Trager® Certification Training – Bellingham, WA

Bellingham Trager Certification Program:
Level 1, stand-alone class and the first module of the Bellingham Trager Certification series starts April 14-16th, 2023

The Trager® Approach is a unique approach to bodywork and somatic movement therapy developed by Dr. Milton Trager, MD who became aware of the basic principles at the age of 18 and spent over 50 years refining his work. In its full expression, Trager work has become known as a highly effective neuro-fascial approach to bodywork with applications in rehabilitation, movement re-patterning, and psychophysical integration.

The tablework, involving deep, fluid rocking movements (oscillations) of muscles and joints combined with gentle traction and compression, feeds the brain’s natural neuroplasticity and induces dramatic muscular relaxation, along with feelings of lightness, freedom, and flexibility. Sessions also include individualized, mindful, somatic movement explorations called Mentastics®.

Trager Certification: An experiential, in depth training program designed for students to build the Trager® approach as a primary modality in their practice, and to deepen levels of personal, professional, and spiritual integration. Guided table-work and movement practices, supervision, tutorials, and supported practice days allow students to integrate Trager touch and movement into their current manual therapy and movement work while developing a successful Trager practice. Certification offers marketing credentials, an optional referral listing on the US Trager Association website, and access to further resources through the association.

Benefits of Trager Certification

• • • • • • Expand your career longevity and satisfaction.
        • • Facilitate deep levels of peace, healing, and pain-free living in yourself and your clients.
        • • Creatively address chronic pain, the effects of trauma, movement disorders, and more.
        • • Expand your clientele by broadening your approach.

Milton Trager, MD, who became aware of the basic principles at the age of 18, spent over 50 years refining this unique approach to somatic movement therapy and bodywork. He achieved high levels of success with effects of Parkinson’s, MS, Post Polio Syndrome, Back Pain, migraine’s, and Chronic Pain, while helping patients reconnect to their inherent sense of ageless, ease and joy of movement.

The First Step: Trager Level 1.
Six days, April 14-16 and 21-23rd, 2023.
Instructor: Gail Stewart.
Level 1 is a stand-alone workshop and the first step of Trager Certification. This course is designed for students in the fields of massage therapy, physical therapy, body-centered psychotherapy, fitness training, yoga, and other somatic practices. Both Mentastics (mindful movement) & Table-work are taught through demonstrations and supervised practice.

You’ll come away with a full body protocol to integrate into your current bodywork or movement practice and a foundation for  subsequent training. These six days, which can be taken as a stand alone class, provide the first step for those wanting to develop The Trager Approach as a primary modality in their practice.

The class will teach effective applications for pain and injury, as well as relief from symptoms of sustained social, emotional and psychological stress. It will also highlight ways of working with manual therapy and body sensation to address the effects of internalized trauma, both recent and long past. The Trager approach is valuable for anyone who wants to elevate awareness in themselves and their clients. 

Course Objectives. You’ll learn:

• Full body protocol to integrate into your practice
• Tools for deepening somatic movement exploration
• To work pain-free and increase your own body ease
• Greater therapeutic presence and resonance
• To elevate Biotensegral and neurofascial reslience
• To impact fluid, joint, muscular and organ systems more effectively

Instructor: Gail Stewart was fortunate to be in Milton Trager’s first class, at Esalen Institute, in 1975.  She was a student of Dr. Trager until his death in 1997, and has been a Trager® Instructor for more than 30 years.  Her background includes founding and teaching in a California-approved school of massage and bodywork, between 1982 and 2003. She trained in Somatic Therapy with Peter Levine. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.  Gail has a private practice in Berkeley, California, and travels internationally to teach The Trager Approach.

Assistant: Joseph Rodin MA, LMHC, LMT, CTP, is a Trager Tutor and Supervised Practice Leader. A licensed psychotherapist, bodyworker and former yoga instructor, he’s been in private practice since 1993 and works mostly with Headache and TMJ, Chronic Pain, trauma, anxiety and those wishing to feel more ease in their bodies.

Schedule for Level 1 and Certification

*Monthly 1.5 hour Zoom Reviews and Individual Tutorial dates TBD.

Payment Details

Initial Deposit: $150 for Level 1 Class or Certification.
E-invoice will be sent subsequent to deposit payment.

Level 1: $1,245
Includes six-day, Level 1 Class and two year membership to USTA with online member video library and resources. Integration days and tutorials extra.

Certification Cost: $6,995, with payment plan options.
Pay in full by tbd 2023: $6,695
Deposit: $150 Deposit holds your place.
$100 is refundable until tbd, 2023.

Tuition includes 245 hours of training including Levels 1, 2, 3, Mentastics Workshops, Integration Days, Tutorials, Zoom Reviews, Video Library Access, two years membership to US Trager Association and additional resources.