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Join Master of Ceremonies Joan Small, Past President of INARS, as she guides presenters and attendees through an engaging exploration of talk and touch therapy. The session will include a live demonstration, followed by a dynamic group discussion to delve more deeply into these powerful themes.
This presentation includes segments of a therapy session and the client’s responses 25 years later.
This event will be recorded and available for members and non-members who register for this event.
This event will include our special Overtime!
Overtime allows attendees to continue to ask questions and invite conversation on the event material, other related inquiries, or cases after the formal event ends.
Event Description
Creating a legacy after a founder has passed is both an honor and a necessity, ensuring that their wisdom continues to guide future generations.
Ilana Rubenfeld, founder of the Rubenfeld Synergy Method® (RSM), foresaw this need and recorded sessions during her training—leaving behind a rich archive of her integrative work combining talk and touch. The Legacy Project of The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation extends this vision by transforming archival recordings into teaching tools that illuminate Ilana’s method.
As part of this project, Certified Rubenfeld Synergists Bonnie Muller and Heather Skoll are creating Synergy Conversations to explore the impact of Rubenfeld sessions decades later. In this webinar, they share video excerpts from Heather’s original session with Ilana and their reflective dialogue 25 years afterward. Participants will observe Ilana’s attuned, methodical approach and explore how archival material can ethically preserve and transmit a modality’s essence.
Attendees are invited to reflect on their own practices and consider or share how they, too, honor and sustain the legacy of their healing lineage.
Main Points of Workshop
- A “Legacy” has three parts: The Gift, The Transmission, and The Impact.
- Legacy links the origins of a modality, how it is communicated, and its impact
- Transmitting recordings requires a sense of ethics, respect, and privacy.
- Ilana’s method of transmitting her skills included Bodymind Sequences.
- The impact of a single session with a masterful practitioner has the power to change the trajectory of one’s life.
- We often experience changes in behavior and affect after therapeutic sessions, but may not fully appreciate the full impact until years later.
Learning Objectives
After completing this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe three aspects of Legacy preservation.
- Identify key components of the simultaneous use of talk and touch as used in the Rubenfeld Synergy Method.
- Explain the ethical considerations involved in transmitting therapeutic knowledge.
- Design or augment the legacy efforts of their modality.
Agenda
- Welcome and Introductions
- The Contributions of Ilana Rubenfeld to the field of somatic therapy
- The Legacy Project: providing archival videos to make her work accessible to the public
- The BodyMind Opus Experiential
- Recorded Session Demo featuring Ilana Rubenfeld as the Practitioner...Including live in-webinar reflections from the client and presenter
- Open Sharing, Talk & Touch Somatic Skill Building, Q &A
- Overtime – Further discussion of topics covered
Master of Ceremonies
Joan Small CRS
Joan Small graduated as a Certified Rubenfeld Synergist in 2002. As a member of the International Association of Rubenfeld Synergists 
(INARS), she has held numerous roles as a committee member and is currently Past- President of INARS.
The community of Rubenfeld Synergists spans from Australia, Canada, United States and Europe. Joan believes that there is power in community. By participating and developing opportunities to connect, creates strength to the organization. Joan is passionate about the Rubenfeld Synergy methodology and regards it as a “whole person soul journey”. Experiences with Ilana Rubenfeld’s leadership was life changing for Joan and she values the importance of carrying on Ilana’s legacy.
Joan brings her experience as a Registered Nurse, 25 years as a partner in a Family Entrepreneurial business; complimentary training programs such as the Upledger Cranial Sacral therapy, Concept Therapy with the Concept Therapy Institute, Color- Sound and Vibration with Elias DeMohan; and an instructor of Laughter Yoga and CLC public speaking. Joan offers in-person and on-line sessions guiding clients to identify and move through deep-seated patterns, grief, and relationship issues.
Presenter Information
Bonnie Muller
MSW, Licensed Clinical Social Worker CT (001909) since 1980. Exp. 6/30/26 Certified Rubenfeld Synergist since 2000.
Bonnie is semi-retired and presently serves as the president of The 
Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation, with the mission of preserving and promoting the essence of the Rubenfeld Synergy Method®.
