Extracted from The Back Pain Sourcebook by Stephanie Levin-Gervasi

Peter de Zordo began practicing Trager fourteen years ago. A practioner at the Trager Institute in Mill Valley, California he says that Trager is a sensory experience. Trager affects change through passive body movement. It looks at body restrictions and patterns of movement. Peter notes, like several other types of body work, Trager is not a confrontive technique.

Milton Trager developed his body work, referring to it as psychophysical integration and mentastics. Mentastics refers to the mind.

In Trager, the mind is everything. Trager was training to be a boxer when he discovered his exceptional ability to work with his hands while rubbing down his trainer. Trager quit boxing to take care of his hands and began the long pursuit which eventually took him to medical school. What distinguishes Tragering from other body work is the focus and intent of the practitioner's manipulations. Tragers focus and intent are not specifically directed towards local conditions in the body tissue, muscles, joints or skin, like Rolfing, but toward reaching the unconscious mind. It has taken Trager over 50 years to expand and develop his technique.

Trager mentastics is a system of effortless movements to enhance the body's sense of lightness, freedom and flexibility. Rhythmic massage and stretching movements encourage the body to let go. Through a series of movements, swinging, stretching pressing, and rocking the entire torso, the body moves into a restful meditative state. Once the body relaxes, the moves appear effortless. Plan on about an hour to an hour and a half for each session. Trager carries no risk and is gentle. Cost range from $50-$75 a session, depending on the practioner.