About Michal
My work has grown over many years at the intersection of education, careful observation, and a deep respect for the body’s intelligence.
I have been working in education and body-based health for more than three decades. I began my professional life in 1991 as a special education teacher working with adults. In 1994, my work expanded to include children as well, and until 2010 I worked both within the public education system and in private settings. During those years, I worked with a wide range of populations, including adults and children with complex learning and behavioral challenges, as well as veterans with brain injuries, aphasia, and motor impairments. These experiences profoundly shaped the way I observe, assess, and work with complexity.
What was always central to my approach, even then, was assessment: the ability to observe deeply, recognize patterns, and understand the evolving needs of the person in front of me. Alongside this, I specialized in curriculum development as part of my special education training. I designed and authored multiple educational programs, some of which continue to be used to this day. This work strengthened my capacity to think structurally, develop long-term processes, and adapt frameworks to diverse and changing needs; skills that remain foundational to my work.
Since 2013, I have been working as a Paula Method teacher and practitioner, and I have been a certified member of the Paula Method Association since 2014. In my work, I do not see myself primarily as a “therapist,” but rather as an educator and a companion to a process. I teach people how to work cooperatively with their own bodies: listening, responding, and supporting the body’s natural intelligence. From a state of balance, the body has the ability to strengthen and heal on its own.
My background in special education, diagnostic work, curriculum development, one-on-one instruction, and group teaching, proved to be an exceptionally strong foundation for my work with students in the Paula Method. Continuous assessment and ongoing adaptation are integral parts of my work. Programs evolve as people change, improve, or encounter new challenges. Whether I am working individually or guiding groups, this dynamic process of observation and adjustment remains central.
Alongside my work in education and health, I studied and worked in art and design for over a decade, completing a diploma in art and fashion design prior to my studies in special education. Creativity, sensitivity to material, and attention to form and detail are inseparable from my professional perception. These qualities support my ability to notice subtle changes and to remain flexible and inventive, even in complex or seemingly hopeless situations, including cases in which other approaches have not led to the desired results.
From a young age, I was drawn to holistic medicine. At seventeen I was introduced to macrobiotics, a way of life I have followed ever since. In my early twenties, I studied and practiced a range of holistic disciplines, including reflexology, Reiki, and intuitive approaches. Throughout these years, my belief in the body’s capacity to heal through gentle means, and in personal responsibility as part of the healing process, has remained central.
After the birth of my daughter, my professional focus naturally shifted toward supporting women through the different stages of their lives. I studied and worked with natural approaches to common women’s health conditions, including menstrual disorders, pain, endometriosis, pelvic floor challenges, organ prolapse, and incontinence. I trained in childbirth education based on the principles of the Paula Method, postpartum healing, and additional areas of women’s reproductive health. I work with women from adolescence through later life.
One area that initially raised questions for me within the Paula Method was its cautious approach to eye conditions. While the method can be effective for many visual issues, it traditionally avoids working with more complex eye conditions. This curiosity led me to expand my training. I studied the Bates Method for natural vision education and became a certified Eye–Soul Method therapist in 2021. This training significantly broadened my ability to work with people experiencing a wide range of vision challenges. I experience the integration of Paula Method principles with holistic vision work as natural, coherent, and deeply rewarding.
For me, the Paula Method is not only a professional practice but a way of life, one that supports living in harmony and cooperation with the body. I find deep meaning and joy in sharing this knowledge and in accompanying people along their unique paths, each in their own way.
“Michal is a calm, confident and intelligent woman who shares her love, beliefs and personal experience with the Paula Method to her clients in an effort to introduce us to a new and comprehensive way to treat and understand our bodies."
“I have begun to feel my body’s subtle signals that I've been ignoring (or mislabeling) all my life. I cannot live without this method now that Michal has opened my mind to this practice.”
“I admire Michal so much that I moved from another state to study with her. She is extremely articulate, able to clearly explain why she suggests a certain movement, and she makes it vivid with symbols that inspire my own imagination. Michal is very sensitive and truly responsive to my slightest attempts. She is kind, considerate and a wonderful guide for me to discover my body.”
