Master Your Zen: Embrace Autogenic Training for Modern Stress Relief and Mental Clarity
Autogenic training is an effective and holistic relaxation technique, a method that enables deep relaxation and the elimination of the consequences of everyday stress. The pace of life for the modern individual often leads to a state of constant unrest and tension. Stress is an everyday companion at all workplaces and affects relationships and health. Long-term exposure to negative stress can cause serious health problems for each one of us. Autogenic training is a useful tool and defense against stress, which today is successfully utilized in psychotherapy. It can be said that autogenic training is a mental exercise with a swift effect, aimed at quickly calming the agitated mind. Some also refer to this technique as the "Meditation of the Western World." The founder of autogenic training is the German neurologist and psychiatrist Prof. Johannes Heinrich Schultz (1884 – 1970). At the beginning of his career, he worked with hypnosis and established the Institute for Hypnotherapy in Breslau. There, studying how the human body reacts while under hypnosis, he determined that each feeling creates a specific influence on the body. For example, when the body becomes very heavy, this is associated with muscle relaxation, while a feeling of warmth is related to the dilation of blood vessels, and thus better blood circulation. He introduced exercises into regular practice through which the patient could enter a state of deep relaxation, similar to trance or hypnosis, thereby stimulating the body's ability to help itself or activating the self-healing process. Today, scientific research shows that autogenic training is a powerful tool in the fight against many stress-related diseases. We can further say that autogenic training acts like a bandage. When we put a bandage on a wound, we allow the body to heal itself. This is how autogenic training works. It effectively supports the physical body and the mind in a way that allows the body to carry out its work independently, hence the name autogenic training. Scientifically speaking, it involves passive muscle relaxation, which influences the calming of the heart rate and breathing, while blood flow increases without undesirable effects. However, autogenic training is above all a training, meaning it must be practiced systematically and regularly. It is very important to incorporate this technique as your daily regular practice to achieve long-term results. Through the instructions given, auto-suggestion is created, which achieves psycho-physiological relaxation. Very little instruction, patience, and concentration are needed to perform this technique successfully. Thus, with the help of concentration and repetition of the instructor's instructions, a sensation of heaviness in the extremities is induced on a bodily level, as well as a feeling of warmth, stabilization of the heart's beating, calming of the breathing, and abdominal organs. The session consists of six exercises, which are performed slowly, and during the training, attention is paid to the changes induced by repetition. The main advantages of applying autogenic training include:
- Helping the practitioner transition from a state of stress and anxiety to a state of relaxation.
- Reducing or eliminating anxiety and panic attacks.
- Improving self-esteem, self-image, and reinforcing self-confidence.
- Significantly improving the quality of sleep.
- Reducing the degree of mild to moderate depression, sadness, bitterness, and jealousy.
- Serving as a tool in the process of self-actualization and providing a sense of control over one's life.
- Improving concentration and focus, making practitioners more efficient in performing their work tasks.
- Alleviating headaches, colds, and other ailments, strengthening the immune system.