“The approach is easy, light, soft, and free, and gracefully moving. It is not goal oriented. The practitioner inquires, expecting an answer but never demanding one, “How should it be . . .?”
Milton Trager, MD

This innovative approach to movement re-education was developed by Dr. Milton Trager in the 1940’s. Dr. Trager had begun to work on neuromuscular problems, such as sciatica and polio, in a unique therapeutic way many years before. It was during his medical residency training, however, that he had an experience which helped him further understand and formulate one of the central premises of the work: that all holding patterns in the body originate in the mind. Thus the focus of the Trager® Approach is always to reach the mind. This is done by suggesting new feeling sensations to the tissues through the way the body is moved – feelings of lightness, softness, length, openness and flow. These qualities of movement, really lessons in deep relaxation, reach the mind and, through practice, can be integrated into one’s body and one’s approach to life. Dr. Trager felt that ultimately he was interested in helping people understand and experience the feeling of relaxed alertness, a new “way of being” in the world.

In the 1970’s Dr. Trager began to teach his work and in 1980 he and a colleague Betty Fuller went on to co-found The Trager® Institute. Shortly thereafter a certification program was established to train and certify people in his approach. There are now thousands of Certified Practitioners worldwide including the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Japan.

Content last modified on Mar 27, 2003