BY THOMAS CLAIRE

As winter advances, blanketing the city and countryside in layers of
snow that form mountains and canyons, nature reminds us to survey
our own internal nooks and recesses. Bitter cold, wind, and dampness
force us to spend more time indoors, as our thoughts, in turn, dwell
on inward landscapes. We are eloquently, wordlessly, reminded of the
delicate balance between what is outside and what is inside, the
physical and the psychological, the body and the mind.

What more appropriate time than this to explore the powerful
interconnection of the mind and body through the dynamic bodywork
practice known as the Trager® Approach? Developed by Milton
Trager, M.D., the Trager Approach is a method of movement
education and bodywork that aims to integrate the body and mind.
Using nonintrusive, pain-free hands-on touch and exercises, it helps
to release deep-seated psychophysiological areas of holding. As areas of
blockage release, we become free to move more spontaneously,
allowing pain and dysfunction to disappear.

In the mid-1920's, at the age of eighteen, Trager was an aspiring young
boxer. He recognized his innate gift for healing when he gave his
trainer a massage and received this awe-struck response: "Hey, kid ...
you've got hands!" Subsequent experience underscored Trager's
natural talent as he was able to facilitate healing in people with
disorders ranging from polio to sciatica, not to mention his own
congenital low back trouble. While pursuing his medical training in
Guadalajara, Mexico, Trager was able to help restore movement to a
young polio patient using his approach. Nuns fell to their knees in
prayer, while the hospital dedicated a wing for Trager to pursue his
work. In 1977, Trager retired from medical practice to train
practitioners in his work full-time.

The Trager Approach is practiced in two complementary formats.
Psychophysical Integration is an individual bodywork treatment. The
client lies on a firm, padded table, in a warm and comfortable
environment, wearing swimwear, briefs, or additional clothing. No
lotion or oil is used. The practitioner uses gentle, rhythmic rocking,
kneading, shaking, vibrating, and stretching movements to increase
range of motion and induce relaxation. A typical session lasts an hour
to an hour-and-a-half. Practitioners often recommend that individuals
begin treatment with a series of private sessions for maximum benefit.
Subsequent periodic reminder sessions can be helpful.

In Mentastics (Trager's coined term for "mental gymnastics"), exercises
are performed at home or in class to reinforce the message given to
the client's unconscious during a session in Psychophysical
Integration. A class typically lasts thirty to ninety minutes, with longer
workshop formats also available. Students perform simple dancelike
movements that utilize relaxed stretching, rocking, and shaking.
These movements are designed to show how free and light the body
can feel. Mentastics exercises are often given as homework following a
private session in Psychophysical Integration.

Trager believes that physical discomfort and pain begin in the mind.
Through the nervous and neurochemical communicating systems,
the mind maintains the muscles in chronically contracted and
inflamed positions. The Trager Approach reeducates the nervous
system in more relaxed, less painful patterns. Through informed
technique and intuitive awareness, the Trager practitioner bypasses
the conscious mind to effect permanent change. Practitioners access a
state that Trager calls "hook-up" a deeply meditative state in which
they hook up to the flow of energy all around them to facilitate
release.

During a session, a Trager practitioner tries to communicate a quality
of feeling to the client's mind by way of the nervous system. The
practitioner's hands silently repeat the questions: "What could be
softer? Lighter? Freer?" A hallmark of the Trager Approach is its use
of repetitive rocking, shaking and vibrating movements, which can
number up to six thousand moves during a session. These
movements seem to wake up the nervous system and enable the
receiver to establish new links between the mind and body.

Individuals who receive Trager Work frequently report an increased
sense of relaxation, vitality, mental clarity, and creativity. They
experience what they describe as a place beyond relaxation, or "peace".
Many find that as the physical holding in their bodies releases, they
feel emotionally freer, too. While his method is not a medical
treatment, Trager has reported success in treating a wide range of
physical ailments: polio, muscular dystrophy, and other degenerative
muscular disorders; multiple sclerosis; Parkinson's; poststroke
trauma; chronic pain syndromes, such as low back problems;
emphysema; migraine headaches; and asthma to name just a few.
Because it is gentle, the Trager Approach has few contraindications,
which a certified Trager practitioner will be happy to discuss with you.

All Trager practitioners in good standing have been trained and
certified by The Trager Institute in Mill Valley, California. The
training program consists of formal courses in the theory and practice
of Trager Work as well as anatomy and physiology. Additional
fieldwork, including practice sessions, private tutorials, and
practitioner evaluations are required. Prior to 1995, practitioners were
certified upon completion of 148 hours of training; beginning in
January, 1995, The Institute initiated a transition to a 500-hour
certification program.

The Trager Approach is a fun and powerful treatment to receive, and a
rewarding practice to learn. The foremost teacher of the Trager
Approach in New York City is Roger Tolle (212/787-5167). Roger
maintains a private practice in addition to teaching a variety of
seminars and workshops. Martha Partridge is an innovative Trager
practitioner, who collaborates with Dr. Christine Benner, D.C., to
integrate the Trager Approach with chiropractic care to optimize a
client's self-care program (Chiropractic Health Services, 34 West 17th
Street, tel: 212/929-2424). Their recent encouraging work with
Parkinsons' patients has elicited the interest of the medical
community. There are many other gifted practitioners of the Trager
Approach in the New York metropolitan area. The Trager Institute
can help you find a practitioner near you, as well as provide you with
additional information: The Trager Institute, 21 Locust Avenue, Mill
Valley, CA 94941-2806, Tel: (415) 388-2688; Fax: (415) 388-2710.

"Trager" and "Mentastics" are registered service marks of The Trager
Institute.

Thomas Claire is the author of the acclaimed book BodyWork:
What Type of Massage to Get and How to Make the Most of It
(William Morrow and Company, 1995), available at bookstores
everywhere.
A licensed massage therapist and Reiki Master,
he teaches and practices a wide range of bodywork modalities in New
York City,
including Swedish massage, shiatsu, Therapeutic Touch, Cranio-sacral
Therapy,
Reiki (all levels of training), and Myofascial Release.
In July and August 1996 he will be offering workshops on the Greek
Island of Skyros.
For information,
call (212) 647-9757.