AUTOGENICS


Luis de Rivera (2022). Autogenics 3.0: 

                                    The New Way to Mindfulness and Meditation


deRivera is a professor of psychology, studying brain function and autogenics in a number of publications

autogenics concentrates attention-awareness on experiences generated by oneself, both in- and ex-ternally...primary is the "live-experience", the real, immediate, meaningful, and felt experience in the body...using the mug metaphor to describe this "live-experience,": the handle of the mug is the word(s), the container of the mug is the concept, and the broth/liquid in the mug is the live-experience...


2 types of protocols are developed in the book:

one protocol is for somatosensory meditation, focusing on body mass (weight) and thermogenisis (heat/warmth) in the arms, legs, back of neck, throat, chest, heart, upper abdomen, lower abdomen, and forehead skin--for each part of the body, one becomes aware (as the processes of gravity for weight and thermogenesis for heat are continuously happening in the body--there is nothing to create/do) of the "live-experience" (first mass, then thermogenesis) while saying a word or phrase (e.g., my right arm is heavy--or warm)...this is called "dual awareness" as it interconnects both brain hemispheres...the body sensation takes place predominantly in the right hemisphere, and saying the word(s) predominantly take place in the left hemisphere--recommended practice is 10 mins a day, 3 times a day for 2-3 weeks...going slowly.

the other protocol is a feeling meditation...an initial emotion is selected from a spontaneous occurence in everyday life and not the recall or manufacture of an emotion...next one uses "passive acceptance" of everything that comes up related to the feeling, doing nothing but watching the feeling evolve and eventually dissipate, this is a way to process emotions/feelings so that they don't get stuck in a repetitive loop or lodged in the body creating illness...a 2nd variation is to focus on a predefined constructive feeling like calmness or love with the same passive acceptance to cultivate this feeling...a 3rd variation is to transmute a negative feeling by holding it within a positive feeling like love...the negative feeling is transmuted within the backdrop of the positive feeling.

 

there is an extensive bibliography, notes, and details about the neuroscience of the brain related to these practices, as well as many nuances in the practices which are too detailed to enumerate here.

for a practice i recommend beginning with somatosensory meditation as described above




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