Paula Method Practitioner & Trainer Corrine Shabat (she/her/hers) discovered the Paula system after studying biology at the Hebrew University, followed by art studies. When she was a student, she first heard about the special method – the Paula method, which is based on muscle activation that she had not previously been aware of – the “ring muscles”. Although she understood very little, she was curious to experiment with the method herself.

Corinne learned the secrets and the basics of the method. Very quickly she was clear, she found her purpose: to learn, deepen, treat and teach the method. She enrolled in a teacher certification course under the guidance of Paula Garbourg, the founder of the system, and was ordained by her in 1984.

Upon graduation, Corinne joined Paula’s Institute and was her assistant for about 10 years until her retirement. The close relationship with Paula, who never stopped researching and deepening her method, and hours of watching her rigorous lessons gave me a rich experience in both the method and body wisdom. Today, Corinne is a senior teacher and therapist. She has qualified dozens of teachers.

Corinne lives in Haifa, Israel where she treats patients and trains teachers at Paula Haifa, Tel Aviv & abroad. Her work includes:

• Individual treatments
• Training in groups – women, seniors, pregnant women & more
• Specialization in pelvic floor care
• Paula teacher certification in a group and individual setting in Israel and abroad
• Workshops for understanding the method in diverse frameworks
• Lectures, workshops and training for teachers and therapists on a variety of topics such as: diagnosis and treatment of pelvic floor defects, pregnancy and childbirth preparation, gastrointestinal problems, child care, elderly care & more
• Paula Method Massage Workshops
• Care for babies and children through play and material touch
• Accompanying pregnancy, preparation for birth and rehabilitation of the pelvic floor after birth – in individual and group work
• Rehabilitation of injured and paralyzed, after surgery or accident

You can learn more about Corinne’s work here.

Lea Rivera, IBCLC, MS (she/her/hers) is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant with 13 years of experience in maternal child health. Lea brings over 30 years experience in education and psychology with a Masters in Educational Psychology.  In 2011, Lea began Mami Mia and now runs Empire Lactation. She has had the benefit of working in both hospitals and in private practice. She brings to her work skill and training in oral structures, premature/near term deliveries, NICU stays, cleft palates, endocrine disorders, breast surgery and supply issues. Lea enjoys teaching and training others about lactation support. When she’s not working with moms or working toward pre-med prerequisites, she enjoys spending time with her two kids, swimming and hiking with her dogs.

You can learn more about Lea’s work here.

Dr. Tejal Kaur, M.D. (she/her/hers) believes the relationship and connection she forms through working with clients lays the foundation for ensuring success in the treatment. Within that therapeutic relationship, she believes in the capacity of her patients to heal.  If people come to see Tejal after already having developed an illness (rather than for preventative treatment), her predominant mode of treatment is to combine medicine with lifestyle changes, coaching and/or therapy. Tejal does see people for therapy where meds are not needed, but for those where medicine is an important part of the plan, she views medicine as a tool that then allows therapy or other strategies to be most effective, allowing an individual to be in the right space to reach their potential. Whether you see Tejal or someone else in her practice at Gray Matters which she founded, know that you will get the highest level of care, combined with patience, optimism and human connection.

Education, Training & Research Background:

• BA, University of Southern California; MD, University of California San Diego School of Medicine
• Residencies/fellowships at UC San Diego, New York Presbyterian Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, Columbia University, and the New York State Psychiatric Institute
• Recipient of Barbara Ann Liskin Memorial Award (Columbia University), American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) Pilot Research Award, and New York State Psychiatric Institute Pilot Award for MRI Scanning
• Advisor, mentor & lecturer at UCSD, Bellevue Hospital Center, New York Presbyterian Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, Children’s Hospital of New York and Columbia University
• Research Fellow, Developmental Neuroscience Research Training Fellowship, Columbia University, 2011-2013
• Research Fellow, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research Fellowship, Columbia University, 2013-2014
• Principal Investigator, AACAP Pilot Research Award to identify the brain-based correlates in children and adolescents of risk for schizophrenia using multimodal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) , supported by Lilly USA, 2013-2014
• Principal Investigator, Pilot Award for MRI Scanning, supported by New York State Psychiatric Institute, 2013-2014

Published in various books & peer-reviewed articles (see below).

Specialties: adolescents, college students, young adults, perinatal or postpartum depression or anxiety, attentional/executive function, autism-spectrum, early intervention for psychosis or bipolar disorder, learning disorders and school accommodations

Other Interests: exploring, going on adventures, cuddling with my children, learning, reading, writing, social justice

Dr. Katia Ghazi-Dahan studied in Paris, France, where she finished a six-year Diplôme d’Ostéopathie (DO). She has been practicing for more than a decade the traditional osteopathic techniques, which help restore the body’s natural self-healing process without the need of drugs or chemicals. Her expertise includes cranio-sacral, visceral, musculo-skeletal, fascial, vascular and neural manipulations.

She was a member of the Integrative Medicine Center at St Barnabas Ambulatory Care Center. In Paris France, she led several osteopathic teams that covered musical comedies, marathons and basketball games. She has worked as volunteer applying osteopathic techniques to alleviate the condition of autistic and trisomic children.

Her vision of the body as an interconnected whole makes her approach unique. She treats each case by identifying and treating its origins rather than the symptoms.

Miss Ghazi-Dahan advanced her studies with a degree in managing pain and discomfort during and after pregnancy. She works with pregnant women to treat their back and sciatic pains, headaches and digestive disorders.

She is an expert in the human anatomy, which is fundamental for any manual therapy. She has a degree in clinical anatomy and has taught anatomy and biomechanic classes at osteopathic schools for students and healthcare professionals. She gives lectures and workshops to nurses and massage therapists on osteopathic topics.

Because of her expertise and wide range of techniques she can work with babies, pregnant women, adults and elderly.