Depending on our moods, positive affirmations can be inspiring, comforting, encouraging and even galvanizing. An essential tool for positive thinking, positive affirmations, when repeated regularly, allow us to replace our old refrains with more...positive thoughts.
To this end, we have created a set of 12 beautifully illustrated positive affirmation cards to enhance your yoga practice and reinforce the power of intention.
Use without moderation, outside or during your yoga and meditation sessions, to go even further in relaxation and self-realization!
We explain to you in this article:
- how to use positive affirmations and what is their origin 😊
- how to deepen the yoga or personal development exercises offered each month in our card game 🧘♀️
Where do positive affirmations come from?
Positive affirmations have their roots in Hindu philosophy.
Used during the Vedic ritual of saluting the goddess Sandhya, “sankalpas” designate in Sanskrit an intention formed by the heart and mind, a wish that one formulates to achieve a certain objective.
The concept of positive affirmations is one of the pillars of the American trend of positive thinking which proposes the use of autosuggestion to learn to be more optimistic and therefore happier.
This is reminiscent of the famous Coué method, invented by the French psychologist and pharmacist Emile Coué, which has been the subject of much derision.
And yet, the idea that our thoughts, whether positive or negative, influence our life, is not new!
No earlier than 2500 years ago, the Buddha already said: “We are what we think. All that we are arises from our thoughts. With our ideas, we build our world".
More recently, the law of attraction has revived the belief that our thoughts are a powerful energy, attracting other similar energies to it.
Regardless of whether any of this is true or not, the fundamental question is whether this approach could work for you. And to find out, nothing could be simpler: just try!
How to use positive affirmations ?
There are a thousand and one ways to incorporate positive affirmations into your daily life.
No rules, but a multitude of possibilities. The following is intended to inspire you only.
One thing to keep in mind, however: the “power” of positive affirmations lies in their repetition. A small alarm can remind you every day to exercise.
For example, you can start by writing and hanging your current positive affirmation in a place where you will see it often: above your bedside table, in your office, on the wall near your yoga mat, etc.
You can read your positive affirmation out loud, sing it, or recite it silently in your head. In the morning and/or evening, at the beginning and end of a yoga session, or rhythmically to your breathing while performing an asana, gently repeat your positive affirmation.
And finally, you can use your positive affirmation as a shield whenever a negative thought or moment of doubt rears its ugly head.
Sankalpa mudra
To enhance the effect of your positive affirmation, you can use sankalpa mudra during your yoga or meditation session.
A mudra is this small codified and symbolic gesture of the fingers and hands which comes directly from Vedic culture.
Sankalpa mudra symbolically invites us to seal our intention in the joining of our two hands.
In a seated position and with your back straight, place the palm of your left hand on your right thigh, palm facing the sky.
The right hand fits together and covers the left hand, palm down.
In this posture of connecting the left and right hemispheres of the brain, you can then formulate and repeat your positive affirmation.
12 positive affirmations for each month of the year
Our metabolism is strongly influenced by the rhythm of the seasons and each month of the year releases a very particular energy. To feel even better in our body on a daily basis, we offer you these 12 positive affirmations to use for each month of the year, to which we have associated a small yoga or personal development exercise:
1. January
Motivation - I choose to have a positive attitude
Exercise #1: Cultivate the art of being positive
2. February
The rebirth - I reinvent myself as the days go by
Exercise #2 : Reinvent yourself day by day
3. March
Cleansing – I separate myself from my false beliefs
Exercise #3: Getting rid of false beliefs
4. April
The hatching - I am filled with beautiful energy
5. May
Balance - I feel in my place at all times.
Exercise #5: Balance postures to regain your balance
6. June
Joy - Joy fills me and fills my life.
Exercise #6: Cultivate your joy of living
7. July
Gratitude - I thank life and its winks.
Exercise #7: How to activate the law of attraction
8. August
Contemplation - I take the time to savor the tranquility
Exercise #8: Meditative walking, an antidote to ruminations
9. September
Recollection - My breathing is calm and deep
Exercise #9: Calm your mind through breathing
10. October
Letting go - Today, I decide to accept what is
Exercise #10: Say “Yes” to what is
11. November
Rooting - I anchor myself firmly in the present moment
12. December
Introspection - I open my heart to let peace in
Exercise #12: Postures for opening the heart
And you, what is your favorite positive affirmation? Share it with us in the comments!
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Photo credits :
- Brooke Cagle
- Mor Shani
- Amelia Bartlett
- Darius Bashar
Sources:
- The seasons of Yoga, Barbara Litzler
- Orygin website
- Benjamin Alcon ’s website
- Website The revolution is within you
- Wikipedia Positive thinking
- The Yoga Journal France website
- Wikipedia Sankalpa mudra
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