The Secret to Better Sleep and Less Stress with Sophrology Expert

I'm not an extremist in anything. As AI takes over the world, like, what are we left with? A glass of wine seems to be like an outbreath. There's more that has to be done.

When you don't sleep at night, it's a very painful experience. They feel like they lose control. Either gonna scream more on their children, let them scream. It's part of the human experience. Just being silent for 10 minutes seems impossible. You can't do this and worry at the same time. This human machine is actually incred.

If you are struggling to manage your time, you're struggling to get better sleep, you're struggling to deal with anxiety and overwhelm. This is the episode for you. Today I sit down with the amazing bestselling author of the Life Changing Power of Dominique Antiglio. We go deep into what sophrology is and, and why in Europe, mainland Europe. This has been around for many, many decades. Yet now, and only now it's starting to become a thing in the Western world, in the uk, North America, and now here in New Zealand, Australia as well, you're in for an absolute treat. Sit back and enjoy the show. Dominique, a huge welcome to the Lead on Purpose podcast.

Thank you, James. I'm super happy to be here.

I'm so excited you're here because there is a craze, a trend that's taking over the Western world and that is serology. You are, in my opinion, the world's global expert and many others would agree with this on sophrology. So what is sophrology?

So it's quite natural that a lot of you haven't come across sophology yet because it's something that, it's a self development practice and you can classify it in a meditative practice. And it all originates from continental Europe. So it's a really famous practice in France, in Switzerland, in Belgium, in Spain, that helps people to manage their stress, to sleep better, to build their confidence.

To perform. A lot of sports, people, high achievers, are using it to support them in their daily life by harmonizing their mind and body and using the mind, body connection to empower them in their daily life. So softrology is a practice. So it's, it's something you do in your daily life for perhaps 10 minutes a day, two minutes a day, and you close your eyes and you're guided through a series of relaxation, breathing, visualization and movement exercises. And it's the combination of those that makes softrology so unique and so powerful to help people in Their daily life.

Incredible. And look, I think back to my earlier life when I was a young drummer performing at the world championships and often getting up on a stage. And for months leading into that, I've been visualizing that. And when I got to the stage, the visualization helped. However, I hadn't been doing the other practices such as breath work to manage the stress, the cortisol. And so that really impacted my performance. So I started to explore how the breath can help. But in fact that was 20 something years ago and it was very difficult to actually find practices that I could embody and embrace. So with sophology, how long has that been around for?

So I love the fact you said you hadn't prepared more on the body side, because I think that's the beauty of soft is that it combines mind and body. So the mind for visualization and body. How can my body support my mind or how my body can support my emotions? So softrology started in the 60s, 1960s. It started in the medical world in Spain by a neurolog and psychiatrist called Alfonso Caicedo. Professor Alfonso Caicedo, which I was really lucky to train with. And he started this method originally to help his patients who were in psychiatric ward, often with serious mental issues. And he wanted to look into gentler method or method that could help these people on a daily basis to deal with the disease they were suffering from. And at the time his wife was practicing yoga already. So he got really interested in the Eastern practices and he decided as a young psychiatrist, having all the Western knowledge of the mind and psychiatry and neurology, to explore how these method of meditation, sound work, asanas in yogas and all the Zen and Buddhist practices could help consciousness and could, how could you positively influence consciousness through these methods? And so his whole life research has been around that. And how, how do you draw on these practices and adapt them for the fast paced world we live in? And how do you blend these traditional ancestral practice with modern science so that you can get the best of both worlds? Really? Yeah.

That's stunning. And it's interesting you talk about that because often when I'm delivering a keynote or if I'm working with a high performance, say at a senior leadership team, and I start to talk about these practices that have really helped me through breath work, meditation, journaling, sometimes I get the eye roll and James, enough of the soft stuff. Just tell us what to do to make more money or to be more successful. And I always pause and say, yeah, but the soft stuff is the hard stuff. If you can actually take the time to get into the soft stuff. It's going to be difficult and challenging. There's going to be so many self obstacles. But when you get in there and start to do the work, actually all of the outer world, all of these things you're trying to achieve become more effortless, seamless, enjoyable, meaningful. So those individuals that usually say enough of the soft stuff, what they want is the data, they want the science. And when I'm able to say here's the proof, they're like, okay, cool, we'll give it a try. So with sophology, what are some of the studies or research pieces that have been done around? When you embrace nephrology, here's the outcome that can actually happen at a scientific and a neurology level.

