What is sophrology? A simple definition, its origins and what you do

Someone suggested sophrology to you. Your GP, a friend, a colleague who has been "much better since". You typed the word into a search engine and landed on pages that either promise everything or say nothing at all. Before booking, you simply want to know what sophrology is. The definition fits in a few lines, so I will start there.

I am a sophrologist in Bordeaux, trained at the CEAS in Paris and at the Sophrology Academy in England. Before that, I spent years working in start-ups, until I burnt out. It was while getting back on my feet that I discovered sophrology, first as a client. So I know what it feels like to turn up to a first session without really knowing what to expect.

Here you will find a simple definition, where the method comes from, what you actually do, an exercise to try straight away, what the studies say, and how to choose your sophrologist.

Sophrology: a simple definition

Sophrology is a method that combines breathing, muscle relaxation, gentle movement and visualisation, to help you notice your body more clearly and handle stress and emotions better. You practise it sitting or standing, in your everyday clothes, often with your eyes closed but not necessarily. You do not lie on a couch, and nobody puts you to sleep.

What sets it apart from simple relaxation is its aim: making you independent. Every exercise is designed to be repeated at home, on the bus, before a meeting. The session is where you learn and fine-tune. The real work happens between sessions.

If I had to sum it up in one sentence for someone who has never tried it: it is attention training, done through the body.

Who is the sophrologist?

The sophrologist is the person who guides these exercises, adapts them to your situation and helps you build your own routine. They do not hand out medicines or medical advice, and they do not replace your doctor. Their role is to support you.

Where sophrology comes from

The method was described in the early sixties by Alfonso Caycedo, a neuropsychiatrist of Colombian origin. He was looking for a way to study human consciousness and the link between body and mind, and he brought together Western relaxation techniques and practices from the East. The doctors behind the SOPHROCARE trial recall this in their description of the method.

The word itself comes from Greek. The same authors translate it as "the study of consciousness in balance". They also make a point I find very telling: sophrology relies heavily on breathing, the only automatic bodily function essential to life that you can also make conscious at any moment. You cannot decide to speed up your digestion. Your breath, you can.

Since then the method has evolved and several schools have grown up, mostly in France but also elsewhere in Europe, including the UK, where I did part of my training. People sometimes talk about Caycedian sophrology to mean the original, highly structured version.

What sophrology involves in practice

A session usually lasts an hour. We start by talking: how you are, what has happened since last time, what you want to work on. Then come the exercises, followed by time to talk about what you noticed. I have described what happens in a sophrology session in detail elsewhere, so here are the main tools.

Breathing

This is the foundation. You learn to slow your breathing, lengthen the out-breath, and breathe into your belly rather than the top of your chest. Nothing spectacular, but it is often the tool the people I work with use most, because it is available anywhere.

Dynamic relaxation

These are simple movements, done slowly and with awareness: lifting your shoulders while holding your breath, turning your head, swinging your arms. You tense, then you let go, and you notice what changes in your body. The word "dynamic" matters: you move, you are not passive.

Visualisation

You picture a scene, a pleasant place, or an upcoming situation you want to prepare for, such as an interview or an exam. The aim is not to daydream but to rehearse a situation in your mind while feeling calmer, so you can face it later with more resources.

Talking it through

After each exercise, I ask what you noticed. Warmth, tingling, nothing at all, irritation: it all counts. This time helps you put words to sensations, and that is often where things start to shift.

A first exercise to get a feel for it

Here is a short version of what I often do at the start of a session. Allow three to five minutes. You can do it sitting at your desk without anyone noticing.

1. Sit at the back of your chair, feet flat on the floor, hands resting on your thighs. Close your eyes if you are comfortable doing so, otherwise rest your gaze on a spot on the floor.
2. Scan your body from top to bottom: forehead, jaw, shoulders, belly, legs. At each area, let go of whatever you can, without forcing.
3. Breathe in through your nose, hold the air for a few seconds and lift your shoulders towards your ears. Breathe out through your mouth and let your shoulders drop all at once.
4. Repeat this movement three times, then stay still for about thirty seconds. Notice what is happening in your shoulders, your neck, your arms.
5. To finish, take a slightly deeper breath, move your fingers, stretch, and open your eyes.

