Helle Brok (Anette Knudsen), stress and hyporesponse

Hyporespons
the hidden challenge in coping
with stress.
By Helle Brok and Anette Knudsen
Studies of Relaxation an Psychomotor Therapy,
VIA University College, Denmark
Mail: hebr@viauc.dk (Helle)

Stress and body
• In PMT the complaints of the clients are
often related to stress (or anxiety).
– There are different ways of helping clients dealing
with these problems.
– A common suggestion is teaching people to relax
or to do physical activity.
• This workshop has focus on optimal tension,
dosering and connecting with undertensed
muscles/ressources in the body

Focus in this workshop
• To be aware of the hypo-tension in the
muscles in order to get an optimal tension
in the body.
• To be aware of how activities are precisely
dosed, respecting how much muscular
presence and fullness the person can
tolerate to build up.
• To be aware of recourses (psysical,
emotional, social) with start from
undertensed muscles in the body

The understanding of optimal tension
Optimal tension:
”To react in the most suitable way in every
situation, physical and psychological.”
When you do not react in the most suitable way
the reaction will remain in your body and mind.
• That means to use the power and energy that the situation require, not more, not less,
and to restitude after an effort. It is to react on feelings with exactly that energy, that is in
or belongs to, the feeling. Let feelings flow through the body.
• When you don’t react in the most suitable way, the reaction will remain in your body and
mind – until you react in one or another way, according to the energy, that belongs to the
feeling. Most people have remained reactions in body and mind from the childhood and
youth.

Development of optimal tension in Denmark
Psychiatrists:
Schultz: autogen training
Jacobsen: progressive and differented relaxation
Fink: relaxation of the breathing muchels
Carl Rogers:
Client centered therapy
Existentialist philosophy:
Clients experience ’here and now’’
Denmark:
Grethe Jørgensen
Ruth Ryborg
Maibritt Schwab
Lisbeth Marcher
Merete H. Brantbjerg
Wilhelm Reich:
Charactor armour –
Muscle armour
Lillemor Johnsen:
Hypothone muscles =
ressources

Lillemor Johnsen
• Through experiences with thousand of patients she
discovered they became more diseased, when she
treated only the hypertended muscles.
• She discovered that the muscles in the body could also
be hypo-tensed, and when she treated the hypotensed
muscles the patients react in a positive way.
• Conclusion: the hypo-tensed muscles contains the
persons resources, and the person has to develop the
resources before she positively is able to release the
defense/the hypertensed muscles.
• She found out how to graduate the tension of the
muscles in a system.

Focus on hypotension
• The aim of changing the focus to the
hypotension in the body is to find
personal resources and new ways of
acting out, physical and emotional and
in that way to cope with stress and
anxiety.

Hypo and hyper tensed muscles physical
Hypo tension Hyper tension
(Under tension) (over tension)
B4 B3
Non functional
B2 B1
Nearly functional
N
Functional
Consistency of the muscle:
A1 A2
Nearly functional
loose – limp …………………………. firm and volume………..……………. ….tense – hard
Quality of the muscle:
whipped cream…draw back ……….firm and volume............................push………..board
Reaction velocity (speed)
no reaction………Slow ……………..… elasticity..................................quick....no entrance
A3 A4
Non functional

Hypo and hyper tensed muscles phycho-physical
Hypo tension Hyper tension
B4 B3
Non functional
B2 B1
Nearly functional
Ressources
Energy
Contact with the muscles
passive psychological defence active psychological defence
(psychoses/weak self) (neorotic/stronger self)
absent barricated
N
Functional
A1 A2
Nearly functional
A3 A4
Non functional
You can work with musles which are nearly functional and funcional (B2, B1,
N, A1, A2)

Hyporesponse is challenging when
dealing with stress
• The areas that have given up do not demand
attention in the way that, for instance, tight
shoulders would.
• It is easy to overlook the body’s signals that
work by absence.
• Learning how to relax does not change this
dynamic.

Ressource oriented skilltraining
supporting a presence here and now
• Flexibility
• Centering
• Grounding
• Boundaries
• Containment
• Orientation and the ability to regulate contact
• Concrete sensing of the body will maintain a focus on
myself
• Hyporesponse in muscles that are connected to basic presence and coping skills will lead to these
skills weakened, distanced and vulnerable to external pressure as well as internal rise. Increased
external pressure will typically strengthen a hyporesponsive strategy. We cope by distancing
ourselves or distancing parts of ourselves. This defensive strategy is a way to try and dive beneath
the pressure, a way of escaping it. Within a hyporesonsive strategy there is no way of meeting the
pressure and taking a conscious stand.

