The Trager Approach - Chris Massonneau, PT, CTP

12/29/2025

The Polyvagal Theory has been on my mind lately. During some commutes to work I have been listening to Stephen Porges' scientific descriptions of his theory. I have read his layman's guide called "Our Polyvagal World" written with Seth Porges.
The theory explains well how we successfully regulate our internal state through the ventral vagus system and the target organs of the vagus nerve, mainly the heart and lungs and the muscles and receptors of the head and face. Calm is achieved through a slowing of movement, slowing of breathing (after a "fight or flight" response), and through social engagement. The muscles and receptors of the head and face are integrated with the ventral vagal branch and support the vagal brake - the down regulating role on the heart.
This serves as an elegant, simple explanation of the Trager Approach. We attend to breathing, easy soft movements, a prosodic voice, presence through eye contact, listening and supportive dialog. We move toward "hook-up", adding touch to movement for deeper feelings of ease, lightness and peace. The gentle elongations, wave-like movements, bounces, wiggles are all experiences unique to a well regulated state. Those things we may do when well regulated are the things we can do to achieve that should we need to.
In my current following of Porges, he has put forth so far equally cogent explanations of yoga as therapy, contemplative practices, Mindfulness Based Movement for cancer survivors and group psychotherapy (See "Polyvagal Safety" by Stephen Porges, and others).
I am coming to understand convergence of the many mind/body practices with this contemporary scientific explanation. These strange looking disciplines have gained credibility under recent science.

12/22/2025

Greetings from Stephens City, VA!
"Vital Force" - said to be the non-physical spark that makes matter into a living being. Is there such a thing? In my experience there is enough in therapeutics administered one to another beyond immediate explanation to accept the possibility of a vital force.
"Hook-up", Milton Trager's term for a state of unity with a life giving universal force, implies connection to this force. I confirm a sense of connection to something beyond physical reality when I am in hook-up. This is either metaphorical or real. Nonetheless it is essential to the therapy to proceed in hook-up while administering the Trager Approach. It seeks to support life and health irrespective of diagnoses of disease. "How can I better live in the body I have?" is a question that guides my choices in my modeling of movement/feeling with a client.
"Hook-up", or "wu-wei", or "cosmic consciousness" is undoubtedly part of the human experience and of immense value in daily life, social interaction and therapeutics. I am comfortably agnostic as to whether there is a non-material agent in living matter. Living fully in the present, in a state of peace, leads to compassion, patience, forgiveness. About this I am not at all agnostic.

12/10/2025

"Trust and unity arise in the crystalline clarity of stillness". This is from Jason Gregory's book, "Effortless Living, Wu-Wei and the Spontaneous State of Natural Harmony. The trust is in knowing what is best for the future by being fully present in the here and now. In my experience of this idea I can confirm that I am confident I will know what is best when the future becomes now. Conversely anxiety about the future tells me I am not in the here and now - which I can take as a gentle reminder.
I understand the complimentary notion of unity to be that diminishing sense of being separate from creation as I am deeper into a state of Wu-Wei. In feeling at one with the world the trust builds spontaneously. The experience of "hook-up" in the Trager approach I find no different other than by the arrival through movement, touch and feeling.
It is interesting that we have no record of Milton Trager studying Taoism. His unique approach he developed wholly from within. Is this a testament to the universality of connecting with the Tao, if anonymously?

11/03/2025

Greetings from Stephens City, Virginia. While riding on the nearby trails at Sherando Park on an impossibly beautiful day, the following fell into clarity:
Have you ever shown up for a friend in need and done nothing? And wasn't that the best? Presence. Being in close physical proximity, calm, attentive, supportive. Nothing to achieve but assurance that your friend is not alone in the suffering.
The "Trager Hands" are meant to be quite like this. The hands are on the client in order to feel what is there. The message is, "this is OK; now how about this?" An invitation without obligation. Gentle strokes that mold and sculpt according the the contours of the body. Soft pressures and squeezes to present the depth, dimension and consistency of the tissue. Rocks, rolls, bounces and jiggles to suggest freedom, all within the degree of acceptance of the client.
This learning over my career in body work (including as a manual Physical Therapist) has led me to re-evaluate the roll of force applied to another's body. When I encountered stiffness in a joint or hardness in a muscle, I was once inclined to command change with more torque or pressure. Never did I realize the immediate change in the tissue hardness or length of the ligament I was seeking. Well then, more force? Always more painful, often alienating to the client, if only unconsciously.
What then? If some level of force is justified, then time to respond is necessary for tissue change. This would occur gradually at the cellular level. Just how much force then? We don't have any objective measures of force relating to effects on tissue. It is a guess based on experience, nothing more. In manual therapy, I propose the least force that may entrain a response, then patience.
In Trager we are not concerned with achieving tissue change via application of force. We are interested in change coming from the unconscious mind of the client responding to the possibilities presented in the session. The small forces resulting from the many movements may yet induce the change at the cellular level the manual therapist would like. Meanwhile the client undergoes a shift in expectation of what life in this body can be.
As I assisted in a professional training recently, one student was slowly recovering from her second frozen shoulder. Her range of shoulder motion improved remarkably from start to finish. In my exchanges with her I could feel the barrier to motion in the shoulder improving from month to month. All this achieved without painful application of force.
As I have learned from my reading of Taoism, one is confident of the best influence by showing up with no intention to influence.

