Have you ever wondered why some intentions feel light and hopeful - yet dissolve by morning?
We whisper to ourselves I am calm. I am worthy. I am clear. But moments later, we’re swept back into old patterns. It’s not that our intentions are weak or that we are weak - it’s that we’re planting them in soil too shallow to hold them.
In Yoga Nidra, we work with something deeper: Sankalpa - a heartfelt resolve or inner determination.
Unlike a passing wish or a New Year’s resolution, a Sankalpa is a quiet promise to your own soul. It’s not something you force from the mind, but something you plant in the rich, fertile field beneath the mind - the place where old impressions live, where the roots of your life’s direction are anchored.
In Yoga Nidra, we move through the layers of ourselves - the five koshas as according to Yogic Philosophy.
We travel from the physical body, through breath and mind, through the subtle places where thoughts and stories cling, until we arrive at the bliss body - that space of pure being, untouched by old fears and confusion.
It’s here, in this stillness, that we plant our Sankalpa.
Why does it matter where you plant it?
Because most of the time, when we speak intentions, we’re doing so from the mental body - a level still tangled in old beliefs. You might say, I am calm, while your subconscious hums, I am not safe.
When those two voices meet, no matter how often you chant, sing and declare the words, they clash. They create inner static. The seed never sinks in.
But Yoga Nidra quiets the noise. It opens the ground beneath the surface - the subtle soil of the subconscious. In this deep state, you’re not trying to convince your mind; you’re offering a new impression directly to the root. You’re planting a cause instead of trying to trim every leaf on the tree.
And slowly, that new cause shapes the way you feel, the way you see, the way you choose - the way life unfolds for you, not just to you.
Sankalpa reminds us:
You are not bound by old stories.
You are not a leaf at the mercy of the wind.
You are the gardener.
You choose what you plant.
So the next time you lie down in Yoga Nidra, remember: you’re not just resting - you’re remembering your power to plant something new.
A quiet promise.
A new impression.
A root that will grow in the dark - and bloom in your waking life.
What seed will you plant?
If you are interested in taking a course in Yoga Nidra starting Monday 28 July 2025, see here for more details.
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