Here are three proven yoga techniques to help with setting a worthwhile intention that will help you overcome frustrations, anxiety and fatigue. You will have clarity of mind, and be calm and courageous too.
They are the 1) Pratipaksha Bhavana meditation. 2) Kubera hand mudra. 3) Yoga Nidra, a deeply relaxing exercise that helps you make needed changes. Continue on for details and a handout for easy reference.
1. Pratipaksha Bhavana is a ‘cultivate the positive meditation practice based on a teaching from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali that says,
“When disturbed by negative thoughts and feelings, cultivate the positive. ” (Yoga Sutras 2.33)
This meditation teaches us to exchange negative thoughts and feelings for positive ones. This nurtures our capacity to react constructively and mindfully in a levelheaded and calm manner to people and situations, and less likely to react automatically and negatively. It helps us develop qualities like courage, kindness, patience and health improvement. Doing so enables us to enjoy better relationships, benefit from clear thinking, and have the ability to make positive behavior changes.
Although it’s important to get to know all the emotions, even those that seem unpleasant or negative, it’s quite important to nourish, water and feed what we want to grow. This meditation teaches us to exchange negative thoughts and feelings for positive ones. We do this by breathing in and out the positive to counteract the negative. This emphasizes helpful qualities, enabling them to take root quickly and efficiently. This nurtures our capacity to react constructively and mindfully in a levelheaded and calm manner to people and situations, and less likely to react automatically or negatively.
2. The Kubera Mudra is a yoga posture for the hands that brings your intention to life.
- Focuses and concentrates energy for something strongly desired.
- Puts powerful strength behind future plans (goals and what you want fulfilled)
- Confidence, calmness and peacefulness
- It can also be used to find something (lost object, parking spot, etc.)
- Physically, it opens and is a decongestant the frontal sinuses
3. Yoga Nidra is deeply restorative and healing. It will seal your intention in so it will take root and bloom.
Click here for a free handout on Yoga Cultivate the Positive and Yoga Nidra by Julie Lusk (pdf)
Remember, “When disturbed by negative thoughts and feelings, cultivate the positive. ” (Yoga Sutras 2.33)