Review: The Life-Changing Power of Sophrology by Dominique Antiglio.
I will start by saying that my new obsession is the Blinkist app. On this app, you can get a summary of some great books in as little as 10-15 minutes. The power is in the fact that you can get exposed to a broad array of ideas in as little time as it takes to finish your morning coffee. It’s then up to you to determine whether you want to go deeper and read the book or if you just want to incorporate the idea into your knowledge base. There’s enough information provided to give you the key ideas or facts about a subject.
I recently “Blinked” a book called The Life-Changing Power of Sophrology by Dominique Antiglio. Ms. Antiglio is an Osteopath turned Sophrologist. The field of Sophrology was developed in the 1960s by Professor Alfonso Caycedo a psychiatrist. After becoming disillusioned with the electroshock therapies for depression, he went on a quest to better understand consciousness. After spending time in India, Tibet, and Japan, he started to study how Eastern practices could be translated into a practical approach to healing. He applied a scientific approach to this treatment modality and developed 12 levels of Sophrology. The levels are designed to help you discover, master and transform consciousness.
In case you worry that this is just more “mindfulness” mumbo jumbo, Sophrology is widely adopted in Europe, well researched and is used broadly in medicine from oncology to childbirth.
The book starts with a very compelling truth from Ms. Antiglio:
“As a Sophrologist, I am concerned about how our modern society and communities force us toward an overwhelming everyday life. Juggling roles and tasks at home, feeling defined by our financial worth and what we do, and managing the constant bombardment of communication from our 24-hour workplaces and social media is pushing people beyond their physiological limits….This can leave us feeling chronically stressed, suffering from anxiety, lacking confidence or clarity or struggling with health, work or relationship issues. It’s difficult to find the space to bring balance to our lives and listen to our true self if we are so busy just surviving.”
Does that sound like you?
It certainly sounded like me before I set out on a personal journey to change how I perceived and dealt with my circumstances. I’m no Tibetan monk who is totally “at one” with her inner self. I still have a long way to go, but I am no longer constantly stressed, anxious, lacking clarity and struggling with a myriad of issues. I am no longer just surviving. I am intentional about thriving—in a way defined by myself and not by others. As a result, I’m open to new ideas about how to deepen my connection with my inner source of truth and I’m connecting with the purpose behind all of my actions.
If your goal is to live “consciously” and unlock your innate potential, you’ll need to find a way to address your racing thoughts, because they are probably inhibiting you from connecting with your environment. Sophrology or ‘dynamic relaxation’ could be a useful tool. This book goes in-depth to help us discover the power of the foundational levels 1-4. Higher levels may require the support of a trained practitioner.
Here are the key principles:
Scan the body and mind: First up, Sophrology works to connect you back to your body instead of being completely in your head. It works to make you aware of your body so that you can connect the impact of your racing thoughts to your body’s responses. It also works to remind you that your body is giving you important signals about your state of being. Anxiety —manifested as a symptom—can also be a signal that something is not right. Rather than fixing the symptom, we might want to explore the root causes. Unfortunately, if we aren’t conscious of how our body feels relaxed, we won’t immediately perceive it when it’s giving us those warning signals. Even if we recognize the signal, we may not have enough “brain-space” to look at our situation with non-judgment.
Sophrology teaches the practitioner to scan the body and develop a state of “relaxed clarity”. This state allows one to regain one’s center, and access energy, creativity, imagination and a deeper understanding of our situation.
The importance of intentional breathing. We all need to figure out a way to quickly move from a shallow (flight/fight) breathing pattern to a deeper breathing pattern that optimally oxygenates our bodies and relaxes our nervous system. This type of breathing uses a “tummy” inhalation to encourage relaxation, with long exhalations through the mouth to extend the breath. The author describes this as the ‘calming breath’. In the practice of Sophrology, this ‘intentional' breathing will enhance our awareness of our body sensations and connect our bodies back to our minds. To stop and ‘just breathe’ is an intentional pause to calm ourselves, build ourselves up, prepare for a challenge or transition from one moment to the next. I often start coaching sessions with a quick breathing exercise, recognizing that some of my clients are running into a room to meet with me. It allows them to turn the focus from what just happened, to what they want to happen in our session.
Movement and Pausing. One of the things that I like about Sophrology is that there is a focus on movement. I’ve struggled with traditional mindfulness because it tends to start and end with you sitting somewhere trying to calm your mind. For people who can’t sit still, this is a barrier of entry into the practice. The movements in Sophrology practice are called “activations” and can be postures, visualizations or breathing itself. Activations are followed by an “integration pause” to reflect and observe the sensations one is experiencing. As someone who has watched people “Do Yoga”, I’ve often wondered how much better they would be if they would simply stop and just sit with the posture. They could reflect on how it impacted them rather than rushing to the next posture. Of course, the postures were always meant to enable meditation and concentration of the mind, so in the Eastern tradition, yoga postures align with Sophrology. The author states, “The power of the simple pause should not be underestimated. It is greatly beneficial in increasing focus and concentration and in learning to be this non-judgmental observer of our inner world. It teaches us to meditate.”
She also says something transformative: “I find that the combination of action and pause is also a very therapeutic way to relearn that we cannot be efficient for 24 hours each day and that we have to learn to pause. The brain and the body need that.” Imagine how we could transform our workplaces if everyone took a simple pause before starting a meeting, or a phone call or a performance discussion. Imagine the energy that we would all have if we INTENTIONALLY hit the pause button to gather our energy before stepping into the arena again.
Practice with Intention. I recently asked my physical trainer how I should exercise when I’m not in the gym. His simple answer: “It doesn’t matter, as long as you move like you want to get a result”. Sophrology requires the participant to practice with intention. Set the goal that you want to achieve for each session, whether that is “calm” or “energy”. Then go for it.
The book continues with exercises and a website with audio enabled guided activities allowing the reader to immediately start using the practice. There are case studies that could be taken from any of our busy lives, and the reader should see how the practice could directly benefit themselves. Finally, the book ends with a section on the power of Sophrology to change your life by accessing your core values, inner purpose and prepare for your future. The technique of visual ‘futurization’ could be especially powerful to prepare your mind for how you want to show up at a future event. Athletes, musicians, and surgeons do this all of the time. You can too.
