Autogenic training is a way to use calm and relaxation to enhance general health and well-being. It was developed in the 1920s by a German cardiologist named Johannes Heinrich Schultz who noticed that many people experienced warmth, heaviness and relaxation when they were hypnotised. He wanted to find a way for them to access this without necessarily using formal hypnosis.
Autogenic training, often said to be the precursor of biofeedback techniques, was the result.
The training affects the autonomic nervous system, which regulates involuntary processes like heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, digestion, and sexual arousal. It engages the mind/body connection and thus helps with anxiety, stress etc. It can also be used to help with chronic pain, in particular childbirth, headaches and migraines, back pain, to support those undergoing cancer treatment and palliative care, and cardiology.
The training has six stages, and clients are advised to work through them in turn. Each phase should be perfected before moving on to the next. Your client will need to practice the skills regularly at home, preferably 8-10 minutes per day.
The six stages of autogenic training
Clients should sit in the coachman position (slightly slumped forwards, knees apart, elbows on the thighs, hands drooping between the legs), recline, or lay on their backs.
At each stage, the client focuses their attention and imagination on the appropriate sensation and repeats a relevant statement. I've suggested some but you can use your own (or the client's choice) if you prefer.
- Heaviness: starting with one limb at a time, ask the client to state something like, ‘My left arm is growing heavy.’ Practice until they can experience heaviness at will. Then ask them to move to another arm, or a leg and repeat (changing the statement to suit). When they can induce heaviness in any area of the body at will, move to the whole body.
- Warmth in the body: once your client can experience heaviness in the whole body, change to a sensation of warmth. As before, choose an appropriate statement, work with one body part at a time, and then focus on warmth in the whole body at once.
- Calm heartbeat: when your client can feel warm and heavy, suggest they start to calm their heart rate. You might ask them to state, ‘My chest feels relaxed and warm. My heartbeat is slow and peaceful.’ Like the other stages, repeat this until they feel their heartbeat respond.
- Calm breathing: next, you progress to breathing. Ask the client to pay attention to their breathing without trying to control it. You could suggest saying, ‘My body breathes for me.’
- Comfort in the abdomen: help the client to let go of tension in the abdominal area by stating something like, ‘My abdomen is warm and soft’.
- Coolness in the forehead: using a statement like, ‘My forehead is relaxed and cool.’
Hypnotherapists can teach the skills in or out of trance, whichever seems best for you and your client.
Once clients have realised that they can bring about different sensations simply by concentrating, you can extend this to other experiences as well. For example, ‘my [body] is comfortable and pain-free’. Coolness in the forehead is often the most effective with headaches and migraines.
Using autogenic training in your therapy practice
- Autogenic training is not recommended for clients with severe mental or physical health disorders.
- You can extend the traditional scope of autogenic training to introduce other helpful sensations such as, ‘My stomach feels comfortable and full’, for those wishing to reduce snacking.
- You can use all six stages in sequence to develop an autogenic induction.
- Because autogenic training emphasises physical rather than mental processes, it's often a good approach for clients who find it difficult to focus their thoughts for meditation, self-hypnosis, or mindfulness, or who dismiss them as too ‘New Age’.
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Author: Debbie Waller is an experienced hypnotherapist and hypnotherapy trainer. She is the author of Anxiety to Calm: a Practical Guide to a Laid-Back Life, The Hypnotherapist's Companion, Their Worlds, Your Words, and The Metaphor Toolbox, all available from Amazon or direct from the author. Find out more about Debbie's services on
Yorkshire Hypnotherapy Training - multi-accredited hypnotherapy practitioner training, taster days and foundation levels.
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