Learn about European Naturopathic Healing Methods

Relaxing Muscle Tension Exercise

(Eutonie)

Important -
before using this method.
talk it over with your health care professional


Here I'm just telling you how the Eutonie was done in Germany under my supervision. If you decide to follow this protocol, you do this on your own risk.


The word Eu-Tonie comes from
eu, the Greek word for good, right
and tonus comes from the Latin word for tension, tone

I recommand an exercise mat, but you may
also do this exercise on the floor.

You need two tennisballs.

Lay flat on the floor or exercise mat,
take the tennis balls in your hands and close your eyes.

Picture first your abdominal area to be empty,
try to imagine how it feels from the inside.
Experience the abdominal wall from the inside and feel,
how the pelvic and low back is attached to the ground.

Fill this „empty space“ with your breath.
Then fill it with the color (or light) of your choice.



Then you do the same with the chest.
Picture it empty, feel the lining from the inside to outside,
feel how the thoracic spine attaches to the ground from the inside.
Breathe, fill it  with color or light.

Then you do the same with one arm at a time.
Picture each one empty, breathe into it and fill it with color.
Then you imagine that on your fingertips,
there are little torches (or laser lights)
that are able to leave a imagined  trace on the opposite wall.

Then you do the same with one leg at a time.
Picture each one empty, breathe into it and fill it with color.
Then you imagine that on your heels  are fixed to the opposite wall.


Be aware of how comfortable you are laying on the floor.

Now come the tennis balls into action



Exercise 1

Slowly put one tennis ball under your skull

and the other one under your sacrum
that is the large bone underneath the last vertebra

and above the coccyx.

It is unpleasant, but try to ignore it.
Picture your spine being a bridge
and the tennis balls being the piers.

Let all the tension, that you feel at these points,
drain into the ground. 


As soon as you feel that the balls are kind of integrated
in your body, you may slowly take them away.

Lay there, tennis balls in your hands and feel what has changed in terms of laying on the ground comfortably .



Exercise 2

Slowly put each tennis ball right underneath

the highest spot of the gluteal muscles.

They should nest right under the iliac bone on both sides.





When you feel that this is unpleasant, try to ignore it.
Breathe through the tension and let the tension

through your imagination drain into the ground.

As soon as you feel that the balls are kind of integrated

in your body, you may slowly take them away.

Laying there, tennis balls in your hands, and focus
on the area where the tennis balls have been removed
and feel what has changed
in terms of laying  on the ground comfortably.





Exercise 3

Slowly put each tennis ball under the trapezius muscles

on the region between neck and shoulders






When you feel that this is unpleasant, try to ignore it.
Breathe through the tension and let the tension
through your imagination
drain into the ground.

Now you „empty“ your arms and fingers
„fill“ them with light.
Picture little torches on your fingertips
 that create a imaginative trace on the opposite wall.


Slowly raise one stretched arm (fingers also stretched straight) and concentrate on „painting“ a coloured line on the wall.
Go on,  do the same on the ceiling,  
and go further and do the same on the wall behind you,  
until your hand touches the ground above your head.

This may not be a pleasant feeling,
but try to ignore it an breathe through it.
Then you move slowly back, with the arms stretched out
and „painting“ the coloured line in the opposite direction. 


You may experience the awkward feeling that,
the more you get towards the ground,  your arm is moving
in an empty space below yourself.

Then you do the same with the other arm.
And finally, you do it with both arms
on the same side
This is recommended once you are already  praciticing
the previous exercises a  longer time


After this exercise,  you slowly put the balls out from under your trapezius and feel how comfortable you are laying now.



If you are used to the exercise after practicing it for some time,

you will feel that your awareness for your body improves a great deal. and that you are able to diminish the hypertension in your muscles and have traded it in for an „well toned“ feeling

These three exercises are recommended to be done once a day.