Bonnie has been a clinical social worker for 50 years. Certified in Rubenfeld Synergy 25 years ago, she has incorporated this integrative approach in a full range of human service agency and advocacy settings. Her advocacy and connectivity have served communities across the life span - working with babies, children, adolescents, young adults, parents and elders. As the president of The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation, she is coordinating the efforts of Rubenfeld Synergists to edit the preserved videos of Ilana’s sessions in order to demonstrate the methodology and impact of the Rubenfeld Synergy approach.
Heather Skoll
Heather Skoll has been a Certified Rubenfeld Synergist (CRS) since 2002 and a member of the INARS (International Association of Rubenfeld Synergists) Board in various roles through the years.
Currently, Heather considers her work as “Adapted Wellness”, with a client centered focus, whether it is with Rubenfeld Synergy sessions, or Chair Yoga classes.
After watching her session with Ilana Rubenfeld 25 years later, Heather was moved to contact Bonnie and ask her how it was for her to watch her session all these years later. This conversation sparked an idea…to have conversations, record and share these conversations to continue the legacy of the brilliant work of Ilana Rubenfeld.
APA references
The Rubenfeld Synergy Method. (n.d.). Rubenfeld Synergy. Retrieved October 9, 2025, from https://www.rubenfeldsynergy.com
The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation. (n.d.). The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation. Retrieved October 9, 2025, from https://www.rubenfeldfoundation.com
The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation. (n.d.). YouTube channel. YouTube. Retrieved October 9, 2025, from https://www.youtube.com/@TheIlanaRubenfeldFoundation
The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation. (2023, May 1). The Listening Hand – Ilana Rubenfeld (Full Interview) [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/9W34SNL-Oq4?si=NIWDcktgLRX4FLFT
The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation. (2023, May 15). Ilana Rubenfeld – Legacy of Touch and Listening [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/Px5hqQot0OA?si=FZDimgbY0pFYSDb4
The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation. (2023, June 1). The Art of Synergy: Exploring Rubenfeld Synergy Method® Principles [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/HrcBQ0UmJhk?si=BXxE3YKce-hHGHje
Rubenfeld, I. (2000). The Listening Hand: Self-Healing Through the Mind-Body Connection. Bantam Books.
Rubenfeld, I., & Griggers, C. (2015). Somatic emotional release work among hands-on practitioners. In G. Marlock & H. Weiss (Eds.), with C. Young & M. Soth, The handbook of body psychotherapy & somatic psychology (pp. 872–882). Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
Bibliography
The Rubenfeld Synergy Method. Rubenfeld Synergy, www.rubenfeldsynergy.com.
The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation. The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation, www.rubenfeldfoundation.com. The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation YouTube Channel. YouTube, www.youtube.com/@TheIlanaRubenfeldFoundation.
The Listening Hand – Ilana Rubenfeld (Full Interview). The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation, YouTube, uploaded by The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation, 1 May 2023, youtu.be/9W34SNL-Oq4?si=NIWDcktgLRX4FLFT.
Ilana Rubenfeld – Legacy of Touch and Listening. The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation, YouTube, uploaded by The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation, 15 May 2023, youtu.be/Px5hqQot0OA?si=FZDimgbY0pFYSDb4.
The Art of Synergy: Exploring Rubenfeld Synergy Method® Principles. The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation, YouTube, uploaded by The Ilana Rubenfeld Foundation, 1 June 2023, youtu.be/HrcBQ0UmJhk?si=BXxE3YKce-hHGHje.
Rubenfeld, Ilana. The Listening Hand: Self-Healing Through the Mind-Body Connection. Bantam Books, 2000.
Rubenfeld, I., & Griggers, C. (2015). Somatic emotional release work among hands-on practitioners. In G. Marlock & H. Weiss (Eds.), with C. Young & M. Soth, The handbook of body psychotherapy & somatic psychology (pp. 872–882). Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
The Rubenfeld Synergy Method® (RSM) is a powerful and proven healing modality, with a 60-year history of using the wisdom of the body to provide transformational healing. Combining intentional, respectful, listening touch with verbal processing creates a dynamic integration of body, mind, emotions, and spirit. READ MORE
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