10/13/2025

Willing or willful? In the state of wu-wei, or "hook-up", one maintains an attitude of acceptance of things as they are, not intending to change things or effect a certain outcome. In psychophysical integration (the hands-on form of the Trager approach) this is expressed as affirmation of the client's current state of being. The hands sense what is beneath them, expressing appreciation, pleasure in the touch, gratitude for the permission to be there. As the hands move over the body, invitations to how movement could feel come through small movements responding to the exploration of the practitioner. No particular movement outcome is sought in this therapy, rather feelings of ease, freedom and comfort are offered as invitations. The practitioner's embodiment of this is expressed through hook-up. It is as if in the way of being the practitioner says " I am willing to be here with you, however you are"; it is as if the client responds with "This is how I am able to respond to your invitation". Good outcomes do come about, not by imposition of a willful intervention, but as a willing permission to change.

09/19/2025

The term "embodiment" comes up frequently in Trager training, as I am sure it does in the many other expressions of SME/T. I have understood it in different ways, struggling to define it succinctly. An AI search question " What does embodiment" mean in Somatic Movement Education and Therapy?" yielded a lengthy, helpful definition which I will leave to you to read on your own. A more succinct definition came to me while out on the bike (a fertile time for me): "Embodiment is achieved when the practice of of a movement form becomes the default behavior absent a specific intention otherwise." If my practice in movement is toward ease, comfort, freedom, pleasure, in touch with feeling, that is how I would move about. Walking from the living room to the bedroom for example. A "specific intention otherwise" may happen during a leisurely walk to the bus stop. Upon realizing it is much later than I thought, I hurry on to catch the bus. Once on the bus I can re-connect with myself. Through daily embodiment practice one can recover the well regulated state more easily.
The example given also points out the value of self-regulation. When one can volitionally return to a state of calm, the up-regulation that occurs of necessity from time to time is better regulated. Recuperative states alternating with assertive states is life in balance. Consider the meditative practices in Martial Arts disciplines. Perhaps it is no stretch to say "Meditators make better fighters".

09/16/2025

Ease. Presence. Possibility. Welcome. My name is Chris Massonneau, and I offer hands-on, movement-based therapy rooted in the Trager® Approach. Whether you’re seeking greater ease, improved function, or support for chronic pain and tension, this work helps restore fluidity to both body and mind.B...

09/16/2025

The Trager Approach is a form of Somatic Movement Education and Therapy, known as SME/T in the international community. I first studied this approach as an adjunct to my Physical Therapy practice in the early 1990's. I have re-immersed myself in this approach over the past two years. I am offering this now privately as a stand alone service separate from my work as a Physical Therapist.
The Trager Approach informs the client of possibilities of ease, pleasure and comfort through playful explorations of movement and feeling. We avoid strain and pain in the experience, cultivating a state of well being and calm. This is done through guidance in self generated movements as well as movements done for the client by the practitioner. There are many exquisite pleasures in this life of the body, none better than I have experienced through Trager.
In building an overall sense of safety and ease, this approach supports further efforts in growth and recovery available in self help disciplines (yoga, fitness, meditation, psychotherapy).
I have come to understand The Trager Approach more deeply through parallel study in the Polyvagal Theory and in reading about the Tao and "wu-wei".
The Polyvagal Theory explains the role of the Vagal systems in regulation of internal body states. The ventral vagal nucleus through its many target organs of the vagus nerve maintains the baseline resting state of the individual: low breath and heart rate, relaxed musculature, dry skin, positive emotional state, creativity and easy social engagement. An individual's ability to achieve such a well regulated state allows freedom in in the body to pursue life as desired. Difficulty in self regulation comes from trauma and its lasting effects on the brain. One can be perpetually in a state of threat readiness, "fight or flight", unable to return to a state of safety. Experience in the Trager Approach helps re-open the pathways in the brain to self regulation through pleasure in movements that are light, easy, rhythmical, novel and playful. The hands-on work from the practitioner offers ease and pleasure through the cultivated form of touch we bring to the work. This is not a substitute for the work of the psychotherapist, yoga teacher, fitness instructor or any other provider. We seek to provide the self regulation necessary in the success of all other efforts.
Milton Trager spoke of "hook-up", the state of mind that allows one to experience fully all aspects of the present, free from the habitual thoughts, and feelings which govern our daily actions. He coined the term "hook-up" implying a connection to the life-giving, benevolent, organizing Universe.
As far as I can tell from study of the Tao, hook-up is not different from "wu-wei", the state of mind free from willfulness and intention to influence others and events, free to act in accordance with the Tao (the Way). If one understands the Tao as the way of nature, one seeks to be spontaneous, or natural, in one's behavior and choices. I may say then, "The Way, not My Way".
Milton learned Transcendental Meditation from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He found no difference in his "hook-up" from the cosmic consciousness described by the Maharishi. In this I agree, although the different pathways to such a state of being have unique benefits.
Willingness, curiosity, invitation, pleasure, peace, compassion - these are the aspects of the Trager Approach that draw me to the work. I hope many will avail themselves of the experience.

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Ease. Presence. Possibility. Welcome. My name is Chris Massonneau, and I offer hands-on, movement-based therapy rooted in the Trager® Approach. Whether you’re seeking greater ease, improved function, or support for chronic pain and tension, this work helps restore fluidity to both body and mind.B...