Basic skills that are weakened when in
a state impacted by hyporesponse
To change it takes:
�learning how to tolerate and maintain a level of
presence.
�practicing how to find a level of dosing in an
activity that will build up presence instead of
exhaustion.
�Improving your ability to cope with stress begins
with acceptable of your inner capacity –
regardless of size – and with supporting both the
need for rest and for building and maintaining a
level of energy and presence.

Increasing presence by building up
• So…….
energy
bodily activities does have an impact on
hyporesponsive muscles –but only as long as
activities are precisely dosed, respecting how
much muscular presence and fullness the
person can tolerate to build.

The understanding of optimal tension in Denmark
The unbalanced muscles represents different ways to
react:
•fight and defence (sympaticus) or giving up parasympaticus).
•These reactions can be felt in the consistency of the muscles.
•The unbalanced body has minor energy.
•The unbalanced person has less possibilities of acting out.

The understanding of optimal tension
Your muscles can be hypertensed or hypotensed
and it can be a mirror of your mind.
In your body it will stay as hypertensed or
hypotensed muscles, as well as there can be
vegetative reactions.
In your mind it will stay as an unsolved conflict.
The unbalanced tensions are often established in
the childhood and they are mirroring the
personality.

To work with
hypo tensioned muscles
Methods with dosering
• Working with strength and
strengthen the muscles
• Active impulses with hands
when client is passive
• “Pressing”/holding muscles
• Working with the 3 senses:
tactile sense, proprioceptive
sense and vestibular sense
(helping sense integration and
coordination/”keeping the
body together
To work with
hyper tensioned muscles
• Manual long deep slow
stretching where the client is
passive
• Touching with intension of
relaxing, stretching the muscles
and take hypertensions away in
the muscles
• Ask client to use briefing active
to relax
• Everything which is soften the
body
• Passive stretch

Program Helle Brok -1
Movement floor – contact with part of body
• Intro: move on the floor, awareness of a place in your body with less energy, difficult to get in
touch with, kind of “death” part. Move from this part to get in contact with in
• Music Songbird by Kenny G (Kenny G)
• Intervention: to activate undertensed muscle and be aware of and connect to it. (as well as
any emotion connected to it)
Movement floor – joy and a choice
• Intro: move on floor. Make a conscious choice to move with joy. Connect joy and the place
from first movement
• Music; Cursum Perficio by Enya (Watermark)
• Intervention: to make clients aware of choice of attitude, move from pain to joy and
resources.
2 and 2 sharing
Intro; share 2 and 2. one listen the other talking, what is your spot, how does it feel physical and
emotional, did you experience anything new.
Intervention; to support the consciousness, to share open also support the feeling of containing

Program Helle Brok - 2
Movement standing, with arms. Space – own room
• Intro: make your own space. With your arms. Be aware how you want to make it, stay in contact with your
self and only make it as you feel it feels right. Move from inside – put energy in to the movement
• Music; Breath and Begin by Elizabeth Rogers (Breath and begin)
• Intervention: to make clients aware of and having them make their personal space.
Movement 2 and 2 back to back (only group 2)
• Intro: move back to back. Stay with our own pulse and own room. What happen when you are in touch
with another person or the music playing, will it take you away. Try stay with your room and pulse.
• Music Don’t go breaking my Heart – by Elton John and Kicki D
• Intervention: give awareness on what disturb the sense of own room, and on if possible to keep own
Movement around in the room, keep your space – meeting others
• Intro: move around the room. What happen when you meet others (emotional, physical, social)
• Music Blue Eyes – Mika (the boy who knew to much)
• Intervention: give awareness on what disturb the sense of own room when meeting others
2 and 2 sharing
Intro; share 2 and 2. one lisent the other talking, how does your room look, feel and sense.
Intervention; to support the consciousness, to share open also support the feeling of containing
(group two shared in own language)

Program Helle Brok - 3
Movement grounding, move around the room
• Intro: grounding support your sense of being you and stand by you self. Use the music to stamp, get down
in your knees, move with power
• Music; Falling High – Safri Duo (EX 3,5)
• Intervention: to support the grounding.
Break and theory
4 different exercises:
• 2 and 2, Hips against each other, give energy – building up energy (both sides)
• 2 and 2 – Stretching arm with resistant from the other person. Optimal dosering
• 2 and 2 – giving impulse on the spine – getting in touch, dosering and flexibility, connect
with parts that are difficult to sense
• Progressive relaxation - building up energy – contact with undertensted muscles