Yeah, I totally agree. These are important question, especially in the world of today where you have a lot of fads around and a lot of things that you know could be potentially dangerous. So I think it's always a valuable thing to do is to be critical. And so I agree that like softrology, basically it's a blend of modalities. So if you think about mental imagery, if you think about relaxation, breathing, movement, and all the studies that have been done in that space to understand the link between breathing and the nervous system or the link between.

Meditative practices and how they influence the structure of your brain or the function of your brain. So all this work that has been done and of course there's more needed in mindfulness, in sophology, in breathing. I mean, we haven't come to the bottom of all these studies yet. There's more that has to be done. But there is good indication that a lot of these practices can have an impact on the nervous system, on our mood, on our sleep. And that's where the scientific aspect of sophology can grant itself. There's also a growing body of science of sophology itself, especially in France and Spain. There's a current study, bigger study at the moment that is starting in France that also looks promising. There is a need for more, definitely. But you know, I think it has shown result on stress, on.

Depression, there's a body of science and sophology on asthma and chronic pain.

So you know, sophology has been reimbursed by the Swiss health insurance since the 90s. So you know, it's been around. It's been used in sleep clinics alongside more traditional approach of sleep or insomnia. It's often recommended by.

People who help you prepare for birth. So it can be your midwife or your obstetrician that will send French ladies to sophrologist to get ready for birth. And all the athletes aspect we've talked about, there's like famous athletes in continental Europe that have been known to use sophology or even the French rugby team who's had a sophologist with them. So yeah, there is a need for more, always more science. But I think we've seen the result of sofology working for people. And me as a therapist, this is what I witness continuously in my practice through my platform, that it's a tool, It's a tool to help people feel more empowered in their daily life. Yeah. And it's true that soft skill are often not at the center of the conversation, but I think with the world, how the world.

Is progressing and changing, maybe those soft skill will be more and more valued and at the center of the conversation. As AI takes over the world, what are we left with? Ourselves? Right. So I think this will become more and more, in my opinion, necessary to work with because we need to know ourselves and to be creative and to be inspired and to be ourselves.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And in your work as a therapist, what are some of the most common challenges or problems that you see your patients walking in with in terms of what's going on in their lives and in the world right now?

I think a lot of people that I have seen and continue to see is a sense of overwhelmed, overwhelming, you know, being overwhelmed by the amount of information we consume each day, being overwhelmed by a difficult experience they are going through, maybe something related with their health.

A separation, a change of continent, redundancy, a loss, or simply not being able to sleep at night and having their minds completely wired and not knowing where to start to find some sort of calm in the madness. And I think, you know, most of us can probably relate to that because it's, it's part of the human experience.

Absolutely. And if we often will get to a point where let's say we have a major disease or a tumor shows up, or we're fully burnt out and highly depressed, so then we go and look for help. But actually it sounds like sophology can help there, but it can also help at the start and prevent you from actually reaching those points of autoimmune disease and burnout. So where's the first step for the person that wants to step into sophology? My advice first of all will be, there's a link in the show notes to Amazon where they can get The Life Changing Power of Sophology, your best selling book. But after that point, what can they do to start on that journey?

