From Reflex to Habit: Exploring the Gamma Motor System with Deane Juhan (Online)

This online wellness workshop with Deane Juhan looks at the gamma motor system, the part of our sensory-motor wiring that shapes how we learn skills, settle into habits and hold blocks in movement. It is a two-hour live webinar on Zoom, open to all students and designed as a movement training program for bodyworkers of every kind, including yoga teachers and students, Pilates instructors and movement teachers. Deane Juhan is an internationally renowned Trager Practitioner and trainer, and the author of "Job's Body: A Handbook for Bodywork."

What to Expect

The gamma motor system is described as one of the best-kept secrets of sensory-motor function and motor learning. It governs the largely unconscious, reflexive processes by which we learn and keep skills, develop habits, and impose limits on our own movement. It also acts as a special sense, informing us about weight, momentum, resistance and ease: everything that gives us a feeling of mass and substance.

The workshop presents the neuro-anatomy of the gamma system and how it is integrated in the muscles, the spinal column and the brain. From there, Deane Juhan discusses approaches to facilitating its function when learning skills, when drifting into habits, and when creating blocks.

Like his other webinars, the session is built on extensive slides and lecture. The material draws on fifty years of his research and practice, applied to somatic healing disciplines of all kinds. It offers perspectives that are not found in textbooks and that often run counter to accepted opinions about how our organisms develop and heal. The aim is to give participants new images and new language for understanding the anatomical, physiological and philosophical sides of the body-mind.

The session runs from 2:30 to 4:30 pm Pacific Time, so check the hour in your own time zone.

About Deane Juhan

Deane Juhan is an Instructor of the Trager approach to movement re-education. He worked as an Esalen bodyworker for 19 years and trained in a wide variety of practices and psychological therapy. At Esalen he met Dr. Milton Trager and was introduced to his innovative therapeutic approach. Deane was personally trained by Trager over 24 years, and as a certified practitioner and teacher he became one of the initial students entrusted to carry the lineage of this work forward. He has taught the Trager approach around the world for more than 40 years. He is known for making anatomy and physiology accessible and intriguing.

Before You Go

- Format: The workshop takes place online over Zoom. The link arrives in your confirmation email, and again in emails sent 2 hours and 10 minutes before the start.
- Recording: A recording is available. If you cannot attend at this hour, you can still register to receive the video link. Access lasts 6 months in the YogaKula Teachable Library, so you can revisit the content at your own pace.
- Continuing education: CEUs are available with NCBTMB.
- Sharing a place: Refunds are not offered, but you are welcome to pass your ticket to a friend or loved one.