The word comes from the Greek ἡσυχάζω , (to be quiet) or hésychia, " silence in the union divine". One finds sometimes written the form “hésycasme”, in conformity with the pronunciation but less with the etymology. The hésychasme is a method of prayer consisting of the repeated invocation of the name of Jesus at the rate/rhythm of breathing. The hésychasme is also called " prayer of the coeur" or " prayer of Jésus" because it is a question of making " to descend Jésus" in the heart, receptacle of the Holy Spirit. The hésychasme, which approaches some practical of the breath Eastern, is one of the rare Christian traditions of prayer to utilize the body The principal representative is Gregoire Palamas (14th century).
The authors who treated hésychasme on the pleasant mode readily repeated that the hésychastes claimed to see God by contemplating their navel.

Barlaam the Calabrian, already, by a probable allusion to a text of pseudo-Syméon, treated the hésychastes (of which he was the main adversary) the “omphalopsyques ones”, i.e. people who have their heart in the navel.

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