![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Possibly of Use: Autogenic Training
Sep. 16th, 2023 07:12 pmSecond in a series of random posts on things that might be of use to others, with the usual disclaimers that nothing works for everybody.
Autogenic training is a technique recommended to me by my trainer/PT-ish guy in the course of trying to fix my ankle problems. He'd given me some exercises that should have helped deal with a nerve issue; when they didn't, he advanced the theory that at least part of the problem is not mechanically neuromuscular but rather driven by stress, which is preventing my nervous system from downregulating like it should. (He was very concerned that I might read his words as "it's all in your head and therefore fake" -- I assured him I didn't take it that way. Our minds can absolutely affect our bodies, and that doesn't make the effects any less real.)
The basic idea of autogenic training goes like this:
1) Train yourself to induce certain physical markers of relaxation on command.
2) Brain says, "oh, if the body's relaxed, then I guess there's nothing for me to worry about."
3) Profit.
This page has the script I've been using. You repeat those phrases to yourself, out loud or in your head (or record and listen to them), and try to create the sensation being described. The heaviness is about getting the muscles to relax -- without the clench-and-release method that I've always found deeply counterproductive -- while the warmth is about increasing circulation, since in times of stress or anxiety the body will reduce blood flow to the extremities in order to save it for core functions. Then you move onto controlling the heartbeat, etc.
It takes some practice. At first you may not be very successful at creating the sensations described, and getting a long-term benefit requires more than just a few sessions. But I do find it has short-term benefits pretty much right away, i.e. when I'm done with a round of this, my body definitely feels more relaxed. And it's kinda neat, being able to just tell myself "my arm feels heavy" and boom, it's suddenly made of lead? I stupidly fell out of doing this while running the Kickstarter (i.e. right when I needed it the most), but I'm going to try to get back into it.
(originally posted at Swan Tower: https://is.gd/9lc8uo)
Autogenic training is a technique recommended to me by my trainer/PT-ish guy in the course of trying to fix my ankle problems. He'd given me some exercises that should have helped deal with a nerve issue; when they didn't, he advanced the theory that at least part of the problem is not mechanically neuromuscular but rather driven by stress, which is preventing my nervous system from downregulating like it should. (He was very concerned that I might read his words as "it's all in your head and therefore fake" -- I assured him I didn't take it that way. Our minds can absolutely affect our bodies, and that doesn't make the effects any less real.)
The basic idea of autogenic training goes like this:
1) Train yourself to induce certain physical markers of relaxation on command.
2) Brain says, "oh, if the body's relaxed, then I guess there's nothing for me to worry about."
3) Profit.
This page has the script I've been using. You repeat those phrases to yourself, out loud or in your head (or record and listen to them), and try to create the sensation being described. The heaviness is about getting the muscles to relax -- without the clench-and-release method that I've always found deeply counterproductive -- while the warmth is about increasing circulation, since in times of stress or anxiety the body will reduce blood flow to the extremities in order to save it for core functions. Then you move onto controlling the heartbeat, etc.
It takes some practice. At first you may not be very successful at creating the sensations described, and getting a long-term benefit requires more than just a few sessions. But I do find it has short-term benefits pretty much right away, i.e. when I'm done with a round of this, my body definitely feels more relaxed. And it's kinda neat, being able to just tell myself "my arm feels heavy" and boom, it's suddenly made of lead? I stupidly fell out of doing this while running the Kickstarter (i.e. right when I needed it the most), but I'm going to try to get back into it.
(originally posted at Swan Tower: https://is.gd/9lc8uo)
