Deane Juhan’s Neuropeptides Class

This is a recording of Deane Juhan’s virtual class that was held on September 24, 2020.

This virtual class will include an in-depth discussion from Deane Juhan on The Science of Body-Mind Healing: The Neuropeptide System - Candace Pert’s Research on the Molecules of Emotion

Deane Juhan has been a practitioner of the Trager® Approach in movement therapy and education for 39 years and is a member of the Massage Therapists Hall of Fame. He has taught internationally, and he is the author of Job’s Body, A Handbook for Bodywork, and Touched by the Goddess: The Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual Powers of Bodywork.

Deane Juhan’s The Gamma Motor System

The Basis for Muscular Intelligence

Although he could not articulate it, the gamma motor system is a large part of what Milton meant by the unconscious mind which must be reached if lasting change in dysfunctional movement patterns is going to occur.

In its neruo-anatomy, it consists of the muscle spindles, the Golgi tendon organs, and their millions of reflex connective arcs throughout the brain and the spinal cord.

Without the neural guidance of the gamma system you could never have taken your first breath, never have achieved you first swallow. All movement of any kind is orchestrated by this elaborate system of motor control. It is at the basis of all skill acquisition and the habituation of all restrictive patterns.

Feeling it in action and negotiating with its operations through our sensitive Hook-Up and our gentle coaxing movements is one of the primary keys to Trager's successful intervention with restrictive patterns of mind and of movement, both in table work and in Mentastics.

Astonishingly, the literature around the gamma system is rather sparse. During this class Deane Juhan presents his own understanding of its functions and significance, gleaned through over 40 years of study, practice and observation.