WHAT IS AUTOGENIC TRAINING?

Autogenic Training (AT) is a unique evidence-based combination of self-hypnosis, meditation, mindfulness, relaxation therapy and biofeedback training.

Professor Johannes Schultz who was a German Neuroscientist and Psychoanalyst first developed it in the 1920s, and it was enriched over the decades by Prof Schultz and Dr Luthe.

Over three thousand clinical studies have shown that AT has a significant therapeutic impact in aiding in the treatment of a number of illnesses, as well as psychological and emotional issues, managing stress, promoting general well-being and enhancing performance. Its practice has proved to increase resilience, effective decision making, problem-solving and facilitate creative thinking.

AT is a profound method of relaxation as well as a form of psycho-physiological self-therapy used to bring about healing and restoration for a multitude of conditions such as assisting in the release of acute and chronic stress and trauma, as well as general cognitive and emotional functioning.

Performing AT takes approximately 10 – 15 minutes, and can be practised at any time of day by following a specific set of simple mental exercises. The process creates physiological reactions in the brain and body which allows for the manifestation of optimal health and well-being on all levels. It also provides a gateway to deeper meditative states, if so desired.

AT teaches one how to consciously and purposefully direct the Autonomic Nervous System, which normally functions without conscious control. By consciously and intensely regulating the nervous system, the body’s stress response is reduced and one’s natural reparation mechanism is activated. This brings about a deep regulation of the entire body-mind system, thereby influencing one’s levels of anxiety and mood. Working directly with vital parts of the physiology to impact the body-mind system, the functioning of one’s heart (cardio-vascular), lungs (respiratory), stomach, gut and bowels (gastrointestinal and excretory system), kidneys and liver as well one’s brain, muscles, biochemical responses and immune system can be brought into balance.

Significant findings have indicated blood pressure regulation, reduction in sleep difficulties, increased pain management, trauma release, and alleviation of depression and anxiety to name but a few benefits. Once the method has been learnt, it requires just a few minutes a day to relieve stress, decrease anxiety and stabilise one’s mind and body.

Learning AT involves learning 6 simple progressive exercises over a 6-week period. Each session is 1 hour and requires members to practise the exercises daily in between the sessions.
As emotional and physical “baggage” is released during the regulation process, it is advised that participants have individual sessions to process the release in between sessions.

Research cited by the Australian Autogenic Training Institute: 

• AT (AT) leads to self-induced calmness in mind and body and can lead to clearer thinking about problems and new insights. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice (2009), 82, 403-419. Yurdakul, Hottum and Bowden
• AT induces the Relaxation Response. Behavioral Medicine, Volume15, pages 125-132, 1989.
• Emotional distress signs and anxiety decrease whilst your brain’s ability to calm responses to stress improves, bringing positive and stable changes in anxious and ‘blue’ personality traits and increased resilience. Stress Medicine, Volume 16, pages 263-268, 2002.
• Relaxation can be an appropriate and relevant therapeutic tool to counteract several stress-related disease processes and certain health-restrictions, particularly in certain immunological, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases/mental disorders. Medical Science Monitor, Volume 9, pages RA23-34, February 2003.
• Tension headache and mixed-type headache frequencies are reduced in the first month of learning AT, while migraine headache frequency reduces after 3 months and drug consumption also reduces. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, Volume 43, page 251, March 2003.
• Acute pain of migraine headaches decreases and the likelihood that a migraine aura will become a full blown migraine is much lower when sufferers practice AT. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, Volume 47, pages 371- 383, March 2007.
• Irritable bowel calms down and most symptoms are significantly reduced. Behaviour Research and Therapy, Volume 5, pages 541-546, May 2002.
• Anxiety can negatively influence the course of many disabilities so the benefits accrued from practising a stress management method may have generalized effects. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Volume 67, pages 375- 379, June 1986.
• Children and adolescents with behavioural and emotional problems have improvements in goal attainment after learning AT. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Volume 42, page 1046-1054, 2003.
• Blood pressure and heart rate reduce when people practice AT. Perceptual and Motor Skills, Volume 83, pages 1395-141, December 1996.
• Anxiety for university level students are significantly reduced with consistent AT practice. Journal of Advanced Nursing, Volume 53, pages 729-735, 2006.
• Elderly nursing home patients have a better quality of life once they practice AT. Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie, Volume 35, pages 157-65, 2002.
• Adolescent alcoholics discover they have more control over their own behaviour than they previously thought after they learn AT with biofeedback. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, Volume14, pages 55-61, Jan-Feb 1997.
• Learning and practicing AT can increase your ability to recall your dreams! Perceptual and Motor Skills, Volume 84, pages 1305-1307, June 1997.
• Exhausted care givers find that subjective psychosomatic symptoms, such as headache, palpitation, dizziness, sleep disorders, irritation, are reduced or disappear, and they are able to ask for help for themselves much more easily after practising AT. Japanese Journal of Autogenic Therapy, Volume 18, pages 56-63, August 2000.
• Preliminary Report on the Use of Autogenic Feedback Training in the Treatment of Migraine and Tension Headaches Joseph D. Sargent, MD, Elmer E. Green, Phd and E. Dale Walters, MA, 1973