Trager® Certification Program and Level 1 Options
Joseph Rodin, MA, LMHC, LMT, Trager® Practitioner, Tutor and Instructor

The Therapeutic Training Center is hosting a Trager® Certification Program with Level 1 options taught by Joseph Rodin, MA, LMHC, LMT, Trager® Practitioner, Tutor and Instructor.

Dr. Milton Trager recognized--well before contemporary knowledge on neuroplasticity, autonomic regulation and current pain science--that new information introduced to areas in the unconscious mind, gently and with skill, activates positive neurological changes which improve movement patterns and decreases pain. He referred to his work as Psychophysical Integration.

Trager® Practitioners work in a calm, cultivated, meditative state, what Dr. Trager called "hook-up" facilitating neuroceptive co-regulation for client and therapist alike. The language of touch and movement promote sensory awareness and ease of movement.

Trager® sessions include gentle integrative waves combined with compressions and elongations which help to improve joint mobility and balance the nervous system. The variety of amplitudes, vectors and rhythms are used to target specific areas of fascial and organ restrictions. Cumulative in nature, this work promotes ease, physical mobility and an enhanced sense of safety, agency and natural movement.

A mental, emotional and physical education, Trager® sends clients into the world with the physical efficiency and coordination that leads to effortless movement. Milton Trager called this feeling a place beyond relaxation, a place of peace.

Why This Trager® Certification

This Certification Program is expressly designed for students who want to develop Trager® as a primary modality in their practice. It offers highly focused, in-depth training with the exploration, supervision, and feedback necessary for students to establish a successful Trager® practice. Being certified also allows the practitioner to market themselves with a tangible credential. Upon certification, with their permission, the US Trager® Association lists practitioners on its website as part of its referral network.

• Complete Program: Compete your training in less than 1.5 years and know the dates of all of your classes compared to the typical situation where Trager students cobble their learning together over a 3-year period of time on average as various individual Levels become available.
• Minimal Life Interruption: The time between training days allows participants to live their lives with minimal interruption, but yet classes are close enough to maintain a sound grasp of the material learned.
• Inclusive Pricing: This training is all inclusive and pricing includes Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, the necessary tutorials, the Mentastics module, as well the the US Trager® Association’s student fee. In total, this program has 236 in-class clock hours.
• Payment Plans: There are three payment plans available, please see page 23 of the Trager® Student Handbook.
• Ease of Transferring From Other Trager Trainings: Students who have completed prior Trager® training and who would like to join this program at a particular level can do so with relative ease.
• Retaking the Certification Program, Individual Levels or Classes: A person may retake all of the Certification Program, Levels or classes that they have previously have taken at 50% of the stated current price. Tutorials and recommending tutorials are always priced at their full current stated price. Teacher approval is required. Please contact the Therapeutic Training Center for details or to start the process.
• Deposit Discount: Students who register for the Trager® Certification Program within 14 calendar days after the last day of their Trager® Introductory class will receive a $100 discount on their deposit.

Class times:

• Level 1 -- Classes are 9am - 6pm, 8 hours of class each day
• Levels 2 & 3 -- Classes are 9: 30am - 6pm, 7.5 hours of class each day

Tutorials

Tutorials are scheduled during class, with Recommending Tutorials scheduled during the last Supervision Day of a Level and occur prior to the start of the next level. In a "Recommending Tutorial", students receive feedback and are either recommended to the next level or are given specific tasks to complete to remediate deficiencies and augment their skills and knowledge. Successful completion of these tasks will lead to being recommended to the next level. During the second supervision day for Level 3, each student will sign up for 2 Recommending Tutorials. Students must be approved in each Recommending Tutorial to complete the program to apply to the US Trager Association for certification as a Trager® Practitioner.

The breakdown of class-time hours is:

For each level, students are required to receive 2 sessions from a Trager® practitioner(s), receive 8 sessions from students or Trager® practitioner(s), and provide 30 practice sessions.  Some of the practice sessions are built into Supervision Days.  Details are in the Student Handbook.

Prior to applying for the Trager® certification program, applicants are required to attend an Introductory Workshop.  We also strongly recommend that applicants receive one or more Trager® professional sessions prior to applying to fully experience this modality.

• Students enrolling in this training need to be a licensed professional in one of the following professions: massage, naturopathy, chiropractic, acupuncture, midwifery, physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing, osteopathy or be some form of healthcare provider which allows a provider to do massage.
• Massage school students (or other appropriate healthcare students) who are still in school, or who are just graduated but not yet licensed, may apply with instructor approval.
• Enrolling students need to be physically able to complete classes and homework as assigned.
• Enrolling students need to have practical resources in place (time, financial, emotional, work, family, etc) to fully participate in these programs and to support the personal development work that often accompanies this training.

These current classes can be used to fulfill the Trager® Intro Workshop prerequisite:

• Introduction to Trager: The Art of Oscillatory Compression (Seattle December 13, 2024) with Joseph Rodin - 8 hours
• The Science of Presence, Touch and Movement: A Deep Dive For Bodyworkers (Seattle January 10-12, 2025) with Eileen Dickenson - 24 hours
• DYNAMIC MOBILIZATIONS – Whole Body Applications Using the Trager® Approach (Seattle January 26, 2025) with Joseph Rodin - 8 hours
• Restoring Polyvagal Harmony and Core Muscular Integration Utilizing the Trager® Approach with Michael Lear - 8 hours
• Introduction to Trager: The Art of Dissolving Tension Patterns (Seattle March 7, 2025) with Joseph Rodin - 8 hours

Any Trager® Introductory Workshop taught by any Trager® instructor meets the prerequisite requirement.  Some of the other instructors who teach Introductory Workshops are: Jack Blackburn, Michael Lear, Roger Tolle, Eileen Dickenson, Gwen Crowell, Deane Juhan, Gail Stewart, Roger Hughes, and Judy Fasone.  This is not an all inclusive list of all current and past Trager® Instructors.

• Payment Plans: There are three payment plans available, please see page 23 of the Trager® Student Handbook.
• Inclusive Pricing: This training is all inclusive and pricing includes Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, the necessary tutorials, the Mentastics module, as well the the US Trager® Association’s student fee. In total, this program has 236 in-class clock hours. The time between training days allows participants to live their lives with minimal interruption, but yet classes are close enough to maintain a sound grasp of the material learned.
• Retaking the Certification Program, Individual Levels or Classes: A person may retake all of the Certification Program, Levels or classes that they have previously have taken at 50% of the stated current price. Tutorials and recommending tutorials are always priced at their full current stated price. Teacher approval is required. Please contact the Therapeutic Training Center for details or to start the process.
• Deposit Discount: Students who register for the Trager® Certification Program within 14 calendar days after the last day of their Trager® Introductory class will receive a $100 discount on their deposit.