The glossary
The breath and sophrology glossary
The words you see everywhere, explained simply and without jargon. From breathing to the nervous system, from sophrology to deep rest: the vocabulary for understanding what your body already does.
Breath
- Cardiac coherence
- A slow, continuous breathing pattern, often five seconds in and five seconds out, giving six breaths per minute. The count is a guide and there are no holds.
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- 4-7-8 breathing
- A pattern using four counts to inhale, seven to hold and eight to exhale. Holds are optional; return to natural breathing if they feel uncomfortable.
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- Physiological sigh
- An inhale followed by a smaller second inhale and a longer exhale. The name describes the pattern, without promising an immediate change in how you feel.
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- Diaphragmatic breathing
- Also called belly breathing: the belly rises on the inhale rather than the shoulders. It engages the diaphragm and settles a slower, fuller breath.
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- Breathwork
- The family of techniques that use conscious breathing to shift the state of body and mind. A simple tool, free and always available.
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The nervous system
- Parasympathetic nervous system
- A branch of the autonomic nervous system involved in functions including rest and digestion. It is not an on-off switch you can operate with an exercise.
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- Vagus nerve
- A nerve involved in communication between the brain and several organs, including some parasympathetic functions. Feeling relaxed does not measure its activity.
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- Cortisol
- A hormone the body releases in response to stress. It is not an enemy to eliminate: what matters is a steady rhythm between tension and rest.
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- Window of tolerance
- The zone of arousal where the body can take things without flooding or shutting down. Above it: agitation and irritability. Below it: numbness and withdrawal. A model proposed by Dan Siegel in 1999.
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- Interoception
- The perception of signals from within the body, such as heartbeat, breathing or hunger. Noticing a sensation does not require immediately deciding what it means.
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Regulating and grounding
- Grounding (5-4-3-2-1 method)
- An exercise that brings attention back to the present through the senses: name five things you see, four you hear, three you touch, two you smell, one you taste.
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- Glimmers
- A term for small moments that feel pleasant or reassuring, such as a sound, a view or a kind exchange. It describes personal experience rather than a nervous-system measurement.
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- Mental load
- The invisible weight of everything to think about, organise, and anticipate. It often ends up lodged in the body, as tension and tiredness.
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- High sensitivity
- A word used to describe strong sensitivity to sounds, light or emotions. Experiences and needs differ; the label alone does not establish a diagnosis.
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- Fawn response
- A protective reaction of appeasing the other person and making yourself small to defuse tension, often at the cost of your own needs.
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Sophrology
- Sophrology
- A method created in 1960 by Alfonso Caycedo that combines breathing, muscle relaxation, and visualisation. It is often practised toward a specific goal, led by voice.
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- Sophronisation
- In sophrology, guided practice inviting relaxation and attention to sensations. It does not mean that everyone reaches a specific state between waking and sleep.
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- Terpnos logos
- The sophrology term for guidance through the voice: its pace, instructions and invitations to pay attention. You remain free to adapt or skip a suggestion.
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- Vivance
- A term coined by Caycedo for the lived experience of the present moment, what body and mind actually feel during practice.
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- Dynamic relaxation
- The core of sophrology: gentle exercises blending light movement, breath, and attention to sensation, standing or seated, rather than still relaxation.
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- Futurisation
- An imagery exercise in which you picture a future situation. It is a form of mental rehearsal, without predicting how you will feel or what will happen.
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- Progressive sophro-acceptance (SAP)
- A sophrology exercise inviting you to picture a future situation gradually. You can choose an everyday scene and skip the exercise if it becomes uncomfortable.
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- Positive action principle
- A sophrology principle that treats a positively experienced moment as a possible focus for practice. It is part of the method’s framework, not a scientific law.
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- Positive visualisation
- An invitation to imagine a place, scene or action. The image can be vivid, vague or absent; there is no particular feeling you need to produce.
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Relaxation methods
- Progressive muscle relaxation
- The Jacobson method, developed in 1938: tense a muscle group for a few seconds, then release it all at once, working up through the body. The contrast teaches the body the difference between held and released.
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- Autogenic training
- The Schultz method, born in the 1930s: short phrases centered on heaviness and then warmth, repeated silently. It describes a sensation instead of commanding relaxation.
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Rest
- Psychological detachment
- Setting work tasks and concerns aside during time away from work. This might involve a boundary around messages or a change of activity.
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- Micro-break
- A brief pause in an activity, from seconds to a few minutes. It might mean moving, looking into the distance or stepping away from a screen.
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- NSDR (non-sleep deep rest)
- An English label for guided rest while awake. It can refer to different relaxation practices; it is not sleep or a substitute for sleep.
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- Yoga nidra
- A guided practice, usually lying down, involving attention to the body, breath or imagery. You can remain awake and adjust your position.
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From the words to the practice
Soa builds a personalized sophrology program for you, led by voice. You put the words of this glossary into your body, session after session.