Autogenic training is a kind of auto-training. This process can also be called self-hypnosis or self-hypnosis. What is it for? it good remedy to relieve stress and various nervous tensions. The most important thing about autogenic training is to learn how to relax, achieve a state of relaxation, and then focus on what you would like to change. At the same time, a person plunges into a semi-drowsy state, but not into sleep, and can, with the help of special exercises manage organs and systems that are not normally subject to reason. To get the result, autogenic training must be done daily, it is also important to find convincing motives for yourself and believe that everything will work out.

This method was developed in 1920 by the German doctor Johann Schulz. In 1932, his book on autogenic training was published. It quickly gained popularity all over the world. The author's student, Wolfgang Luthe, translated it into English, and later began teaching autogenic training in Canada.

Stages of autogenic training.

Autogenic training takes place in three stages. This will be discussed further in our article.

The first stage is relaxation.

At this stage, you must ensure that your muscles and limbs are relaxed. AT should be done in separate room, in silence and twilight, while there should be no external stimuli. Autogenic training exercises take place in a relaxed position. For example, lying on the mat, relax all the muscles, spread your legs slightly, so that the socks are slightly apart, arms along the body, the neck is relaxed, and the head is slightly turned in the direction that is more convenient for you. It can also be a bed if you do AT before bed, but you should remove the pillow. Autogenic training can also be done in a sitting position. For example, in a comfortable chair, so that the back and the back of the head can rest on its back, the legs are relaxed and slightly apart, the eyes are closed, you feel comfortable, ready to dive into a state of complete relaxation and rest.

The system that Schultz developed is now somewhat simplified, and only four basic suggestions are used in practice.

1. Pleasant calmness and relaxation. This formula should be repeated for all parts of the body. Start with your hands. You can imagine that your hands are lying in warm water or covered with a light warm duvet: “my right hand is warm, it is relaxed and resting”, then imagine the same for the legs, back, stomach and other parts of the body. Then you can go to the face and apply the formula: "my face is calm and relaxed, it is resting." This formula promotes vasodilation.

2. Pleasant heaviness. This suggestion is not difficult, because our legs and arms, and indeed the whole body, have a real heaviness, only we do not feel it in the usual state. And in a relaxed state, you can feel the heaviness of each part of the body. Mentally repeat: "my arm is gradually getting heavier", while it is from the fingertips to the shoulder, as if filled with something heavy and you do not want to move it. Do the same for other parts of the body. This is not an oppressive feeling of heaviness, it comes in combination with a general state of lightness. This formula relaxes the muscles.

3. Pleasant warmth. When you have reached a state of relaxation, blood circulation has improved, your hands and feet become warm. The heat formula, again, should be applied to all parts of the body except the face.

4. Even and calm, easy breathing. This process does not require control, but in this state you can track how the cool air you inhale feels when you inhale, and then leaves, warmed by your warmth. These are pleasant sensations.

Separately, I want to focus on the face. When the formula “the muscles of my face are relaxed” has worked, you will feel that the face has become softer, the muscles of the forehead have relaxed. Then you need to move on to the suggestion: "My forehead is cool." This distinguishes the process of relaxing the face from all other parts of the body that need warmth. To achieve the effect, you can imagine that you are blowing a cool summer breeze, or you are washing your face with cool water.

The most difficult thing at the first stage is that attention is constantly switched to extraneous thoughts and memories. You should not get annoyed, just patiently try to return to the self-hypnosis formulas.

That, in fact, is all about the first stage of AT. To get out of it, give yourself a mental command: “The body is tense. Breathing becomes deep. I open my eyes," then do it all. If you did autogenic training in bed before going to bed, then you can not apply this formula, just return the pillow to its place and fall asleep. Usually, in order to master the first stage of autogenic training, before moving on to the remaining stages, a person needs from one to four weeks.

The second stage is auto-training.

After you have relaxed your body, your mind also needs to relax so that you can give yourself the settings you need. Without leaving the state of autogenic immersion, continue to inspire yourself that you are calm, that you enjoy this peace. To help you with this, you can imagine any picture that you associate with peace. It can be a summer meadow, a blue sky above it, the aromas of herbs or a calm sea, blue sky with which it merges, the scent of the sea air. You must remain in this state for at least five minutes.

The third stage is installation.

At this point, your body is relaxed, you yourself are at rest, and you can move on to preparing to deal with stress-related problems. To do this, you need to find settings (formulas) that are relevant to the problem, but they should be short and positive. They should be formulated in advance.

Some of them can be cited as an example. If you are concerned about work problems, then you can use such attitudes: "I do my job, I succeed, I am attentive, I am confident, I am calm." If you suffer from insomnia, and you did not fall asleep in the first two stages, then you can inspire yourself the following formulas: "my head is free from thoughts, my soul is calm, I rest, my eyelids are heavy, my sleep is deep and strong." If you want to lose weight, then use the settings: "I am calm, I am full, I am indifferent to food, an abundance of food harms my body, abstaining from food brings me joy." For those who want to get rid of bad habits, such as smoking, the following formulas are suitable: “Smoking harms me, I hate smoke, I don’t smoke anymore, I breathe fresh air, and it’s so nice, freedom from nicotine brings me joy” .

The practice of autogenic training helps not only to prevent diseases, but also increases the positive effect of their drug treatment. It must be remembered that AT does not cure, but only suppresses the symptoms of diseases due to the fact that it creates a psychological climate that supports the body. For each disease, it is necessary to select its own specific settings. For example, for those who suffer from hypertension and heart disease, the following settings can be used: “Nothing bothers me, I am calm, my heart works smoothly and smoothly, I am calm and relaxed, I am confident in my abilities, I am detached from worries, life beautiful and happy." If you feel pain in some internal organ, it will be useful to inspire yourself with a feeling of warmth in this organ, for example: “In the region of the kidneys (liver, gallbladder, etc.) I feel a pleasant warmth, there is no pain. The joints are warm, mobile, do not hurt.

There is another trick that relieves pain. You need to visualize your pain as a large red disk that gradually lightens in color, turning to pink and then to white. So your pain decreases along with a decrease in the intensity of the red color, and with the appearance of white, it disappears completely.

After you have achieved the desired result, you must be able to properly exit the state of autogenic immersion. The exit formula in this case will depend on the type of self-hypnosis that occurred. General points for all types of self-hypnosis: the formula must be mentally pronounced energetically, and immediately the eyes must be opened. For example, if you used work settings, then the formula might be: “I have a rest, I am calm and confident, I have good mood, I feel a surge of strength and energy and I'm ready to go. One two Three". On the count of three, open your eyes and stand up.

How long does autogenic training take?

At the beginning of classes, autogenic training will take you about half an hour. Once you've mastered the first two steps, you won't need to work on each body part separately. You will be able to start relaxing both arms at once, then both legs, naturally, the suggestion formulas will change. Over time, you can reach a level where you can carry out autogenic immersion reflexively, automatically. After that, you can completely shorten and simplify the suggestion formulas: “My whole body is relaxed, it feels pleasant heaviness and warmth. The forehead is cool." Then ten minutes of autogenic training will be enough for you.

The optimal mode for mastering autogenic training is five times a day for five minutes. If you take classes seriously, that in two weeks you will be able to relax before some exciting events, causing stress. And in a month, with the help of AT, you will be able to fall asleep at any time of the day for ten minutes and, upon waking up, feel rested.

Is it possible to do auto-training on your own?

Yes, you certainly may. Only self-training is less effective for the following reasons:

1. Everyone has psychological mechanisms self-control, which, during independent auto-training, do not allow you to completely relax. If there is a person leading from the outside, then your brain automatically shifts the function of “security control” to him.

2. The plan, formulas, settings, the pace of the session are set by the moderator. And if it is not there, then you are forced to control all this yourself, which means that your thinking and self-control remain “on” and interfere with relaxation.

3. For autogenic training to be successful, you need knowledge and experience that you may not have yet.

That is, from here we can conclude that group training is more effective. But this does not negate the fact that self-training can bring a positive effect.

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AUTOGENIC TRAINING through the eyes of a practitioner - a professional

What is and what are the benefits of doing autogenic training?

Autogenic Training as a psychotherapeutic tool for effective recovery of the general population (a new look and a new task).

© Scientific Center "PSYCHOPEDAGOGIKA" of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation:
+ Vostrikov A.A., psychotherapist, doctor of ped. sciences, professor.
+ Tabidze A.A., teacher-psychologist, doctor of physics and mathematics. sciences, professor.

AUTOGENIC TRAINING through the eyes of a practitioner - a professional

We present material on this topic in the form of answers to frequently asked questions.

Tell us, what is the essence of such phenomena as self-regulation, autogenic training and? Because many people confuse them. And most importantly, what is the use of this phenomenon.

Good. But I will start from afar. It is now January 2016, and I will be 70 this year. I never get tired and I don't get sick. I consider my quality of life to be very good. I am a specialist in the field of psychotherapeutic pedagogy, and I use these methods. And what you have called (self-regulation, self-hypnosis, autogenic training), these are all methods of psychotherapeutic pedagogy or methods of self-education. I brought up such qualities in myself that I do not get tired and do not get sick.

And so I will not explain to you that this is good, that this is cool, great. I just say: “If you want, take an example from me. If you don't want to, live your own life." You have a choice. There are people who follow this path, use these methods, their diseases go away, and their quality of life improves a little. Mature people become, begin to use the rules of a young life. They start a family, enjoy life, and this is all thanks to the methods of self-regulation, autogenic training and self-hypnosis. I mean, it's a whole science. And if pedagogy is mainly engaged in developing the intellectual qualities of a person (becoming smart, becoming a great mathematician, becoming a chess player, becoming a businessman), and the methods of psychotherapeutic pedagogy are mainly engaged in the development emotional qualities. That is, those qualities that a person needs in life for interaction.

And the peculiarity of this discipline is that we need to know what we are dealing with, what we need to re-educate in ourselves. Maybe you have increased resentment or increased expression of anger, or heightened feeling inferiority. Where does this come from and how can these qualities be inhibited in oneself, and these qualities, other qualities can be developed? And it turns out that a deep study of this issue is precisely me personally as a scientist (I am a scientist, I am a doctor of physical and mathematical sciences, a professor; even more, I am a corresponding member of the Russian Academy natural sciences, I am professionally engaged in both physics and psychopedagogy). And professional direction and the study of this direction led to the following conclusions.

I'll demonstrate what the main simple conclusions are. Here in my hands is a camera, an old film camera. I photograph an image, such as a person or a couple. Here I am a photograph, there was a flash, and we know that the image is now on film. Everything, the image on the film. Similarly, we can say that at the moment of conception, the character of a person is already fixed in the embryo. And now, in order to get an image, you need to develop this film, fix it and print it. It's a whole process. We can develop this film and get a black and white image, we can get a color image. But, the image, its basis will be preserved. In the same way, a person, these qualities are immediately fixed in him, and now, during education, they can change.

What image can be? It can be an image, for example, like this. That is, this young man is predisposed to aggression. That is, when a person is born, this is not a blank sheet of paper, he has a clear predisposition to some specific psychological qualities, or aggressive qualities, or touchy qualities, or qualities of self-doubt, or acquisitiveness. That is, the qualities in it are already predisposed. And now we are starting to change this pattern by upbringing. How? Parents are trying to improve this drawing. They take a green felt-tip pen and try to make a person more calm, balanced. The street takes another drawing, red, and tries to make the person more aggressive, and other pictures are added. School, it tries to make a person obedient. That is, we impose on the predisposition some of the qualities that are used in society.