If you felt something, even something slight, you have just done sophrology. If you felt nothing, that is normal too: noticing comes with practice. I have gathered more sophrology exercises to do at home if you want to keep going.

What sophrology is for, and what it does not do

People often ask me what sophrology can "fix". My answer is simple: it does not work like a medicine. Sophrology does not replace medical advice, or the care of your doctor. It offers support.

In practice, these are the situations that most often bring people to my practice or to a video session:

• stress that has settled in, at work or at home, and is spilling over into sleep;
• preparing for a specific moment: an exam, a presentation, giving birth, an operation;
• a period of fatigue or exhaustion, often after several months under pressure;
• emotions that take up a lot of room, such as stage fright, anger or sadness;
• wanting to live better with a health condition already followed by a doctor.

What I often see is that people arrive exhausted, convinced they have no time to look after themselves. They leave with two or three exercises that take a few minutes, and that is already a lot.

On the other hand, if you are in real distress, having dark thoughts, unexplained pain or signs that will not go away, see your GP first. If you think you may be experiencing burnout, your doctor is the one who can assess your situation and, if needed, sign you off work. Sophrology can then come alongside that care.

What the studies say

Sophrology has been studied less than mindfulness meditation or heart coherence breathing. Studies do exist, but they are often small. I would rather give you three recent examples with their limits than a list of promises.

The SOPHROCARE trial, run in several French hospitals including Bordeaux University Hospital, followed 200 young people aged 13 to 25 born with a heart defect. Half of them had eight individual sophrology sessions by video. After a year, their physical fitness had not improved more than that of the comparison group. However, among the 18 to 25 year olds, mental quality of life and energy levels had clearly improved.

In the UK, a pilot study on chronic pain split 100 adults between an eight-week sophrology programme and a control group. Those in the sophrology group took fewer painkillers and reported less anxiety and fewer sleep problems. But only 17 of them completed the programme, compared with 26 in the other group. The authors say so themselves: a larger study is needed.

Finally, in Brazil, a trial with 60 women living with fibromyalgia compared twelve weeks of sophrology with twelve weeks of strength training. Pain went down in both groups, with no difference between them, and strength training did more for strength and physical function.

My takeaway: sophrology seems to act mostly on how people feel, their quality of life and how they handle stress, and it adds to other approaches rather than replacing them. That is exactly how I present it to the people I work with.

Sophrologist: an unregulated job, so choose carefully

In France, the title of sophrologist is not protected. Anyone can use it, after long supervised training or after just a few days. The Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regional Health Agency (ARS) points out that these practices have no specific regulatory framework and that there is no official register of practitioners. It also sets out the legal limits: a practitioner who is not a health professional does not give an opinion on your medical condition, does not recommend any medicine or diet and does not interfere with the treatment your doctor has given you.

The ARS also warns about the risks when these practices replace medical follow-up: delayed medical care, false hope, and sometimes cult-like abuses. This is not meant to scare you. It is so that you ask the right questions before you start.

Questions to ask before a first appointment

• Where did you train, for how long, and with how much supervised practice?
• Do you belong to a professional federation or union with a code of ethics?
• What will you do if my situation calls for a doctor?
• How much does a session cost, and how many sessions do you usually suggest?

A serious sophrologist will answer without hesitation. For my part, I am a member of the FEPS (the French federation of professional sophrology schools) and of the Syndicat des Sophrologues Professionnels (the French union of professional sophrologists), and I set out my background on my about page. Be wary of anyone who asks you to stop a treatment or promises to sort everything out in a few sessions.

If you are torn between several practices, I have also written a comparison of sophrology, meditation and yoga.

Trying a first session

The simplest way to find out whether sophrology suits you is to try it. A first session is for getting to know each other, clarifying what you want to work on and doing one or two exercises to see how they feel. You do not need to prepare anything, apart from wearing clothes you are comfortable in.

I see people at my practice on rue Ducau in Bordeaux, and I also offer video sessions, which work very well for sophrology. If video sounds intriguing, I explain how to prepare for an online sophrology session. A one-hour session is €80, and the details are on my pricing page.

To find out more about how I work with adults, you can read the page on sophrology for adults, or the one about my sophrology practice in Bordeaux. In the meantime, try the shoulder exercise again this evening. Three minutes is a good start.