My Practice
A brief summary of how Trager found me and sustains me
In 1999 I attended an introductory workshop in the Trager Approach.
At the time I had been practicing as a licensed massage therapist providing anatomically specific deep tissue techniques for my clients. I had a growing clientele since graduating from the Chicago School of Massage Therapy in 1995. At the time, I was tolerating back pain that was related to old injuries and trauma. My awareness then was that the pain I was feeling was solely related to the giving of deep tissue massages, and that this was just how things were to be. My mantra was to provide a high standard of service despite what that might be doing to my body, or to my mind. I was a hard worker!
What happened in that 6-hr Introductory workshop in 1999 shifted my view in how I had been meeting myself and meeting my clients. It all came down to the manner in which I was meeting resistances in myself, and conversely how I was meeting the resistances (tensions) in my clients. I had become very skilled in locating and pushing through pain, discomfort and feelings.
Six months after the workshop I entered the professional Trager training program. A 6-day comprehensive training (1st of 3) in learning the Trager principles of movement, touch and presence. I did not really know why I was drawn to this softer approach. However, my unconscious awareness was guiding me where I needed to go to feel better, more whole, to heal and find contentment.
What is now so clear to me is strongly echoed in a phrase that Dr. Trager was known to share with his students and practitioners "You can only give to the degree in which you have honestly developed in yourself."
For the last 20 years I have witnessed countless moments of transformation in healing and growth with clients. I am forever grateful to Dr. Milton Trager, my Teachers, my clients, my students and to me, for the moment of pause I took to to listen to the 'deepest tissue', my unconscious mind back in 1999!
Roger Hughes