Wellness Education Centre
426 Ridout Street South
London, Ontario. N6C 4A1
(519) 680-3999
Email: anjali@gtn.net
by appointment
"Committed to Supporting you through the Evolutionary
Process of Life Changes"
Dr. Norman Thomas, Ph.D., M.S.E.
Psychologist, has practised psychology for the past
30 years, both as a private practitioner and through Psychological Services
of the London Board of Education, London Psychiatric Hospital and Thistletown
Hospital for Emotionally Disturbed Children. He has taught at the University
of Western Ontario, was a co-founder of the Centre for Creativity at King's
College, and has facilitated many workshops on stress, holistic health
and compassionate communication.
The Wellness Education Centre is staffed by Dr.
Norm Thomas and Anjali Thomas.
Both Norm and Anjali have recently completed a course
of study in the area of Esoteric Psychology, and continue their
exploration of esoteric studies.
At the Wellness Education Centre we offer the following
groups:
Trager
A Creative Approach to Relaxation
and Peace
Through a series of simple, gentle, non-intrusive
movements developed by Milton Trager M.D. you may experience and maintain:
All of us encounter stresses which surround us in our everyday lives.
In addition to these stresses which affect us in many different ways, we
can experience some physical discomfort due to poor posture, repeated holding
patterns due to work, as well as injuries resulting from accidents. We
also have a longing to connect with our deepest selves, thereby easing
the connection with others. We seek peace.
Milton Trager has said that the purpose of his work is world peace.
When one achieves a state of peace, balance or harmony with life, this
tends to have an effect on all around us. Milton says, "It's like the measles.
You have to catch it from someone who has it."
TRAGER Practitioners are trained to work in a state of "Hook-up"
which is a word coined by Milton to describe a state of complete relaxation,
a state in which we are connected to the life force which surrounds us
all. This life force or energy is a life regulating, life directing force.
All we have to do to connect with it is to relax.
I invite you to come for an introductory session.
For more information please call (519) 680-3999 or
email: anjali@gtn.net
THE TRAGER APPROACH: A
Lighter Way of Being
What is TRAGER work? Think about softening, deepening.
Think about lengthening, expanding, relaxing. Think about light, lighter
and lighter still. Think about a dancing cloud.
TRAGER leaves my body with a new relationship to gravity. My
neck grows, my chin lowers, my shoulders push back, my chest expands and
my knees become bouncy ... World class swimmers access this feeling right
before the big race while standing on the blocks. They jiggle, shake and
rotate their joints, and then they give it one hundred and ten percent.
( Champion Triathlete From British Columbia )
A session takes from 1 to 1-1/2 hours. No oils or lotions are used.
The receiving person may be partially or fully clothed and lies on a well
padded table in a warm comfortable environment. The practitioner gently
and rhythmically moves the person's body in such a way that the person
actually experiences the possibility of being able to move that freely,
effortlessly and gracefully on their own.
TRAGER work makes all the difference in how I feel. I've been
in a life-long state of contracture and TRAGER work helps me to go beyond
that. ( Concert Violinist )
THE TRAGER APPROACH:
An Open Meditative State
Milton Trager, M.D. has spent his life first as a lay practitioner
and later as a medical professional, expanding on his discovery of the
Trager
Approach. With clients and patients he explored the effects of gentle movement
on the nervous system which he associates with the unconscious mind.
Milton Trager, M.D.'s work is directed towards reaching the unconscious
mind ... Every move, every thought communicates how the tissue should feel
when everything is right. The mind is the whole thing ...That is all I
am interested in ... I am convinced that for every physical non-yielding
condition there is a psychic counterpart in the unconscious mind, and exactly
to the degree of physical manifestation. ( Milton Trager, M.D. )
Perhaps the most unique aspect of the Trager Approach concerns
the state of the practitioner in relationship to the person receiving the
work. The Trager practitioner adopts a relaxed and open meditative
state of consciousness that Dr. Trager nicknamed "hook-up." It is this
connection above all that Dr. Trager imparts to his patients and teaches
to his students. And it is this feeling of calm, peaceful connection that
is the essence of the Trager Approach.
