Reconciling with your body thanks to sophrology
Nowadays, the body gives a relatively important place to the body and so much the better, since the rupture between the body and the psyche was a reality for a good part of Western history. Sometimes religion, sometimes disciplines like psychoanalysis, sometimes education itself, considered the body as a simple envelope, sometimes going so far as to condemn it.
The reconciliation between body and mind is well under way. There are several ways to get involved. However, some of them remain illusory: for example, when one seeks to dominate one’s body, to shape it, sometimes with violence … but by denying it, by not listening to it, by forgetting the vital impulse which is in us.
The lack of listening and the altered bond between body and mind that some people face certainly relates to a personal story, to suffering sometimes. Some authors, like the psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich, believe that the body expresses an emotional story, through its deformations and sometimes its psycho-bodily sufferings.
I love you, me neither
Let’s take two examples that perfectly illustrate the altered link between body and mind:
1) bodybuilders: guided by the cult of performance, they cultivate their body, frequently using violence, to shape it, make it fat according to standards. The latter often take pleasure in observing themselves, in comparing themselves to “standards”. However, this pleasure is itself often the source of suffering, either present (tendinitis, recurrent pathologies linked to heavy loads, etc.) or future (renal problems linked to long-term high-protein diets, hernias, arthritis, etc.) .
2) overweight people (obesity, bulimia): they also have a form of duality which can seem ambiguous. Indeed, on the one hand they may experience pleasure in eating; on the other, this pleasure is itself the object of suffering (“I can no longer bear myself”, “I am no longer able to be loved”, “I am monstrous when I see myself in a mirror” …) .
As curious as it may seem, in both cases, the limits are not clearly established between gaining mass (muscle or fat) and taking risks. Because excessive physical culture like obesity can be the cause of multiple pathologies (hypertension, diabetes, osteo-articular problems, etc.). The similarities between these two examples may perhaps reduce the guilt of the sedentary and, above all, reassure overweight people, for whom sophrology finds particularly privileged applications!
Diets, adapted physical exercise, certain surgical procedures (gastric balloon, gastroplastic techniques) are concrete and particularly effective responses. However, these approaches are all the more effective if the person restores his / her body / mind link, by reclaiming the right to have a bodily experience free of guilt, shame, underlying complexes. Listening to the body and mind-body awareness make it possible to offer bodily pleasure (as minor as it may be, it will remain pleasure): feelings of relaxation, fullness, harmony …
Thanks to sophrology, the dualities mentioned below are soothed and disappear. Dr. Auquier emphasizes that “the ego that wants to lose weight and the ego that wants to eat or that does not want to lose weight are rediscovered”.
From listening to yourself to rediscovering yourself
In this context, the relaxation therapy has several objectives:
- stress management linked to diet or even surgical intervention (in the case of a gastroplasty for example)
- the integration of life changes: new eating habits, new outlook on oneself, physical activities if necessary
- the presence of his corporality and the integration of his bodily scheme (especially future): in this case, it allows to anticipate or even support motivation (sometimes even the “yoyo” effects linked to certain inadequate eating habits).
It even appears that working on stress management alone can be a significant vector of weight loss, when the person compensates for their stress by automatic mechanisms or food impulses (the chocolate bar at 5 p.m. as soon as they return from work…) ) or that she is gaining weight due to her stress, even though she has an almost normal diet.
The sophrology competition is necessarily part of a collegial approach, between the two parts of the person (the two “me”), the health professional (nutritionist doctor, for example) and, if necessary, between the masseur physiotherapist, osteopath, paramedical team or even the association in charge of supporting the person.
Concretely, and apart from the basic techniques, the sophrology sessions will aim to integrate certain specific techniques, such as the search for the signal gesture associated with a feeling of satiety or fullness, SAP (Sophro Acceptance Vitale) or SCS (Sophro Correction Serial ). The person will obviously be invited to perform the exercises on a regular basis, between the different sessions.
Finally, the exercises will be adapted according to the age of the person who consults the sophrologist. Unfortunately, we find that overweight, obesity and bulimia strike earlier and earlier. An IPSOS survey conducted in 2012 indicates that 19% of young people aged 15 to 25 (one in five French) are overweight or obese. In addition, 61% of young French people eat their meals in front of the television or computer at least every second time. These habits are both a reflection of a “filling society” (to use the expression of Dr Christophe André, psychiatrist). They also bear witness to paradoxes: that of escaping the present moment (source of happiness or at least serenity) and that of over-consuming information, most of which is bad … which necessarily increases our anxiety or our withdrawal . Phenomenon of double punishment, with all the risks that it involves, including food!
Here, sophrology touches on the foundations of positive psychology. It then sends us back to the forces and virtues that can (or should!) Animate each and every one of us.
Pleasure is only the happiness of a point of the body. True happiness, only happiness, all happiness is in the well-being of the whole soul. ” – Joseph Joubert
Author: Jean-Michel SCHLUPP, Sophrologist.