Page 521 - Total War on PTSD

The relaxation and release of stress promoted by the mindfulness of Trager Mentastics led to a controlling of my body's 'fight or flight' response. This produced a decrease in cortisol and adrenalin release, normalizing my blood pressure and leading to a lowering of my cholesterol levels. In addition, the decreased stress curbed my emotional eating and encouraged me to make better nutritional choices. As I was pain-free, I became more active which also contributed to a reduction in my body weight.
So, affected by the experiences that I continued to have, I began to wonder what education one needed to be able to impart such a feeling state to others. I then registered for the professional Trager Approach training and became a certified Trager Practitioner in 1991. Also, Trager had led me to Ashtanga Yoga and Vipassana meditation. Today, these three form the tripod of daily practices upon which my day’s rest.
So, what is The Trager Approach and what are its applications for addressing PTSD related pain? Succinctly stated by Deane Juhan, Senior Trager Instructor and author of “Job’s Body, A Handbook for Bodywork”: “Unconsciously habituated muscular responses and adaptations to life’s adverse circumstances, such as accidents, illness, surgery, emotional traumas, or high levels of daily stress, often develop into poor postures and patterns of movement that can become the silent accumulative context for further pain, injury or disease. And wasteful, ineffective muscular patterns can also frequently slow down, compromise, and even ultimately limit the process of recovery from physical or emotional breakdowns of many kinds. The Trager Approach is a rapid, effective, and painless, indeed pleasurable method of deprogramming these accumulated negative muscular patterns, and of restoring the positive body image and
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