With AEQ exercises, we can improve the mind-body connection, the feeling, and control of the muscles, and look for the easiest way possible to perform the exercise’s movements.

Pain and movement limitations usually occur due to a strong, subconscious blockade of self-expression. Self-expression, which is only possible through movement, needs to be under an appropriate amount of self-control, taught to us during our childhood, throughout our whole life. But it usually comes from constantly recurring situations and trauma, which lead to the formation of characteristic patterns of muscle tension needed for longer-term control of self-expression, which we are less and less aware of over time, but increasingly influence our movement, posture, decisions, and expression.

When these patterns become increasingly inappropriate and prevent effective movement, expression, and life, we usually feel this inadequacy as chronic problems and pain. We don’t know the cause, but we still feel the consequences. Such conditions are effectively and reliably remedied by the AEQ method by understanding the distortion of these connections and the responses of the mind and body to reality.

With conscious repetition of movement, we apply multiple layers of myelin (what the myelin sheath is made of) onto our neurites (long outgrowths of nerve fibers) and thus improve a certain movement’s efficiency. The movement becomes more effective and thus more pleasant, so we repeat it with pleasure, which separates the AEQ method from most therapies. We repeat the movements with pain and without learning and therefore develop resistance to exercise. The deliberately performed painless movement prepares and requires the mind to connect better with the body, not to overcome the body as it has so many times before and to separate from it. Thus, we become more and more aware and understand the actual situation, which reduces fear and enables the relaxation of the constricted body in fear and the mind’s focus.

Adequately performed AEQ exercises will increase the efficiency and resilience of our whole body to stressful situations in a relatively short time. We get a realistic feeling of strength, and it is easier to improve fitness. Usually, subconsciously tense muscles feel weaker, which is why we want them to rest. They are tired and rigid due to sensory-motor amnesia (amnesia between the body and mind). Only after we perform the AEQ exercises, we can realistically evaluate the condition of our body and movement. With AEQ exercises, we comfortably and permanently correct errors in repetitive movements, reduce the separation of mind and body, and control our movement.

This influences the change of our behavioral, personality, and psychological patterns simultaneously. We begin to understand ourselves better. Regularly performing and learning the AEQ exercises helps us to maintain a light, painless body and a lively, youthful mind even in old age. Establishing better sensation and control makes it possible to improve overall motor skills.

We feel the need for these specific changes because we understand ourselves better. Any action that is not to a person’s immediate satisfaction, i.e. that would enable personal growth, health, and integrity, creates resistance. The preoccupation with the reality of the situation and thinking during the exercises allow us to vent our actions from different angles. The resistance that is born in a person is ultimately caused by his ancestors’ constant struggle to survive. Walking up a hill also feels like resisting. We resist the necessary changes physically, mentally, and emotionally. Having control over your emotions is necessary to live a balanced life. Just as we developed emotions simultaneously as learning movement and mind, we can control them better in adulthood with the help of AEQ exercises.

With the exercises of the AEQ method, we can be very successful in the change that is necessary for progress. Sensory-motor amnesia (SMA) is a type of resistance from the body towards the mind’s impossible demands, which wants results and progress. Through the years, I have helped many patients reduce or even eliminate SMA with the help of AEQ exercises. SMA is similar to jammed communications. The AEQ exercise can then be compared to turning the antenna on the roof to get a better picture on the TV.

Therefore, you will often feel an inexplicable resistance to the AEQ method exercises and look for reasons why they cannot help you. The AEQ method is a good choice to make it easier to achieve more because it is gentle and benevolent to the body. When we master movement, then the resistance toward regularly performing exercises goes away. When you do the exercises in the morning and evening with consciousness, you will create a conscious routine, making sure that you are defeating the resistance, which brings in inspiration and thoughts required for easier progress.

The ability to do more with less effort is born, the functionality of movement and load is changed, which reduces or eliminates pain. You begin to feel the free movement that conditions personal, holistic freedom. This is only possible up to the limits set by our self-control and self-awareness. Changing the flow of life is only possible when we have freedom and power. What can we learn about living a more efficient life by performing AEQ movements? How to be more efficient!

The AEQ method is based on increasing the senses and control over muscle movement, which covers thorough self-observation and getting to know yourself based on patterns of performing AEQ exercises. We aren’t figuring out who we may think we are, but who we are. So we get to know our true selves and the things we like or don’t like. It helps us figure out what we like and what we don’t, what we fear, and our good and bad habits.

The first step towards discovering what you wish to become is to find out who you are right now.

It all depends on you and only you. When performing AEQ exercises, it all depends on you. No one else will perform the exercises for you. It might not be very comforting to you, but it can also make you feel stronger. It’s easy to be controlled by someone else and have them be responsible for your successes and failures in life. It takes the responsibility off your shoulders. You alone are the reason you are at this point in life where you are. You can view it negatively or decide that it is some of the most positive things you have in life. Whether you want to brag or admit defeat is primarily about how much you want it or want to take control of it.

Just applying more power and force is not the best solution. When performing an AEQ exercise, using more force will bring you pain and fatigue. Using more awareness will bring you pleasure and relaxation, despite performing the same movement in both cases. No dispute is ever resolved the way we want it to be resolved. Why? A dispute is created because the two sides have different opinions, and both want to convince each other that they are right. We rarely find the desired solution. What do we usually do then? Defend our argument even harder. According to the law of inertia, one force is opposed by the same force, so when we strengthen our position, the opposite side will do the same, which leads us nowhere. When you have problems and you use more force, you usually don’t see the situation the way it is. Instead of force, try using reason, awareness, and analyze the situation. If you maintain conscious control over the situation, you will increase your chances of finding the appropriate solution for a problem using minimum effort.

Every question or problem is easier to solve if we think about it consciously while using our experiences and wisdom. When we perform the AEQ exercise with conscious attention and the desire to increase the movement’s feeling and control, we quickly discover how we can perform the same movement (work) better, more efficiently, and safer. Do you react quickly when someone tells you something? The problem is that you can miss the best opportunities if you don’t take the time to think about the whole situation. When we respond by reacting instead of responding intentionally, it is difficult to achieve the desired response. What does that mean? It means that instead of taking time to think about the actual question or situation before we choose to react. By doing so, we cut down on every situation of emotion and irrationality to figure out what its essence is and find the right solution.

Let me summarize the process you feel when performing AEQ exercises. Focus on the feelings. Feel the pain, and be aware that it points out and warns about the mess within you. Accept the fact that it’s there and that you can fix this mess with the most complex and orderly part of yourself, the conscious part of your brain (cortex). Don’t let the feeling of disorder change your thinking into “that’s just the way it has to be because I’m already in those years.” Don’t identify with the pain, but take this process as tidying up the mess in the apartment. AEQ exercises are like dusting, sweeping, and window cleaning. You consciously observe the disorder and perform movements that gradually turn the disorder into order while at the same time learning how to perform it better. Like when you wash windows consciously, making sure the work is done to the best of your ability. More order means increased efficiency and better use of time and energy. The more we know/feel what we’re doing, the better we can control, manage, and correctly use feelings, words, and movement.

Aleš Ernst, author of the AEQ method and AEQ breathing