Author: Vladimir Pyatsky
Translation: Natasha Tsimbler
One of my acquaintances, a young and intelligent guy, told me how his father had taught him autogenic training when he was a child. My friend used autogenic training to overcome chronic headaches. The method can be briefly described like this: it’s a system in which attention is gradually directed to different parts of the body, and through suggestion, a sensation of relaxation is evoked in them. This system was borrowed from Hatha Yoga, where it is mainly used in Shavasana (the corpse pose). Typically, attention is first directed to the limbs, and then moves to the face and the body as a whole. For example, by focusing on the right foot, a person breathes evenly and tells themselves: “My foot is relaxing; I feel it becoming warm and heavy.” This kind of suggestion improves blood flow.
(Note that this formula is not applied to any central or internal parts of the body – such as the head, forehead, chest, abdomen, or any internal organs. These areas house major blood vessels, which do not respond well to excessive heat or dilation. Only the peripheral systems of the body should undergo dilation during relaxation.)
As a result of training under his father’s guidance, my friend mastered the ability to stop headaches through relaxation. But at the time he was speaking to me, his dependence on external circumstances prevented him from setting aside the twenty to thirty minutes needed for deep relaxation before sleep or during the day when a headache appeared.
We were standing next to each other, and I could see that his face was contorted in pain. I told him: “You know the state of deep relaxation well, since you’ve been in it many times over the years. Why don’t you just recall that state and act within it?” He nodded silently, and his gaze immediately shifted in focus. A short time passed, and I saw the mask of pain on his face fade. After a few minutes, he said that it was working. The next day, we talked again about this topic, and he successfully recalled the state of relaxation once more. After discussing the results, we concluded that he could quite well touch into this relaxed state throughout the day and then train it more deeply whenever external conditions allowed.
Author
Author: Vladimir Pyatsky
Translation: Natasha Tsimbler
One of my acquaintances, a young and intelligent guy, told me how his father had taught him autogenic training when he was a child. My friend used autogenic training to overcome chronic headaches. The method can be briefly described like this: it’s a system in which attention is gradually directed to different parts of the body, and through suggestion, a sensation of relaxation is evoked in them. This system was borrowed from Hatha Yoga, where it is mainly used in Shavasana (the corpse pose). Typically, attention is first directed to the limbs, and then moves to the face and the body as a whole. For example, by focusing on the right foot, a person breathes evenly and tells themselves: “My foot is relaxing; I feel it becoming warm and heavy.” This kind of suggestion improves blood flow.
(Note that this formula is not applied to any central or internal parts of the body – such as the head, forehead, chest, abdomen, or any internal organs. These areas house major blood vessels, which do not respond well to excessive heat or dilation. Only the peripheral systems of the body should undergo dilation during relaxation.)
As a result of training under his father’s guidance, my friend mastered the ability to stop headaches through relaxation. But at the time he was speaking to me, his dependence on external circumstances prevented him from setting aside the twenty to thirty minutes needed for deep relaxation before sleep or during the day when a headache appeared.
We were standing next to each other, and I could see that his face was contorted in pain. I told him: “You know the state of deep relaxation well, since you’ve been in it many times over the years. Why don’t you just recall that state and act within it?” He nodded silently, and his gaze immediately shifted in focus. A short time passed, and I saw the mask of pain on his face fade. After a few minutes, he said that it was working. The next day, we talked again about this topic, and he successfully recalled the state of relaxation once more. After discussing the results, we concluded that he could quite well touch into this relaxed state throughout the day and then train it more deeply whenever external conditions allowed.