I think you have to start where it feels comfortable because I think self development and looking after yourself shouldn't be another chore and another obligation in your life. Yeah. So some people like to start sophology lying down because they are so tired and exhausted and can't face another activity, for example. So therefore you could start with a simple body scan and some breathing and visualization for five minutes before bed. Some people hate sitting quietly. I've had a lot of clients who are very busy people, full of adrenaline, full of anxiety as well, and high performers. And the idea of closing their eyes, crossing their legs and just being silent for 10 minutes seems impossible. And I agree with that. You know, when you're very active, maybe you start by using movement and sophology. You can practice it lying down, sitting or standing. And the standing aspect gives you some very simple movement that you can do whilst your eyes are closed or open. And you combine those movements with the breath, you combine them with the sense of relaxation, even if you are standing or with a specific goal. And I think what is attractive to softrology is often you learn to meditate or you learn to connect with yourself, but towards a specific goal. And I think that's why it's so successful, is that, you know, most of us have something they would like to work on. And I think starting with where it feels useful will eventually lead you to more awareness in every aspect of your life. And doesn't matter if you want to start working on your sleep or on your confidence or on your positivity or on a project you have, or you want to raise your energy level or you want to diminish your anxiety, I think yeah, you will connect with yourself. And at the end of the day, through this experience, you will learn to manage a lot of other things as well.

100%. And for those high performers that you've had come through and work with you personally, but also in the greater world of sophology, so that the athletes, top CEOs, Arianna Huffington, these people that are real top performers, what do they generally start with in terms of, hey, here's my problem, Whether it's time anxiety, performance pressure, what's one of the most common things that people come to sophrology to try and solve?

I think a lot of them start with sleep because I think as long as you can carry on sleeping in your life, there's still a lot of Hope and possibilities in terms you've got the energy to. To change things, to be creative. But I think the minute you start to lose your sleep, and that's where people start to really notice, oh, my God, there's something that is impacting me here. And when you don't sleep at night, it's a very painful experience because then one night of difficulty brings another one, and then your mind starts to wander and you start to worry about things more and your energy decreases and. And then, yeah, then it's hard to get out of it. So. So. So I think sleep has been one of the main, you know, trigger for. For asking help in many of my. My clients.

Yeah, it makes sense. I mean, I'm talking to more and more experts around sleep and how vital it is now. Sometimes with high performers and people who are leaders, you will hear them say, oh, I only need four hours of sleep. I've got so much to do. And it's like almost like a badge of honor. And I just shake my head and think they're in for a rude awakening at some point. So in your opinion and your professional experience, what's the consequence of chronic bad sleep?

I mean, the science says it, you know.

You will have an influence on your cardiovascular system. You will have influence on your cortisol, therefore, on your weight.

There's also, like, you'll have influence on your metabolism, sugar, you know, so inflammation. So we know scientifically that lack of sleep long term has a detrimental influence on your health.

You know, I think they. And me, what I see in this is really about your mental health and how you feel in your daily life. And I think people who don't sleep generally feel more negative, feel more worried, and just.

They feel like they lose control over their life. And I think that sense of losing control is very damaging because then everything becomes difficult emotionally. They're gonna scream more on their children, or they're gonna start to snap on their partner, or they're gonna. It's gonna have an influence in the family, in the workplace. And it's a hard. It's a hard. Or they're gonna go for alcohol, you know, a lot. In London, there's a lot of culture on alcohol and work and distressing with a glass of wine. It's an extremely popular thing. I notice here, coming from Switzerland, I notice culturally, you know, like, a glass of wine seems to be like. Like an out breath, you know, like, you know, when you do like, ah, and you sit down in your sofa and you say, oh, finally, I finished my day and the glass of wine seems to be this signal that now you're done. And I think I've got nothing against a glass of wine. And you know, I'm not an extremist in anything. But I think that there needs to be awareness around that because when you can't sleep, when you're anxious, then it can lead to addiction and trying to fill the gap with things that are not going to be good for you long term.

So awareness around that I think is important.

Absolutely. And it's interesting with sleep. I've recently started wearing the OURA ring to try and get a little bit of, like a bit of a marker as to where my sleep sits and where I need to improve. So for me, selfishly, I'm going to ask you, how can I start to improve my quality and depth of sleep? Using sophology?

