Trager and Radical Acceptance

Dr. Milton Trager was himself a longtime practitioner and student of Transcendental Meditation. 

Early in my exploration of Trager, I practiced Zen Meditation, or sitting Zazen, but I found it out of harmony with some of the principles of movement and touch exploration central to the Trager Approach. I didn’t feel it created the kind of safety and comfort my body (or my clients’ bodies) needed in order to dance freely into new possibilities. While Zen meditation can be effective for cutting through mental chatter and cultivating clarity of mind, I found that clarity came more naturally to me through Vipassana-inspired Insight Meditation, where the practice centered attention on the present moment, grounded in body sensation, informed by kindness. 

Reading “Radical Acceptance” by Tara Brach, a well-known Insight Meditation teacher, inspired me further. I found that the most effective and efficient place for my attention to rest was on a radical acceptance of what is happening right now, in this body. It has become the guiding meditative style for me in somatic movement education and therapy. 

I begin by accepting what I feel in my body and in my clients’. I accept what is happening in my hands as I work with my clients. When I encounter resistance, I accept it too. My job is not to push against it, worry it, or nag at it...and definitely not to put a pointed focus on it. Instead, my focus is on accepting what is and inviting what could be—softly, gently.

Where can it soften? Where can it free itself? What’s available, right now, in this moment?

Little by little, I help unfold the gorgeous flower of being that is this person in front of me, incrementally and with care.