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Creating a Sale Environment
Even though Sriyawathie Wanigabadu lives in this beautiful place, life isn’t so easy for her. Her arm was pinned
down by debris during the tsunami and she almost drowned. When she first meets Lear in the Real Medicine Clinic at
Yayawatta Village, her elbow is swollen and she winces with pain. Though it’s a bit unusual for Sri Lankan women to
receive bodywork from a man, Wanigabadu is reassured that someone else will be there and that she will be fully
clothed.
Lear uses the movement of his own feet on the ground to transmit motion to her body, rocking back and forth, back and
forth. The repetition gets the nervous system to quiet down, says Lear. “If it gets boring, that’s good!” He works
with no expectations. Muscle holding patterns present themselves, and he senses that Wanigabadu’s pain and swelling
are related to post-traumatic stress. From conversation, it’s clear that Wanigabadu is still suffering psychologically.
“I am not afraid of the sea, but I don’t ever want to see it again,” she says.
Days later, Lear works with Wanigabadu’s 16-year-old son, Amil, who has developed a reputation as a hyperactive and
troubled child. “He’s known to pick a fight when he doesn’t get his way,” says his mother. As Lear talks with him,
Amil nervously picks at the many cuts on his legs from a recent bicycle accident.
“I gave Amil a session to give him the feeling of what is peaceful, relaxed and easy. Sometimes this is all you need,”
says Lear. “For traumatic injury, you have to create a safe environment in order for the body to let go.”
The next time Lear sees Wanigabadu, her arm has improved by about 80 percent, she reports no pain and seems very relaxed.
Amil walks with a new sense of confidence and vitality. Working with more than one family member makes a big difference,
says Lear, as each person begins to support the other in finding a more peaceful, easy approach to life’s inevitable
stresses.
“Trager affords patients the opportunity to feel good in a safe environment while experiencing the same type of movement
they may have felt when they shut down,” says Bowers. “It helps replace patterns of restriction with those of open, free
movement.”
More Smile
The Wanigabadu family has just begun learning about the Trager Approach, but for other Sri Lankans, Trager is a trusted
friend. Mr. Nathyanandam is one patient who showed signs of vast improvement since Lear’s last training in 2006. He saw
Arun at a rehabilitation hospital in Jaffna for hemiplegia, extensive spasms in his right arm and leg. With Trager
tablework sessions and Mentastics movements at home, based on patient feedback, Arun says Nathyanadam has improved the
function of his hand by 50 percent and his gait by 30 percent. But the best part according to Arun—his smile.
“He used to come to physio [therapy] once in a week, but after I started giving him Trager along with regular physio,
the spasm is relieving nicely,” says Arun. “With Trager, I can put more ‘smile’ on the patients’ faces. We also can
make them more confident mentally and physically.”
The pleasing quality of Trager movement—the part that brings “more smile”—should not be minimized, according to
Juhan. On the contrary, three reasons make it essential:
- Pain inevitably engages reflex muscular defensiveness, producing amplified, not reduced contractions and
holding patterns.
- Pleasing is a potent biofeedback element, leading to deeper relaxation, softening of tissue and increased
ranges of motion.
- Trauma and pathology have created pain and fear, to the extent that patients can no longer imagine any
part of their body as a source of pleasure, comfort or strength
Unfortunately, Arun can no longer visit Nathyanandam because of the conflict between the Tamil rebels and army forces.
There was a curfew set in the Jaffna area, which means he is barred from leaving his house. For Nathyanandam and
others like him, the need for Trager is only increasing.
Sharing the Peace of Trager
Compared with the stresses faced by Sri Lankans - the fear of another tsunami, the threat of Tamil Tiger bombings and
the toil of working on tiny fishing boats for weeks at a time—Lear’s own stresses lose their intensity. Mother and
son Sriyawathie and Amil Wanigabadu arrive on his last day to say goodbye, along with many other patients. They
embrace Lear wholeheartedly, like a member of their own family.
Lear’s ambivalence is palpable as he boards the van to the Columbo airport. When he looks back, the smiles are filled
with optimism. Each time he returns to this tightknit community he is drawn closer to its people. Though he can’t
stop the tears, he is consoled because he has shared a large piece of himself—and the peace of Trager.
That’s what Milton Trager originally had in mind - world peace - one body at a time.
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American Massage Therapy Association®
