60 articles
Kundalini Yoga, taught in the West by Yogi Bhajan, is the "yoga of awareness." It combines postures, powerful breathwork, mantras, and meditations to awaken the dormant Kundalini energy at the base of the spine.
Vipassana ("insight") is one of the oldest Buddhist meditation techniques. It involves observing bodily sensations with equanimity to understand the impermanent nature of all experience.
The Second Degree Dynamic Relaxation, inspired by Tibetan Buddhism, explores the contemplative dimension of consciousness. It develops the ability to mentally represent the body and work on self-image.
Projective sophro-stimulation uses creative imagination to stimulate adaptive capabilities. The practitioner projects into different future scenarios to develop mental flexibility and creativity when facing challenges.
Humanistic hypnosis, created by Olivier Lockert, reverses the classical hypnosis mechanism: instead of dissociating consciousness, it unifies it by increasing the patient's state of awareness. The therapist guides in total transparency.
NLP, created by Bandler and Grinder, models strategies of human excellence to make them accessible to all. It offers concrete tools for rapid change by working on mental representations and language.
Metta meditation (Metta Bhavana) systematically cultivates loving-kindness toward oneself and then others. An ancestral Buddhist practice, it develops compassion, empathy, and positive connections.
Zazen is the seated meditation of Zen Buddhism. In lotus posture, facing the wall, the practitioner sits "without goal or gain" — simply being present, letting thoughts pass like clouds in the sky.
The Fourth Degree Dynamic Relaxation closes the fundamental cycle of Caycedian sophrology. It aims at the totalization of being through the exploration of universal values and the awareness of existence in its fullness.
The Third Degree Dynamic Relaxation, inspired by Japanese Zen, develops reflective meditation. It allows exploration of body-mind unity and integration of deep existential values.
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) combines acupressure point stimulation with emotion verbalization to reduce the emotional charge associated with disturbing thoughts, memories, or situations. Developed by Gary Craig in the 1990s, this psycho-body approach shows promising results for anxiety, phobias, PTSD, and chronic pain management, with over 100 published clinical studies to date.
Personal development encompasses a vast set of practices aimed at self-improvement, realizing potential and achieving greater well-being. While some approaches rest on solid scientific foundations — Seligman's positive psychology, Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory, mindfulness — others rely more on marketing than science. This article offers a critical, nuanced view, distinguishing validated approaches from excessive promises.
Ordinary resilience — the ability to navigate daily life difficulties without breaking down — is a trainable skill. Distinct from post-traumatic resilience, it applies to professional failures, breakups, disappointments, life transitions and intense stress periods. Research identifies key factors: cognitive flexibility, social support, emotional regulation, meaning-making and future projection capacity.
Anger is a fundamental, universal emotion that signals a violation of boundaries, injustice, or obstacle to goals. Neither good nor bad in itself, it is its expression that becomes problematic when destructive. Understanding anger's neurobiological mechanisms — amygdala activation, adrenaline discharge, cortical hijacking — enables developing strategies to channel rather than suppress or explode it, transforming this powerful energy into a driver of change.
Motivation is not a magical emotional state preceding action — it is often the result of action itself. Research in motivation psychology, particularly Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory and Locke and Latham's goal-setting work, reveals that lasting motivation rests on satisfying autonomy, competence and relatedness needs, rather than willpower or external rewards alone.
Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use one's own emotions and those of others adaptively. Popularized by Daniel Goleman in 1995, this form of intelligence rests on five core competencies: self-awareness, self-regulation, internal motivation, empathy, and social skills. Research shows EI predicts professional success and personal well-being better than IQ alone.
Adaptogenic plants are botanicals that help the body adapt to stress by modulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis response. Ashwagandha, rhodiola, ginseng, eleuthero, and schisandra are among the best-documented adaptogens. Clinical studies show their ability to reduce cortisol, improve fatigue resistance, and enhance cognitive function under stress, with a generally favorable safety profile.
Therapeutic hypnosis offers direct access to unconscious patterns that sabotage self-confidence. In hypnotic trance — a natural altered state of consciousness — limiting beliefs become accessible and modifiable. Ericksonian hypnosis in particular uses metaphors, indirect suggestions, and reframing techniques to reprogram negative mental automatisms and install new confidence and assurance resources.