In Yoga, we use a technique called Sankalpa. This is a bit like a resolution but framed in a much more positive and dynamic way. Sankalpa also more deeply explores what is behind the desire to change. So, for example,  rather than wishing or hoping to lose weight, which may or may not be a good thing for you,  a Sankalpa might be a positive statement of creating health and wholeness.  In combination with Yoga, Meditation or  Yoga Nidra and used consistently and with intent, Sankpala becomes very powerful.

When I teach Sankalpa in workshops, I always read the following on “What is Sankalpa” by Swami Niranjananda Saraswati:

“Sankalpa is not only a thought; it is a power, a force. Whatever you think is projected into the environment. Just as there are radio waves and other invisible waves and frequencies in the environment, which can be captured with the right instruments, in the same manner thoughts and desires also have a frequency. Negativity and positivity, pessimism and optimism, have a frequency. What you express leaves an impression on the channel in the mind and waves are transmitted. If there is an intensity behind a thought, behind a sankalpa, behind a resolution, then the channel selector, the imprint on the mind, will be stronger and you will be able to access that channel more frequently and easily. It is like the pre-set channel.

Sankalpa is not just a wish, it is a conviction. It is faith in oneself, faith that one can do it. The sankalpa cannot be “I wish it was like that” or “I wish to become that”. That is wishful thinking. Sankalpa is the conviction that “I will become that”. Sankalpa is trust and faith in oneself, in one’s own strength and courage. “I have that, therefore, I can become that.”