Through lecture, demonstration, and practice you'll learn:

• Mentastics® Self-Care Movement exercises to keep you comfortable while you work and which you can teach to your clients so that they may elicit similar muscular changes on their own.
• How inquiry and a meditative presence transform touch into a language.
• How to use touch and movement to dialogue with the nervous system to initiate lasting neuromuscular change.
• The fundamental principles of the Trager®. Approach at the heart of its efficacy.
• Through a mini-session protocol, we explore how to adapt those principles to your present style of work.This workshop contains vital information for anyone wishing to further understand the connection between mind and body, touch as a language, and in the words of Dr. Milton Trager, "Movement as a Way to Agelessness." This workshop will also follow a format similar to Michael's work in Sri Lanka, which was profiled in AMTA "Massage Therapy Journal" Winter 2007 Quarterly.

Course Description:

Explore the essential principles of Dr. Milton Trager’s Psychophysical Integration and their applications to some of the most common clinical, musculoskeletal pathologies. Through this unique self-care approach founded on a mindful presence and specific body mechanics, you’ll learn to transform touch into a language to dialogue with the nervous system to facilitate lasting neuromuscular change. And you’ll feel great doing it!  This system of dynamic mindful movement, Dr. Trager termed Mentastics® forms the basis for your self-care at the table, the foundation of the hands-on table work and informs the very exercises you can teach to your clients to elicit similar muscular responses on their own.

Applications of Dr. Trager’s work to address Trauma (PTSD) related conditions, sciatica, low back and neck pain, fibromyalgia and conditions like frozen shoulder, upper cross syndrome (text neck) or anterior scalene syndrome will be discussed.

Objectives:

When you finish this course, you will be able to:

• Perform self-care exercises to relieve, neck, shoulder, low back and hip pain within your own body and to avoid your own pain and burnout utilizing body mechanics at the table.

• Guide Clients through Self-Care movements to care for themselves and to leverage the gains of the sessions.

• Describe and apply specific skills required to effectively work with the nervous system as it presents in trauma, sciatica, frozen shoulder and other musculoskeletal conditions to facilitate the release of unconscious holding patterns.

• Cite research on components of the gamma motor system that may contribute to pain and fatigue associated with Fibromyalgia and other musculoskeletal conditions.

• Describe the basic neurophysiology of Trauma

• Describe the components of Non-Violent Communication and how this applies to touch and neuromuscular release

• Describe what weight tells us about muscular tension or holding.

• Execute the concept of action at a distance through traction and the creation of fluid movements within the body.

As course summary and examination will be provided for those who are not attending all the sessions in person who wish to receive CE credit for the course.

What you’ll need:

• Those participating will need two (2) water balloons about 10-12” diameter— we’ll be filling them only part way.

• A towel.

• 3-4 Thera bands of various thickness

• A practice partner, client, person.  For the hands-on portion you’ll need a body to work on.  If you do not have someone to practice on, you will be observing

• 16 NCBTMB CEU's will be awarded.

PLEASE NOTE: Classes will be recorded and posted for future viewing.