Yeah, I think, you know, in sophology we say we prepare our night throughout the day because I think most people don't realize how deeply connected to what you experience during the day sleep is. So if you've been on adrenaline all day, haven't had a minute to process any of or just acknowledge any of the emotion you've been through, maybe you've been angry, stressed, fearful, anxious for many different reasons at many different time of the day and it can be like a low grade even. You know, you don't need to be like totally out of control. And these things over time and added to maybe a certain lifestyle or pressure or trauma, they start to weigh on your sleep and on your nervous system and at some point the nervous system just loses its natural rhythm. You start to be a bit out of rhythm with your circadian rhythm as well and things start to be hard and suddenly I don't understand why I don't fall asle. And often they think it's something happening in the moment, but it's a buildup. So if you want to start to influence your sleep, of course I would always recommend you check your, you know, physiologically. You go and check and say hi to your gp, get a little check and know if you, for example, are lacking certain supplements. Maybe you have a lack of magnesium or you have a lack of iron or vitamin D deficiency or something. So always start with the physiology, check with your doctor and then when you're all clear on that front and you can take your supplements or take whatever he recommends, then you can start working with behavior and how you feel and self development. And I think it can be as simple as twice a day taking two minutes to just Checking how do I feel now? Like maybe bringing a hand on your abdomen, a hand on your chest, taking a second to close your eyes, just take an in breath and out breath and ask yourself, how do I truly feel now and how does my body feel right now? And you might notice that your shoulders are all hunched up, that you actually not breathing because you're waiting for that next goal. Or you might realize that you, you are saturated in front of your computer and your body needs to move or you are very thirsty and you have forgotten to actually drink the whole day. So those really basic connection that we can't do because life goes so fast and because screens take all the space and worry take all the space. So going back to the body and asking yourself these very simple question. Although it seems weird to close your eyes at your office, I mean try, try once and see, see what comes up. And it might be uncomfortable because it might be all about, oh my God, I don't want to connect now because the anxiety is too high or the worry or the tension in my shoulder is too painful. So I'd rather just carry on. But if you take, take that moment to just do that pause and just take an in breath and an out breath and realize what's going on, over time you will be able to implement those simple exercises of softology and do more and maybe dive for 10 minutes in an audio practice in the evening. And then you learn there's nothing to succeed at with sophology. There's nothing that can go wrong, there's nothing to achieve. It's a continuous learning of tools. And the more you learn and the more you repeat, the more impactful it becomes, the more awareness it brings and the more transformation you will notice. And I've seen like wonderful transformation as in myself first practicing from an early age, but then also in my client. And awareness is freedom, you know, awareness is freedom. And if you've got a bit more awareness of how you feel, then you have more control.

And when you started, Dominique, you talked about you've been doing it from early childhood. What started you on this journey of sophrology?

So I was 15 year old, a student, I was living in Switzerland and I was a fan of basketball. So I wanted to become Michael Jordan when I was 15. And so I didn't like school and all I wanted to do is to train. And after a while I suddenly feel that my body was kind of letting me down. I was starting to feel super tired for no apparent reason. And then over the months I started to faint. So I had this fainting episode on the way to school in the bus, you know, sometimes just talking to someone, I was feeling lightheaded and saying, oh my God, I think I'm gonna paint. I was fainting. So it was really disturbing and really worrying for me.

