Movement – a gateway to life

Henriette Lamprecht – If you want to increase your mental capacity to relax, your body is the way to go. TRAGER® is an innovative approach to stress management and personal development, focusing on increasing self-awareness and the capacity to relax through natural movement. It involves learning to feel and create sensations in the body.“This means becoming more aware of what the body tells us about our status and then exploring what could feel more comfortable and pain-free,” says Dhyani Berger, TRAGER® practitioner and tutor in Windhoek. “Nothing is forced and the emphasis is on pleasurable movements,” she says.Dr. Milton Trager developed this work over 65 years of life as a boxer, acrobatic dancer, physiotherapist, doctor, meditator and ultimately as a teacher of his own approach to healing and self-development. He started teaching this approach in his sixties after working as a doctor for many years with experience in physical and psychiatric medicine and rehabilitation. “His work and teaching demonstrated movement is a gateway to life.”TRAGER® links body and mind, explains Dhyani. It is also known as psychophysical Integration as it reaches the mind through the body – complementing traditional therapy. TRAGER® includes two phases. The first phase consists of “bodywork” and involves lying on a massage table, receiving a meditative movement session from a practitioner.The second phase involves “Tragering” oneself, known as MENTASTICS®. This is the self-generated exploration of movement using the body’s weight to move effortlessly.“We’re reaching and influencing the brain to adjust neuromuscular patterns throughout the body. This replaces restrictive memories with new patterns of movement, creating healthier habits by allowing the body to feel what is more relaxed and balanced,” explains Dhyani. With TRAGER® people learn to take care of themselves and are encouraged not to become dependent on the therapist. TRAGER® practitioners support self-healing. Dhyani has been practicing this method since 1984 and was fortunate enough to train with Trager himself, describing him as a “deep presence”. “He worked from a state of meditation, which he referred to as ‘hook-up’. Trager understood people are surrounded and filled with energy which is the source of power that flows through their lives. He taught that, when we are fully present, we’re open to that energy and others will catch it too.”Dhyani’s journey with Trager started when she was studying towards her PhD in California.“I needed to balance body and mind, there was too much emphasis on mind in academia. I searched for another part of myself and when I saw a demonstration and read about Trager’s approach, I became fascinated by this therapeutic yet educative process.”Trager led all classes using MENTASTICS®, dance-like, self-aware movements to “bring us into the moment”. “That was necessary before we touched another body. He demonstrated and worked on each one of us moving the body freely. One had the experience of his sensitive, soft and enveloping hands and how the anatomy enabled free and relaxed movement.”Dhyani’s training involved short courses with Trager and his instructors, as well as practical work. It took Dhyani about two years to qualify as a practitioner, but learning is a continuous process, she emphasizes. “There’s no end to personal development.” Practitioners are taught to embody the method and demonstrate it in their lives, as did Trager himself.According to Dhyani, TRAGER® is an educative as well as therapeutic process because it empowers people to become more mindful and integrate this self-help practice into their daily lives. The benefits are abundant and include empowerment, taking responsibility for one’s own healing, and feeling at ease and invigorated after having a good laugh. It can also be used in sports training to prevent injury and support recovery. It further helps people manage stress, recover from trauma, develop a positive sense of self and it energises the body. TRAGER® also benefits people suffering from mental health challenges such as depression and bipolar disorder and supports recovery from abuse and addiction. TRAGER and MENTASTICS are trademarks of Trager International) dhyani.berger@gmail.com; www.tragerus.org; www.trager.com

Movement – a gateway to life

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Republikein 2025-07-15

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Movement – a gateway to life

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Republikein 2025-07-15

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