This method of treatment was developed toward the end of the twenties and first summarized in book form by J. H. Schultz in 1932. The extensive description of autogenic training to be made in this section should not, however, tempt anyone to begin the exercises without a doctor's guidance, since occasionally complications can result from study without instruction from a specialist. Experience shows that problem sleepers have particular difficulty in relaxing, being limber, and in letting themselves go. If this were not the case, they would probably have no difficulty in sleeping. For this reason, though, they most of all need an introduction, explanation, and guidance about how autogenic training works. Left to themselves to learn the methods, they would fail, would no longer place any confidence in the technique, and that would definitely be a regrettable loss. They would have lost a chance to acquire a significant aid in better coping with their difficulties. The problem sleeper should consult a doctor skilled in using the method and learn it in private or in group sessions. He will learn the basic principles of autogenic training, or of "psychotherapeutic basic exercises," a term to be encountered again in discussing the methods of graduated active hypnosis.
There are several steps in autogenous training, a technique of exerting influence on the self through concentration that leads to the achievement of a trance state resembling a hypnotic state. After tapering off into a quiet state, concentration is used to achieve muscle relaxation. This results in altogether diminishing basic muscle tension (muscle tone). Relaxation spreads through one arm and gradually through the whole body. Since this process is neurophysiological in origin, it is felt and experienced as weight. Instructions to the person learning the method require him to imagine this weight by using passive concentration. After some practice, all that is required to bring about muscle relaxation (generalized hypotonia) that spreads through the entire body is to imagine "rest—weight," and almost instantly he will experience rest and weight. The next exercise is directed toward regulating the blood vessels in the arms and legs and then in the whole body. A real, measurable widening of the vessels does occur, even among persons just starting to learn muscle relaxation. Several examinations enabled me to prove that this does take place, although it usually is only noticed when the concentration is focused on experiencing warmth. Here, too, the trainee starts by imagining a feeling of warmth in one or on both arms until he is keenly able to experience warmth in the extremities and even in the whole body. Therefore he should concentrate on imagining "quiet—weight—warmth."
The state achieved by these means was termed basic psychotherapeutic exercise by E. Kretschmer, who developed the method of step-by-step active hypnosis (1946). The directions of the two methods diverge beyond this point. After other more advanced training is mastered, the continuation of autogenic training leads to meditation. The continuation of self-hypnosis, however, leads directly to a hypnotic state or to a state resembling hypnosis and is achieved through practice in keeping the eyes motionless (prolonged fixation) for an extended period of time.
In contrast, test subjects continuing basic autogenic training, after attaining the feeling of warmth and weight spreading through the entire body, next practice changing their breathing by imagining the somewhat strange but particularly effective phrase, "it breathes me," or "it breathes in me." This does not explain the idea that breathing is primarily a passive event. Once the student has had his attention called to his breathing, he is impeded from inadvertently forcing his breathing or from overbreathing (hyperventilating). He learns to observe his breathing, which produces a generalized effect of relaxation and automatically switches over to passive breathing.
It should be mentioned in this context that all oriental forms of meditation achieve an autohypnotic state by means of regulating the breathing. Juxtaposed to the
exercise in inhibiting breathing that occurs in several forms of yoga is the "regulation of breathing" used in these autohypnotic methods "... until the breathing becomes excellent and joyous," as Buddha expressed it.
The second exercise directed toward the functioning of an organ concerns the heartbeat. The resolution to be concentrated on is "heart is beating quietly and vigorously" or "heart is beating quietly and evenly." Through these exercises, it is literally possible to feel the heartbeat slowing down and to show a slight drop in blood pressure.
The next step is to concentrate on regulating the blood vessels in the abdominal cavity. This is done by using concentration to try to reach the nerve plexus responsible for the degree of constriction among the abdominal blood vessels. This nerve plexus has long been termed solar plexus or plexus Solaris, hence the command, or better yet the inner imagining should be "solar plexus flowing warm." An improved blood supply to the abdominal organs takes place as a result of concentration.
In the last exercise at the elementary level of autogenic training, the head is stressed as the center that guides the body by concentrating on "forehead cool" or "forehead pleasantly cool." In contrast to all other exercises, all of which aim at relaxation and vegetative change, the last exercise deals with a primarily psychological phenomenon. Problem sleepers are emphatically recommended, however, to omit this last exercise in their attempt at achieving relaxation through the aid of autogenic training, as it can easily be registered as an arousal stimulus.
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