“A resolve or sankalpa is made during the practice of yoga nidra. It should be something of immense importance to you. In the state of yoga nidra passivity, this autosuggestion is very powerful.

Such resolves can change your whole life. They will certainly come true if you repeat your resolve with enough conviction.”

Swami Satyananda Saraswati

A sankalpa or resolve is an affirmation which you make to overcome any weakness affecting your body, performance and life, and to awaken any other strength you may feel is necessary to provide you with internal balance.

Rather than saying, ‘I am going to give up…’, give a complementary thought such as, ‘I am developing…’. In that way you can make a sankalpa according to your choice and wish.

Treat the matter as if it has already happened. Be one step ahead of what you want to achieve.

The sensitivity and potentiality of the mind is increased by the sankalpa. It increases the willpower. Initially, through a form of positive suggestion, it takes you into the psychic dimension, where the mind is sensitized and where the faculties of the mind have a lot of force.

Sankalpa is the capacity to harness the willpower and to harmonize forces in the body-mind.
These forces are normally dissipated by inner conflicts or confusion or by the various external demands and responsibilities of life.

It is a tool to focus the energy, the prana, the life force, so that it becomes like a laser beam.

Sankalpa is one of the most important techniques in yoga. It should be used every time we begin our yoga practice, not just in yoga nidra.

The practice of yoga nidra allows the sankalpa to go very deep into the psyche; however, remembering the sankalpa during other forms of yoga practice or during daily life helps us to stay focused and grounded with a deeper sense of direction and purpose.

When we are sick and suffering, a sankalpa can be of particular benefit because it is often hard to remember what we are doing and why we are doing it. Moreover, the process of therapy is difficult and the road to recovery may not be straight and simple. We use the sankalpa as a way of remembering what it is we are trying to achieve.

The sankalpa is a way of focusing our attention on a point in the future. It is a future-directed technique, so that we can carry ourselves through the hard times, with a view of the light at the end of the tunnel.

We are all in therapy at one level or another. Yoga therapy is just an application of yoga in the medical setting, but we are all trying to heal and find a greater wholeness and we all have a sankalpa, even if we are not aware of it.

– Dr Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
– Taken from an article in Yogamag
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