ATLANTA ESALEN® MASSAGE
The Esalen and Trager Methods
Esalen® Massage
Roots – Esalen® Massage is a type of bodywork that originated at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. During the human potential movement of the 1960s, Fritz Perls introduced the Gestalt model of psychotherapy at Esalen®, emphasizing personal responsibility and being present in the present moment. This attitude of self-inquiry, transparency, and a commitment to understanding “from the inside” carried over into whole-person bodywork.
Holistic approach – This holistic approach to bodywork became known as Esalen® Massage. It focuses on integrating body, mind, and spirit.
Body awareness – Esalen® Massage is best known for its long flowing strokes and quality of touch and contact. It integrates many techniques, including soft rocking, passive movement, joint mobilization, stretching, and work on specific parts of the body. It encourages a greater awareness of one’s body, stimulates the skin, circulatory, and lymphatic systems, and relaxes the muscular and nervous systems. It invites a fuller sense of inner spaciousness and vitality.
Present-moment focus – More than a technique or modality, the Esalen Massage approach provides a therapeutic connection as human beings, meeting in the present moment, listening, loving, and responding to what emerges naturally.
Supporting the innate capacity to heal – Esalen® Massage encourages clients to let go of thoughts and worries. This inner release supports the body’s innate capacity to self-organize and heal by releasing the constrictions that inhibit the flow of life force.
Benefits – Clients report stress reduction, improved sleep, increased flexibility, enhanced circulation, deep relaxation, and emotional release
An Esalen® Massage is a holistic approach to wellness that nurtures the body, mind, and spirit.
The Trager® Approach
Roots – Dr. Milton Trager (1908 - 1997) sought the underlying principle to releasing deep-seated physical and mental patterns accompanying various medical and psychological conditions.
Dr. Trager called his work Psychophysical Integration. It drew from his physical achievements as an athlete, dancer, and bodybuilder, as well as his training in medicine and psychiatry as a practitioner.
Mind-body – The mind-body connection formed the core of Trager’s work, and he used his approach to treat challenging neuromuscular conditions. Doctors at the time were surprised by his results but preferred conventional medical approaches of surgery and medication.
Esalen – Later in life, Trager began teaching at the Esalen® Institute. As a result, his approach flowed seamlessly with Esalen Massage.
Approach – At the beginning of a Trager® session, the practitioner enters a state of meditation called “hook-up” by Trager. From this attunement, the practitioner gently moves the client in ways that feel natural and effortless, using movements such as rocking, compression, and elongation. These gentle, rhythmic movements and touch release deep-seated physical and mental patterns, promoting deep relaxation, increased mobility, and mental clarity.
Trager® promotes ease, physical mobility, and an effortless experience of agelessness.
“I am convinced that for every physical non-yielding condition, there is a psychic counterpart in the unconscious mind to the degree of thephysical manifestations.”
- Dr. Milton Trager
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