The Power of Sankalpa

Sankalpa is an ancient tool used in the practice of Yoga Nidra meditation, and it can be thought of like an intention or ‘heartfelt desire.’

Literally speaking, Kalpa means ‘vow’ and San refers to our connection with our highest truth. Sankalpa, then, means ‘a vow we make to support our highest truth.’

We use a Sankalpa statement in the practice of Yoga Nidra to plant our intention or desire as a seed in our subconscious mind. We create a statement phrased in the positive, present tense, usually starting with the words “I AM.” And this statement should feel like the antidote to whatever is holding you back in life. It should be healing medicine for your most limiting belief.

For example, if your most limiting belief is that you don’t believe you’re enough, or you feel unworthy as you are, your Sankalpa could be “I am worthy” or “I am valuable.” If you feel anxious or unsafe in the world, your Sankalpa could be something like “I am safe” or “I am supported.”

We repeat our Sankalpa mentally at the beginning and end of our Yoga Nidra practice, but rather than simply saying it, we actually FEEL what it would be like if this statement were already true. By feeling it in the receptive state of Yoga Nidra, allowing it to fill every cell of our bodies, we deeply plant this emotion into our subconscious programming. This is how we rewrite the old belief systems and patterns that hold us back.

How to choose a Sankalpa

It’s common for people to jump from Sankalpa to Sankalpa based on whatever is top-of-mind at the moment. However, it is far more powerful to work with one Sankalpa for an extended period of time. This Sankalpa statement should address your MOST limiting belief, and you should stay with this single Sankalpa until that limiting belief is resolved.

When I did my Yoga Nidra training, we had an entire day-long session to work on finding our Sankalpas. I was fortunate to be pushed to go deeper by one of the facilitators — she helped me get to the root of my beliefs and go far beyond what I thought my Sankalpa initially might be. When the words of my true Sankalpa came through, I actually collapsed into tears because it was so precisely the antidote for my deepest childhood wound.

This is something we now offer through the website — individualized Sankalpa sessions — where we coach you through the experience of finding your unique Sankalpa. We’ll lead you through a series of prompts and energetic exercises to find the most powerful Sankalpa statement for you. This way, when you do your Yoga Nidra practices, you’re really getting the most out of each session.

I’ll give a rough outline of the process and some journaling prompts you can do on your own. We’re here to help if you want to go deeper.

1. Journal some things that are really holding you back. For instance, “I don’t believe I’ll find a partner” or “I hate my body” or “I’m not good enough at my career to be truly successful.”
2. Consider where those feelings or beliefs came from, and their underlying root. For instance, are they stemming from an underlying belief of “I’m not enough” or “the world is unsafe” or “I’m not lovable”?
3. Then work to feel into which of those limiting beliefs is MOST energetically contracting to you. Which one keeps you smallest? Which one keeps you in your box, preventing you from being who you want to be in this life?
4. When you have your single most limiting belief, journal some variations of opposite beliefs. For instance, if your most limiting belief is that you’re not enough, some Sankalpa options might be “I am valuable” or “I am enough as I am” or “I am lovable.”
5. Then we would work to discover which of these opposites is MOST energetically expansive for you.

When you lock into that most expansive belief — that is in direct opposition to your most limiting belief — that is how you truly accelerate the healing process.

How Sankalpa can change your life

My Sankalpa for many years was “I am lovable.” I had a deep, limiting belief that formed in childhood that I was unlovable and unworthy of being loved.

I didn’t fully recognize it until my Yoga Nidra training, but this belief had impacted me in so many ways. It messed with my relationships choices, created self-sabotaging behaviors, gave me low self-worth in my friendships, and made me feel like I would never find a partner.

I worked with my Sankalpa for years until I really reset my belief system. Since then, it’s completely changed the way I show up in the world and in my body. It’s changed how I treat my body, how I relate to others, and how I feel about myself. What’s more, I’ve found a partner who makes me feel so lovable (or, I should say, who mirrors the way I now feel lovable).

Now I’ve moved into a new Sankalpa that helps me with showing up for Huma Rising. It hits my limiting beliefs from a new angle, because the work is never done! But I didn’t move on until I addressed that deep initial wound.

This experience has shown me that it really is possible to heal our deepest wounds. We can meet these aspects of ourselves one at a time, soothing the parts of us in need of our own love. And in the process, we get to experience how we’ve always been whole, we’ve always been safe, and we’ve always been enough as we are.