Autogenic Therapy

What is Autogenic Therapy?

Autogenic Therapy (AT) is a powerful therapeutic system encompassing both mind and body. AT teaches skills enabling clients to develop their own capacity for self-healing and self-development. The ultimate aim is to equip the client to deal with their own stress independently. Once learned, AT is a life-long skill.
The core of AT is a training course in which clients learn a series of simple exercises. These exercises encourage body awareness and induce relaxation. This is designed to switch off the stress-related ‘fight and flight’ system of the body and switch on the ‘rest, relaxation and recreation’ system.
During training, the client has the opportunity to learn and experience passive focus, a state of alert but detached awareness that enables the trainee to break through the vicious circle of excessive stress, whatever its origins. Once learnt, AT forms a skill that can become part of a health-promoting lifestyle. It requires no special clothing or difficult postures.
Scientific studies have shown AT to be a potent tool in preventative medicine, and an effective antidote to stress-related disorders of many kinds. It can relieve tension and insomnia, lessen anxiety and exam nerves, and help with a wide range of ‘mind made’ disorders. Recent research has also shown a reduction in heart attack risks such as high blood pressure and blood cholesterol.
AT has been used by people of all walks of life to enhance healing, performance and creativity. It has been taught to international sports men and women to enhance performance, to airline pilots and crew to combat jet lag and fatigue, and in the business environment to optimise performance and concentration and reduce stress. It has even been used to help astronauts make the necessary environmental adjustments in space travel.

How does AT work?

The ‘fight and flight’ response is an ancient physiological reaction to a perceived threat or challenge, such as the sighting of a potential prey or predator. Pupils dilate, heartbeat speeds up, adrenaline flows, the bronchi of the lungs dilate, digestion slows, and muscle strength is increased. The system is primed for physical exertion, and energy is diverted away from non-urgent tasks such as digesting food.

In this day and age, the exertion will typically be short-lived, the crisis or challenge will pass, and the system will eventually switch to the ‘rest and digest’ state. Pupils will contract, heartbeat will reduce, and the digestive process will be stimulated.
It is easy to see how such a system was well suited to our hunter-gatherer ancestors. In modern life, however, we are constantly exposed to challenges that do not lead to a burst of physical activity, and that do not diminish in a short time.
Modern stresses such as living with the threat of impending redundancy, or waiting for the results of medical tests may continue for weeks or months without respite. The perceived threat to the mind-body system of an argument in the board room or at home does not lead naturally to running away or fighting – at least not in any socially acceptable way – so we are left to simmer and brood. Our human grasp of language and logic gives us the ability to predict threats which are quite abstract, to imagine the outcome of those predictions, and to react to our imaginings as if it were real. In this sense, we, as humans, are the victims of our own ability to imagine and to think.
AT teaches a series of exercises which guide the mind into an increasingly passive state of inner observation. The focus of attention is allowed to rest gently in neutral awareness, giving the mind (and body) an opportunity to let go of the stresses for a short time and move into a ‘rest and digest’ state at will. Practising this repeatedly brings profound change in body chemistry and brings the mind and body to a more balanced and healthy state.

What is AT good for?

AT has been clinically applied to a wide range of disorders such as:

• Panic attacks
• Depression
• Insomnia
• High blood pressure
• Asthma
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Arthritis
• Fatigue and ME
• Muscular pain
• Unresolved grief

AT has also been used for creativity and productivity:

• Artists, musicians and writers
• Sportsmen and athletes
• Pilots and astronauts
• Men and women in business innovation
• Those working on personal development

What happens during a session of Autogenic Training?

To learn AT you will attend approximately 10 teaching sessions at the clinic, spaced one or two weeks apart. Between each session you should practise at home what you have been taught, two or three times a day. Each home practice session lasts 5 or 10 minutes. (It can also be practised anywhere else – for example, in the car, in a quiet room at work, on the beach and so on).
When you attend the clinic, your teaching session lasts 50 minutes each time. Your previous week’s practice will be discussed and you will be taught the exercises to be practised at home for the forthcoming week or fortnight. You are given a worksheet after each session to record the practise sessions you are doing at home.
You can wear any clothes you like, although comfortable ones are best. You are not required to remove any clothing. The exercises in the session are normally practised sitting in your chair, although you may lie on the couch if you wish.

When you have completed the ten teaching sessions there are usually one or two follow-up appointments to check your progress. After this, you are not required to come back again as the technique is designed to make you independent. However, you are always very welcome to come back and discuss any matters that you feel may need support with.

Other important information about AT

AT is suitable for anyone aged 10 to 100, providing they are able to follow basic instructions. However, the following people should postpone AT training or proceed with caution:

• Those suffering with glaucoma
• Those suffering with epilepsy
• Those with an active addiction to alcohol or street drugs
• Those suffering severe or suicidal depression
• Those with an active psychosis not controlled by medicines
• Anyone undergoing massive life changes right now

There is a detailed medical questionnaire to be completed before learning AT. It is important for the practitioner to have a complete medical history first as the technique has a potent effect on body chemistry. Existing or old conditions may change and any medical treatment may require adjustment.

How may it affect you after practising AT?

Most people feel fine after practising a session of AT, sometimes a little sleepy. Some days you may feel more relaxed than others, but the AT practice has a constant restorative effect on your system, regardless of how you feel. Occasionally there are other odd effects immediately after practising AT such as sneezing or a headache etc. These are due to the tension in the body being discharged rapidly and normally go away very quickly. Many people find it easy to fall asleep after doing AT and it is often used for insomnia for this reason.
AT is not a ‘quick fix’. It works over a long period of time by slowly employing the body’s natural healing mechanisms. The benefits of AT continue to increase for up to 18 months as long as it is practised regularly. After that, it protects and maintains health as a long term method of stress-prevention.

The 10 most common conditions treated with AT

• Mild to moderate depression
• Work and job stress
• Anxiety and panic attacks
• Exhaustion/fatigue
• Insomnia
• Emotional difficulties
• Relationship problems caused by stress
• High blood pressure
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and M.E.
• Headaches and migraine