Lecture
Autogenic training (AT), developed by the German physician
Johannes Schultz, is aimed at relieving nervous and psychological strain through muscular relaxation, and, against that background, forming mental images corresponding to the desired behavioral skills. The hardest part of
AT, as noted by its popularizer H. Lindemann, is achieving inner concentration, focusing on feelings, images,
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sensations, and mental representations, without appealing to the will, which automatically
raises the level of tension and makes relaxation impossible.
Concentrating attention on relaxation provides a focused rest, thanks to which the body can quickly restore its strength.
AT can be practiced sitting, in the «coachman on the droshky» pose (head lowered, arms resting unsupported on the thighs); reclining in an armchair; or lying on your back.
The first stage of AT contains six exercises aimed at
calming the autonomic nervous system. The complete formula for entering
autogenic relaxation is as follows (to be repeated mentally):
• I am completely calm (1 time)
• My right arm is heavy (6 times)
• I am completely calm (1 time)
• My right arm is warm (6 times)
• I am completely calm (1 time)
• My heart beats calmly and evenly (6 times)
• I am completely calm (1 time)
• My breathing is calm and even (6 times)
• I am completely calm (1 time)
• My solar plexus radiates warmth (6 times)
• I am completely calm (1 time)
• My forehead is pleasantly cool (6 times)
• I am completely calm (1 time)
After the autogenic immersion, the practitioner pronounces the formulas
of intent, that is, the behavioral programs he wants to develop for himself. For example, «Tomorrow I need to wake up at seven o'clock», «I need to keep a strict daily routine»; «I play easily and freely»; «Performing in public is easy and pleasant for me»; «I respond to any difficulty by mobilizing my strength»; «I am calm, composed, and unshakeable in any
situation»; «During my practice sessions at home I am extremely attentive».
Such exercises are recommended to be performed 2 – 3 times a day.
The desired psychological stabilization comes after a month of regular practice.
In recent times, so-called transcendental meditation has become widely
popular as a means of normalizing one's mental state;
it seeks to achieve a special harmonious unity between a person and the surrounding world and with what he is doing at the given moment. «Meditation» translated from Latin means «reflection», implying deep penetration into the essence of an object or
idea through concentrated attention on it. In the Eastern tradition, meditation means the complete detachment of a person from surrounding real-
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ity and a kind of dissolution of one's personality in the impersonal absolute, dwelling in unity with the Universe. A person goes beyond the bounds
of the self and, in his imagination, can picture himself as a tree, grass,
a drop in a stream, a river's current, an ocean wave, a rock on the seashore.
The writer Daniil Andreev describes a stirring experience of meditative immersion in one of his
books. Once, lying on the bank of the Nerussa River,
he felt, «as though the Nerussa River were flowing not behind me, a few steps away,
but as if through my very soul. It was an extraordinary
feeling. Solemnly and silently, into the stream flowing through me, everything that existed on earth and everything that could exist in heaven poured in. In a bliss barely bearable for a human heart, I felt as though
slender spheres, slowly rotating, floated in a universal round dance, yet through me. And everything I could conceive or imagine was embraced by a jubilant unity. Everything was within me that night, and I was within
everything». A similar state was described by F. Tyutchev, who said: «All is within me and
I am within everything».
Having broken through beyond the bounds of everyday life, a person can then
return to himself and unlock the creative powers dormant
within him. A musician – whether composer or performer – while experiencing a meditative
immersion in the piece of music he is composing or performing, feels an unbreakable unity with it, and can say: «I – am
the music» and «The music– is me». In this state, the unconscious mechanisms of the psyche come into play, and the musician intuitively finds precisely the solution that produces the greatest artistic effect. The essential condition for the emergence of meditative consciousness is complete and deep concentration of attention and detachment from all extraneous stimuli
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