Always returning to the same sankalpa is like watering a seed after you planted it.
In my last blog, “What is a Sankalpa?” I explained that this short, positive phrase can have a very positive impact on changing your subconscious. But changing your life takes clear, focused work and commitment. As an instructor of Hatha yoga in Berlin, I have seen many students come in with some very sincere desires for personal change. When they come to my class, I try to explain the main components of creating the most effective Sankalpa to stimulate this change.
Simplicity
The subconscious does not express itself with spoken language. It can be said that the massive amount of information stored in the subconscious is in symbolic form. Symbols and images are what the subconscious uses to express itself, the most common example being our dreams. The images and symbols we dream of could be a way that our subconscious is trying to communicate with our conscious self. But this communication is hard when the conscious does not understand the language of symbols used by the subconscious and vice versa. Through our Sankalpa, our conscious world is trying to communicate to the subconscious world. In order to do this the language used must be as simple, short and as clear as possible, so that the meaning is able to penetrate the subconscious.
Positivity
The type of wording used is also important. In this way, a Sankalpa is not like a New Year’s resolution in that it does not focus on what is wrong, but rather on what will be right. If one wanted, for example, to work on his/her stress levels then it is better that the Sankalpa formed is something like, “I can relax at will” rather than it being “I am not stressed”. We want our subconscious to pick up on the word “relax” rather than on the word “stressed”, so that we imprint energy on what one wishes to achieve rather than its opposite.
In Your Own Language
When asked to repeat your Sankalpa mentally in class, you are also asked to repeat it with feeling and emphasis. Even though I teach yoga in English, I understand that most of my students of yoga in Berlin are not mother tongue English speakers. Repeating it in the language you feel the most connected to will have a more powerful effect on your personal progress and make emphasis more natural.
Stick with your Sankalpa
It is said that one must not change their Sankalpa until they feel it has become true. If we were to take the analogy of the Sankalpa being a seed that we are planting into our subconscious, if each time we go into relaxation we plant a different seed, then the energy we wish to imprint on the subconscious would be too dissipated and our plants would not be able to grow. We should instead always return to that same seed to water it and take care of it until it is a full grown plant – able to stand on its own.
