David Gilbert’s life has been dedicated to finding meaning and truth. He has sought to understand how & why people are as they are, how all the difficulties that we face in life happen.
To this end, at age 19 David decided to let his emotions out, & to embark on intense zen meditation & movement practice.
What followed was a life-changing 5 years of meditation & emotional break-down. He describes it as a break open. He spent time in Buddhist monasteries trying to get peaceful & enlightened, & much time in emotional trauma. The pain of his childhood was exposed pretty much non-stop. With this came feelings of being unlovable, a total loss of sense of self, spontaneous past life regressions, & occasional samadhi ( or kensho) experiences. In his emotional world he felt younger and smaller, & the intensity grew & grew. Until age 24 David hit a core pain & terror which ripped him apart. He lost all control, & let go. All that was left was to wait for death.
Five days later he woke up and found himself floating in what he describes as spacious unconditional love. He was home.
This opening has never left him.
Since then David has continued to practice letting go & opening. His opening has generously pointed out to him more parts of him that were struggling & generally being all too human. So he has done a fair amount more letting go into fear, pain, begging & pleading & general heart-ache… why pretend otherwise when you can’t..
David’s opening has also led him to directly experience how we struggle with our subconscious fears, pain, & feeling unloved. It also showed him that allowing the light of awareness in & letting the hidden parts of ourselves out sets us free. It opens us to who we really are.
In his quest to learn, David also qualified 30 years ago in acupuncture, counselling, and shiatsu. He then trained in craniosacral therapy & somato-emotional release. Later he studied past life regression work with Rodger Woolgar. He has taught mindfulness, Shintaido, shiatsu, and craniosacral therapy.
During this time he has continuously earned a living as a therapist, which for him has been a continual source of learning.
David’s direct connection with the unconditional has allowed him to be with many many people as they open to the pain & fear inside themselves.
In sharing his experience of opening, David’s way is to encourage people to reconnect with themselves, other people, and nature. He does so with attempted humour & honesty. he has a unique way of facilitating people to directly experience what they are looking for.
“I have never seen myself in any way as a spiritual teacher. I never thought I’d get away with it…”