Milton Trager was born in Chicago in 1908. He had a congenital spinal deformity that he overcame by developing his own physical awareness and grace. By the time he was a teenager, he was a dancer, a gymnast and training to be a boxer. He used to get bodywork after his training sessions. One day when his trainer, Mickey Martin, wasn’t feeling well, Milton offered to work on him. Mickey convinced him he had a gift. Milton went home and worked on his father who was suffering with sciatica for two years. After four sessions his father’s pain vanished and never returned.
Milton worked on many children crippled by polio and restored the use of their limbs. He went on to study physical therapy and eventually finished medical school. He continued developing his own work. He never wrote a book because he said his work was a feeling; you had to catch it from someone. He began teaching his approach in 1975 and continued until his death in 1997.
There is a way of being
which is lighter
which is freer
A way in which work
as well as play
becomes a dance
And a living song
we can learn
this way
Milton Trager, M.D.