“Michal, thank YOU for insisting on training me! I avoided taking lessons until I experienced a crisis. And then, rather than take advantage of me, you made it possible for me to do regular training without too much stress. This is why I tell as many people as possible about not just the Paula Method, but about you specifically. You are a naturally brilliant facilitator, indeed the premier Paula Method teacher in the U.S.”
About the Paula Method
The Paula Method is a holistic approach to health that uses gentle exercises and movement to initiate self-healing and bring the body back to balance. It is so gentle and versatile that anyone can do it regardless of age or physical ability.
The method activates a special biological system of ring muscles (sphincters) in the body. These circular-shaped muscles (such as the eyes, mouth, urethra and anus) are inseparable from the work of every bodily system. Moreover, they are engaged in every action we perform in our daily lives, such as breathing eating, drinking, eliminating waste, sitting, standing, walking, climbing, lifting, pushing, singing and dancing. All these actions activate the sphincters.
Paula Garbourg, who developed this method, discovered that all the sphincters in the body are related and that each sphincter in the body supports the others. As a result, she realized that it was possible to heal an injured sphincter by activating a healthy one, even if they were very distant from one another and served different bodily systems. Paula developed a gentle exercise program to encourage the sphincters to heal, balance and perform at their optimal level in a pleasant and relaxing manner.
The Paula Method is beneficial for healing and treating many ailments that are connected directly or indirectly to the sphincters, including those that affect the pelvic floor (such as incontinence, organ prolapses, sexual dysfunctions and chronic pain), breathing (asthma), digestion (reflux, constipation and hemorrhoids), and posture. In addition, using Paula Method exercises as part of a rehabilitation program after surgery or an accident greatly enhances and speeds up the healing and recovery process.
“I have done Feldenkrais work, Yoga, Brain Gym and I have to say the Paula Method with its gentle movement and total freedom to let my body guide itself back to optimum health, has created the most profound effects from inside my skull, to my pelvic region, to standing on my legs, and improving my digestion.”
“I shouldn’t be surprised any longer, but still amazed at the natural responses to this work!”
“Amazing to see how more and more Paula exercises have come into my daily Qigong practice. Each Qigong movement is now informed and done through Paula direction. A fascinating process to watch.”
About Paula Garbourg
Paula Garbourg (1907–2004) was born in Germany. In her youth, she studied ballet, piano and singing. When the Nazis came to power in Germany, Paula and her family moved to Israel. At the age of 35 she was diagnosed with a degenerative disease; the doctors were pessimistic, her illness was considered incurable, and she was told she would have to use a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
Paula decided to try to increase her physical abilities by exercising on her own. Relying on her knowledge of ballet and singing, she intuitively invented her own exercises and found that her health began to improve. She also realized that most of the exercises she was using to help herself heal had something in common – they activated the sphincters. This made her very curious about the relationship between these ring-shaped muscles and the other muscles and systems of the body. Her personal search for a cure, and her ability to heal her so-called incurable disease, was the source of the method she continued to develop and research for the rest of her life – the method of exercising the ring muscles: the “Paula Method”.
For nearly 50 years, Paula researched, developed and taught her method to patients of all ages who were suffering from many different ailments and symptoms. Countless people were helped and healed by her method. Paula treated everyone as an individual and was able to instill the belief that the body has the power and ability to heal itself. She did this even for patients with the most severe conditions.
Before Paula died at the age of 97, she trained and certified generations of practitioners who shared her vision and now continue to teach her method. In Israel, her method is supported and recommended by the medical establishment and is covered by all medical insurance policies. It has been extensively researched and found to be more effective than many other approaches that treat physical imbalances and chronic conditions.
“I've never been so impressed with a "method" as I am with the Paula Method. It weaves together everything I've learned in yoga, Pilates, Feldenkrais, Tai Chi, Qigong and every movement, meditation or inner practice and deepens them all. I'm even more impressed with the way Michal guides and teaches with such clarity, ease and open heart.”
“After 15 years of ballet training, sports training, martial arts training, and many years of yoga training, I consider Michal my first REAL body movement teacher. I will forever be grateful to Michal for bringing the Paula Method to the United States.”