Origins
The real history of practice and the traditions to which it relates.
Wellbeing and complementary approaches
Practices
to understand before choosing
Forty approaches presented with respect and discernment: their origins, the conduct of a session, the benefits sought, scientific knowledge and useful precautions.
40detailed entries
6main categories
4reading guides
The Orabel method
No blind promotion, no automatic rejection
A tradition may have cultural or personal value even when not all of its therapeutic claims are supported. Each entry presents both dimensions.
Experience
What happens during a session and what people are looking for.
Evidence
A visible level of evidence, limited to specific uses and without general promise.
Safety
Contraindications, practitioner status and signals that require medical advice.
First points of reference
Four very different entrance doors
A contemplative practice, an ancient body path, a framed act and creative mediation: the word "wellbeing" brings together realities that must not be confused.
Body and spirit
Contemplative traditions of Asia, contemporary secular programs
Mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness leads to attention to the sensations, thoughts and emotions present with an attitude of openness. Its secular forms do not summarize the Buddhist traditions they have partially inherited.
Benefits supported for certain uses
Body and spirit
Indian subcontinent
Yoga
Yoga is much more than a gymnastic: Indian traditions bring together body, respiratory, meditative, devotional and philosophical disciplines. In the West, the word often refers to postures.
Benefits supported for certain uses
Medical traditions
China
Acupuncture
L-acupuncture stimulates body points with fine needles. Meridians' maps belong to the Chinese medical setting; research also explores neurophysiological and contextual effects.
Benefits supported for certain uses
Creative and relational mediation
Ancient music uses; modern international clinical discipline
Music therapy
Music therapy is distinguished from a relaxing playlist: a professional uses music with defined objectives, a therapeutic relationship and an evaluation.
Benefits supported for certain uses
Initial collection
40 practices to explore with discernment
Look for a method, origin, benefit or spirituality. The scientific filter describes the level of proof of certain uses, never an overall mark of human value.
40 practices displayed
Body and spirit
Contemplative traditions of Asia, contemporary secular programs
Mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness leads to attention to the sensations, thoughts and emotions present with an attitude of openness. Its secular forms do not summarize the Buddhist traditions they have partially inherited.
Benefits supported for certain uses
Body and spirit
Indian subcontinent
Yoga
Yoga is much more than a gymnastic: Indian traditions bring together body, respiratory, meditative, devotional and philosophical disciplines. In the West, the word often refers to postures.
Benefits supported for certain uses
Body and spirit
China
Tai-chi
The tai-chi-chuan combines Chinese martial principles, slow movements, balance, breathing and attention. It is now practiced as art, exercise of health, meditation in movement or martial discipline.
Benefits supported for certain uses
Body and spirit
China
Qigong
The qigong is a diverse group of Chinese exercises, which are linked to health, martial arts, meditation or religion according to the schools. The word qi belongs to a traditional setting and does not correspond to an energy measured by physics.
Promising but still limited evidence
Body and spirit
Europe, with borrowings from several traditions
Sophrology
Sophrology offers exercises of dynamic relaxation and positive visualization. It is mainly used as a support for stress, mental preparation or comfort, not as a replacement for treatment.
Insufficient or mixed evidence
Body and spirit
Universal practices; forms codified in several traditions
Conscious breathing
Conscious breathing ranges from simple observation of the breath to guided rhythms. It appears in yoga, Buddhism, Taoism, prayer and contemporary methods.
Promising but still limited evidence
Body and spirit
Contemporary research on slow breathing and cardiac variability
Cardiac consistency
Heart consistency is usually a slow breathing, often close to six cycles per minute. It aims to temporarily increase the regularity of changes in heart rhythm.
Promising but still limited evidence
Body and spirit
United States
Progressive muscle relaxation
Developed by Edmund Jacobson, this relaxation travels through the body by briefly contracting and then releasing different areas. Adapted versions avoid contraction in case of pain.
Benefits supported for certain uses
Body and spirit
Europe and the United States
Hypnosis
L-hypnosis is a state of attention absorbed and a method of communication. The person usually loses neither consciousness nor will; he can refuse a suggestion.
Benefits supported for certain uses
Body and spirit
Psychophysiological research
Biofeedback
Sensors measure muscle tension, skin temperature, breathing or cardiac variability, for example. Immediate return helps to test control strategies.
Benefits supported for certain uses
Manual practices
Body practices in many cultures
Wellness massage
The wellness massage brings together touchups, pressures and mobilizations aimed at comfort. It is distinguished from therapeutic massage and rehabilitation performed in a health setting.
Promising but still limited evidence
Manual practices
Japan
Shiatsu
Shiatsu applies rhythmic pressures to the body. Some schools use the language of meridians and ki; this traditional framework does not constitute an anatomical mapping demonstrated.
Insufficient or mixed evidence
Manual practices
Modern forms, especially European and North American
Reflexology
The reflexology assumes that peripheral areas correspond to different parts of the body. These matches are not validated as anatomical network, even if the session can be relaxing.
Insufficient or mixed evidence
Manual practices
United States
Osteopathy
L-osteopathy uses tissue mobilizations, manipulations and techniques. Its currents differ greatly; visceral or cranial claims often exceed the available evidence.
Benefits supported for certain uses
Manual practices
United States
Chiropractic
Chiropractic uses, among other things, spinal manipulations. Some historical currents invoke general "subluxations"; this notion should not be used to promise the treatment of various diseases.
Benefits supported for certain uses
Manual practices
Europe and Israel
Feldenkrais method
The method offers unusual, slow and comfortable motion sequences to refine perception and broaden the possibilities of action.
Insufficient or mixed evidence
Manual practices
Australia and the United Kingdom
Alexander Technique
Alexander teaches to suspend certain automatic habits and to regain freer coordination, by instructions and light pedagogical touch.
