British Autogenic Society

Clear away the stress
October 1999
Article from Daily Telegraph
by Jane Alexander

Autogenic Therapy is well studied and documented and could be the answer to modern pressures.

Like many women, I sometimes feel the stress that comes with juggling a career, a family and, in my case, a farm without mains services. But when I do, I simply sit down and start muttering, 'My right arm is heavy'.

The words might suggest that I'm cracking up but, in fact, they are the first step in a series of exercises in Autogenic Therapy - possibly the most potent stress-relief in the Western world. While the benefits of meditation have long been recognised in fighting stress, its associated 'mystical mumbo-jumbo' has proved too much for some people.

Autogenic Therapy is more acceptable, as it brings the benefits of meditation without any of the lotus position and leotard connotations.

The technique consists of a series of mental exercises designed to switch off the 'fight or flight' instinct that comes with stress, and bring about profound relaxation in both mind and body. It has been called 'mental circuit training'; devotees call it a sanity saver.

Autogenic Therapy was developed by Dr Johannes Schultz, a neuropsychiatrist who studied in Germany during the Twenties and Thirties with Oscar Vogt, an eminent researcher into human brain functioning.

The therapy was then further researched and fine-tuned by Dr Wolfgang Luthe, a professor of psychophysiology at McGill University in Montreal.

It has been taught in this country for 30 (sic) years and more than 3,000 scientific publications have reported its beneficial effects, making AT about the best documented and consistently researched method of stress relief. In Japan, a study of 23,700 industrial employees showed that it improved physical and mental health, reduced industrial accidents by two thirds, increased productivity and cut absenteeism and medical expenditure.

A research review, published in Current Opinions in Psychiatry earlier this year, reported that more than 60 controlled clinical studies of AT gave evidence of positive effects in cases of hypertension, asthma, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, atopic dermatitis and frontal lobe epilepsy. People with anxiety, sleep disorders and depression also found it a boon.

So what does it entail? I learned the technique about five years ago with Vera Diamond, one of the pioneers in this country. For the first session, we concentrated on the three positions: lying down, sitting in a relaxed posture, and sitting forwards in a kind of slump - ideal for practising AT in public. Then we moved on to feeling a sense of heaviness in the limbs. I was instructed to practise several times a day, so that the process became automatic. Eventually, it took just the words, 'My arms and legs are heavy' and my limbs immediately relaxed. Over the next seven weeks, we worked through the body and I learned to regulate my heartbeat, calm my breathing, relax tension in my abdomen, neck and shoulders and bring a sense of coolness to my forehead.

It takes a certain amount of commitment - but by the end of the eight weeks, you have an instant stress-reliever at your fingertips. You can run through the exercises in five minutes and feel the stress drop away. It's so simple, it seems barely possible it can be so effective.

Yet its effects are far-reaching and profound. It lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, both key factors in preventing heart attacks. In fact, people with medical conditions have to be carefully monitored while they train. In some cases, diabetics have found they needed to halve their insulin.

Diamond has been working recently with people suffering from Parkinson's disease and has found that it can help to reduce tremor. 'It is an amazing breakthrough,' she says. 'If we reduce the stress hormones adrenaline and nor-adrenaline, with regular AT, this results in the conservation of "home-made" dopamine and maximises the absorption of L-dopa, both of which are improvements in the Parkinson scene.'

She points out that it is equally effective and popular for healthy people. 'I work with a lot of people in industry,' she says. 'Allied Dunbar has used it; so have the National Coal Board, Mars and some staff at Scotland Yard.'

Many airlines encourage staff to use the technique to combat jet-lag and insomnia; it has also been used in space training programmes. Other industries make wide use of it to reduce stress and improve performance at all levels.

The Russian gymnastic squads use AT, and dancers, skiers and footballers find it improves their performance. Creativity seems to shoot up and many business people discover that as their stress levels drop, their communication skills and ability to make clear, effective decisions are enhanced.

The theory behind AT is that it brings the two sides of the brain into better balance, allowing greater benefit to be drawn from the intuitive, imaginative right side, which is normally switched off during waking life.

Waiting in Diamond's living room one day, I noticed a copy of the best-selling The Horse Whisperer. Inside was a dedication from the author Nicholas Evans: 'To Vera - who kept my right arm heavy while I wrote this'.

Although AT seems so straightforward, Diamond firmly advises that the technique is learned with a qualified teacher. Aside from the sheer physical effects the therapy can have, it can also work quite deeply on the mind. Sometimes, deeply hidden anxieties and feelings of anger or frustration can surface.

She recalls the 32-year-old accountant who couldn't sleep without the light on and constantly felt as though she needed to soothe her throat with cooling drinks.

'When we worked the neck and shoulders, she found her head kept going back,' says Diamond. 'It emerged that, as a little girl, she had nearly drowned. The trauma had stayed tucked away in her brain and lodged in her throat; she was trying to keep her head above the water. Once we neutralised that old memory, the phobias that bothered her simply disappeared.'

No therapy can work for everyone, and that applies to AT. Some find the initial effort too time-consuming, so they don't gain the full benefit. Others find some of the techniques uncomfortable.

'Every time I tried the heart exercise, I felt a sense of panic,' reports a lawyer who had to give up. 'It was very unpleasant. I tried using a modified version, but it just didn't really work for me.'

Although AT is practised by many doctors and nurses (and used in several NHS settings, for example cardiac units, hospices and various GP surgeries), it is not well-known in this country. But that could change. Given the level of stress in modern life, there is a clear need for a simple, effective method of coping.

Shake the strain out of your system
Jane Bird of the Autogenic Society has devised some relaxation tips based on the philosophy of AT.

* Sit down and close your eyes for a moment. Practise quiet observation of yourself. Check for body tension: are you clenching any muscles? Don't try to change anything; just be aware of it.

* If you have an ache or pain, such as a headache, quietly observe it. Decide that it is a form of stress release that might be beneficial. Rather than seeing it as a problem, take an interest in its movements or intensity.

* Watch your breathing. Let it lead you wherever it wants, whether in the form of sighs, shallow panting or quiet abdominal breathing. Don't change it; just go along with it.

* When you feel tense or upset, retreat to somewhere private, such as your bedroom or bathroom and 'shake' it out of your system. Loosely shake each limb in turn and feel the wobble.

* When you catch yourself saying, 'I could scream' - do it. Bury your face in a pillow and let rip. No one will hear you and you'll feel much better.

If you need to cry and can't, make some moaning sounds with dry sobs and you may start yourself off. Think how a child cries automatically; sometimes we need to relearn natural responses.

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