The Eutonia it is a therapy that tries to achieve a balance between the body and the mind. It is a very unknown method and we will explain what it is.
The creator of this treatment is the German Gerda Alexander and it is a therapeutic and educational body discipline that considers the body as an essential part of being. It focuses on the sensory experience of the body that leads the person to become aware of the unity of being.
The human being performs many functions that are not conscious, and this technique deepens the tonic function which is performed on the muscles when you are not aware of their movements. To understand this let’s give an example, if you enter a place that is cold the muscles react in the tonic function not consciously.
Eutonia is the self-knowledge methodology that begins with the body and where one has a physical referent and knows how our body is working by observing the tonic function.
This therapy is based on the sensory experience of the body that leads us towards a body awareness and ourselves by introducing all the domains of our being.
All this leads us to raise our level of consciousness and to get in touch with the ability to move, the parts of the body, our posture, our supports, and thus align our thoughts, emotions and feelings, along with our moods and the consequences of all this in our daily lives.
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Benefits of practicing eutonia
The practice of eutonia exercises provides a series of benefits when practiced, some of them are:
- Controls the tone balance of the neurovegetative system.
- Increases sensitivity and perception.
- Develops ease of movement.
- It improves and corrects body posture and prevents poor posture from becoming permanently conscious.
- Increases the reaction capacity of the muscle.
- Prevents and prevents joint deterioration.
- Improves body image.
- It improves vegetative functions, circulation, lymphatic system, breathing, and digestion.
- Regulates the digestive system.
- Increase self-confidence and create security.
- Helps manage and manage stress.
- You will have both bodily and emotional and intellectual approval of the body.
- It will create an awareness of self-care on a regular and permanent basis.
- It will help you gain awareness to correctly execute all the activities you do daily such as: walking, running, resting, sleeping, etc.
- Benefits are also obtained in some diseases and pathologies with eutonia such as:
- Hypertension and hypotension, problems with poor blood circulation, poliomyelitis, and also osteoporosis.
- Performing eutonia exercises prevents motor innervation, improves metabolism, also avoids lactic acids and waste products of movement, improving tone and blood circulation.
Recommended exercises to practice the eutonia technique
There are several exercises that can be performed in the eutonia technique. These are postures and free body movements depending on the anatomical possibilities of each person.
They are simple and varied exercises so that anyone can perform them.
Some of the exercises are:
- Feel the point of contact between the body and the ground and concentrate on it until the mind and body establish the perfect connection.
- Movements and stretches such as rolling a tennis ball under your feet and feeling the movement.
- Put a bag of chestnuts under the shoulder and relax under the sensation that chestnuts produce by concentrating on it.
- Explore the movement capacity of each of our joints.
- Exert pressure and rejection against the floor or a wall.
All this work is put into practice through specific awareness-raising exercises, how to align the bones, the touch and the appropriate treatment, so that the person who is studying can expand their cognitive development and lto sensory experience without forcing any sensation or idealization that gives rise to predetermined conclusions.
Eutonia sessions can be performed singles or in group.
Individual sessions
The individual sessions offer us a more personalized help and also has the advantage that the student can adapt better and all their doubts are resolved at the moment.
The instructions we receive the we direct towards various parts of the body, and you can use the own ways of processing, which consist of the person who is going to receive the stimulation of the hands of the eutonist, that, when touching or moving some part of the body, that allows the student to focus his attention on that area.
The combination of verbal exercise, movements and rest can also create several good sensations and responses in the process of self-awareness.
In eutonia you have to distinguish between “touching” and “contact”?
If we talk about touch we are referring to the limits of our body to experience while the contact it gives us the necessary information about the inner world and the sensations we have from outside, that is, from the outside.
Group sessions
In group sessions, students find their own way to better work on eutonia. Their experiences allow them to be able to execute the movements and have the sensations without the guidance of the teacher.
Also the student receives auditory stimulations of the eutonist.
Group members are responsible for their learning evolution with their active participation.
At the end of each class, knowledge of postural effects is developed and several parts of the body that work on thrust and resistance at the same time are stimulated. This process releases the tension accumulated in the muscles and with it the breathing and circulation and makes the body feel at peace.
Eutonia develops very progressively. The more active and conscious the student’s participation, the better results they will obtain inside. It will enhance, reinforce and enlarge your own body image.
The therapist who leads the classes has to observe all the non-verbal manifestations of the students.
