Foundational Touch Skills of the Trager Approach
Stay aware of what is in the foreground and background of your attention
Choose to see the other person in all their imperfection as an extraordinary work of art
Prepare for contact, with all of you present, your attention to the other in the foreground of your attention
Consciously come into contact…not too fast, not too slow…casual/no big deal and simultaneously aware of the sacred and health enhancing nature of human touch
Adjust your approach to what you know or feel about the other’s needs
Pause in connected presence before initiating movement
Cultivate a listening attitude in your touch, more kinetically and tactilely receptive than active doing
Feel the quality of the tissue with your entire hand, seeking softness, sensing the textures of skin, muscle, connective web, bone
Feel the weight of the body or body part from your hands through your whole structure all the way to the floor
Take out the slack gradually, both in their body structure and in your entire body, always leaving just enough room for play and the possibility of organizing waves and enlivening springiness
Go about what you are doing with the concentration of a child at play
Fade into movement and out of movement, not rushing from one to another, luxuriating in pauses.