And in the end, a person is formed by the age of 16-17, when puberty ends. That's it, he came out, the film turned into an image. And now a person is already using his character in society. If he can adapt in this society, then they say that he is socially adapted. He is not conflict, he is good, and you can deal with him. If he cannot adapt, then little depends on him. Why? But because he personally did nothing to be adopted. He was brought up by his parents, his parents gave birth to him, his qualities were crushed by the school, the institute, the street. And he made no effort. And if he wants to change something in himself and become more or less complaisant, benevolent, respectable, then for this he needs to learn how to form and consolidate these qualities in himself.

What qualities can? Well, for example, a girl was born, it is clear that she was born, her qualities are predisposed to touchiness. And in order to remove this quality from modern psychotherapeutic positions, it is required that she learn, as an artist, to draw herself completely different, not as she is, but different. When a human artist takes a canvas with a drawing already drawn and he wants to paint some other drawing, he starts to make a primer. He makes a primer, and in the process of priming, he gets this picture instead of this picture. And after that, on this blank canvas, he already draws the picture that he needs, that he wants to be joyful, benevolent. And if the primer is weak, then this picture is obtained. Here is this girl, here she is touchy, and this is joyful. So, autogenic training is the ability to make just such a primer so that negative qualities are veiled and they do not appear. And the methods of self-education, the next method, to develop those qualities in yourself to be joyful, and so that people are drawn to you. Why? Because when a person is depressed, it repels people, and when he is joyful, open, it attracts people.

Here I briefly explained what autogenic training is, it is a way of priming. We completely remove the negative background that is constantly present in a person. And then on this background, with the help of self-education, self-hypnosis, self-regulation, this is what it is, we draw the following picture. That is, we actually form a person out of ourselves, a person who is able to enjoy life. This person does not experience pleasure, but we want to experience pleasure. And we change ourselves in this way. He would be glad to pull himself together, smile, have fun, look, life is beautiful. He is glad, but the quality in him is so strong that it does not let him in.

And therefore there is a science (psychotherapeutic pedagogy), and it explains how easy it is to do it. You must first be able to slow down involuntary thinking, this is psychotechnics. And then after that, form those qualities in your imagination that you need. And you train, train, and this imaginary quality is built into your structure and becomes already your natural quality. In a few words, I explained to you why autogenic training and self-regulation methods are needed. The most used concept of autogenic training is that when a person has this quality, he suffers. And we know there is a saying: "When a person suffers, his organs cry." A bad mood, a depressing state, depression, a person suffers, and his organs cry, and they slowly begin to fail in the form of diseases.

And if a person learns at least not to suffer, then he immediately helps himself. To do this, at least if he learns, at least with the help of autogenic training, to enter a relaxation state, when this quality of suffering is obscured in him, then the internal organs immediately begin to experience a surge of energy, they recover very quickly. And it is enough to at least learn a relaxation state in order to at least not develop a disease in oneself. And this is what we do, this is what we teach in our center "Psychotherapeutic Pedagogy". And the most interesting thing is that we came to the conclusion that this does not need to be taught. There are tools to use. This toolkit is simple.

Here is the autogenic training “Relaxation and relaxation”. It was created in 2001 and has been on the Russian market for 15 years. And, as far as I know, it occupies a leading position on the Internet. And this is our development, and here it is clearly shown from a scientific point of view how it is necessary to achieve an autogenic state of inner peace. I will not explain the details now, because this technique has its own specifics. And this knowledge, there is absolutely no need for it, it is already a skill. Using this autogenic training, you will begin to achieve this state from the very first time. That is, in fact, we have come to the conclusion that we give the instrument to a person in his hands, he listens for half an hour every day, enters this autogenic state. And the negative qualities that imperceptibly destroys his body, they are torn and the body receives energy and is sufficiently restored.

- Yes, such a question.

“Then why not just use sleep, longer sleep. What is the difference between the state of sleep and the state of meditation, self-hypnosis?

Well, quite a professional question. Here the difference is that the human structure is 4 parts. The first part is our bodily part, the second part is emotional sphere. The third part is the intellectual realm, and the fourth part is, you might say, consciousness. And in a dream, all these 4 parts seem to fall asleep, and the consciousness does not control, does not know. Consciousness…

Our body falls asleep, our emotions fall asleep, the intellect falls asleep and consciousness falls asleep. But we dream, we experience, we suffer. Some wake up in a cold sweat, some wake up completely unrested. What's the matter? It turns out that they cannot understand, consciousness cannot understand. So far, the consciousness was sleeping, and at that time there was a very strong negative intellectual work. The person was worried, maybe even said something, shouted at someone, twitched. It is clear that some internal destructive process is going on.

It differs from sleep in that we mentally track the moment the body falls asleep. Here it is all clearly given. And you can make sure the body is asleep because you don't feel, you can't tell where the arms are, where the legs are. You can even prick, it is without sensitivity. You are consciously in control of your self-regulation. The body falls asleep, then you enter a state of emotional dispassion, you control this one. You feel that, aha, internally you have a pleasant state, a pleasant state, a background. So, the consciousness traces the fourth moment, the third moment. The mental flow that has been going on all the time begins to slow down. And you suddenly, you have absolutely new sensations, you see gaps between thoughts. You feel that thought, one thought, second thought, third thought. And this is the most important thing. As soon as you felt the gaps, everything, mental activity slowed down. It can only remain arbitrarily, you can think about the topic you want, and not the topic, suspiciousness that happens, all the time a person is visited by some negative thoughts and he cannot get rid of them. With the help of this autogenic training, you can get rid of negative, repetitive, obsessive thoughts.

And that's it, and now he is in an autogenous state! He may fall asleep, or he may not fall asleep. But he clearly knows that all spheres are now in a calm, balanced state, which restores strength. And in an ordinary dream, some very difficult dreams can occur, some kind of chase, or you are chasing someone, or someone is chasing you, someone is chasing. Some negative emotions that destroy the body. And sleep does not bring real rest, if a person is in a state of danger for a long time, then he loses sleep. And the problem of sleep, of course, is very big, in general, in a natural way, a person cannot rest.

And with this autogenic training for 30 minutes, if you are in this autogenic state, that is equivalent to 3-4 hours of sleep. And so I immediately told you that I do not get tired. Of course, I get tired, but fatigue itself for me is not a signal to overcome this fatigue, but a signal to find a place, close my eyes, put on a disc and listen to it. At this moment, I can either fall asleep or relax. But these 3-7 minutes are enough for me to restore and be absolutely fresh the same as in the middle of the day as I was in the morning. That is, with the help of this audio simulator, autogenic training, I quickly restore my strength.

- Do I understand correctly that with the help of autogenic training, I can simply rewrite emotions? If I had some kind of discomfort, then plunging into this state, I, accordingly, form some kind of positive image. And due to the fact that the image is gaining more energy, the discomfort becomes less and less significant.

Well, you are almost right. But, there are two answers here. You first reach a neutral state, this is what autogenic training is. And then you already form the state that you want. These are two various tasks. And if you want to get delight, then you then set the task for this neutral state, pictures of delight, beautiful views of your vacation, meeting with your girlfriend. He remembers a wonderful evening, some wonderful events in your life, the birth of a child. You remember those emotions and those emotions start turning on your endocrine system.

You have raised an extremely important issue, an extremely important one, I emphasize. Because you touched on the question that says: “How to remember emotions?”. This is a table, I see it, I know this is a table. I immediately remember what it's called. We have a memory for objects, it was developed during the school years, we were taught, this is a disk, this is a hand. But remember, remember the joy. Hardly. Delight? Hardly. Bliss? Nega? And there is no training. And how to teach? This is what we teach. And therefore, as soon as a person remembers a joyful emotion, then the body, endocrine system clearly according to the laws of Pavlov's academy, reflexively turns on the production of health hormones. This is dopamine, usually serotonin. There are a lot of these hormones, about 30 or 40. And it is positive hormones that are produced clearly and definitely for some specific emotion.

And these areas of rejuvenation, hormone replacement therapy, we do not know what hormones we need, but they are prescribed to us. We need a series of clear hormones in a certain quality. She usually prescribes them in some way. And, of course, stress hormones are adrenaline, cortisol, these are negative hormones that occur in humans. And positive hormones, they heal a person. And all this is in a person, it all turns on only when you remember and hold the emotional state. That is, a neutral state, it is improving. And if you also include positive emotions, then it is stronger in effect. Therefore, music therapy, which we do, is very important. Because in the process of music therapy a person listens to his favorite tunes, and they can even replace autogenic training. Because autogenic training, by and large, can even be replaced by music therapy programs that our center has developed and offers for all listeners without exception.

That is, I want to emphasize that auto-training and music therapy program is the only psychotherapeutic tool, a method that heals the general population. All people need psychological help, they all want to be successful, they want to do a lot, they want to be more calm, they don’t want to be irritable. They are offended that their relationship is not formed as it should be. And all this can be helped in the masses by auto-training and music therapy. Why? Because if you develop the habit of listening to this every day, then if we develop the habit of washing ourselves every day, taking a shower every day, brushing our teeth every day, this is a hygiene habit. And no one tells us that it is useful, that it is necessary, you will be healthier from this. We have a habit, we are used to doing it. In the same way, if hygiene is a matter, the remedy is water, a toothbrush, soap, then auto-training (this is already a professional training) and a music therapy program are the means of mental hygiene. That is, I answered your question about how important it is to form emotional positive qualities in yourself.

- It's clear. I understand correctly that in the normal state of wakefulness this cannot be done? It is here that calming the mind, it gives the key to the subconscious, makes it possible. When some thought or image penetrates to the level of the body, to the level of emotions. Only when we first calm down.

- Only after that is an image or some kind of program, it is able to enter, as they say, into the subconscious.

Yes, you are correct. But this requires special training. Long-term special training, when the whole world is completely turned off and you have only one goal in front of you. And even this is very well used in martial arts. But, an ordinary person, living in ordinary life, he needs to solve family issues, domestic issues, production issues. And so he needs now, and he is not ready for this, for such a technique. And he is waiting for this inspiration, he is waiting for this courage. Sometimes this courage comes to him when he is in a very good functional condition, and sometimes not. And therefore, in the normal state, because the body is tense, it gives signals that a person must act, he has no time to express his progressive qualities, for example, constructive qualities.

And therefore, in order to solve the problem that you set, in order to be so successful, it is necessary, again, with the help of autogenic training (either it is called self-regulation, or it can be called self-hypnosis). This man, he is aggressive, he has aggressive qualities. And then he has to solve some life problem. And now he imagines such a picture in his imagination. He introduces her several times, how kind he is, how non-aggressive he is, what an interesting person he is, and that he doesn't cause danger. And this imaginary image is fixed, and after 2-3 days, if he has trained it in his imagination, then the body begins to act in this way. Because he's already done it all. And for nature it does not matter, man did it in real life, trained, or in the imagination.

And therefore, many athletes train in their imagination to jump over the plan, and really show ... And here a person in the imagination, precisely in a relaxed state, when he is clean, imagines himself so irresistible, and in life it already turns out automatically exactly as it turns out, not the way he wants. You see, he formed a new quality in himself, he finally became an artist-screenwriter and director of his life. He became the way circumstances demand from him, and not the way his parents, family, school, street made him. That is, he becomes the master of himself, that's what you need. There are no other ways to quickly transform into a constructive positive image. I tell you this as an expert. Methods of violence, methods of education, they are not effective. Only methods are pleasant. This is the most pleasant method of developing positive qualities in yourself.

I am a person who can neutralize many negative qualities in myself. Well, for example, here is the same picture. Here we have a crow. What is her quality? Credulity, you can level this quality too. Or a bunny, the quality of cowardice. It is built into a person, maybe in the process of his birth. I will repeat again that at the time of birth this is not a blank sheet of paper, but some of these qualities already exist in it. And there are diagnostic methods that our center owns, which show and can show what qualities a person objectively has, and with what psychological qualities it is necessary to work and how.

