Yael Tal

The Work of Byron Katie is about saying yes to this human experience — with everything in it, and everything out there, what we like to call — life. My experience in that there is my life before The Work, and — there is my life with The Work…

For many years I felt I was dropped here on earth without that little booklet with instructions. No manual for being me. I was searching for that manual, for a set of instructions that would take me out of feeling so miserable.

I found it in The Work.

Looking back I can honestly say I was a miserable young adult. I look at this young me — lonely to the bone, unable to let in intimacy, love, connection. Angry, sad, and most of all — so extremely insecure!

Here are some of the core beliefs I met the world with:
I am on my own here, people are not to be trusted, I must fend for myself, the world is a dangerous thing, a catastrophe waiting to explode. I was sure that everybody around me was waiting to find my faults, criticize me, get angry with me, be hurt by me, and reject me.

This made interacting with people all about making sure they loved me. I felt like a stranger to humankind. I was hyper-alert to myself, every little movement went through the strictest inner judge. I was a beggar of appreciation and love.

To cover up for my insecurity, I armed myself with arrogance and anger. I remember deciding to be the silent pretty one. I believed it would make me feel safe and attractive. Needless to say, it only separated me more from the people I so wanted to connect with. At 31, I got married and had kids. I wrapped myself around that new identity — the mother and wife one.

And that is when things got out of hand. I was so disconnected from me that the mother I became had nothing to feed on. I was exhausted, short-tempered, and sad. Now I know it is called functional depression. I was never happy, the world had no colors, I was always tired, and I wanted nothing but the day to end. This is when The Work came into my life to change me forever.

I was introduced to the work in 2007. I met it with resentment — I wanted answers, not questions, plan of action, not awareness and I was frustrated to understand that my facilitator was not going to be my savior. But as The Work kept presenting itself in me, with the four questions having their own life, I began to learn the healing power of The Work. I learned to turn to The Work with everything that came up in me. The Work itself, my own inquiries — I became my own healer.

It was the first time that I looked at my judgments and fears and loneliness. Learning to trust my answers I could gradually drop my search. The more I practiced The Work, the more the world changed for me. Colors came back, joy came back, people became friendly — waiting and willing to help me. And of course, it was me who changed.

I had found what I was missing – a guide to being me, to what this human experience is all about. I had learned to slow down, to trust being me, and to be awake to me at all times. Stillness is my friend now. No more searching.

If you find yourself lost, overwhelmed, confused sad, or angry, if you feel you need a “way out”, I invite you to The Work. I will support you as you discover your own way with The Work, and in that — your own way of being you. There is no story that can’t be met with inquiry, thought that is too much, no part of you that can not come into the light of awareness and love.

I offer individual and couple sessions of The Work, both in Hebrew and English, in person, via Skype, Zoom, or over the phone. I hold regular retreats with The Work and meditation and online classes for The Work — both on-site and online.

Let silence be your friend. Let The Work show you the way.