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Sometimes in the daily bustle, we need to take a break, disconnect from disturbing thoughts, stop thinking about business and problems. It’s easy to do it in words. In practice, it is not so easy to feel the cherished emptiness in the head. But it is still possible with the help of the autogenic training method developed at the beginning of the XNUMXth century by the psychotherapist Johann Schulz.
Six simple exercises of autogenic training, proposed in the 1930s by Johann Schulz, are designed to immerse a person in a state of relaxation. It promotes effective recuperation and opens the way to greater self-mastery.
The basis of the training is self-hypnosis. It is believed that every person has this ability.
First of all, according to Professor Schulz, you need to convince yourself that the autogenous technique can be mastered. Any doubt in yourself or in the training interferes. It’s good when you’re neutral, but it’s much better when you’re positive.
It is important that no one disturbs you during the autogenic training, that you feel calm and comfortable. Close your room, close the curtains, turn off your phone. Perhaps in a few weeks you will be so comfortable that you can perform these exercises in crowded places. For example, at work during a lunch break or on the way home.
Practice for 10-20 minutes. Don’t use a timer or alarm clock to keep track of the time. For that, you have to open your eyes. After the end, do not get up immediately, sit quietly with your eyes closed, then with your eyes open.
Exercise 1: feeling heavy
Lying with your eyes closed, feel physically first the concept “I am completely calm”, and then – “my left hand is heavy.” A feeling of heaviness should arise in the hand and spread throughout the body. Do this exercise for one minute. Then bend your elbows and take 2-3 deep breaths.
Repeat the exercise by beginning to draw a mental image of “my right hand is heavy.”
Exercise 2: feeling warm
Repeat the previous exercise, alternately causing a sensation of warmth in the right and left hands. It appears due to the expansion of blood vessels. And the feeling of heaviness arises from the relaxation of the muscles. Both the first and second are integral components of the relaxation reaction. That is why autogenic training is considered an effective way to deal with stress.
Exercise 3: Cardiac Regulation
Put your hand on your heart. Repeat four times: “My heart beats evenly and calmly.” Feel the rhythm of the heart.
Passive concentration on the heartbeat during autogenic training helps to reduce the heart rate. The exercise is mastered if the pulsation is felt in the hands and throughout the body.
Exercise 4: breath control
Repeat the phrase “I breathe absolutely easily” four times. Focus on calm and even breathing without effort. The exercise can be considered completed if the breathing becomes lulling, there is an impression that “breathing by itself.”
Exercise 5: Abdominal Relaxation
Concentrate on the solar plexus area (between the navel and the sternum). Feel the concept of “my solar plexus is warm-warm.” Soon you will feel heavy, like you are in a hot bath. You are calm and comfortable, you feel the harmonious rhythm of the heartbeat and breathing.
Exercise 6: cold forehead
Do the first five exercises, then for a few seconds, concentrate on the installation “My forehead is pleasantly cool.” Each time increase the time of concentration until you feel a breath of cool breeze. Gradually, the vessels will constrict, causing your forehead to feel colder than other parts of your body.
As you gain experience, you will be able to evoke all these sensations in just a couple of minutes. However, it will take several months of regular practice to achieve this level of skill. Do the exercises at least once a day if possible.
About the Expert: Johann Heinrich Schulz (1884–1970), German psychiatrist and psychotherapist. The processes of self-discharge based on auto-suggestion developed by him are accepted all over the world.