What is cognitive therapy and how does it work?

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That is, on a professional level, we can suggest that you have the quality of cowardice, some have the quality of acquisitiveness, some have the manifestation of anger. And all this is diagnosable. Diagnostics, both instrumental and test. That is, there are diagnostic methods.

We are human and we like to think very well of ourselves. And, of course, especially psychologists-educators need to pay attention to their own psychodiagnostics. To know what real qualities they bring to their children, people. Why? Because educational psychologists are a communicative profession, it is contagious. And if a teacher is irritable at school, then this quality of irritability is transmitted to children on an unconscious level, and they also come home irritable, and this quality can be fixed. It is very responsible for educational psychologists to have constructive positive psychological qualities in order to pass these qualities on to their children and their wards.

I probably got distracted and went a little to the side. But by this I wanted to emphasize how important it is to pay attention to your own psychological qualities. Why? Because professionals say: “But I know everything about myself.” Not! Especially professionals who have degrees, they believe that they have sufficiently developed intellectual qualities. Yes, a person can be intellectually developed. But emotionally, he can remain the same as before. An intellectually developed person, of course, has an advantage. Because he can take a high position in society. But at the same time, he can make non-constructive decisions, because he is dealing with a team, or with students, or with a large team.

And it is extremely important to know your psychological qualities, and hence to have the desire to improve these qualities in order to improve our external world. Why? Because it is precisely that we are very carried away by our success, achieving success, material success, we have turned away from human constructive qualities. And in order to form these qualities, self-hypnosis, autogenic training, self-regulation and methods of psychotherapeutic pedagogy, which forms a person from a person, are just necessary. Man, this doesn't sound proud, especially at this time, we can't agree with that. When a person begins to respect himself, knowing his psychological qualities, then you can say something about pride in himself. But, as a rule, a person often does things for which he is ashamed. And if he is ashamed, it means inexpensive.

Well, we will not enter the realm of philosophy. We are moving on again ... Because, you see, this is, as it were, a private issue that we talked about, but it captures all areas human life, all spheres absolutely, from the family to the state, about the responsibility of a person for his psychological qualities.

“Let’s go back one more step. Does it make sense to compare autogenic training and meditation? Just like technology. Not one, is it not one, is it the same? That is, isn't meditation the same as autogenic training? And meditation we calm the mind.

– And in autogenic training we calm the mind. Can you say it's the same?

Well, in my work experience, in my implementation experience, since I've been doing this for over 30 years, autogenic training and meditation are one and the same. We form an inner calm neutral state. Everything! In meditation there is no task to form any new psychological qualities. New psychological qualities on this platform of autogenic training are formed by another training, this is psychotechnics. And it is called just "balance and resistance to stress." And by and large, autogenic training is just the first step towards a constructive improvement in human qualities. Why? Because if we do only meditation, if we use only autogenic training, then we gain strength in order to further our negative qualities. We have strength. We do not stop getting sick, and we begin to promote our destructive ideas. And therefore, in itself, autogenic training, it is needed for people who want to improve themselves.

If a person does not improve himself, he will receive additional power to destroy people around him. His consciousness can automatically clear up, spontaneously he can understand that he is not acting well, has been rude to someone, offended someone. And then, in this state, this thought can pierce him, and, of course, we are now approaching the most important thing, that a person must be aware of what is happening to him. And if he realizes that he has offended someone, then the wise men say: “You need to quit everything and quickly make amends for this offense. Run to this person and make amends for this insult. Also, this is the second rule.

And the first rule: "If someone tries to offend you, and you are offended, this indicates that you are a weak person." The first rule: “If you are offended, then you turn your right cheek. And this is the most difficult and most important thing in autogenic training. Because no one can reflexively turn the right cheek, you must immediately hit back. "You're a fool" . - "You're a fool!" Instantly, immediately. Claims are made against you, and you return the same claims, that is, it's all reflex. Our whole life turns out to be a vicious circle. As soon as some kind of injustice is against you, you show exactly the same injustice against another person. And then life is filled with destructive meaning at all levels. And this destructive meaning can somehow be stopped only within oneself, by learning not to react in a childish way. Because resentment is a childish reaction.

A girl ran up to you, hit you and said: “Uncle, you are a badass.” So what? You were hit, you were called names, you were insulted. And what, you offended her? Not! Because you see that an immature person, a psychologically immature person has approached you. And you are a person, at this moment you feel that you are psychologically mature, you are above this. You are above this ... "Yes, yes, of course, I'm a badass." Stroked, and you are friends. Here's a candy for you, she took a candy, and you fled in peace. That is, yes, an emotional negative attack against you, you reflexively responded with aggression too. Here is the beginning of a small war that turns into a big war. All wars begin with some kind of relationship, and then ... This says what? That if you formed a person benevolently, then at the moment of aggression your essence begins to emerge, you did not educate yourself properly. That is, in stressful situations, a person becomes who he is in essence. And this entity needs to know what "essence" means. And all psychotherapeutic pedagogy is aimed at finding out what essence a person has and how to make it more human.

What's wrong with a person being aggressive? If he was insulted, and it was a real insult, someone from his relatives was insulted.

- This is an adequate reaction when he does not tolerate, but responds. Especially if he has the opportunity to respond. Why does he have to swallow it?

I repeat. A girl approached you, she really insulted you, she really inflicted a physical impact. You, why didn't you answer her the same, why? You swallowed a grudge.

“Because I decide how to react to this girl's action.

Exactly. And therefore, when a person approaches you, you clearly have to make a choice, you have a choice. Either you respond reflexively, or you can respond with aggression, but at the same time be absolutely calm and fair internally. If you respond to this attack with the same emotional impact, then you are not an emotionally mature person. And then there will only be a skirmish. You must be responsible! Will there be a war, will there be continuations, a long-term relationship with this person.

You must make a choice and follow the consequences. If you do not need this person, then you can, of course, respond very aggressively. Why? Because you do not want to deal with such people, they do not decide anything in your life. But, in life we ​​have people who are constantly around us, and they are not engaged in their emotional growth. And they may act like emotionally immature people in relation to you. And they expect you to react as emotionally immature as they do. Because as soon as you respond to them with aggression, they will have a reason to do whatever they are capable of. Which, perhaps, you are not capable of, because you will have enough. But, you give them a reason and untie their hands. You must be clearly aware, respond aggressively and make a choice how much your aggression will further destructively affect you.

What is Autogenic Training?

Autogenic Training (AT) is a mental exercise to achieve a state of inner relaxation, inner peace of mind (relaxation state).

To be able to swim in the sea, you must first learn to keep your balance afloat. To be able to swim in the sea of ​​life, you need to learn how to maintain mental, emotional balance in difficult situations.

In the process of systematic training, the state of mental balance is achieved faster, lasts longer, and becomes habitual.

The proposed Autogenic Training (AT No. 1 "Relaxation and relaxation", 35 min.) and AT No. 2 "Balance and resistance to stress", 35 min.) do not require training, the relaxation state when listening is achieved from the first time.

The relaxation state itself has two fundamental properties - healing, helping in the treatment of diseases of the bodily plane ( psychosomatic diseases) and psycho-corrective, helping in psychological disorders.

What diseases are classified as psychosomatic and what is the cause of their occurrence?

The word "psychosomatics" consists of two parts - "psycho" (soul) and "soma" (body). The word "psycho" comes first. This emphasizes the predominant influence of the state of the soul on the occurrence of diseases of the body.

The state of mind that triggers these diseases is determined mainly by two such negative psychological qualities as increased mental stress and increased anxiety. The first reason - increased mental stress leads to increased bodily tension - to muscle spasms and vascular spasms.

When these spasms become chronic, nutrition in these parts of the body is disturbed and then psychosomatic diseases occur associated with spastic processes.

For example, these are tension headaches, spastic heart pains (cardioneurosis), essential hypertension, vegetative-vascular dystonia, coronary artery disease, chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer stomach or duodenum, spastic colitis (chronic constipation), biliary dyskinesia, asthmatic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, functional diseases of children, female and male genital areas, etc.
The second reason is increased anxiety. It leads to an overstrain of the hormonal system of the body, namely, increased constant production of stress hormones - adrenaline, cortisol, norepinephrine, etc.

If this state of anxiety is constant, chronic, then the capabilities of the hormonal system are depleted, which leads to hormonal disorders - hyperthyroidism, diabetes, anorexia, bulimia, neurodermatitis, metabolic disorders, etc.

Usually the first and second causes work together and reinforce each other.

If you have signs of these diseases, then auto-training is of course necessary for you as a pleasant and effective health remedy.

What is the healing property of AT?

The healing property of AT lies in the fact that being in this relaxation state contributes to achieving internal relaxation, reducing mental stress (relieving spasms) and reducing feelings of anxiety, achieving a state of calm and comfort, which as a result leads to the production of health hormones - dopamine, serotonin and others

Clinical studies show that after listening to AT:

Increased arterial pressure;
- the heart rate is normalized;
- improves overall hormonal background organism;
- normalization of acidity gastric juice(pH);
- half an hour of AT is equivalent to 3-4 hours of good sleep.

Systematically (daily) achieved state of relaxation relieves chronic stress and anxiety, forms a habit (habit) of inner peace, and thus a person becomes invulnerable to the occurrence of psychosomatic diseases.

What emotion is the most destructive for the organism?

Cardiovascular diseases are among the most formidable and widespread diseases. They make up to 60% of all diseases with an unfavorable outcome.

Various medical and psychological sources indicate that the emotion of resentment is the most likely cause of arterial hypertension with subsequent development of coronary heart disease (CHD). Many people who carry a grudge in their soul for a long time say that they experience an emptiness or heaviness in the center of the chest.

Reducing resentment is a psycho-correction, and in this case the second fundamental property of AT is used - the formation and consolidation of new constructive psychological qualities against the background of a relaxation state. This property is used in the content of Autogenic Training No. 2 "Balance and resistance to stress", where three psychotechnical exercises are given to reduce increased resentment.

How to master and conduct Autogenic Training?

To master AT is very simple and easy. Beginners need to fulfill a few simple conditions:

1) choose a place, preferably a separate room, where no one could disturb you during the lesson, turn off the phone; put a CD or flash drive (audio trainer) into the player;
2) sit comfortably in a chair with a headrest, or lie down, reclining in an armchair or on a sofa;
3) train, preferably in the morning or in the middle of the day.

If you take a little nap during the lesson, it’s not scary, the skill is still acquired in this drowsy state;

4) turn on the audio simulator;
5) in the process of training, you follow the sounding text, and without repeating, without pronouncing the words of the leader, concentrate and hold your attention on the corresponding parts of the body;
6) at the first training sessions, it is advisable to listen to the text in headphones in order to better isolate yourself from external distracting noises;
7) and observe the main condition - conduct systematic classes for 1-2 months. As a result, quantity turns into quality.

One of the main secrets successful implementation AT - HOLD scattered attention on those parts of the body that the leader's voice indicates (on the right leg, then on the left, on the right arm, left arm, etc.)

How often should an AT be performed?

For beginners - daily or every other day. At first, while you do not have the habit of regular use of AT, within 1-2 months you should encourage yourself to listen to it every day (or at least every other day), at home or at work.

Recall how you developed the habit of washing your hands before eating as a child. Parents and elders had to be reminded and controlled so that you sit down at the table with clean hands.

Thus, this habit was formed, and now without prompting, you automatically tend to wash your hands before eating.

