New courses bloom in the gym, with even bizarre names, every year. But in the case of the mental we cannot talk about a recent practice coming out from who knows where. We must return to the roots and the roots of a practice lie in the life of the inventor. Let's dig deep into the mentality, a discipline inspired by the Trager Method, starting from the life of its inventor.
The roots of the mentality and the life of Milton Trager
We are in Chicago, beginning of the century, precisely in 1908. Trager will move to Miami in 1925, where he will begin a boxing career that will see him as a pupil of Mickey Martin. Bright minds often change, seek, are not satisfied. From gloves to the bar : Trager gives himself to dance, in extraordinary time he becomes a professional dancer. Contamination with acrobatic gymnastics is soon known. In 1941 Trager graduated in Physiotherapy at the University of Los Angeles. In his career he decides to deal mainly with recovery of patients with poliomyelitis and people suffering from neuromuscular disorders, with good results through a system that includes both passive contact and active body training.
I don't pay, in 1949 he enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine . I would like to point out to you that in 1949 Trager began to be 41 (in the face of anyone discourages us from doing something extraordinary). After graduating, Trager moved to Hawaii and it was there that he began to divulge the Trager method, which would then become the so-called mentality, in the sense of a practice that contemplates Trager maneuvers in self-produced mode, say.
Who is the educator Trager and what does he do?
How mental works
Let's go straight to the core of the practice, what sets it apart from many other disciplines. Trager has devised a system that goes beyond the conscious mind. To be precise, the maneuvers devised by Trager contemplate an alternative state of consciousness towards which the client is induced, defined by the inventor "hook up", which we could orientatively compare to hypnosis.
The system of contact gestures performed by the operator on the customer (involving rocking, vibrations, circular movements, rhythmic movements, stretching and compressions) is combined with the active exercises that the client knowingly performs . During the execution, the focus is on the breath, on the fluidity, one should enter a state of inner peace given by the pure motor experience.
To whom the mentality is addressed
Useful for those who want to loosen typical disorders related to postural and mental habits such as contractures, muscular tensions. However, we want to remember that the method, used under medical supervision and integrated with other clinical therapies, has achieved positive results in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, neuromuscular disorders, including degenerative diseases, Parkinson's disease, asthma and post-traumatic recovery, especially in cases of stroke, fractures and ischemia.
Several American chiropractic friends tell me that they resort to mentality in synergy with the treatment on the spine and on the nervous system. The benefit is multifaceted: it improves motor coordination, concentration, pysophysic balance. Relaxation, in their case, allows the benefits of chiropractic treatment to amplify and last over time.
Still today training courses of the Trager Method in Italy and courses of the Trager abroad are active, covering more areas on the international level.
