and osteoporosis. Peter’s research has been published in a number of leading medical journals.

About Zhanna

Former university teacher and occupational therapy practitioner, a long-time yogini, Reiki Master, and personal and professional development coach, Zhanna began to study sacred sexuality in 2016 and started her Holistic Sex and Intimacy Coaching Practice shortly thereafter. She is passionate about bringing more wellness, harmony, and sensuality into people’s lives, and helping couples to create pleasurable and lasting relationships. 

About Holistic Intimacy Coaching

Intimacy Coaching is an alternative or complementary to traditional sex and couples therapy.

While therapy focuses on resolving specific issues, intimacy coaching focuses on education and sexual empowerment.

Intimacy is not taught at school but is something we experience. Intimacy is where we all can use a more wholesome, practical, body-mind-heart-centered approach.

The goal of an intimacy coach is to help clients understand their unique relationship with pleasure, develop better verbal and non-verbal communication skills, and guide them toward deeper physical,  emotional, and spiritual connection.