You also brush your teeth, take a shower, put on clean clothes without being reminded.

This is how the habit of body hygiene built into you at one time works.

The psyche (soul), as well as the body, needs its own hygiene - mental hygiene.

During the day, mental stress (“mental dirt”) accumulates, and “it” must be systematically washed off. In other words, “the soul must work”…

The skill of hygiene of the state of mind is absent in the mass consciousness and it must be developed, built in as an indispensable element of modern culture.

If the means of body hygiene are clean water, soap, a toothbrush, then one of the main means of mental hygiene is Autogenic Training.

During the day, the human body experiences a feeling of hunger several times, which signals that physical energy reserves need to be replenished. Then, eating, a person restores physical strength.

The same should be true for the psyche. Feeling tired or irritable during the day signals that mental strength is running out and needs to be restored.

However, instead of quickly restoring strength, a person, out of old habit (moving along the old track), begins to overcome himself and continues to act in a state of mental fatigue and irritability, because there is no new track yet. It's inefficient and destructive.

The formation of the habit of mental hygiene is the laying of a new track.

We don't give psychological advice, we do not give recommendations, but we give you a specific tool for quick recuperation, the Audio Trainer. Maybe it will be your secret Energizer!

How safe is the use of AT audio trainers?

Some beginners worry that they will lose self-control and be unable to get out of a relaxed state.

Security issues in these Autogenic Trainings are automatically removed, since the formed state of clarity of consciousness is always able to assess the surrounding situation and allows, if necessary, to easily exit the training mode on your own.

The contraindication is easily determined - discomfort while listening and the emerging feeling of useless loss of time. This indicates that you are more attuned to the perception of the external world and are not yet ready to seriously take care of yourself, your inner world.

In this case, there is no need to force classes, here recordings of sounds of nature and music therapy programs are more suitable for listening. Do not forget about the systematic auditions.

What is the novelty of the proposed AT and what is the new task?

A feature of psychotherapy is an individual, personal approach to the client, which limits the possibility of its mass use. A new look at the possibilities of Autogenic Training (AT) opens up access to the effectiveness of psychotherapy for the general population.

1st novelty (Heterogeneity). Since the creation of the AT method (Schultz, 1932), a pedagogical error has crept into the recommendations for its independent development. Due to the lack of tape recorders at that time, it was recommended to memorize the text of the sequence of auto-training formulas beforehand. Then, in the process of training, a person is recommended to perform two functions alternately - first, focus on the text of the AT, remember and mentally pronounce the relaxation formula for a certain part of the body, and then switch attention to the execution of the relaxation command by this part of the body. And so 10-30 times during the entire workout, moving from one part of the body to another. It is important to understand that the process of remembering the next formula and pronouncing it is a mental tension, which, through a reflex thought-body connection, on an unconscious level, leads to bodily tension. This process of switching attention returns some of the previous tension and worsens the level of relaxation achieved. A person alternately gives himself a task (director in the hall) and then performs it himself (actor on stage). This throwing between the hall and the stage is reminiscent of periodically pressing the brake and gas.

This is a pedagogical error. Until now, followers in their recommendations repeat this mistake.

For this reason, large masses of enthusiastic people in the 60-70s of the last century, training for months, could not achieve success. Thus, in the mass consciousness, an opinion has formed that auto-training is a time-consuming process and at the same time does not guarantee a result.

OUR AUTOGENIC TRAINING DOES NOT REQUIRE MASTERING AND IS GOOD THE FIRST TIME.

In our methodology, the condition of heterogeneity is fulfilled - a person is only an actor, a performer of formulas that are submitted through a recording on a CD-ROM, flash drive, etc., prepared by specialists (psychotherapists, teachers, music therapists). Now AT does not require training, but only use.

The simplicity and ease of achieving a relaxation state here, which has a powerful healing effect, opens the way to the use of this psychotherapeutic tool for the general population.

2nd novelty (4-part structure). If we consider the widely used text of Schultz's AT, we will notice that in her methodology, attention is focused on the sensations of only the bodily sphere - arms, legs, stomach, forehead, ... In our text (AT No. 1 "Relaxation and relaxation", 35 min.) the state of 4 spheres is consistently traced - relaxation of the bodily, calming the emotional, achieving silence in the thinking process and achieving clarity of consciousness.

This approach allows you to achieve a deeper and more stable relaxation of the whole organism. This is a new psycho-physiological state, resembling a stable light nap. We call it the state of 3 zeros - "the body is asleep, but the mind is awake."

This 4-part structure of AT corresponds to the currently developed 4-part model of psychotherapy.

3rd novelty (Self-psycho-correction). The achieved relaxation state, in addition to the health-improving one, also has the pedagogical property of high susceptibility to educational information. This is used by us (AT No. 2 “Balance and resistance to stress”, 35 min.) for the purpose of prompt, independent psycho-correction for the formation of new constructive skills as internal emotional states - reducing anxiety, resentment, irritability, manifestations of anger and external response skills - new behavioral responses. Thanks to this structure (psychotechnical exercises against the background of a relaxation state), AT No. 2 has a more powerful healing effect than AT No. 1.

4th novelty (Targeted AT). AT No. 1 and AT No. 2 are basic, however, certain groups of the population often have a need to use AT for a specific task. Therefore, several target ATs have been created for them, such as:
AT №3 "Charging the chakras", 60 min., for the formation of the skill of concentration of attention on the parts of the body corresponding to the location of the chakras.
AT №4 "How not to fall asleep at the wheel", 30 min. In the film "Seventeen Moments of Spring", a tired Stirlitz, while driving, pulls over to the side of the road and demonstrates an arbitrary skill of a short 30-minute sleep. The voice-over reports that Stirlitz has been specially trained in this skill for a long time. In our case, when using AT No. 4, training is not required, it is enough to pull over to the side of the road, turn on the recording, close your eyes and after half an hour continue on your way in an already rested state.

AT No. 5 “For insomnia”, 30 min., to develop the skill of falling asleep through thorough relaxation of all parts of the body.

5th novelty (Skill of mental hygiene. New task). It is very important to convey to the client or patient that a reliable and guaranteed result from these light and comfortable ATs depends on the systematic use of them.

The average time to develop a mental hygiene skill is two months of daily listening for half an hour.

The evolutionary development of society is a historically consistent formation of new CULTURAL SKILLS - the skill of walking upright, the skill of wearing clothes, the skill of speech, the skill of writing, the skill of body hygiene. In childhood, the skill of body hygiene was built into us by parents, mature relatives. The next cultural skill in this sequence is the mental hygiene skill. In our opinion, one of the new tasks of modern psychotherapy is to promote and facilitate the acquisition of this new cultural skill of mental hygiene by the general population.

Psychodiagnostics shows that when developing the skill of mental hygiene, such negative psychological qualities as mental stress and anxiety change to positive ones - relaxation and calmness. With such new stable psychological qualities the client, on the one hand, becomes immune to psychosomatic diseases, and on the other hand, notices an improvement in the quality of his life - they become more harmonious relationship in the family, at work, in society.

What are the advantages of AT audio simulators over psychological trainings and consultations?

Counseling does not build skills. The constructive skills acquired in psychological trainings are extremely useful, but after some time (2-4 months), without reinforcement, they significantly fade away. To consolidate the skills, it is necessary to fulfill the methodological requirement of repetition and systematic repetition.

This systematic requirement is not always possible for training groups due to material and time costs, remoteness of the area, while the proposed audio simulators can be used in the training process at any convenient time, in any environment, in any remote place and any number of times.

These AT are included in the Catalog of Health Technologies of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation / 1 /.

FROM full texts AT No. 1 and No. 2 and their sound can be found on the website of the authors www.relax-cd.ru

REFERENCES: 1. Tabidze A.A. AUTOGENIC TRAINING AND MUSIC THERAPEUTIC PROGRAMS. "Diagnostic and health technologies of restorative medicine". Multi-volume catalog-reference book, volume 1, ed. Corresponding Member RAMN A.N. Razumova - M.; Alliance Invest LLC, 2003, p. 142

"CENTAUR": Consciousness + Unconscious.

"HORSEMAN": "EGO" consciousness + "ID" unconscious (instincts) + "SUPER-EGO".

"RIDER": KUCHER - intellect, conscious mental part + HORSES - mental, unconscious mental part + CARRIAGE - bodily biological part.

"CARRIAGE": CARRIAGE - bodily biological part + HORSES - spiritual, unconscious mental part + KUCHER - intellect, conscious mental part + OWNER (not a passenger) - moral, ethical, spiritual part.

From practice, I chose one device of the psyche, with which you can not only explain human behavior, but also build and test new hypotheses. In general, the idea originates in the writings of the mystic Gurdjieff, although it may have been encountered earlier. After all, the fact that, in fact, people are biorobots, probably understood and is understood by many practitioners. A more biological interpretation belongs to Professor Tabidze. I think the general idea is clear from the illustrations.

I. Carriage - body (unconscious). unconditioned reflexes.
II. Horses - emotions (unconscious). unconditioned reflexes.
III. Coachman - intellect (subconscious + consciousness). Conditioned reflexes
IV. Master, Spirit, Conscience (Higher unconscious). Unconditioned reflexes.*

* If the conscience is asleep, then this is a passenger, and then we can assume that there is no IV element at all.

HYPNOSIS - an attempt to control the crew without the COACHER, by an external trainer. Taming the obstinate horse (phobias, fears, destructive drives, etc.). The coachman and the horses are not connected rigidly, through the reins. It can be seen from this model that emotions are primary (first horses react to danger (psychic stress arises), and the body and intellect follow them.

CONSCIOUSNESS - the visible part of the SUBCONSCIOUSNESS, manifested in real time and with the included control of moral and ethical standards (criticality)

SUBCONSCIOUSNESS - the baggage of social conditioned reflexes developed by upbringing and training (bodily - upright walking, swimming, cycling, driving a car, etc.; emotional - friendliness, restraint, good manners, etc. and intellectual - speech, reading, writing, etc. Formation period 15- 20 years old (childhood, adolescence) The peculiarity of the subconsciousness is not inherited.In the future, the consciousness and the subconsciousness are located in one structure - in the KUCHER.

UNCONSCIOUS - biological (hereditary) predisposition to manifestation unconditioned reflexes, instincts (aggression, anger, lust, etc.). The formation period is 5-15 million years (the entire history of the living). The peculiarity of the unconscious is inherited. In the future, the unconscious has 3 different components - the body, emotions and spirit.

◐ The instinct to preserve the individual (person, family, like-minded people, nation, state). Reinforcement is a feeling of pleasure for the bodily or emotional or intellectual parts.
◑ The instinct to preserve the species (humanity). Reinforcement - a sense of clear conscience.

SPIRITUALITY is a property of the psyche to experience reflex pleasure from performing moral deeds

The method of autogenic training is aimed at developing the skills and abilities of self-control and regulation of the psycho-physiological state in order to increase the effectiveness of one's actions, especially in stressful situations.

The range of use of auto-training is very wide. First of all, the method can be used to restore working capacity, regulate the emotional state, train and exercise the will in healthy people. The use of auto-training today becomes mandatory in the preparation of athletes, actors, operators.

Autogenic training is widely recognized throughout the world as an active method of psychotherapy, psychoprophylaxis and psychohygiene, which helps to increase the possibilities of involuntary body functions. The "International Coordinating Committee for the Clinical Application and Training of Autogenic Therapy" (ICAT) has been established and has been operating for several years.

Back in 1963, the IV All-Union Congress of Neurologists and Psychiatrists recommended autogenic training for wide medical practice.

One of the reasons for the growing popularity of autogenic training is the desire to overcome the onslaught of nervous overload not by taking pharmacological drugs, but by using physiological methods alleviate emotional tension.

