[Respiratory autogenic training in preparation for labor (RAT method)]

Preparation for childbirth with the R.A.T. method involves two therapeutic steps. The first concerns a conditioning relaxation technique derived from hypnosis. Schultz's T.A. and reflexology. There is a series of seven exercises, each of which is supplemented by a revision exercise. The central training exercises coincide with the achievement of sleep breathing, followed by physical deconditioning to external stimuli and semantic deconditioning to uterine contractions. The second step involves a form of analysis designed to examine the mechanism of emotions in a particular situation, marker by the loss of connection between the Ego, the body and the environment, as occurs during group autogenous relaxation.