Promising but still limited evidence
Medical traditions
China
Acupuncture
L-acupuncture stimulates body points with fine needles. Meridians' maps belong to the Chinese medical setting; research also explores neurophysiological and contextual effects.
Benefits supported for certain uses
Medical traditions
China
Traditional Chinese medicine
The contemporary TCM organizes symptoms and treatments around notions like qi, yin-yang, functional organs and meridians. These categories have their historical consistency but do not correspond directly to modern anatomy.
Level of evidence varies by method
Medical traditions
Indian subcontinent
Ayurveda
L-Ayurveda is a food, lifestyle, plant, body care and categories like dos. It is a scholarly and popular heritage, whose health proposals must be evaluated separately.
Insufficient or mixed evidence
Medical traditions
Europe and North America
Naturopathy
Naturopathy is associated with food, activity, stress, plants, complements and concepts of "field" or "vitality" according to schools. Some recommendations are common sense, others lack evidence or involve risks.
Level of evidence varies by method
Natural approaches
Botanical knowledge in many cultures
Physotherapy
Herbal therapy uses whole plants, parts or extracts. Some plant molecules have a recognized efficacy; other uses are mainly based on tradition or preliminary data.
Level of evidence varies by method
Natural approaches
Ancient aromatic uses; modern European aromatherapy
Aromatherapy
An essential oil concentrates volatile molecules of a plant. L-aromatherapy does not confuse with a simple pleasant smell: ways of use, quality and toxicity count.
Insufficient or mixed evidence
Natural approaches
Germany
Homeopathy
Homeopathy is based on the "law of the like" and repeated dilutions, sometimes beyond the measurable presence of the initial substance, and should not replace effective treatment.
Specific mechanism or effectiveness not demonstrated
Natural approaches
Water uses in many civilizations
Hydrotherapy and thermalism
Hydrotherapy covers very different uses, from relaxing bath to aquatic rehabilitation. Medical thermalism uses natural mineral waters in a defined setting.
Promising but still limited evidence
Natural approaches
Traditional uses of hive products in several regions
Epitherapy
The therapy is very different in products. Food honey is not equivalent to a medical dressing with honey, and the venom of bee can cause anaphylaxis.
Level of evidence varies by method
Natural approaches
Ancient relationship to forests; contemporary shinrin-yoku in Japan
Sylvarapies and forest baths
A forest bath consists of walking slowly, observing, listening and breathing in a wooded environment. It does not require a tree to be tied up or to believe in a particular energy.
Promising but still limited evidence
Energy approaches
Japan
Reiki
Reiki teaches that universal energy would be transmitted by hands. A calm and attentive session can be experienced as soothing, but the energy mechanism is not demonstrated.
Specific mechanism or effectiveness not demonstrated
Energy approaches
Europe, with parallels in various ritual treatments
Magnetism
Magnetism postulates that a person can transmit or rebalance a vital force. The word here does not mean the magnetism studied in physics.
Specific mechanism or effectiveness not demonstrated
Energy approaches
Modern esoteric currents mixing ancient symbolism and New Age
Lithotherapy
Lithotherapy combines symbolic colours, forms and narratives with supposed emotional or physical effects. Minerals have real physical properties, but not the predicted energetic healing properties.
Specific mechanism or effectiveness not demonstrated
Energy approaches
Various musical and ritual practices; contemporary globalized format
Sound therapy and sound baths
Sound baths use audible vibrations, resonances and silence to create an immersive experience. The term covers very different relaxation practices and energy claims.
Insufficient or mixed evidence
Energy approaches
Ancient Symbolisms and Modern Therapeutic Currents
Chromotherapy
Chromotherapy attributes specific effects to each colour on the body or energy. Light has real biological effects, but this does not validate these therapeutic matches.
Specific mechanism or effectiveness not demonstrated
Energy approaches
United States
EFT and stamping
L-Emotional Freedom Technique asks to tap certain supposed points of acupuncture by repeating a sentence linked to an emotion. Its frame of meridians is not necessarily the mechanism of any observed effect.
Insufficient or mixed evidence
Creative and relational mediation
Ancient music uses; modern international clinical discipline
Music therapy
Music therapy is distinguished from a relaxing playlist: a professional uses music with defined objectives, a therapeutic relationship and an evaluation.
Benefits supported for certain uses
Creative and relational mediation
Europe and North America
Art therapy
Art-therapy uses painting, collage, sculpture, photography or other mediums in a structured relationship. The work belongs first to its author and must not be arbitrarily interpreted.
Promising but still limited evidence
Creative and relational mediation
Europe and the United States
Dance therapy
Dance therapy uses movement, rhythm, space and relationship to support expression and body integration. It does not require choreographic technique.
Promising but still limited evidence
Creative and relational mediation
Contemporary uses in health, education and social support
Animal mediation
Animal mediation uses the presence of a dog, horse or other animal as a medium of interaction. It is distinguished from a simple visit and therapy whose animal would be the "career".
Promising but still limited evidence
Creative and relational mediation
India, contemporary method
Yoga of Laughter
Created by Madan Kataria, the yoga of laughter combines simulated laughter, gaze, movement and breaths inspired by yoga. It is a contemporary method distinct from classical yogas.
Insufficient or mixed evidence
Creative and relational mediation
Present in various forms in religious traditions and secular accompaniment
Spiritual support
Spiritual accompaniment helps a person to explore meaning, faith, finitude, choice and belonging. It can be denominational, interconvictional or secular.
Level of evidence varies by method
Natural approaches
Contemporary Medicine and Chronobiology
Luminotherapy
Luminotherapy exposes the eyes indirectly to a lamp producing a defined intensity, often in the morning. It seeks a circadian effect, not symbolic energy of a color.
Benefits supported for certain uses