Indications for the use of autogenic training for therapeutic purposes are diseases based on functional disorders. Autotraining is successfully used for gastrointestinal dyskinesia, the initial stages of bronchial asthma.

Autogenic training is used for prevention purposes. Most often, it is used to combat forced hypokinesia and sensory hunger, to train active attention, selective (selective) memory (for example, in programmers), spatial imagination, a complex sequence of movements, mobility and balance of nervous processes.

According to experts, autogenic training techniques can be useful in any field of activity, but the more special skills are required from an employee, the more help they will tell him.

In this regard, there is a prospect of professionally applied use of methods of mental self-regulation (by analogy with medicinal use), which can be divided into lower levels, which provide mainly controlled rest and regulation of vegetative functions, and higher ones, aimed at training mental functions.

Auto-training can be mastered by a person who clearly understands the meaning of the task set for himself, consciously striving to improve his will and character.

The method of autogenic training is used both in individual and group classes.

It must be borne in mind that if a person is internally unsure of the expediency of such training for him, if he hesitates and, moreover, during independent studies he also thinks about where to start and how to continue, then all this will make it difficult to master the method.

It must be remembered that the classes are, first of all, training. After all, not every young man who came to the sports section in a day or two will be able to achieve brilliant results. Only after a certain time, most of them, with the good guidance of the coach, begin to easily and freely perform very complex exercises.

Workout mental processes has much in common with physical training, but is still much more difficult and requires a more delicate approach. Therefore, in order to achieve sustainable results, it is necessary to set yourself up for patient and time-consuming work. Real knowledge and the ability to manage your well-being cannot be acquired without the preliminary expenditure of time and effort.

There are cases when people, having barely started psycho-regulatory training, already consider that they have mastered the necessary skills, and stop regular classes. As a result, acquired skills and, as a result, confidence in the ability to self-regulate mental states are lost.

The trainee can successfully complete the task only if he understands the meaning of what he is doing, strives to solve his problem as best as possible and trusts the recommendations of the doctor.

Experience shows that existing options psychoregulatory training for the preparation of young athletes are fully justified. Nevertheless, excessive self-confidence and excessive independence, especially in the absence of the necessary knowledge, as well as attempts at self-treatment without consultation and doctor's prescriptions, can bring very dubious benefits, and even harm.

Of course, the acquisition and assimilation of autogenic training skills depend on the individual characteristics of a person. This means that everyone who begins to learn psychic self-regulation will be able to improve their memory, willpower, intellectual abilities, develop fearlessness, etc. not immediately. This will take time.

It must be taken into account that the achievement of significant results is "a long and multi-stage process. As a rule, it provides for the setting of a certain system of goals. At the first stage, these goals should be aimed at studying necessary techniques training and mastering their sequence. The practical development of these techniques should include the ability to independently reproduce the required sensations and emotional states.

A certain part of people already from the very beginning of training have doubts about the possibility of achieving sufficiently serious results with the help of such a "simple" means as autogenic training. But the majority of people who consciously decide to engage in it, practically master the basics of self-regulation and achieve its further improvement.

If the trainee sets himself the task of mastering the methodology and techniques of training, and every day he works out on his own for 10-15 minutes once or twice a day, does not run ahead, does not move on to the most difficult before mastering the easier one, practical results will undoubtedly be good.

Autogenic training should begin in conditions where you will not be distracted by external stimuli. The situation should be calm, excluding the appearance of extraneous noise, light, other people walking around the room. This is especially important at the stage of mastering the techniques of concentration.

When mastering the skill, turn off everything extraneous and focus your attention only on training sessions, the requirements for the conditions for their conduct may no longer be so strict.

However, we should not forget about internal stimuli. It is impossible, for example, to start auto-training, experiencing feelings of hunger or after a hearty dinner. A full bladder or bowel is also a hindrance to exercise.

Training can be done at any time of the day. The first classes are recommended to be carried out in a warm, quiet room, with dim light. In the future, when the trainee is already able to ignore extraneous noise and has sufficiently mastered certain exercises, they can, and sometimes must be performed in difficult conditions, including on the bus, metro, train, etc.

Classes are usually held while sitting in a chair that provides support for the head, or lying down. Before the start of the lesson, it is advisable to loosen the belt, unfasten the collar, remove tight shoes. The practitioner is advised to close his eyes, take a comfortable, relaxed posture, just as it is recommended in the Schultz method. If possible, you should relax and tune in to relaxing holiday. It is very useful in this case to reproduce in memory the actual circumstances of a pleasant and calm rest.

Recollection, figurative representation and inner experience of real events revive the corresponding traces in the central nervous system and contribute to the reconstruction of the necessary mood and well-being. These trace reactions in the nervous system are a reflection of real events. Therefore, the figurative representation of the necessary situations should not be static. The more small details of a pleasant vacation you can mentally reproduce and feel again, as it were, the faster and more fully your goals will be achieved.

Autogenic training currently as a method of mental self-regulation includes two conditional stages of preparation.

The first of them - the lowest stage - is aimed at regulating some vegetative functions and includes mastering preparatory training exercises (breathing exercises, relaxation masks, etc.) with fixation of figurative sensations, mastering techniques of concentration, muscle relaxation, activation and toning.

The second - the highest - stage is aimed at training mental functions and includes autogenic self-hypnosis, regulation of the emotional state, strengthening the will, memory, development of imagination, attention.

Let us dwell on the methodology for mastering the techniques of autogenic training in stages. The first of these is the development of concentration techniques.

To master the techniques of concentration of attention in the first lessons, they usually include the “three circles” exercise proposed by K. S. Stanislavsky, which allows you to control the amount of attention. The student must imagine three concentric circles and, filling them with a certain content, mentally move from a larger to a smaller one.

The big circle is all perceived and visible space. It is advisable that the mental images of a large circle end with a representation of the street and the house. Then it is easier to move to the middle circle, the main content of which is the room in which the lesson is held.

Mentally imagining the main elements environment, the student must move to the third, small circle of his attention. Its main content will be the student himself. At the same time, he should try, as if from the outside, to see himself calmly resting.

I'm starting autogenic training.

I make myself comfortable in my place and get ready for rest.

I close my eyes.

I slowly recall the circumstances of a pleasant and relaxing holiday.

A feeling of pleasant peace and relaxation covers my entire body and spreads through it.

I rest easy. I rest.

Mentally imagine three circles: large, inside it - medium, and on average - small.

The first, large circle of my attention is all the space that I can see and perceive. This is our city, district, street, house where I live.

In this large circle of my attention there is another, middle one, limited by the walls of this room.

Mentally carefully examine the walls and furnishings of the room. Everything here is conducive to a pleasant and relaxing holiday.

In this room there is another conditional circle of my attention, in which only I myself am.

When I pay attention to myself, everything around me seems to disappear, becomes blurry and foggy.

In my mind's eye I see only my body: arms, legs, face, torso.

Having mastered the methods of concentration of attention in the first two or three sessions, you can begin breathing exercises that help to fix attention on breathing and deepen the state of rest.

When performing the exercise, you should breathe in your usual rhythm, clearly and freely, experiencing satisfaction from each breath. Do not deepen or hold your breath. The exercise is performed for five to seven minutes. At the same time, there may be feelings of warmth, peace and pleasant detachment.

This exercise can also have independent significance, especially in the period preceding difficult and stressful situations. Subsequently breathing exercises are complicated by the addition of an element of passively extended exhalation.

The main task of the second exercise is to learn how to control the duration of exhalation. Breathing with an exhalation longer than the inhalation is called calming.

The exercise begins in the usual familiar rhythm. At the same time, a mental account is kept about oneself separately on inhalation and separately on exhalation. With normal rhythmic breathing, the duration of inhalation and exhalation is the same, and the pause after exhalation is half the duration of inhalation. For example: inhale - count to four, exhale - count to four, pause - count to two. Gradually, without changing the duration of the inhalation and the pause between inhalation and exhalation, the trainee seeks to lengthen the exhalation, increasing the mental count to five, then to six, seven, eight, nine.

Such breathing is called evening, soothing. It well relieves increased neuro-emotional excitability, promotes accelerated falling asleep.

When performing the exercise, you may experience sensations of warmth in the abdomen and throughout the body. With independent training, two to three minutes are allotted for this exercise. The best results are achieved when the anterior wall of the abdominal cavity is involved in breathing.

The following formulas are recommended during breathing exercises:

I rest. My breathing becomes even, calm and completely free.

I breathe easily and naturally. Each new breath relieves tension, calms me and brings natural pleasure.

With each breath, the oxygen of the air flows into my body and spreads in a thin pulsating stream throughout the body, through the arms, legs, back, and stomach.

Breathing slows down slightly, exhalation becomes longer than inhalation.

On exhalation, the muscles of the body relax more and more, there is a feeling of pleasant weakness and looseness.

Having mastered the techniques of concentration and breathing exercises, you can proceed to the next, second stage of training. It consists in mastering the techniques of muscle relaxation.

The second stage of training is training in the ability to maximally relax the muscles of the arms, neck, face, legs, torso, in order to achieve a feeling of warmth, as well as a pleasant heaviness in the limbs. At the same time, the trainee, repeating mental commands to himself, should try to vividly and figuratively represent their content, all the time directing attention to his body, to those parts of his body that are being discussed at the moment.

It is important to learn to mentally imagine your hands, feet, face, all the time, as if examining them in detail, slowly moving your mental gaze in the direction from the tips of the toes, hands to the head. At the same time, it is imperative to achieve a distinct sensation of that area of ​​the skin, joint or limb as a whole, over which you glide with your mind's eye.

You can not jump over areas that you do not feel. If this happens, you need to go down (return) to the sensitive area and again rise higher, achieving distinct sensations.

This exercise is used as an introductory, preparatory. As a result of the training, the activity of the sense organs is improved, trace reactions deepen and the brightness of associations increases, the possession of visual memory is strengthened, figurative thinking, the intensity of motor reactions increases, switching from one sensory image to another accelerates.

Choosing appropriate real or fictional situations for figurative representation, one can learn to change one's state within certain limits. Exercise trains the "memory" of skin and internal sensations, which also affects the physical well-being of a person.

Mental representation, as a rule, begin with the right hand, then move on to the left hand, neck, face, right leg, left leg and torso.

During classes with a teacher (heterotraining), usually already in the first or second lesson, most students experience sensations of pleasant peace, relaxation, achieve complete or partial muscle relaxation, warmth and pleasant heaviness in the limbs. In subsequent lessons, these sensations become stronger, more familiar and spread to larger areas of the body.

However, with self-study (auto-training), it is not immediately possible for everyone to reproduce even well-known sensations. Therefore, it is recommended to start independent relaxation training only after two or three preparatory classes when certain skills and confidence in their abilities already appear.

In auto-training classes in the initial period, it is advisable to develop skills in individual exercises using a number of auxiliary techniques. For example, alternating muscle tension and relaxation, etc.

Preparatory relaxation exercises will be as follows.

The first exercise is tension and relaxation of the arms. Do it sitting or lying down. Stretch your arms forward and hold them in a horizontal position until you feel slightly tired (20-60 seconds). After that, slowly lower them to your knees (chair armrests). When your hands touch the support, strive to feel relaxation, pleasant rest, a slight warmth in your hands. After two or three training sessions, do the exercise one or two times mentally with all the sensations you remember. Bend the right arm at the elbow joint, clench the hand into a fist, tighten all the muscles of the arm and then instantly relax the arm so that, due to its gravity, it sinks down. At the same time, at the moment of relaxation, you will feel a pleasant heaviness in your hand, caused by the natural weight of the limb, and a feeling of weak pleasant warmth, due to the increased influx of warm blood.