And then I also had this small infection like sinusitis and things that were popping. Then my GP was giving me antibiotics. And then three weeks after was something else. And it was a never ending story. So I saw my gp, they did all sorts of tests, they said I had really low blood pressure, which they think is better than a high blood pressure anyway, so they said, you know, we're not sure, honestly, we're not sure what's going on with you. We can't see anything really wrong with you, but you're clearly struggling, so why don't you go and see a soprologist? So because I wanted to go back, training, not being from alternative therapy or complementary background like this was totally unknown for my family. I decided to give it a go. And I went to the other side of town and I met this amazing sophologist who then became my mentor for many, many years and who taught me those simple exercises she recorded on a tape at the time. Tape RECORDING and she, she sat me down, listened to me, and then said, you know, maybe your body is trying to tell you something and maybe you, you should maybe listen what, what is happening in your body that you, you're fainting like this. Yeah. So with those simple breathing, simple relaxation, with standing work, moving my body, being guided to listen, I, I felt a tremendous relief in learning to listen to myself and my sensation. I think I had never been able to connect with myself in that way. And suddenly I realized, gosh, I can feel more in control of my breath. I can decide which thought I'm going for now or I can decide how I'm going to show up tomorrow at school. Even if I, I don't like my teacher and I feel bullied by this teacher, I can start to take control over this overwhelming world I felt I was living in at the time with so much pressure and not a lot of, you know, place to be. Basically, I think I was so under pressure and I realized my body was just shutting down to try to, in an attempt to stop me, otherwise I would probably be really sick. Yeah. So over five weeks of doing that work with this amazing practitioner, I completely recovered. No more fainting, no more tiredness, no more. And an intense awareness of a new world. Like at 15, she helped me open a new Dimension of life, like truly. And so that was so life changing that I said, okay, gosh, I want to know more. So every time I was feeling something, I was uncomfortable. Like, you know, then you, you learn about boyfriends, you have to choose what career you're gonna have. Like, there's so many questions when you're at that age. Yeah. And she became this, this person where I could just go and explain. So I'm not sure about this. How can I do. Okay, let's practice. And she was always giving me the power of these decision and saying, you know what you have to do, Just connect and let's connect and see. And then I was like, all right, yeah, I know now. Okay, I'm gonna, you know. And it became like a self development journey that was so powerful and so deep and so empowering for me. So that's beautiful.

Thank you for sharing that. And I know there'll be a listener listening right now going, wow, you're describing me like I feel overwhelmed, I feel burnt out, I might feel faint. So it's really helpful for that individual. And it's interesting. You and I have a mutual friend in Mogodat and he and I were chatting about AI and as AI rapidly increases in the planet, there's one thing that's going to become really important and really relevant. And he says, look, yes, some people might lose jobs, yes, the world might change, but the one thing that's going to become just gold is human connection. That starts with connecting with self. Because we don't know how to connect with others until we truly know how to connect with ourselves. So to me it almost sounds like sophology is the key or at least one of the keys to connecting with ourselves.

Totally. And I think I couldn't agree more. And I think there's so many theoretical things that we can read if you start self development. How to be present in. How to be in the present moment.

How to be mindful, how to have clarity, how like all these amazing theories that we read and we want. But then how do you do this? It's amazing to be. Want to be in the present moment, feel more connected. But it all sounds pretty fluffy to me if there is no tool. Because then it seems disempowering because you would like to be in the present moment and being able to connect. But then what does that mean? And where do I start? And I think the power of sophology is that it's simple and it's accessible. Anybody can do it like a 50. If I, if I was a 15 year old and I could do it and find something in it. It must be simple. Yeah. Because at 15 I didn't want to explain my entire life to this new person in front of me. So, you know, that means it's accessible. And I think this accessibility, the simplicity and then the fact it's a gradual journey like if you want more, there is more. And it gives you a stress management tool, but also a tool for deep exploration of who you are, what your value system is, what is it that you want to project in your future.

What is the mind body connection but all into an experience, it's not something that you are going to find out mentally or read about. It becomes, becomes an experience. The present moment becomes something you experience and you feel inside you and you feel around you. The mind body connection becomes something that you feel and you use in your daily life and all this concept of calming the mind. You know, okay, if I do this, I know I'm calming my mind, I'm using my breath and I can feel my mind getting calmer. So it's really tangible and it's a learning like playing the piano. It's not magical. It's something you're going to practice five minutes a day and you're going to be good at and it's going to be so useful.

Yeah, I think that's so important to talk about the tools. You know, I was reading an amazing book recently on distraction and lack of focus and I mean the research in it was mind blowing and really got me to think about what am I doing with social media and my phone. But I was waiting at the end, waiting at the end of the book for the tools on what do I do to be less distracted. But there weren't really any and I was a bit disappointed. I wanted the tools and I think that as a modern day human we want to know how to self improve and reach personal mastery. And you talk about presence. My biggest fear is getting to like 60 or 70 and looking back at my son who's now an adult at that stage and going, wow, I missed so much because I wasn't present. So if someone could say to me, James, right now we can enhance your presence in life. So the magic moments that unfold at breakfast, on the car journey to school, you know those magic moments you can be present for, I would be a hell yes, count me in. So I'm going to ask you, are there three tools that somebody could embrace today? Three simple tools from sophology that the listener could go and try okay.

