The other day I told you that I was going to introduce you to a woman who knew how to adapt to the circumstances and to re-create herself, or maybe I should say benefit from the opportunities life and her profession have given her to start new paths. I’m also going to talk about “something” that at least I didn’t know before this summer when I had the opportunity to spend a pleasant time with her.
Our protagonist of today is Angéline Danel and “my” discovery is the sophrology. Do you want to know more? Keep reading.
The first time I met Angéline was through Cristina Mendia, a wonderful woman I met thanks to MET Community. When she introduced me to her, the only thing I could think was that if she was Cristina’s friend, she had to be someone special. Without any doubt, she is. In fact, she is also a member of EmakumeEkin. So, it’s two in one.
Angéline is a French woman who’s been living in Bilbao for 9 years. She is a professional lyrical singer (soprano) and a violinist (since she was 6), she’s had “to be at the top of her game” for a lot of days and years, because her profession demanded it. Paris, Germany and Austria have seen her grow up as a person and as a professional. When she met the father of her children, a man from Bilbao, she took the plunge and came here to live. It was the right moment to distance herself from the stress and noise from Paris.
Angéline is a curious and hardworking woman, who is open to the experiences and likes to experiment, who is always learning and who believes in herself and in people’s potential. Oh, and she is also very demanding of herself, something that has made her put up some very high barriers, something that has made her go through very stressful moments
But her profession has also let her “walk in many other people’s shoes” and think differently, in other contexts, something that has helped her understand better other people and grow personally.
The thing is that Angéline started looking for a tool that helped her face the day and feel better. And that’s where she found sophrology. It was through it how she discovered the potential we have and we don’t realize.
Sophrology was founded in Madrid in 1960 by Dr. Alfonso Caycedo, a neuropsychiatrist. Nowadays it is well established in western countries such as France, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Portugal and Spain, and it’s being used in hospitals, schools, companies, with elite athletes and top-musicians, etc.
According to caycedian sophrology, it consists on a personal training based on relaxing and body and mind activation techniques. Its regular practice allows you to manage your emotions and develop your capacities in any sphere of life.
Sophrology’s goal is to increase personal resources to:
- Stimulate the awareness of perception of their own body and mind and to improve the management of their response of stre
ss and relaxation. - Develop greater serenity and a constructive attitude towards stressors.
- Learn how to relax physically and mentally.
- Promote a healthy biorhythm encouraging the practice of physical and mental exercise and the establishment of a healthy diet.
- Develop positive attitudes towards life (positive expectancy) and optimism towards life projects.
- Learn how to manage negative thoughts (questions, internal dialogue) and emotions (anxiety, irritability, etc.).
- Promote wellbeing, self-esteem and assertiveness.
In sophrology they use relaxation and imagination techniques as a way of developing psychophysical wellbeing of the person and is considered as a way of training to develop capacities, improve your self-esteem, manage stress and get a better quality of life.
Sophrology has helped Angéline to achieve a mental, physical and emotional balance, as well as to become THE protagonist of her own training and her life (because once you know the techniques you have to use you become more and more autonomous).
Nowadays, Angéline teaches and does individual and group sessions in her office.
“It helps people to be in the center of their own life”.
If you also find yourself in uncertain situations or situations that present some kind of trouble (grief, exams, break-ups, etc.) or if you just need to work out the stress these kind of situations create, increase your motivation and trust, improve your relationships with other people, improve your own wellbeing or contribute to the wellbeing of your company, as well as its productivity, you’ll be able to find the perfect ally in sophrology. You just have to get in touch with Angéline through sofrobilbao@gmail.com.
NOTE: Angéline’s pictures are from Silvia Oselka (info@silviaoselka.com), a woman who, after studying business management and specializing in marketing, decided to dedicate herself to corporate photography of people, products and events, her real passion. Her goal is to capture the values, the businessmen and businesswomen and the entrepreneurial people of the company in powerful images that help strengthen the image of the brand and reach the target audience.
Enjoy the week.
Translated by María Ubierna Quintanilla and supervised by Arantza Arruti.