Relaxation on demand - stress management advice from the book 'Autogenic Training: A Clinical Guide' by psychology professor Wolfgang Linden

Men's Fitness, Oct, 1998 by Terry Mulgannon

A stress-reduction technique that puts you in control

Mellow out, heart." "Cool off, forehead."

Well, sure, that'll work. Whenever you want to relax, just tell your body to calm down. It's always followed your orders before, right?

Actually, that's just how a stress-reduction technique called autogenics is supposed to operate. Yeah, I know, it sounded phony to me, too. But according to Wolfgang Linden, PhD, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia at Vancouver and the author of Autogenic Training: A Clinical Guide (Guilford Press, $45), issuing verbal commands to your body really will help you relax. It just takes practice.

"There are 60 years of research behind autogenics," Linden says. In fact, he points out, most stress-reduction methods utilize the idea that you can mentally manipulate some of those things that usually occur in the body without your conscious intervention - like a fast heart rate, tensed muscles and agitated brainwaves. But while autogenics works as well as biofeedback, meditation and yoga, it doesn't require any special equipment, and it doesn't come with an overlay of religion or Eastern philosophy.

"Not everyone wants to be a yogi," Linden says. "People respond better when they have choices, and with a buffet of methods, they're more likely to find something they like."

Do-it-yourself relaxation

When you're under stress, your heart rate speeds up, your blood surges into your trunk and head, adrenaline starts pumping, and the fight-or-flight syndrome kicks into gear. And while you probably take the pressures of daily life and work for granted, allowing this stress to build up in your body is very unhealthy.

According to Linden, your system naturally wants to eliminate these symptoms of stress, if only you'll let it do so. "The body wants to self-regulate and get back to normal," he says. That's where stress-reduction techniques come in.

Autogenics, a word meaning "self-generated," is derived from research conducted in the late 1800s by Oskar Vogt, a German scientist who investigated brain physiology. He experimented with hypnosis and discovered that many subjects reported a sense of deep relaxation upon reawakening. A Berlin neurologist named Johannes Schultz learned of this research in the 1920s and '30s, and along with some colleagues went on to develop the autogenics method.

"What these researchers discovered is that people who seemed relaxed reported the same physical sensations," Linden says. "So they thought to reverse the process." For example, people in a relaxed state typically mentioned a feeling of warmth and heaviness in their arms and legs. That sensation of heat and weight is consistent with dilated blood vessels, which, of course, results in greater blood flow and oxygen delivery throughout the body, as well as lowered muscle tension.

The reverse of that process is that by telling your arms and legs to feel heavy and warm - and by thinking that they are - you make it so. The muscles relax and blood vessels dilate, and you end up feeling a greater sense of calm. "With someone experienced in autogenics, you can really feel the warmth in their limbs," Linden says.

The experience of deep relaxation that accompanies these feelings doesn't just feel good; it also helps your body rid itself of stress-related chemicals. As a result, you may sleep better, feel calmer and possibly even resist disease better. And you'll probably deal with stress better, too.

A basic course

Typically, autogenics training consists of weekly sessions of 60 to 90 minutes for about eight weeks, although it varies with different teachers. Linden says the ideal situation is to learn from a practitioner (you can find them in new age newspapers). That's partly because the practice can result in occasional by-products, called "autogenic discharges," that can range from tingling or electrical sensations to headaches, irritability and nausea. "Things happen to the body that people aren't used to experiencing," Linden says. Having an expert around helps ensure that you'll know what to expect and how to deal with it.

Just the same, you can try this at home if you realize that when you mess around with your metabolism, things will happen. After all, if you're trying to make your hands feel warm, you shouldn't be surprised if at some point they do feel warm. (And you should consult a doctor if you have any serious health or psychological problems.)

Even though autogenics is a complex system, the most important parts for simple stress reduction involve six verbal commands targeted at relevant parts of the body.

First, you think in terms of heavy limbs, which has the effect of loosening the muscles up. Then you concentrate on generating warmth in the limbs, which promotes blood flow. Strong, deep breathing sends more oxygen through your system, which by itself induces calm, and trying to moderate your heartbeat does the same. The fifth command, for a calm stomach, helps release tension in that area, and the sixth, for a cool forehead, helps direct blood away from pulsing blood vessels in your brain. (Don't worry about feeling these actual sensations right away; just trying will help you to relax.) Taken together, these commands help reduce tension by focusing on parts of the body where its effects are most pronounced.