For presence, you mean?

Yeah, for presence. And to reduce anxiety, reduce the busy mind.

I agree. You know, I actually have a similar fear because I have a similar age child. And you have from listening to your previous podcast and you know, you get one chance, one day at a time. Yeah. And for me it's very important that aspect as well, like make the most of the moment. Yeah. And I think what is in the way of, of being. Enjoying life, you know, not only being present, but enjoying the moment and making the most or leaving the moment if it's painful. You, you, you acknowledge and you, you embrace it and you, you stay with it, it.

I think for me it's about stopping the mind and connecting to the body. That would be my first go to thing because I think what is in the way is often the fear or the mind or some belief. So to just let all these things aside and not feed them anymore. The best way is to disengage with all of that for a moment and engage somewhere else. And this somewhere else can be your body. So a movement combined with the breath, we have a very easy one, for example, which is called a shoulder pump. So you can do it mainly standing or sitting. And you clench your fists, you bring your arm alongside your body, then you take an in breath, you hold your breath for a little moment and then you shake your shoulders up and down like really activating all your upper body. And when you need to exhale, you, you release and you release the tension and the movement and you pause. And when you're going to do that, the first thing you're going to feel is, is the movement, is your heart pounding, is a bit of heat or it's a discomfort in your shoulder if you're very tense. But there's something you are going to connect there. And you can't do this and worry at the same time. You cannot do this and you know, not be present. Like being aware of sensation is learning to be present and it's a tangible learning because you're looking for sensation. So I think whenever you, you feel you're out of sync with the present moment or you're too much in your emotions or you have fear or anxiety, going back to the body is a really good thing. You could also, for people who feel very disconnected, they could also jump on the spot for like, you know, 10 seconds or more if you physically fit and then you close your eyes and you can't miss the sensation there, you're gonna feel a lot of sensation. And if you then pause and become the observer of these sensations without judgment, without thinking, oh, I have this pain in my shoulder. It's because I had an accident in the car and I've never managed to do this. All these stories we do when we listen to the body, you try to just suspend that for a moment and just behave like if it's the first time you've landed in your body, like you jumping, stopping, listening and being here for the first time, what do you feel? And every day is going to be different. But the experience of that will teach you to become the non judgmental observer of something. And then as you dive deeper in the practice of sofology and you repeat, you'll be able to disengage with a lot of things much more easily because you've trained it with your body. So then it becomes possible to disengage with someone rage when they're here or to, you know, when you say being present with your child. How many times my son has expressed anger and people usually say, but how come you stay so calm? Why are you not reacting? How do you manage? And I think it's because I've practiced sophology. I just give him the space because.

It feels uncomfortable and annoying sometimes for me to witness other people emotion because I'm a human being. But I'm able to stay with this frustration or this moment where I'd like things to be different. I know how to disengage and just to pause and stay with that and observe it and say okay, let's go through this. And I know there's something after that like I'm not gonna be stuck in this moment forever. Like I just have to step back and give the space. And then all the time my child just go back to normal after this. And then often he will say, oh sorry mommy, I think I was a bit very loud or maybe you know, and I was like it's fine. Yeah. And they, they self regulate because you give them the space and, and you learn, you learn through, through your own experience in your body first.

Yeah, that's beautiful. And I want to think about, well, I want to think about your son for a second and I want to also in the same tone, I want to think about a dictator, someone who's running a country and telling people what to do and invading and creating wars. Right. If that person who's creating all this war and making poor decisions as a leader and hurting people as an adult. If we went back to when they were your son's age and we started to introduce them to practices like sophology. Do you think that would make a big difference in their ability to see the world from a different perspective and to be more calm and less reactive?

