OTHER voices, OTHER choices
Originally published in Health & Healing in the Triangle, Vol. 7, No. 4, Wellness Communication, Inc., Chapel Hill, NC, publishers. Reprinted with permission.
Integrative health care expanding options
When we talked with Lorraine Lewis about a piece on Trager for this issue, the prospect of trying this new (to us) therapy was irresistible. Our report on Trager: Intensely relaxing. Highly recommended. So we are delighted to have her lead off this popular Other Voices, Other Choices section where practitioners tell us, in their own words, who they are, what they do, and why they do it. We can learn from them all: about how to feed our bodies the food we need, how to nurture our spiritual and emotional selves, and how to “clear spaces” for a richer experience of living. Web Guru Jason Hare closes the section with an insightful look at how people are turning en masse to the Internet in search of health care information, and how practitioners can best help them find it.
EXPERIENCE BEYOND WORDS
“The feeling of calm, peaceful connectedness that is the essence of the Trager approach is truly beyond words,” says Lorraine Lewis. “As Dr. Trager says, ‘Not until we experience it is it more than just words. After we experience it, there is no need for words.’ For that reason, I periodically offer free demonstrations and presentations of Trager.”
Call 967-2215 for current times.
Trager: “feel a whole new body”
By Lorraine Lewis, CTP, LMBT (NC #213)
Trager® was a quiet happening in my life, yet it had loudly resounding beneficial effects on all levels of my being – body, mind, and spirit. This beautiful grace-filled approach which includes table work and simple self-care movements called Mentastics® (“mindfulness in motion”) was developed by Milton Trager, MD. The Trager Approach invites us to experience a brighter, lighter, softer, freer, more relaxed, yet vibrantly alive way of moving through our daily lives.
Dr. Trager’s poetic words drew me to this work:
There is a way of Being
Which is lighter
Which is freer
A way in which work
As well as play
Becomes a dance
And living a song.
We can learn this way.
I found these words irresistible. I wanted to learn what this was all about. I was blessed to get a full taste of this way of being at my first Trager training in 1988 and knew I wanted to share this feeling with others.
Trager is essentially about our feeling state on every level of our being. If you want to feel greater ease, joy, fullness of being, vitality, aliveness, relaxation, and peaceful connectedness to yourself and to the greater whole, Trager can work wonders for you.
The core principle of The Trager Approach is what Milton Trager calls “hook up” – a relaxed, meditative, peaceful state of being. Both the table work and the Mentastics® can gently bring you into this finer state of being. Another basic principle of Trager is simply allowing and letting go of trying and forcing.
A TRAGER SESSION
In a Trager session, the client lies comfortably on a massage table. The practitioner (from this state of “hook up”) initiates gentle rhythmic rocking, stretching, and shaking type movements which reverberate throughout the body of the client. These motions lull the body into feeling states of deep ease, peace and profound relaxation. Unnecessary stress melts away and areas of tension, holding and blockage are encouraged to release and to feel their natural state of fluidity and elasticity.
The experience is one of wholeness and unity. Sessions typically take one and a half hours. The session also includes some guidance in the use of Mentastics® that the client can take home and use anytime to bring back the pleasurable feeling state from the session into their daily lives.
Deane Juhan is a Trager instructor, practitioner, and well-know author of Job’s Body: A Handbook for Bodywork. In one of his many articles about Trager, he explains, “The Trager Approach is not a medical treatment. It is actually a learning experience. You are learning how your body can move, and what it is like to be freer and lighter. It is really an approach to using your self well, to being a whole person, to experiencing yourself as well integrated and coordinated, to feeling yourself connected to the energies which sustain you.”
image: tragerus.org
My personal experience fully supports these views, as does the experience of many clients. One client said of her Trager session, “That was the nicest gift I’ve ever given myself.” Another said, “I feel like I have a whole new body.”
Since Trager helps us to create more efficient use of movement and energy in everyday life, it has a wide variety of applications in many areas of life, including in the fields of physical therapy, psychotherapy, education, dance and athletic training.
Deepak Chopra, MD, author of Ageless Body, Timeless Mind says, “Milton Trager’s work will benefit anyone wishing to lead a healthier and more dynamic life.”
Lorraine Lewis is a Certified Trager® Practitioner, Licensed Massage and Bodywork Therapist (NC#213), Nationally Certified in Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, and Certified in LaHo-Chi and Reiki energy healing. Her office is in the Covenant Office Center in Carrboro. For more information: (919) 967-2215.