Trager is an approach to bodywork developed in the 1920s by American medical practitioner Dr. Milton Trager. It makes extensive use of touch-contact and encourages the client to experience the freeing-up of different parts of the body.

The approach consists of simple exercises called Mentastics and deep, nonintrusive hands-on work, including fluid, gentle, rocking movements. The idea is to use motion in the muscles and joints to produce positive sensory feelings that are then fed back into the central nervous system. The result is a feeling of lightness, freedom, and flexibility.

A Trager session takes 60-90 minutes. No oils or lotions are used. The client wears a swimsuit or underwear, and lies on a well-padded table in a warm, comfortable environment. Extreme pressure and rapid thrusts are not used, and pain is not necessary to make this approach effective. During the session, the practitioner makes touch-contact with the client in such a gentle and rhythmic way that the person lying passively on the table experiences the possibility of being able to move each part of the body freely, effortlessly, and gracefully on her own.

The practitioner works in a relaxed, meditative state of consciousness. After getting up from the table, the client is given instruction in the use of Mentastics, or “mental gymnastics,” a system of simple, effortless movement sequences, to maintain and enhance the sense of lightness, freedom, and flexibility instilled by the table work. It is a powerful means of teaching the client to recall the pleasurable sensory state that produced positive tissue change. Because it is this feeling state that triggered positive tissue response in the first place, every time the feeling is clearly recalled the changes deepen, become more permanent, and are more receptive to further positive change.

Changes described have included the disappearance of specific symptoms, discomforts, or pains; heightened levels of energy and vitality; more effortless posture and carriage; greater joint mobility; deeper states of relaxation than were previously possible; and a new ease in daily activities. Click here to find a Trager Approach practitioner.