A 10-Minute Sophrology Exercise for Stress, Step by Step

When stress builds up, it tends to show in the body first: tight shoulders, a clenched jaw, shallow breathing. This sequence works on those signals directly. It uses three classic elements of sophrology, a body scan, breath-paced movements and a positive visualization, adapted so you can follow them on your own.

It takes about ten minutes. You can do it standing in a quiet room, or sitting on a chair if you prefer.

Before you start

Keep breath holds short and gentle. Two or three seconds is plenty. Skip them entirely if you’re pregnant, have high or low blood pressure or a heart or lung condition, or have recently had surgery. Every step below includes a version without holding your breath.
Stand near a chair or a wall in case you feel lightheaded, and sit down at any point if you’d rather.
Stop if anything hurts or if you feel dizzy, and go back to breathing normally.
Keep your eyes open if closing them feels uncomfortable. Relaxation exercises occasionally stir up unpleasant feelings, especially for people with a history of trauma. You’re always free to stop.
Never practice while driving or doing anything else that needs your full attention.

The sequence at a glance

Step	What you do	Time
1. Arrive	Find your position and notice your breath	1 minute
2. Body scan	Relax from head to feet	2 minutes
3. Shoulder pumping	Release tension from your neck and shoulders	2 minutes
4. Tense and let go	Release tension from your whole body	1.5 minutes
5. Your calm place	Picture a place where you feel at ease	2.5 minutes
6. Come back	Return to full alertness	1 minute

Step by step

1Arrive

Time: 1 minute

Stand with your feet about hip-width apart, knees soft rather than locked, and arms hanging loosely by your sides. Let your weight settle evenly over both feet. Close your eyes if that’s comfortable.

Without changing anything, notice your breathing. Is it fast or slow? High in your chest or low in your belly? Then, for three or four breaths, let each out-breath become a little longer than the in-breath.

Make it gentler: Sit on a chair with your feet flat on the floor and your hands resting on your thighs.

2Body scan

Time: 2 minutes

Move your attention slowly down through your body, giving each area one or two breaths. Each time you breathe out, invite that area to soften:

your forehead, eyes and jaw, letting your teeth part slightly
your neck and shoulders
your arms, hands and fingers
your chest and upper back
your belly and lower back
your hips, legs and feet, feeling their contact with the floor

You don’t have to make anything happen. If an area stays tense, simply notice it and move on.

Make it gentler: Your mind will probably wander, and that’s normal. Bring your attention back to the last area you remember and carry on from there.

3Shoulder pumping

Time: 2 minutes

This is one of the best-known exercises in sophrology’s Dynamic Relaxation.

Breathe in through your nose.
Hold the breath gently and pump your shoulders up and down a few times, as quickly or as slowly as feels comfortable. Keep your arms loose.
Breathe out through your mouth and let your shoulders drop completely.
Pause with your eyes closed and notice the sensations in your neck, shoulders and arms. You might feel warmth, tingling, heaviness or nothing in particular. All of these are fine.

Repeat three times, resting for a few natural breaths after each round.

Make it gentler: Don’t hold your breath. Lift your shoulders as you breathe in and let them drop as you breathe out.

4Tense and let go

Time: 1.5 minutes

This exercise follows a pattern some sophrologists call IRTER: inhale, retain, tense, exhale, release.

Breathe in through your nose.
Hold the breath gently and tense your whole body at once: clench your fists and tighten your arms, shoulders, face, belly and legs. Use about half your strength, not all of it.
Breathe out through your mouth and let everything go at once.
Pause and notice the difference between tension and release.

Repeat twice more. On the last round, imagine your out-breath carrying away some of the tension of the day.

Make it gentler: Tense only your hands and forearms as you breathe in, and release them as you breathe out, without holding your breath.

5Your calm place

Time: 2.5 minutes

Let your breathing return to its natural rhythm. Now bring to mind a place where you feel calm and safe. It can be somewhere real, such as a beach, a mountain path or a favorite corner of your home, or somewhere you imagine.

Fill in the details one sense at a time:

What do you see? Notice the colors, the light and the shapes.
What do you hear? Perhaps water, wind, birdsong or silence.
What can you feel? Warmth on your skin, the ground under your feet, the temperature of the air.
Is there a smell?

Stay there for a few breaths and notice how your body responds. If a pleasant feeling appears, let it spread.

Make it gentler: If no place comes to mind, picture a color you find soothing, or recall a moment from the past week when you felt at ease.

6Come back

Time: 1 minute

Let the image fade. Take two or three deeper breaths. Wriggle your fingers and toes, stretch your arms if you like, and open your eyes. Take a moment before you move on with your day.

What you might notice

Some people feel noticeably calmer after a single practice. Others notice very little at first, and that’s normal too. Sophrology puts a lot of weight on observing your own experience without judging it, so treat whatever you notice as useful information rather than a test you pass or fail.

Making it a habit

Short, regular practice tends to work better than an occasional long session. Try the full sequence once a day for a week or two, ideally at the same time of day. Once it feels familiar, you can use parts of it on their own: a single round of shoulder pumping before a meeting, or the calm-place visualization while you wait for an appointment.

If you’d like a version for the end of the day, try our evening wind-down for sleep.

When stress needs more than an exercise

Relaxation exercises can help with everyday stress, but they aren’t a treatment for anxiety disorders or depression. Talk to a doctor or a mental health professional if:

stress or worry lasts for weeks and doesn’t ease
it disturbs your sleep, appetite, work or relationships
you have panic attacks or feel constantly on edge
your mood stays low, or you lose interest in things you used to enjoy

If you’re thinking about harming yourself, contact your local emergency number or a crisis line right away. In the US, you can call or text 988. In the UK and Ireland, you can call Samaritans free on 116 123.

Sources

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). Relaxation techniques: what you need to know. Evidence on breathing exercises and stress, and safety information.
The Sophrology Academy. Breathwork in sophrology: a path to balance and harmony. Description of shoulder pumping.
Sophrology News. Have you ever heard of dynamic relaxation? How tense-and-release movements are used in Dynamic Relaxation.
Accor Spa & Thalasso. Sophrology, your go-to anti-stress ally. Description of the IRTER breathing pattern.
Van Rangelrooij K, Solans-Buxeda R, Fernández-García MJ, et al. Effectiveness of a 4-week sophrology program for primary care patients with moderate to high anxiety levels: a randomised controlled trial. Actas Españolas de Psiquiatría. 2020;48(5):200–208.

Checked against the sources listed above on October 4, 2026. Spotted an error?Tell us and we’ll correct it. Read our editorial policy.