Second exercise. Grit your teeth, tighten your chewing muscles and increase this tension. Then slowly relax your jaw and neck muscles, slightly open your mouth. Try to feel relief from the relieved stress. Remember the sensations that arise.

The third exercise is tension and relaxation of the legs. Do it sitting or lying down. Raise your straight legs 20-30 centimeters from the floor and hold them in this position until you feel heaviness and slight fatigue (20-60 seconds). Then slowly lower your legs. When they touch the floor, try to feel relaxation, a pleasant rest, a slight sensation of warmth in the legs and the pleasure of relaxing the muscles. After completing this exercise two or three times, do it one or two more times, mentally reproducing all the sensations learned during training.

As soon as you learn to catch the feeling of warmth and pleasant heaviness in the limbs, continue training to relax the muscles of the body without first tensing them.

When training in relaxation of skeletal muscles, take a comfortable position, concentrate your attention, for example, on your right hand, while mentally saying to yourself several times in a row: "My right hand relaxes, it becomes pleasantly heavy and warm." Try to mentally reproduce the sensations that you have in mind.

The basic rule of training is that every word, every phrase, uttered mentally, should evoke the feeling given by the formula.

Experience shows that after four to five days of targeted training (15-30 minutes a day), a person, as a rule, learns to voluntarily increase the temperature of the hands and feet, which indicates the success of mastering relaxation techniques.

At the same time, the psychophysiological characteristics of the state of trainees objectively recorded by doctors show that such relaxation is accompanied by a decrease in neuro-emotional stress. In the future, with the help of these trainings, it is possible to develop almost automatic skills in relaxation.

The usefulness of such training lies in the fact that the trainee learns to control his condition and, if necessary, manage it. Therefore, the considered exercises are of great independent importance.

When mastering the techniques of muscle relaxation, sitting in a chair, it is recommended to reproduce the following self-hypnosis formulas:

As you exhale, the muscles of the body relax more and more and a pleasant sensation of warmth appears in the relaxed muscles.

I begin to relax my right hand. With my mind's eye, I slowly and calmly run along my right hand: along my fingers, hand, forearm, shoulder.

Under my mind's eye, the right hand calmly and naturally relaxes.

The right hand warms up more and more. Warmth seems to flow into the fingers, palms, forearm and shoulder.

I breathe evenly, easily, freely.

I begin to relax my left hand. With my mind's eye, I slowly and calmly run along my left hand: along the fingers, hand, forearm, shoulder.

Under my mind's eye left hand relaxes more and more.

My left hand relaxes and warms up. A weak, barely noticeable sensation of warmth appears in the left hand, which will gradually intensify, grow, become more and more noticeable and stronger.

My left hand is relaxing more and more. It becomes warm, still and pleasantly heavy.

I breathe evenly, easily and freely. With each calm and slow exhalation in the relaxed muscles of my body, there is a pleasant sensation of slightly pulsating, rolling like a wave of warmth.

I begin to relax my neck muscles. At the same time, my head is pressed closer to the back of the chair. The muscles of the neck relax calmly and easily, as if some internal clamps are being removed.

A feeling of pleasant peace fills me from within.

I begin to relax my facial muscles. Mentally, gradually and slowly examine my face in parts. I see lips, cheeks, closed eyelids, I see my eyebrows and forehead.

The forehead muscles relax. The skin of the forehead becomes smooth, the smallest wrinkles are smoothed out.

Eyebrows relax easily and calmly.

The chewing muscles are relaxed. The lower jaw drops slightly.

The face becomes even, calm, like that of a sleeping person.

In some cases, with muscle relaxation, the feeling of warmth does not occur or it is weakly expressed. To remember the feeling of warmth for training purposes, it is recommended to immerse an arm or leg in warm water. You can enhance these sensations by introducing additional formulas. Pleasant pulsating warmth in my body becomes more and more distinct, it flows through my arms, back, stomach.

My stomach becomes soft and warm.

With each calm exhalation, a pleasant peace of soft and gentle drowsiness spreads through my body.

Gradually, my right leg begins to relax and warm.

The right leg becomes soft, warm and pleasantly heavy.

With my mind's eye, I slowly run along my right leg: along my fingers, foot, lower leg, thigh.

The right leg relaxes and fills with pleasant warmth.

I notice that my left leg.

My left leg becomes soft, pleasantly heavy and warm.

The left leg relaxes more and more.

Pleasant warmth in the legs, arms and throughout the body becomes stronger and stronger. It brings a feeling of serene peace, contentment and inner harmony.

Peace and quiet gently envelop me in a pleasant slumber.

I rest. My body is completely relaxed. Pleasant laziness slowly spreads throughout the body.

I enjoy the pleasant peace and relaxation that brings me new internal forces and calm self-confidence.

I rest, and again and again I want to rest and experience this pleasant feeling of renewal and strengthening of my body.

I become calm, cheerful and efficient.

I well remember the feelings of relaxation, warmth and peace that filled me.

I have already become stronger and healthier.

In the next lesson, these sensations will arise faster and will be even more pleasant.

Having mastered the techniques of muscle relaxation, you can proceed to the next, third stage of training, which consists in mastering the techniques of activation and toning. Activation is necessary in order to remove the feeling of relaxation, drowsiness, which leads to the fact that after the lesson you do not want to get up and move.

The ability to first immerse yourself in drowsiness, and then come out of it and sink again, and come out again during one session - surest sign good mastery of mental self-regulation.

Tonization, or an increase in mental tone, in contrast to activation, is such a mental self-action, as a result of which the level of activity of the organism becomes slightly higher than usual. If activation returns a person to normal well-being, then the goal of toning is to slightly exceed this level.

Therefore, the final part of the training begins with the fact that a person learns to develop a figurative representation of a real or fictional situation that most fully reflects the desired level of activity. At the same time, the trainee must mentally see himself as cheerful, cheerful, actively tuned in to an active state, etc. These representations are supplemented by self-hypnosis formulas. For example:

I feel that I have already had a good rest and regained my strength. These powers overwhelm me. They bring freshness and vigor.

The feeling of warmth gradually disappears.

My hands and feet become soft and obedient.

Thoughts in the head become crisp and clear.

Laziness and drowsiness disappear.

My mood becomes upbeat and cheerful.

There is a feeling of a light and fresh breeze blowing over the whole body.

A pleasant feeling of freshness and vigor captures the entire body: forehead, face, back, stomach, arms and legs.

My whole body becomes light, strong, obedient.

My mood becomes cheerful and cheerful.

I want to get up and move.

I open my eyes easily and freely, I am full of strength and energy. I stretch and stand up.

As a rule, any session of autogenic training ends with activation and toning techniques. At the same time, after the end of the lesson, it is advisable to perform several light but active physical exercises for two to three minutes, for example, spreading the arms to the sides, rotating them, tilting the body, squatting, jumping.

For a better assimilation of the skills of autogenic training at the initial stage, after working out the preparatory exercises, use in the lesson a pre-compiled text of mental commands that can be played through a tape recorder.

When recording commands on tape, pauses must be observed between them; then the skills will be acquired faster. The text should be read slowly, with stops between single words. With the acquisition of some practice, the need for sound accompaniment (heterotraining) will disappear by itself.

Let us draw the reader's attention to some features and possible difficulties in autogenic training, as well as ways to overcome them. For example:

1. If there is difficulty in repeating formulas, it is important to observe sufficient pauses between them, as well as between parts of expanded formulas. Usually after three or four sessions this difficulty is eliminated.

2. When drowsiness appears during classes, you can overcome it by resorting to the formulas:

My drowsiness goes away, a feeling of peace remains, I feel calmer and more pleasant.

I'm pleased.

I will continue training.

3. When thoughts distracting from auto-training arise, they are usually easy to eliminate by applying the formulas:

Extraneous thoughts pass by, I calmly continue my training, I become more and more attentive.

My focus on formulas is strengthened.

4. In some people with symptoms of vascular-vegetative dystonia, during autogenic training, blood pressure changes and dizziness may occur as a result. It stops during the first sessions of auto-training with open eyes. Subsequently, you can train with your eyes closed, and dizziness does not recur.

5. If (which is extremely rare) the trainee feels tired, it is advisable to briefly reduce the training time.

Having mastered the methods of psycho-regulatory training well, their sequence, having acquired sufficient skills to ensure control of their neuro-emotional state, they begin to reduce the number of self-hypnosis formulas in order to introduce themselves into such a state in a matter of minutes.

In the process of autogenic training, a situation is created in which the abbreviated text of the formulas acts as the previously used expanded formula. Then one brief formula affects the autotrainer to some extent in accordance with other formulas of the autogenic training complex.

For example, it is enough for a person to mentally say to himself: “Warm!”, how his hands and feet will warm up, a general calm will come, etc. Or such a word as “calmness”, even with the active state of a person who has mastered all the formulas, can reduce muscle and vascular tension, remove or reduce discomfort heartbeats, etc.

With systematic exercises, the activity of self-regulation increases, understanding of the significance of the method as a means of strengthening health, conviction in its benefits, readiness to use it as much as necessary to achieve the desired results, for example, in the development of hygiene skills, in order to prevent disorders of the nervous system.

Only then can you begin to solve more complex problems on your own. Naturally, this goal can be achieved on the basis of an honest and direct self-assessment, without any desire for self-decoration. At the same time, her choice is determined by the result of a serious and critical analysis of her lifestyle, habits and shortcomings, the causes of conflicts with others, dissatisfaction with herself, etc. Let's consider three examples of such self-assessments. First. The main shortcomings inherent in me: the desire to constantly be in the spotlight, the need to enter into a conversation about and without a reason. First I say, then I think;

haste in business. I do everything according to the first inner impulse. Often it turns out that it is done and not that, and not so;

I cannot redistribute attention between two actions, events, phenomena. I often pay attention to minor matters;

I get lost and stop thinking in front of the bosses. I can't stand it stare, while I forget everything;

in difficult, sudden situations, stiffness in the arms and legs appears, the voice is hoarse.

Second self-assessment example:

I experience a constant feeling of unpreparedness for any even simple business. I "burn out" long before the start of any responsible work;

all the time busy with himself, with his experiences, sensations; I am sure that I am ill, although the doctors cannot determine anything. I sleep badly, no appetite, always in a bad mood;

I am constantly indecisive. In difficult situations, I try to delay the decision in every possible way, subconsciously hoping that the situation will change and everything will be decided by itself.

Third example of self-assessment:

I tend to be constantly dissatisfied with myself and others, the desire to scold everything and everyone;

quarrelsomeness in the team;

I can't speak in front of an audience. Rising to the podium, I forget everything;

I work irregularly, I am often distracted. I quit one thing, start another, etc.

The examples given are somewhat schematic and do not cover possible typical options. They are provided only to illustrate the required level of candor in self-assessments.

Honest self-assessments are not obtained by everyone and not immediately. This is a serious work, sometimes requiring a certain internal struggle with oneself. However, such self-esteem is already half the battle. This is both a way to setting a task and a readiness to solve it.

The compilation of a self-hypnosis formula should be taken quite seriously, based on the tasks set for oneself. First, you need to carry out some preparatory work on the critical reflection of the goal, task or problem, which should be comprehensively and deeply considered.

Your personal experience, your knowledge, a critical attitude to your own shortcomings and a strong desire to get rid of them with the help of auto-training. Everyone should make a self-hypnosis formula for themselves. It is useless to repeat the ready-made verbal formula of self-hypnosis if a person has not internally realized the need for such self-restructuring or, as they say, has not “suffered” its vital need for himself.