THE TRAGER APPROACH: A New
Point of View
Comparing the Trager Approach to other types of bodywork is
like comparing rainbows to thunder. In some bodywork disciplines, the practitoner
will often work deeper or harder into the muscles when tightness or resistance
is encountered.
The Trager Approach is exactly the opposite. When tightness
is encountered, the practitioner actually works more lightly to help the
person recall the feeling of what it was like before it was tight. Trager
work is a mind / body approach using touch, movement and an open meditative
state for relaxation training and improved mobility.
...Four years ago, I was stricken suddenly with intense muscle
spasms on a business trip. Several doctors and physical therapists later,
I was diagnosed as having a ruptured disk ...After almost three years of
muscle spasms, the doctor replaced massage therapy with TRAGER work to
re-educate the muscles and added physical therapy for strengthening. After
six months, the muscles are stronger and much more pliable. And I finally
feel I am on the road to recovery. ( Corporate Vice President With
Ruptured Disk )
THE TRAGER APPROACH:
The Movement Sends the Message
The Trager Approach is a way of learning and teaching through
movement. Clients come to absorb a lesson, as opposed to receiving a treatment.
The Trager practitioner uses the hands to communicate a quality
of feeling to the nervous system during the table work, and guides the
person to move with that feeling on their own.
...I am able to improve my condition ... by recalling the feelings
... my body experienced during the last session ... It is a process full
of hope ... The whole idea of intercepting harmful messages between the
brain and the muscles, and breaking the circuit, is intriguing and opens
up new fields of possibilty. ( Retired 77 Year Old With Parkinson's
Disease )
To communicate, practitioners use the language of movement and touch:
gently rocking, swinging and pressing. They work within the person's pain
free range to provide a sense of how it feels to be able to move freely
and painlessly.
I have learned how to relax tight muscles myself by being conscious
of the stress in the other parts of my body in relationship to my shoulder
and upper back pain. For example, I used to hold on to the steering wheel
(of my car) for dear life. Now I can lighten up, relax and let go ... I
am more conscious of what I've been doing to myself. ( Certified Public
Accountant With A Serious Back Deformity )
THE TRAGER APPROACH: You
Can Take It With You
As part of a Trager session or in special classes, people
can receive instruction in the use of Mentastics Self-Care Movements
on their own. These simple effortless movements help people create for
themselves the same feelings awakened by the table work.
The Self-Care Movements can evoke feelings of lightness, freedom
and flexibility. They can also become a life-long changing practice in
everyday activities.
My neck and shoulders felt great! It was so nice to have the
tension relieved. I practice (those) MENTASTICS movements to keep them
more relaxed ...My wrist is doing well. The thumb movements are working
well also. ( Computer Programmer With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome )
THE TRAGER APPROACH:
A Method For Every Body
The Trager Approach often achieves excellent results for people
with a wide range of conditions, such as everyday aches and pains, poor
posture, limited movement, normal aging processes and uscle spasms. And
it is great for the pure enjoyment of it.
I talk about how the work is a form of neuromuscular re-programming
and movement re-education which can be used to reduce pain and increase
range of motion of joints, the patient's sense of well-being, the patient's
sense of how powerful they can be to affect their own health... ( Mark
Hoch, M.D. A Family Physician In Private Practice )
The Trager Approach has also helped many people with serious
conditions including back pain, depression, multiple sclerosis, crerebral
palsy, post-polio syndrome and Parkinson's disease as well as sports injuries
such as tennis elbow and on-the-job ailments such a carpal tunnel syndrome.
It became clear to me months before I ever heard of Milton Trager
that even though I understood what was wrong with me, I was stuck ... After
my third session, when I awoke the next morning, I felt as though I had
caught the wind and changed its direction. ( A Person With Clinical
Depression Who Gave Up Antidepressants With the TRAGER Approach )
Wellness Education Centre
426 Ridout Street South
London, Ontario. N6C 4A1
(519) 680-3999
Email: anjali@gtn.net
by appointment
"Committed to Supporting you through the Evolutionary
Process of Life Changes"
( back
)
This page is owned and maintained by J.
E. Ellis
Copyrighted January 10, 1998.