In this interview, Sarah Prag shares her story of chronic fatigue, discovering sophrology, and her journey towards becoming a qualified sophrology practitioner.
You’ve been living with Chronic Fatigue for several years now, tell us a little about when it started, your experience at that time and what that was like
My experience of Chronic Fatigue started many years ago when I was a student – I was living life to the full, throwing myself into things, and then spent a summer with a nasty cough which left me completely drained. My GP told me to eat bananas! The university was a bit more understanding and I considered deferring my final year, but in the end carried on in a very diminished state and with a lot of support from friends. Fortunately by the time I graduated I felt well enough to start work, and I thought I’d put the fatigue behind me.
How did things go from there – what did you do to try to manage the condition and what did you learn?
I had a bad bout of Glandular Fever in my late 20s which knocked me back again, and again my approach was to slow down, take time off and gradually return to “life as normal”. I don’t think I really saw a pattern at this stage. However, years of just pushing on and overdoing it at work gradually took their toll and I ended up burning out in my mid-30s. This time it was more frightening because I couldn’t pin it on a virus, and my tactic of just resting didn’t seem to help. I turned to restorative yoga, tried the Lightening Process and also took a Mindfulness course. Each of these things helped a bit but I never fully integrated them into my daily life and therefore didn’t feel any long-term benefits. I left my job to work part time as a freelancer which gave me more control, and I did recover enough to get married and have a baby. However a brush with Covid really knocked me back, and for the first time I had to give up work completely.
How did you come to sophrology and what did that do for you?
It was during my particularly fatigued post-Covid year that a friend in France mentioned Sophrology. As soon as I started to read about it (on the Academy website!) I knew it was something I wanted to try. It seemed to draw on other things I had found helpful, but also sounded very pragmatic which appealed to me. Audrey Zannese was about to run one of her 12 week Ultimate Wellbeing courses which sounded ideal, so I signed up for that. For the first time I felt I was being introduced to tools which really addressed what I was experiencing, in a group of people who understood, and with enough information about the underlying science to satisfy my analytical mind! I really enjoyed the experience and could feel how it was starting to help me. I carried on practising after the course ended, but I was also excited to learn more, which is what led me back to the Academy.
As a student of sophrology now in your second year, what have you gained from the training and what do you hope to be able to bring to others as a practitioner?
The first year of training was such a gift as we were able to really deeply experience and practise a full range of sophrology exercises. This definitely benefited me personally and I’ve been able to use these to manage my own fatigue. Not only am I feeling stronger and more well, but my confidence and social life have also improved (both of which can take a knock when you live with a chronic condition).
I also really appreciated learning more about the philosophical and scientific underpinnings of Sophrology. I only wish I’d understood more about how our minds and bodies work when I was younger! A lot of what I have experienced over the years with illness and fatigue makes a lot more sense now – and that knowledge combined with tools that really help is a very powerful combination.
I’m really excited about becoming a sophrology practitioner and taking what I have learned out to others. To begin with I’m planning to build on my personal experience and focus on working with people in the workplace, to help them to manage their own energy and wellbeing and avoid burn out. However, there are so many possibilities with sophrology, I’m looking forward to seeing where else it might take me!