The self-hypnosis formula does not have any magical, hypnotic effect and is by no means the main and only condition for the success of your studies.

The selected formula will be beneficial if it reflects the active position of a person, concentrates a strong-willed desire for self-improvement in a verbal phrase.

A good self-hypnosis formula reinforces a strong-willed decision, indicates its direction. At the same time, discarding everything superfluous, secondary, it crystallizes a strong-willed effort aimed at fixing a positive psycho-emotional or social-behavioral life stereotype.

Here it is already appropriate to talk about self-education, and not about self-hypnosis. Self-education differs from self-hypnosis, because it contains an active position on the development positive properties character, development of volitional qualities, training of memory, attention.

The formula should reflect the specific situation (objective or subjective) and the body's responses or reactions that should be fixed in the process of autogenic training. For example, formulas for overcoming fear of speaking:

When speaking, I am calm and confident.

The target setting of the formula should always be realistically achievable. So, you can not immediately get rid of bad habit, but by setting tasks, you can count on success step by step.

It is known that in people who abuse smoking, the suggestion formula should first contain recommendations for limiting smoking, fixing negative emotions and moods associated with smoking, and only after fixing them should recommend a more decisive cessation of smoking in general.

When compiling a self-hypnosis formula, one should not use negative formulations: "I am not afraid of heights", "My head does not hurt." The content of the formula should be a statement expressed in familiar words briefly and concisely.

Here are the variants of self-hypnosis formulas offered by the Leningrad psychotherapist S. M. Lyubinskaya in the book "Reserves of Health", published in 1982. Having become acquainted with these formulas, everyone can make their own.

1. Overeating and excess weight:

Eat less and be full.

I am indifferent to food.

I want to lose weight, be slim.

2. Smoking cessation:

Smoking around - I don't care.

I am indifferent to smoking.

Quit smoking - heart healthy.

I always know how to refuse the offered cigarette.

In any mood, smoking is harmful. It's disgusting.

3. The fight against drunkenness:

Others drink - I'm not drawn.

In any mood, alcohol is disgusting.

Indifferent to alcohol.

I stopped thinking about alcohol.

My head is light - stopped drinking.

The craving for alcohol disappeared.

I want a normal life - I stop drinking.

I want happiness for my children - I stop pouring.

4. With physical inactivity:

I walk willingly, quickly and easily.

I move a lot and I'm healthy.

5. With incontinence:

I always speak calmly.

I control myself easily.

I am strong and kind.

I became inwardly calm.

I am above trifles, always calm and confident.

I enjoy being polite.

Someone is making noise (coughing, grumbling, knocking, humming, talking on the phone for a long time, etc.) - doing my job.

I am calm.

6. With indecision, shyness:

I make decisions confidently, I act energetically.

The right word comes by itself and at the right time.

I think and act decisively, boldly.

I decided and will do it easily.

I know the work - I work easily.

7. When in a bad mood:

I see all that is beautiful around me.

The heart is light and calm.

I work - the mood is wonderful.

I live interestingly and joyfully.

I am useful to people.

I am at ease among people.

8. With excessive excitement:

I perform easily (well), I always (everywhere) control myself.

I perform - my posture is free, beautiful.

I perform - my movements are free, precise.

I answer calmly, I remember everything.

9. On the eve of the operation:

I sleep soundly the night before the operation.

I am calm and that helps.

I will be fine after the operation.

10. Fear of Toothache:

I feel safe in the dental chair.

I am indifferent to toothache.

Gums cold, cold, cold.

11. In case of poor transport tolerance:

In the car (bus, plane) I feel calm, I feel good.

I think about the flight calmly.

I'm interested in the road.

Soviet scientists K.I. Mirovsky and A.N.

I am completely calm.

My whole body is relaxed and calm.

Nothing distracts.

I feel inner peace.

A light breeze blows over my shoulders and back.

All muscles become elastic.

Goosebumps run through the body.

I am like a compressed spring.

Everything is ready to roll.

All tense.

Attention!

I'm calm, calm, calm.

The muscles of the face are relaxed.

The jaw drops sluggishly.

The tongue is loose and heavy.

Breathe freely and easily.

I speak without tension, at ease.

I am calm, all relaxed.

In any mood, my speech is free and fluent.

My actions are always calm and measured.

In any situation I am accompanied by composure and ease.

I don't feel any tension.

The speech flows on its own.

It's easy for me not to think about my speech.

It is smooth, free, clear.

It pours on its own, arbitrarily and calmly.

With functional and dysuric disorders of the bladder function, the following self-hypnosis formulas are recommended (auto-training session should be carried out in a warm room, reclining):

Pleasant warmth in the lower abdomen.

I feel this warmth more and more clearly.

Heat builds up in waves.

Unpleasant sensations become tolerable.

They melt into warmth and relaxation.

I feel warmth and relaxation in the lower abdomen.

With functional pain in the abdomen and in the postoperative period with abdominal operations along with self-hypnosis formulas similar to those given above, active (diaphragmatic) breathing is recommended, which has a calming and relaxing effect.

The use of any self-hypnosis formula should follow in a session of autogenic training after concentration and muscle relaxation. In one session, you should not use more than five or six self-hypnosis formulas, and after a while, by repeated repetition, you need to fix them in memory.

Autogenic training helps a person to improve himself, to cultivate positive character traits, that is, to engage in self-education.

Self-education must begin with self-knowledge. Speech in this case It is about the study by a person of his own mental and physical characteristics. You can know yourself both directly and indirectly. The first is self-knowledge through self-observation. In the process of perceiving oneself - creating an idea of ​​oneself, reflecting on one's behavior, attitude to the world around and to people, a person, as it were, splits in two - he reports to himself about his own state and evaluates it from the standpoint of the requirements that society and the collective place on him, in which he works, relatives with whom he lives together.

You need to engage in self-observation in a calm, balanced state. Everyone can monitor their own psyche, you just need to practice it. L. N. Tolstoy possessed an excellent ability of self-observation. Constant exercises in self-observation, an accurate analysis of his own psychological processes and states helped him to give a realistic psychological description of other people whom he portrayed in his books.

L. N. Tolstoy, analyzing his inherent mental properties, severely criticized himself. Here is what he wrote: “I am bad-looking, awkward, boring for others, immodest, intolerant (intolerant) and bashful, like a child. I am intemperate, indecisive, inconstant, stupidly vain, ardent, like all spineless people. I am not brave. I am sloppy in life and so lazy that idleness has become an almost irresistible habit for me. I am smart, but my mind mine has never been tested on anything. I have neither a practical mind, nor a worldly mind, nor a business mind. I am honest, that is, I love good, I have made a habit of loving it, and sometimes deviate from it, I am dissatisfied with myself and return to him with pleasure. But there are things that I love more than kindness - glory. " (Tolstoy L.N. Complete collection of works, vol. 47. M.-L., 1934, p. 8-9).

Ruthless self-criticism! But she helped Leo Tolstoy become a great writer. Self-criticism was not an end in itself. Immediately after such an analysis, he outlined a program of self-correction, setting himself the priority tasks: "The most important thing for me in my life is correction from 3 main vices: demon (characteristic), irritability) and laziness."

L. N. Tolstoy, tirelessly daily working on himself, overcame laziness, excessive vanity and other shortcomings. At the same time, he developed his best inclinations: philanthropy, and especially his love for the people, rural workers, his abilities: observation, depth of mind, creative imagination, memory. L. N. Tolstoy mastered over 10 foreign languages, studied history, medicine, knew the theory and practice of agriculture very well. He had a powerful character, loved intellectual and physical labor.

Isn't this a good example to follow? A person who is highly demanding of himself will always find ways to correct his shortcomings in his behavior and in relation to other people. And consequently, he is less likely to get one of the serious illnesses associated with negative emotions that arise in conflict situations.

Of course, in self-analysis one should not underestimate the positive aspects of one's character. Constant fixation of attention on one's own limitations weakens the strength of the human body, and sometimes leads to a false conclusion about the inability to do everything, including self-education. Specialist scientists argue that every person can and should find good character traits in himself, use them to improve psychological compatibility with others, turn to people the best sides your soul. This is necessary because it helps, among other things, to avoid conflict situations and thus contributes to mental health.

When studying oneself, it is better to record observations on oneself in a diary, indicating in it the month and date, as well as the circumstances in which certain properties manifested themselves. Since emotions are the most indicators of a person’s essence, his upbringing, it is worth taking a closer look at what causes feelings most often arise, what worries you the most. So you can determine what a person really is.

It is also important to find out the presence of such qualities as determination, perseverance, endurance, and develop them in oneself. It is interesting to study how developed the ability to self-govern one's actions, what is the attitude to the circumstances encountered, the phenomena of the surrounding reality.

But if you start a diary, then only repeating elements of behavior or activity should be entered in it, because it is then that you can judge personal properties, character traits. If you also try to write a characterization of yourself, then you can get data on those properties, some of which should be encouraged, while others should be eradicated.

So, self-education is a complex process aimed at the formation or correction of one's own personality. It includes:

1. The study of their positive qualities, which should be relied on, and the negative manifestations of character that need to be overcome. Having made an analysis of the properties obtained and noticed behind him, a person decides to work on himself.

2. Setting the main goal and developing a self-education program. The goal can be private - overcoming laziness, for example. The program outlines the stages, sequence and methods of self-education.

3. The process of self-education with the help of self-regulation of activities and behavior. It includes self-control and auto-training. Of course, if physical self-education is aimed at the formation of a physically harmoniously developed person who is able to work until a very old age, then self-education of the psyche is the harmonious development of the mind, will, emotions, that is, the formation of a person who knows how to think, act and experience in order to bring joy to himself and others .

When working on yourself, it is very important not to put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Here I would like to recall the wonderful verses of the 15th-century German humanist writer Sebastian Brant:

A lost son often swears: "Tomorrow I'll be better!" But this "tomorrow" never comes, that's the trouble! Like melted snow, like smoke, The cherished day is elusive. And only decrepit, a fool Will finally enter tomorrow, Relaxed, already weak, With a longing of repentance in his soul. Hurry up today to become better - You won't suffer so tomorrow.

Brant Sebastian. Ship of Fools (M., 1965, p. 91-93)

Working on yourself will be beneficial if the person who has started auto-training adheres to the basic rules of hygiene. So, for example, after mental work, physical activity is useful, mental work becomes productive if it is not performed immediately after physical or intellectual stress. In such cases, a preliminary rest is required.

Every person in the process labor activity experiences and should experience a certain fatigue, which is compensated by the subsequent sufficient rest. When working to a mild degree of fatigue, a certain training of the body occurs, the ability of a person to overcome difficulties increases, compensatory-adaptive mechanisms improve and the reserve capabilities of the body increase.

At the same time, if rest between periods of intensive work activity is insufficient, if a person often has to continue working for a considerable time against the background of pronounced fatigue, then symptoms of overwork will inevitably appear, primarily from the nervous system. Autogenic training increases the efficiency of rest, promotes faster recovery of human strength and capabilities.

It is necessary to learn how to rest properly, just like working. Consistently combining autogenic training sessions with active recreation - physical exercises, you can significantly improve general state and performance.

The regularity of self-study should be at least once a day, and their duration - at least 10 minutes. The more continuous, intense, purposeful, consistent and variable the repetitions of the desired type of reactions are, the easier it can be to develop a dynamic stereotype.

In order to overcome monotony and prevent the development of a static stereotype, it is necessary to diversify the content as much as possible, keeping the sequence of exercises almost unchanged. For example, to improve your memory, it is not enough to repeat general formulas like: My memory is getting better. Formulas should be deployed on the basis of taking into account individually weak elements of organizing the memorization of material and placing emphasis on them. For example:

the ability to highlight the main thing and distract from the non-essential;

the ability to focus on the main thing;

ability to memorize;

the ability to restore forgotten things in memory;

recognition features.