I strongly believe that we can change the world by, by changing individual. I mean, this is my line of work. You know, there's probably many other ways, but like if you create more awareness into people's life, body, mind, then I think naturally you will start to relate to others in a very different way. I think it's a natural progression. I don't think you even need to teach how to interact with others. I think it's kind of obvious that the positive repercussion of that will arise.

Perhaps not in everybody. Perhaps some have deep, you know, I don't know. But some people seems to be able to be more resilient and transform more than others. And I think there is, I don't know why, and I think there's a. Probably a mystery around that, that it's, you know, that we can't influence. But, but I. Of course, of course. I mean, the, what you've been exposed with in the first seven years of your life is to me, it's, it's incredibly. It's the programming, it's the initial programming and it's hard to, to unprogram. You know, if you, you receive those traumas and you've, you haven't had this emotional space, the disconnection and you know, I've been there. That's why I think I was so disconnected at 15 and I didn't go through, you know, like massive trauma like some other people I've heard have been. But I think it doesn't take a lot to break the connection with yourself as a child. I think a child is naturally connected and I think if you're not careful, it's easy to disconnect them from themselves by.

Being. Asking them like too many things, too many activities to not let some freedom into this life of childhood or to let them be like, let them scream, you know, initially when they're very small, that, that's the language of the children. They scream, they jump, they do all these things that we adults feel are perhaps annoying or inappropriate, but I think that's how the nervous system and their brain are wired and we need to learn more about this to understand them and to have an appropriate response, an age appropriate response and a nervous system appropriate response as adults. And I think it takes awareness, but it takes knowledge as well and understanding who these little people are and that they're very different than adults in Terms of their functioning?

Yeah, massively. And you use, throughout our conversation you've used the word breath a lot. And specifically in breath and out breath. So for the listener that's going, oh, like there's something to the breath work that really can impact my mind and my body. What's the science behind in breath and out breath when we're breathing in? My understanding is that sympathetic nervous system is triggered breathing out parasympathetic where we're in a more relaxed state. So does that mean every in breath just for a moment triggers the cortisol or the part that the sympathetic nervous system every out breath. So that's happening thousands of times a day?

Constantly. Constantly. I mean this, this human machine is actually incredible. Yeah, it's, it's incredible. And you know, I used to be an osteopath before, so I used to, you know, work on people's body and mind, but with my hands and feel, you know, feel what's going on in the body. And I mean it's such a, an incredible machine. And I think if we, if we learn to respect it and to listen to it and to influence it through our breath, through relaxation, through our thoughts, through movement, we can gain enormous empowerment and enormous control on how we feel. And it's not that difficult. I think we, there's a reason why I think it's quite simple actually. We don't need something complicated to be powerful. I think it's quite simple.

That's what I love about sophology. The more I learn about it. It is simple. And I feel like anything that's complex. Dominique. I tend to shy away. I'll do it tomorrow, I just don't have the time. But when something's really simple, I'm like, cool, let's do it right now. If it takes two minutes, let's just jump in and try it. It sounds like sophology is not this mathematical equation and something we've got to do for years to understand. We can understand it right away, but actually it's a practice that we will implement. As you said, it could be two minutes a day, it could be ten minutes a day. So the individual that's listening right now can start today. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to put in the show notes, a link to your site where I see that there are actually audio accompaniments to the book that they can engage with, which is really powerful. I'm also going to remind the listener that this book is truly life changing. And what you've got in terms of feedback and testimonials says a lot. It speaks volumes. So I'm going to encourage the listener or the viewer right now, grab a copy and jump into it. But just a few last questions before we do wrap up. Is there one message you've got for people out there that are skeptical about the mind body connection? They're like, there's no connection. Have you got a message for them?

You know, I think what sofology has taught me is to try to not always find answer through the rational and scientific aspect of the things. And I know that's not a very popular way to talk at the moment because the entire world is looking for science evidence in everything, which I agree we have to do. But, but I think that over the years there's a treasure inside us that has no.

