Page 462 - Total War on PTSD

Mentastics requires mindfulness and, indeed, this was changing my relationship to the world around me. I even found that the underlying principles of The Trager Approach worked in dialogues, meetings, negotiations and in my relationships. They impacted all aspects of my life.
To note, The Trager Approach movement re-education process can be likened to piano lessons, where the student studies with a teacher and then practices in between each lesson so the next lesson can build upon the previous one. I discovered that each session was a lesson for my nervous system which then was reinforced by living differently through my body afterward. It was more than a treatment for my physical body as it worked on my mind as well which, in turn, affected my body’s function.
The phrase “One doesn’t have to feel bad to feel better,” comes to mind as, although comfortable, I continued to receive the sessions regularly. Not only did I remain pain- free, but I also noted increasing fluidity, grace and lightness in my body, qualities that had been shut down through restricted habituated movement patterns which were compensatory responses to injuries and to surgeries which I had as a child.
That first Trager session was May 13, 1987, and my latest was just two days before beginning to write this chapter. Discovering The Trager Approach changed the course of my life significantly. It made me interested in, curious about, and aware of how I moved in my body; who I was towards myself as I lived in my body; and how all that impacted my movement experience, either by limiting it or by opening it up to new potential, like doing Yoga.
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