Trager Approach

The Trager® Approach is a mind-body approach to movement education. It is a system of gentle, rhythmic movement and touch aimed at facilitating deep relaxation, increased physical mobility, and promoting the body's optimal performance. There are two aspects of the approach - one in which the client passively receives the movement work on a padded table from a Trager® practitioner; and in the other aspect, in which the client is taught to actively explore comfortable, free movement for themselves, is called Mentastics.And, not forgetting, the Reflex & Response part of the method which was not a seperated part until later. This part truly integrates the method and makes, after extensive training, stand-alone and complementary work possible with ALL clients. It was the forte of dr. Trager and truly comes to life when watching him work with clients, using the table, walking, mentastics and Reflex & Response (in historic footage). Not every practitioner works this way. The Reflex & Response is integrated into the session where needed and positive results have been noted with pain(patterns), MS. LBD., Parkinson and also effectiveness increase of movement patterns in high level competition sports.

Development

The Trager® Approach was the creation of a single individual, Milton Trager, M.D. He first encountered its principles intuitively during physical exercise, at the age of 18. He then spent the next 50 years, first as a lay practitioner and later as a medical professional, expanding and refining his approach. Dr. Trager died in 1997. His work is now carried on by Trager International and the instructors and certified practitioners of the Trager® Approach. [tragerus.org accessed 2008-02-22]

Principles and Aims

Dr. Trager's manner of manipulating the body was not a technique or a method, in the sense that there are no rigid procedures which are claimed to produce specific symptomatic results. Rather, it is an approach, a way of learning and of teaching movement re-education. He stressed that his clients should come to him ready to absorb a lesson, instead of ready simply to receive a treatment. Trager® is not concerned with moving particular muscles or joints, per se, but with using motion in muscles and joints to produce particular sensory feelings - positive, pleasurable feelings which enter the central nervous system and begin to trigger tissue changes by means of the many sensory-motor feedback loops between the mind and the muscles. The effects of a Trager® session are intended to penetrate below the level of conscious awareness. Dr. Trager noted that the immediate results of the session could be reinforced and deepened later by clients exploring simple movements that recalled the bodily sensations of the session. The essence of a "Trager" session is the projection of a calmer, more attentive, more meditative feeling state from the sensibility of the practitioner to the sensibility of the client. Dr. Trager called this hook-up. [Archive material from trager.com accessed 1998]

Practitioner certification

Since the founding of The Trager Institute in 1980, nearly 2000 practitioners have been trained. In 2001, the Trager Institute became Trager International, an organizational and identity change, embracing a worldwide mission of coordination of 12 national associations and the educational oversight of Trager® training. The national associations are: Association Québécoise de Trager Inc (Quebec, Canada), Associazione Trager Italia (Italy), Israeli Trager Association, Mouvement Trager France, Svenska Tragerföreningen (Sweden), Trager Canada, Trager España (Spain), Trager UK (United Kingdom), Trager Verband Deutschland (Germany), Trager-Verband Schweiz (Switzerland), Trager-Verein Österreich (Austria), and the United States Trager Association including the following countries: United States of America, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Namibia, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Thailand. [trager.com accessed 2008-02-22] The certification of Trager® Practitioners is administered by the national associations. Worldwide minimum core requirements are specified by Trager International, but certain national associations may have additional requirements based on local laws. For example, the United States Trager Association's certification program takes a minimum of six months to complete. A Trager® practitioner receives a minimum 409 hours of training of which 226 are supervised. The basic training includes a Level I Training (six days), a Level II and III Training (each five days), Mentastics training (three days), and a six day Anatomy and Physiology training with a period of fieldwork and evaluations after each of the three levels of training. The fieldwork consists of giving and documenting a total of at least 90 Trager sessions without charge, and receiving at least 30 Trager sessions. There are also continuing education requirements after becoming a certified Trager® practitioner. [tragerus.org accessed 2008-02-22]

Typical session

A session typically lasts from one to one and a half hours. The client wears underwear or light, loose clothing and lies on a padded table in a comfortable environment. The practitioner makes touch-contact with the client, both as a whole and partly with individual limbs and segments. The central feature of the work is the sensory quality of the physical contact consisting of gently coaxing elongations, softly penetrating compressions, and a pleasurable rhythmic rocking, sending resonating ripples throughout the body's fluid structure.

After getting up from the table, the client is given some instruction in the use of Mentastics, a system of simple, effortless movement sequences developed by Dr. Trager to maintain and enhance the sense of lightness, freedom, and flexibility that was instilled by the table work. [Archive material from trager.com accessed 1998]

Benefits

The Trager® Approach is reported to help release or re-balance physical and mental patterning, to facilitate deep relaxation, and to increased physical mobility and functional awareness. The Trager® Approach has been reported to ease or help manage a wide range of conditions including: stress, back and neck pain, limited movement, muscle spasms, headaches, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, post-polio syndrome, cerebral palsy, physical/emotional trauma, sports and other injuries. Also, with the Reflex & Response traning, this work is done alongside supporting physicians, complementing and increasing effectiveness of treatments. Not only felt limitations are treated but growth as well - which by experience has shown to support people in competition sports and others, like dancers and singers.

=Cautions=Active thrombophlebitis (blood clots). Recent surgery on joints (less than three months). It might not be advisable for a client to receive a Trager session if he/she is in a severely debilitated state, who is extremely frail, or has had recent hospitalization for a severe illness. [Claire, Thomas,"Bodywork",1995, pp. 146-147] As with all movement education, bodywork or massage, it is advised that for safe, applicable work a client-person inform the practitioner about their condition beforehand so that the practitioner is aware of any problems and current issues.

Notes

References

* Archive material describing the Trager Approach from the original Trager Institute site accessed 1998 (used with permission): trager.com.

* Claire, Thomas, "Bodywork: What Type of Massage to Get and How to Make the Most of It", New York, William Morrow, 1995, ISBN 0-688-12581-6.

* Juhan, Deane, MA., "The Trager Approach: A Comprehensive Introduction", 1993, self-published, available through The United States Trager Association.

* Liskin, Jack, "Moving Medicine: The Life and Work of Milton Trager, MD.", Barrytown, NY., Station Hill Press, 1996, ISBN 0-88268-196-6.

* Trager, Milton, MD, with Cathy Hammond, "Movement as a Way to Agelessness: A Guide to Trager Mentastics", Barrytown, NY., Station Hill Press, 1987,1995, ISBN 0-88268-167-2.

* Trager International (official site) worldwide information on trainings and National Association links: trager.com.

* United States Trager Association (official site) for a description of the approach and the Certification Program: tragerus.org.

External links

* [http://www.trager.com/ Trager International]
* [http://www.tragerus.org/ United States Trager Association]
* [http://www.federationmbs.org/ The Federation of Therapeutic Massage, Bodywork and Somatic Practice Organizations. The United States Trager Association is a founding member.]