Passive classes (heterotraining) without independent work of trainees pursue limited psychohygienic goals and cannot provide active mastery of mental self-regulation techniques. At the same time, the expediency of their use is undeniable in a number of cases, for example, for teachers and students, especially at the end of semesters, in preparation for the examination session.

Each person, with a simple analysis of the characteristics of his activity, can, with the help of autogenic training, improve memory, attention, work style, attitude to work, general condition, significantly increase efficiency, reduce the number of errors, achieve correct and quick decision-making.

It must also be remembered that our performance is a dynamic property, subject to objective laws.

The labor productivity of any specialist in a certain period of time has at least three phases: entry into work, stable performance and developing fatigue.

With easy and interesting work, the period of "working out" will be minimal, a person will quickly achieve high labor productivity. With greater intensity and difficulty of the work performed, performance and its stability will depend on the individual style of work, the initial level of the psychophysiological state and individual characteristics (memory, attention, thinking, general and physical endurance, etc.).

A very important prerequisite for high labor productivity is attention, considered as a selective orientation of consciousness, focus on a particular object or activity. Poorly trained attention is often the cause of low performance in people whose level of training and abilities can provide significantly better results.

To increase attention, one must not be distracted from work, create and maintain interest in it, be consistent and complete the scheduled task on time, use strong-willed efforts and suppress negative emotions.

Absent-mindedness, which is characterized by extremely easy distractibility, can be a reflection of the weakness of voluntary attention. On the other hand, absent-mindedness is also the result of strong concentration, when all attention is concentrated on one object and it is difficult to switch to another. Only after a preliminary analysis of their difficulties in work and Everyday life you can set a specific task for psychoregulatory training.

Improving the individual style of work, methods and forms of organization of mental functions, reducing excessively high neuro-emotional stress, etc., it is possible to reduce the period of training and significantly increase the period of stable performance.

But what rules L. N. Tolstoy adhered to when working on himself: "1) What is appointed, be sure to fulfill ... 2) What you do, do it well. 3) Never consult a book if you forgot something, but try 4) Make your mind constantly act with all its possible strength "(Tolstoy L. N. Poln. sobr. soch., vol. 46, p. 15).

1. Expose your own shortcomings to merciless criticism.

2. Set a reasonable goal and go towards it firmly, under no circumstances stepping aside.

3. Believe in your own strength and the ability to educate or correct yourself.

4. Never put off until tomorrow what needs to be done today.

The sculptor S. T. Konenkov spoke well about the fruits of self-education, who gave a psychological analysis of the personality of A. P. Chekhov based on two photographs taken one after the other 10 years later. Here is his entry: “I was amazed at how different Chekhov the student is from Chekhov the doctor and the beginning writer, and how much the face of the young Chekhov is rougher than the sublimely beautiful appearance of Anton Pavlovich in the period of creative maturity... into something so beautiful that any discerning artist will think for a long time before he decides to tell people about this smartest and kindest person in a picturesque or sculptural portrait "(Konenkov Sergey. The beauty of a person. - In the collection: Aesthetics of behavior. M., 1963, pp. 11, 20).

Consequently, a person is able to engage in self-education and re-education. And this is very important role belongs to autogenic training. A person trained in self-government achieves amazing results in the regulation of his spiritual forces.

Auto-training helps a person to look optimistically at his surroundings, not to give in to failures. After all, even N.V. Gogol wrote that all our failures come from ourselves, we either hurried or missed something. Therefore, you should start the same business again in order to correct all your previous mistakes. In short, patience is required, and it can be developed by resorting to auto-training.

It must be remembered, wrote N.V. Gogol, that "great people became great because they were not embarrassed in any way from the first failure, and not only from the first, but even from several, - and then when others, seeing their patience, they laughed at them as if they were crazy, they took up their failed business with new zeal and finally succeeded in it completely.

Accumulated negative emotions, clamps in the body and thoughts should be disposed of so that they do not become the cause of the development of psychosomatic disorders. Mind and body are interconnected, with which scientists already agree. That is why it is recommended to carry out autogenic training in various exercises for the purpose of relaxation and relaxation, which will be discussed in the online magazine site.

Why should a person relax? This is how nature has programmed it. Every day, a person goes to bed so that the physical body rests, and thoughts and emotions are put in order, loosen their grip and become less pronounced. During the day, a person also needs rest, which depends on the amount of stressful stimuli that have piled up.

Almost every day a person gets irritated. This irritation may be significant, or it may be weak. Either way, relaxation is required. physical body, which will entail the relaxation of thoughts and the release of emotions that sometimes stay in a person’s head for days and months.

Everyone's life is full of stress. Either it is necessary to resolve issues related to work, then the topic of lack of money constantly worries, then health deteriorates, then relations with a loved one do not go well. A person does not need to look for problems, since usually they themselves are created by him, develop and emotionally hurt.

Naturally, everyone who has gone through various stressful situations can say that they are emotionally exhausted. Over time, you feel like you get tired, no matter how interesting you may be to solve your issues. And often this is due to the fact that a person is simply very tense during the emergence and solution of problems.

Most effective method so that in any stressful situation you are not exhausted, is it to learn to physically relax? When a person is worried, angry or does not accept because of something, he physically strains his muscles. He does not notice this, because he is busy thinking about the problem itself and experiencing his emotions. And at this time, his muscles are tense, because at the physical level they are trying to defend themselves and cope with a negative situation.

Naturally, after some time, you feel tired not only emotionally, but also physically. This all suggests that you tried to cope with the problem not only on an intellectual level, but also on a physical one.

From the fact that bodily you are struggling with an unpleasant situation, you get tired. Sometimes even because you were tense at the muscle level, you became emotional and unbalanced. Therefore, in order to calmly solve your problems, quickly and easily, you must be calm, balanced and understand what to do and what not to do. People sometimes make even more mistakes when trying to solve their problems because they give in to emotional and physical stress. The body wants to feel calm and healthy, but the person strains it and does not relax. This leads to the fact that a person cannot concentrate on solving the issue that has arisen, because of which he begins to think very superficially and illogically.

To solve your problem, while doing it for your own benefit, you must physically relax. Train yourself not only to calm down emotionally, but also to physically relax all your muscles that are tense due to the situation. It is physical relaxation, or even the process of taking the time to calm down, that allows you to become more balanced and emotional. This, accordingly, leads to the fact that you begin to think more soberly, judiciously and logically. This means that you are already solving the problem, and not making it worse. So as soon as there is a problem in your life that you need to solve, and not make it worse, take the time to let your body relax, as this affects your emotional state, which in turn affects the decisions you make.

What is autogenic training?

The German psychiatrist I. Schultz developed autogenic training, which is based on self-hypnosis. Its meaning is to achieve two natural states within the body:

1. Feeling of warmth, which is associated with the expansion of blood vessels and capillaries at the time of relaxation.
2. A feeling of heaviness that occurs when the muscles of the body relax.

It is these two sensations that accompany a person when he falls asleep. It is these sensations that arise when a person is put into hypnosis. Through these experiences, one can reach the state of meditation that many people want to learn when they reach the limit of their emotional experiences and become exhausted.

Initially, autogenic training was intended to treat people with neurotic disorders. However, this technique is also ideal for healthy people who daily accumulate negative emotions and experiences. After all, neurotic disorders are the result of accumulated negative experiences that a person often carries in himself and is not able to get rid of.

Many psychologists point out that modern healthy man more is sick. Only if he does not harm others, he can already be considered healthy. Thus, we can say that society for the most part consists of sick people, they are simply not so dangerous to others as to put them in psychiatric hospitals.

The reason for the pain of many can be called negative experiences and emotions that they experience and do not get rid of. The sensations accumulate and accumulate, leading to a natural state, or irritability. Even the slightest reason can throw a person out of balance. This can no longer be called a normal state, since a healthy individual can survive and calmly endure many irritating factors, reacting calmly to them.

To get rid of accumulated emotions, you should understand in more detail the methods of autogenic training.

Relaxation in autogenic training

Autogenic training includes muscle relaxation and suggestion to the subconscious. The first part of the exercises is to relax the muscles of the body. Then the individual proceeds to suggest to his subconscious certain thoughts of a positive nature, which should transform him, calm him down, strengthen him.

A distinctive feature of autogenic training from hypnotherapy is the role of the individual over whom the "" occurs. In hypnotherapy, the individual takes a passive part, while in autogenic training, he actively hypnotizes himself in the direction he needs.

There is the highest level of autogenic training, when a person is able to inspire himself with any attitudes. However, only trained people reach this level. For an ordinary person, the first exercises of the initial stage are enough, when he helps to relax his body and emotions, thoughts. At this stage, attention should be paid to breathing: it should be calm and deep. At the same time, a person must observe how the air passes through his organs and diverges through all the cells of the body.

In the process of relaxing breathing, it is necessary to pronounce a program to yourself: “My clamps disappear. Muscles relax." Emotional stress leads to muscle clamps, which provoke the development of psychosomatic disorders. It is necessary to observe how the whole body relaxes.

When a person reaches complete relaxation, he can enter a special state characterized by three phases:

1. The first is complete rest, relaxation.
2. The second is the state of weightlessness.
3. The third is the disappearance of the body, the person does not seem to feel it.

Being in such a borderline state, it is important to maintain control so as not to fall asleep. It is in this state that one can engage in self-hypnosis. It is better to prepare in advance the verbal settings that you will pronounce to yourself. They can be used to improve performance. internal organs. Some use autogenic training to change their own beliefs and attitudes. The most important thing here is not to hurt yourself.

You can simply put yourself in a borderline state in order to observe your body or the course of your thoughts. You do not need to manage the process, just be an observer. Such a “game” will allow you to relax not only physically, but also mentally and emotionally. The nervous system will become much stronger if a person does the work correctly, even just by observing what is happening in his thoughts and emotions.

Relaxation and autogenic training

There are many tricks and techniques that allow a person to cope with emotional clamps and stressful conditions. Here it is important to tune in to the process and do everything alone. Relaxation through autogenic training helps to get rid of physical clamps, cope with insomnia, eliminate stagnation in thoughts and emotions, remove some diseases that are easily treated.

The main direction of autogenic training is psychomuscular relaxation. Thus, a person can influence the state of his body or psyche. If you constantly train, you can begin to live a harmonious and peaceful life, without worrying and not facing many diseases.

Studies have been conducted that have shown that people who resort to autogenic training extend their lives by several years.

Consider two psychomuscular workouts:

1. Shortly before sleep, stay in the fresh air, take a shower, then slow down subsequent actions (talk more quietly, dim the lights in the room, slowly undress and go to bed). Close your eyes, relax. Without opening your eyes, look up, saying "I", and down, saying "calm down." Do this several times. And then you can imagine a picture of something soothing, saying to yourself how you relax and rest.
2. Take a supine position, close your eyes and watch your breath. You can imagine a picture of something soothing. We begin to pronounce verbal instructions for calming and relaxing individual parts of the body until the whole body is relaxed.

Exercises in autogenic training

Autogenic training exercises can be used anywhere and anytime. Any person can do this. If it is not possible to lie down, then you can do the exercises while sitting. The main thing is faith in the success and efficiency of the process.

If you practice the exercises daily, you can achieve a good level of relaxation when you no longer need to create special conditions. It will be enough to say a few phrases to yourself, as you will immediately feel relaxed.

Outcome

Autogenic training allows a person to get rid of physiological problems and emotional stress. However, if you train and achieve more high level development, it is possible to reach the stage when a person can influence and program himself.