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Who is
Michael Jason Sherman...
...and how can he help me?
Michael was born in 1970 in Brooklyn, New York, raised Jewish in a family of Holocaust survivors. During Michael's childhood, his father developed paranoid schizophrenia, which became severely traumatizing to Michael, leading to the development of complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a condition that impacted him intensely for many years.
As a teenager, Michael coped with this condition by taking to the road, and to literature, film and music. Whether by bicycle, railpass, greyhound, car and flight, Michael had seen half the world by the time he was 27. In the spirit of traveling, he developed a fondness for great authors, journalling along on his journeys across America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as he immersed in the books of Henry Miller, Hunter S. Thompson, and especially the work of Jack Kerouac and the poets of the Beat Generation.
Michael spent the 1990's in Seattle, Washington, where he began writing Young Adult novels, played professional jazz piano, and became a student of cinema while working at Scarecrow Video, at the time, the largest collection of film on video on the globe.
Michael received a BA in English Literature from Oberlin College in Ohio. He completed at Masters in Teaching from Seattle University and taught middle school English on both coasts in public and private schools for a decade.
Michael Discovers Mirroring.
Michael began training Aikido, an energy based Japanese martial arts, at Seattle Ki Society, where he began to understand the mind/body aligning concepts of energy work through partner practice and meditation. Aikido training became the foundation of his mirroring coaching.
In 2006, now married and living back in the New York area, Michael and his then wife discovered Imago Dialogue therapy, a process highlighted in the book Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples. The two of them became certified as coaches in the teaching of Imago Dialogue and created an professional entity together known as Courageous Loving, that provided workshops and counseling focused on healing communication and transforming relationships.
While going through significant personal changes (divorce and relocation of the family to northern California), Michael began finding his voice as a coach and teacher. He extracted the core practices of mirroring from Imago Therapy, so that they could be used outside of the context of couples counseling. Instead, mirroring became a practice that could work for individuals, helping heal someone's past trauma and awaken a sense of deep authenticity from within. Through ongoing collaboration, Michael helped his clients to create a more instinctive and intuitive attitudes towards one's self concept, path of life's work, and how they see their own role in the world.
Likewise, Michael demonstrated in professional training opportunities how the practice of mirroring could have a profound impact on professional leadership, and can transform the energy of entire organizational environment.
For Michael, teaching mirroring means helping humanity move up the emotional scale through continued practice. Mirroring is a simple tool to help liberate and inspire people mentally and emotionally in life and work.
Michael's book launches a thousand solo journeys...
A life long writer, Michael got his first book out in 2014, following his own inner Jack Kerouac on a transformational journey to Japan. The result: an awesome book that grows in its depth, humor, wisdom and compassion into its second decade.
Once THE ZEN OF SOLO TRAVEL was released, Michael began teaching his coaching clients to take solo journeys as a way to break out of a negative paradigm in their lives. Some took day trips upstate, or overnights in the city. Others took flights to parts unknown around the US and throughout the globe. Each brave soul came back having released an immense amount of negativity and frustration, while opening to an emotional awakening that gave them the courage to make decisions and act upon significant issues in their lives, relationships and career --- all inspired by the mystery, magic and healing power of the road.
Each year, for nearly a decade now, Michael leads a week long online program called the SACRED SOLO ONLINE RETREAT, where each participant designs their own transformative solo journey which they go on during the weekend of the retreat. The healing stories from this annual event have been mesmerizing and inspiring. This is why Michael likes to tell everyone:
Always remember to keep it moving...
