Letter to The Honorable Dick Stein, Chair, House Commerce and Labor Committee — RE: HB 81 (May 24, 2021)

Summary

Letter dated May 24, 2021, to Chair Dick Stein and the House Commerce and Labor Committee regarding HB 81, from Barbara B. Mason, who writes as one of 13 United States Trager Association certified practitioners in Ohio. The letter states Mason began Trager training in 2004, was certified in 2008, and was previously a 20-year University Dance Professor. It describes volunteering Trager sessions to organizations including the Stone Soup Project, the YWCA, and hospice workers, and states the Trager Approach is an entirely different practice from massage therapy. It asks the committee to exempt Ohio practitioners of the Trager Approach and other non-massage practices from being licensed in massage therapy.

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Full text

May 24, 2021

The Honorable Dick Stein, Chair
House Commerce and Labor Committee
Ohio State Legislature
77 South High Street, 12th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215

RE: HB 81 to revise laws governing massage establishments/massage therapy

Dear Chairperson Stein and members of the Committee:

I am one of 13 United States Trager® Association certified practitioners in Ohio. I have served
on the boards of the United States Trager Association, the Great Lakes Trager Association and
the US Trager Foundation for Education and Research. I began my training in 2004 and was
certified in 2008. Previously, I was a 20-year University Dance Professor. Following my dance
teaching career, practicing the Trager Approach appealed to me because it is about movement,
education, healing, and caring for the whole person—body, mind and spirit. Trager practitioners
work with people who have many kinds of physical and emotional issues as well as people who
are primarily looking for stress relief and pain management.

In addition to serving private clients, I volunteer Trager sessions to organizations of people who
generally cannot afford somatic/alternative health care on their own. I work with members of the
Stone Soup Project, who donate their time to the Veterans Association, nursing students, the
YWCA, hospice workers and other organizations. After COVID-19 abates, I plan to serve these
communities again. The Veterans are especially grateful to receive Trager, which consists of
physically gentle and emotionally supportive movement that gives people a sense of calm, well-
being, and increased freedom of movement. Veterans find that these sessions offer much
needed relaxation and relief from physical discomfort and pain.

The Trager Approach is an entirely different practice from massage therapy. If you were to ex-
perience both, you would feel the difference. I am a movement and education professional who
studied Trager for four years later in life. I have had excellent teachers, tutorials, and yearly
post-certification courses. This Trager training took vast amounts of time and money; and to be
forced to begin a new profession in order to receive an unnecessary massage license, at age
74, represents a dire personal hardship for me and other Trager practitioners.

Please exempt Ohio practitioners of the Trager Approach and other non-massage practices
from being licensed in massage therapy. Thank you for considering this request. It is very im-
portant to me, my clients and to my future in providing health care.

Barbara B. Mason
CTP, LMA (Laban Movement Analysis), MFA
1238 Northwest Blvd.
Columbus, OH 43212
barb13danc@yahoo.com
614-299-9877


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