Explanation or that that doesn't need an explanation and that there is something inside us that, that's beyond studies or beyond beyond analyzing every aspect mentally of our life. There's something magic in just using.

Our consciousness and being in touch with our body, our mind, our emotion in a less judgmental way. And once you start to practice sophology and do those practice and then you realize they do impact on how you see life quite rapidly you start to perhaps notice things that you didn't notice before in your life and it's almost like the past starts to unfold, but it's not an analytical path. In sophology we talk about phenomenology, that's one of the philosophy and the human science that sophology is based on. And it's about, it's about seeing life for what it is and without judgment and just trying to embrace whatever arises. And it's funny that there's great power in that actually. And sometimes trying to solve your sleep through a rational thing like I should take supplement or I should should. It's because when I was a child this happened. Yes, it's all valid and I'm not going against that. It's all is complementary. But sometimes closing your eyes and giving yourself those 10 minutes, you'll be surprised where you end up and you maybe end up in a new territory that you don't know exists. And I think that's the beauty of practicing with your eyes closed and connecting with yourself. And it's a little bit beyond any rationalization and that you can only experience yourself. Nobody can do it for you. Nobody can. I mean you can teach, I can teach you the tools, but then you have, you've got, you've got it in you, because you are a human being. Yeah. So, yeah, it's not something that I can describe scientifically. It's my life experience. And it's what I see in people who are doing these journeys through sociology, but also through music, through meditation, through connection with nature, through, you know, not. Not everything we can measure matters, and not everything that matters is measurable. You know, like, I think it's Einstein that said that, and I truly believe that.

Yeah, that's beautifully said. And I have to say that, you know, personally, I came from small town in Ireland where a lot of these kind of practices would be kind of frowned upon or questioned. And so for me, initially, I was quite reluctant, but I started to see some really big results. So pushing through some life challenges, like we had a major earthquake here in New Zealand, then going through separation, all of these different things, breath work, a meditation allowed me to traverse it in a way that I'm much more proud of, that I can reflect upon and observe and go, wow, I still went through. I still felt all of the fields. However, I was able to not react to everything. I was able to choose to respond. So I'm with you. I'm converted 100%.

And one last question for you, Dominique, like you to join me and fast forward many, many years into the future and you're highly aware that it's your very last day here on earth, and a very young person that you love dearly comes into the room and asks you, how can I lead my life on purpose? What would you say to them?

I would say if you're asking the question, that means you're going to find the answer. You know, like the simple fact you're asking means that your intention is to find it. And I think finding your purpose or leading your life with awareness comes from an initial intention of wanting to start or to find it. And that's key. And sometimes you don't find the answer straight away, but keeping the intention and carry on asking this question will allow the answer to show itself. And I think the.

Other one might be just listen to your heart, listen to.

The part of you that is a little deconditioned, because inside there, there is the truth and you've got it in you, but sometimes just hidden or it's not the right time yet, or.

It'S hidden behind fears or behind stress or behind something. So you just have to be patient with yourself and also ask for help. Because I think.

If I hadn't had all the support of this early on therapist and many other people that have come to my life through others eyes that we realize who we are as well. So sometimes it's useful to listen to positive people around you that are here to empower you because they reveal who you are by who they are and by what they say to you. And I think that connection with others really can inform you about what is your purpose and why you're here. Yeah.

Such great, meaningful advice. Thank you for sharing that. I know there'll be a lot of listeners that will really value what you've just shared and I want to just honor the work that you are doing and I can see, and I know why it's taking off globally. I can see why the media outlets in the UK truly love what you're doing. I've seen your work in so many places now. So please continue your incredibly purposeful journey and I look forward to our next conversation.

Thank you. Me too, James. Thank you for inviting me.

Hey guys, if you enjoyed the content today, please smash that subscribe button below. And if you want to become part of my community, I've got an amazing free Facebook group, please come and join us. The link is in the description below. And also if you've got any questions about today's session, I'd love to know. Just comment below and I'll be sure to get back to you guys. Have the most amazing day.