Dealing with hectic schedules every single day as well as living in the bustling streets of the city can put a damp on our health and well-being. The stress, pressure, and pollution from external environment make your body vulnerable to disease and illnesses. Not only your physical body is at stake but your mental health is also at risk. When we’re experiencing chronic stress, we start to feel anxious, depressed and burn out.

This leaves our mind drained from the fatigue we’re experiencing until we’ve lost our will to keep going. If you’re feeling like this, it’s time for you to unwind and clear your mind, revitalizing your soul and body. We introduce  Sophrology – a new way of meditation that can help you achieve mindfulness and ease the stress you’re feeling.

What is Sophrology?

Did you know that Sophrology is already an old adage technique? It’s surprising to hear that, right? In fact, this technique existed way back in the 1960s. However, what’s makes this “new” to the general public is the fact that only a handful of people knew about this technique. Despite its effectiveness, only a few people know of its existence. That’s why this type of meditation was underrated. However, we will soon change its image as we will show to you how Sophrology can help you alleviate your stress and restore your peace of mind.

It was first developed by neuropsychiatrist Prof Alfonso Caycedo in the 1960s. He spent a decade of exploring different meditation techniques like Tibetan Buddhist meditation, yoga, hypnosis and Japanese Zen in order to work with people’s level of consciousness. This led him to formulate his technique that was a product of western relaxation and eastern meditation. His philosophy since then was that sophrology will help you “learn and adapt to live”.

The Sophrology technique was widely used by the students in a school or university in Switzerland and France. It served as their coping mechanism to develop their life and stress management skills. This method is also used with famous French celebrities like Arianna Huffington, French tennis player Stéphane Robert, and even the French rugby team.

Sophrology Techniques

Khakimullin Aleksandr/Shutterstock
Sophrology is Widely used in Switzerland, France, and other European Countries

What’s great about Sophrology technique is that it uses the combination of physical and mental exercise to alert your mind and be active while relaxing your body. It uses various techniques like meditation, deep breathing, and relaxation techniques coordinated with gentle movement and visualization. Unlike some yoga techniques where it requires complicated body posture, sophrology only uses simple techniques that can be done on the premises of your home.

BeSophro founder Dominique Antiglio is known to practice this technique.  She claimed that this technique had helped her clear her mind and release the stress from her body that she started incorporating this into her own company. Whenever her employees were feeling stressed or burnouts, she would suggest them to do sophrology.

“If you’re feeling stressed, anxious, have difficulty sleeping or are burnt out, just one session of sophrology can help you feel calmer, more in control, relaxed and more able to let go,” she says. “The more you practise, the more results you get.”

The Beginners Exercise for Sophrology

If you’re still new to Sophrology, we suggest you take it easy. You can follow the steps below on how to start exercising this technique:

• Close your eyes and breathe in
• Hold your breath for about 10 seconds while tensing up all the muscles in your body
• Exhale and release all your tense muscles. Learn to let it all go
• Repeat this process 3 more times to allow your body and mind to slow down.

You can also watch the video above for more sophrology exercises.

This meditation technique is now migrating from Europe to Great Britain

Employees at Kent Business School are practicing Sophrology

Over the past 57 years, this technique was widely used and adapted in European countries. However, it’s now starting to migrate to Great Britain because of its positive effects. In fact, a recent study by Kent Business School proves that it produces a positive impact on its employees’ physical and mental health, with more study results coming our way. In a world where almost every person is vulnerable, we can expect sophrology to become a new buzzword in the health and fitness industry. This will become one of our alternatives, a natural method to promote health and well-being.