Michael Lear is an internationally recognized Trager® Approach Movement Instructor, practitioner, and Ashtanga Yoga Instructor with a client base spanning five continents and including a few Academy Award, Grammy and Emmy winners as well as many figures prominent in business and industry. Michael is also a professional drummer.

Born out of his own need for naturally healing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and chronic low back pain while in his early twenties, Michael left the world of business and never looked back.  For over 30 years, Lear has been at the forefront of mind-body medicine, yoga and meditation.  In addition to studying bodywork with Dr. Milton Trager and Deane Juhan among other Trager® Instructors, he has studied Yoga with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois during his New York visits as well as with many of Ashtanga's foremost instructors.  As both a Yoga Alliance E-RYT 500 Certified Instructor and Continuing Eduction provider (YACEP), he teaches Yoga Anatomy for Yoga Alliance Teacher Certification courses and conducts workshops internationally.  He also conducts Mysore classes and adjustment clinics through the lens of a seasoned therapeutic bodyworker based on The Trager® Approach.  Breathwork and Pranayama are essential components of his work.

He was recognized with a cover article in Massage Therapy Journal for his work introducing Trager® to physical therapists in post-tsunami Sri Lanka, which he has also done in Japan.  Lear serves as an advisor for the United States Trager® Association board, has served on the management team for Instructors for Trager® International and mentors new instructors.   Michael maintain’s a private practice through an integrative wellness center where he addresses, chronic, injury and trauma related pain, anxiety, and works with veterans suffering from PTSD.  

He was recently published again, contributing a full chapter on The Trager® Approach to an Alternative Therapy Guide to Addressing Veteran’s PTSD: Total War On PTSD by Courtenay Nold. He also holds a Plant Based Nutrition certification through Cornell University, taught by Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of “The China Study” and “Whole,” and emphasizes whole body nutrition.  A self-proclaimed, predominantly non-dogmatic raw vegan, Michael's essential nutrients include sunlight, clean air, structured water, and meaningful connections with good humans. Michael is a seasoned Vipassana Meditator in the tradition of Sayagi U Ba Kin as taught by S. N. Goenka, which serves as the keystone of his personal practices.

While working as Director of International Relations for Real Medicine Foundation, Michael advocated for refugees, the impoverished, displaced, and under served, negotiating closely with UN Agencies, The WHO, and foreign government ministries, to improve primary health care delivery and services. Innovations in treatment methods were also employed including such alternative approaches as acupuncture, therapeutic bodywork, and homeopathic malaria treatment protocols.  Lear worked extensively in Sri Lanka, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and Haiti immediately following their 2010 earthquake.  In addition to his efforts in country, Michael also managed initiatives in Armenia and Nigeria.   South Sudan’s Medical Journal/JubaLink has cited Lear as a principal in establishing the country’s first College of Nursing and Midwifery.

In addition to his international service, Lear served locally for 10 years as a founding board member and Director of Court-Involved and Recovery Programs for  The Shanthi Project, a 501c3 non-profit organization which conducts yoga and mindfulness classes at the county prison,  juvenile center and throughout the area's school districts.  In addition to developing and overseeing the criminal justice programming,  Lear also served as a trauma recovery yoga instructor and lead teacher trainer.  He has worked extensively within the prison and juvenile justice system.  Lear was responsible for Shanti Project being awarded PA's first Federal Victims Of Crime Act (VOCA) grant for Mindfulness and Trauma informed yoga in a Residential Juvenile Treatment Center.

A life-long musician playing drums, Lear feeds his soul behind the kit.  He has many years experience playing professionally and in a variety of genres and recently ended a 4.5 yrs run with Mystik Fool.  In addition to playing professionally, he’s developed an entire on-line yoga and mindfulness program Yoga4Drummers specifically for drummers to help them access their full potential.  The program now is offered by one of the leading On-Line drum education platforms, Drum Channel.  He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Finance and International Management from Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J. and has worked extensively in the corporate world.  

Michael is available for recording, touring, private yoga instruction, therapeutic bodywork sessions, or motivational speaking engagements.  Additionally, Michael can embed on tour as both a musician and therapist working with lead talent and keeping the band and staff high vibe.      Click here for Touring Wellness Solutions.

A native of Easton, PA, Lear makes his home on the East Coast when he is in the United States where he enjoys visiting with family, friends, and his cat Sayagyi.   After completing 4.5 years drumming with Mystik Fool, he's again available for tours and recording.

In the interim, he maintains a private practice and works at the premier Integrated Wellness Center in the Lehigh Valley, Nu House. where his focus is PTSD, trauma-recovery, impact injuries and chronic pain.  When not working locally, you can find him on the road teaching Trager® Approach Professinal Trainings, presenting on Polyvagal Down Regulation Utilizing Trager® or covering Mysore Ashtanga yoga classes at Mysore Las Vegas.

Otherwise, for now he is drumming in his private studio, The Urban Tree House,  until the next intimation of fate, wild card moment, or dream moves him to action.

"Michael Lear's attentiveness is palpable, his touch is skillful and effective. As a career body-worker, educator, and hands-on psychotherapist, I rate him in the highest category of practitioners that I have met and worked with in my 40 years of professional practice. Five Stars plus! " 

Ed G.

At the end of a Trager® session with Michael, I always feel incredibly thankful to him for his caring presence and competent touch. Michael helped me improve my health and reduce pain so that I have been able to resume activities that I thought I had given up for good. Because of Michael, I value Trager® Approach even more than ever before.

Elisabeth C.  LMT, LCISW, Trager® Practitioner

Through the hands of an outstanding practitioner, Michael Lear, the Trager® Approach has given me a physical freedom and well-being unlike anything else in my entire life.   In my experience no other body-work regimen can even come close to matching the benefits of Trager®. "

Don D.

" Your brilliance, fun, & knowledgeable expertise was a breath of fresh air.  I could of learned from you for hours.    Thank you. "      

Debra S. LMT

"I really enjoyed your class and am grateful to have learned more about Trager! Your teaching style, humility, and energy were all so wonderful."

Emily D . LMT

Wish to schedule a session or host a training with Michael?  Please contact: 484.542.0249 or [email protected]

Developed over 70 years ago by Dr. Milton Trager for the treatment of polio and sciatica, The Trager® Approach remains an innovative approach to movement education and self-care, which facilitates lasting neuro-muscular change.

The Trager® Approach is mindfulness in motion and utilizes gentle touch and rhythmic movements to cultivate a state of deep relaxation to release muscle holding patterns residing in the unconscious mind that often manifest as functional limitation, or pain. Self-Care movement exercises are provided so clients may develop their own session "recall" capacity to elicit similar relaxation responses experienced during their session.

Michael's Clients often report:

Increased Mobility, Vitality, Clarity, Capacity to Relax, and Sense of Overall Peace • Improved Sports Performance • Decreased Likelihood of Injury  Quickened Recover from Surgery or Injury  •  Improved Neuromuscular Function in those with Parkinson’s, Cerebral Palsy and MS

Applications:
Stress Related Neck and Back Pain
 • Sciatica
 • Herniated disc/ Post Laminectomy Pain
 • Scoliosis
Temporal Mandibular Joint pain • 
Migraine Headaches • 
Sports injuries
 • Frozen shoulder • Fibromyalgia
 • PTSD related pain • Thoracic Outlet Syndrome • Sexual Abuse Trauma

Neuromuscular / Auto-immune Conditions:


Parkinson’s Disease
 • Post Stroke Paralysis • 
Multiple Sclerosis • 
Cerebral Palsy
 • Clonus 
• Ankylosing Spondylitis
 • Schleroderma