Exercise 3: Clear

The Progression of Elements

We started with Letting Go, moved on to Let It Glow, and now focus on Let It Flow.

With Exercise 1: Heavy, we induce physical relaxation in the muscles of the limbs, bring stillness to the body, and enhance general body awareness. We notice the weight and solidity of the body—its physical mass. The Heavy exercise connects to the element Earth in the imagination.

With Exercise 2: Warm, we shift our experience of the body from solid mass to a glow of energy. The body outline, our sense of its shape, becomes blurred and expands outward. We experience the physical body as an aura of energy. The Warm exercise connects to the element Fire in the imagination.

Exercise 3: Clear is crucial. We now aim to clear that aura—to remove tension and disturbance. We suggest that all tensions wash away, flow away, leaving the aura clear and transparent. You may want to repeat the Clear mantra more than three times. You might continue repeating it until the limb feels empty of sensation, almost as though it dissolves completely and disappears. The Clear exercise connects to the element Water in the imagination.

After sufficient practice the exercises so far can be combined into a single mantra: “My arms and legs are heavy, warm, and clear”, or “Arms and legs heavy, warm, clear”. One can use the full sequence with this format e.g. “My right arm is heavy, warm, clear” . . . x3, “My left arm is heavy, warm, clear” . . . x3, and so on.

Clearing The Felt Sense

After Exercises 1 & 2, you may experience many sensations in the limbs beyond heaviness and warmth. These might include: autogenic discharges (stress release phenomena of small muscle twitches and tingling sensations), slight aching in joints, minor pains and discomforts, faint skin itchiness, subtle feelings of movement and vibration.

Countless sensory and motor phenomena may emerge alongside the heaviness and warmth. The aim of REM Autogenics Exercise 3 is to clear these phenomena away until the limb feels empty and clear, so empty and clear that it almost seems to disappear.

Releasing Rather Than Suppressing

We’re not trying to suppress these other sensations or dampen them down. We invite them to play themselves out until they fade, to discharge themselves, drain away, be washed away.

Building the Autogenic State

Through repeated practice, we build the autogenic state of augmented self-regulation and self-healing in successive stages:
(1) First, we induce the heaviness of muscle relaxation
(2) Then, we bring on the glowing aura of warmth
(3) And now we focus on allowing that aura to become clear of tension and disturbance—as though washed away by flowing water.

The Water Metaphor

Water is crystal clear and transparent. We can see right through it without impediment. It flows to fill the volume of a space uniformly—all the same throughout the space, not more in one area and less in another. It remains cool and clear. In its flowing, it washes away blocks and impurities. The tensions and disturbances drain away.

The movement of imagination flows and sweeps through the whole space occupied by that part of the body, clearing away all disturbing sensations—the accumulated debris from present stress and past trauma. A felt sense of clarity of energy establishes itself uniformly throughout that part of the body. Sensation clears, becomes transparent, and that part of the body disappears.

Preparing for Visioning

Beyond enhancing relaxation and healing, the Clear mantra helps initiate the process of visioning. The purpose of REM Autogenics is to access visual imagery from the unconscious. Repeated use of the word Clear, followed by Light in Exercise 4, helps visions emerge.