A New Groove

Recently as part of my own self-study, I was challenged to create 12 positive affirmations that I would repeat 12 times every day, and better yet, day and night for 12 days. This isn’t entirely new to me. I’ve explored how our messaging affects our behavior for many years.  My yoga students have definitely heard me say, “You are what you think.”  But this felt like a big enough commitment of time that I decided to dig into the practice further.
 
In the work I do both as an energy medicine practitioner and a yoga teacher, my clients and I have often run smack into their limiting old thought patterns and beliefs. Frequently the patterns have been identified in self-study, even therapy. Whether conscious or unconscious, they shape perspective and responses, frequently in ways that add up to serious pain and even dysfunction. But the challenge often persists:  HOW do we let go of limiting thoughts?
 
Neuroscience backs the practice of using positive affirmations as one way to help us move beyond negative and self-defeating thoughts which arise from often deeply unconscious beliefs.  Affirmations can rewire the brain, reduce stress and promote healthy behaviors.  They help us to form new habits, combat negative rumination and strengthen our resilience.  I’ve linked to several great resources that illuminate the science behind why using positive affirmations can help us at the end of this blog, but here’s an overview:

• Brain Rewiring (Neuroplasticity): Affirmations allow the brain to form new neural pathways, replacing negative thought patterns with positive ones.  These form the ways we respond, like a roadmap to action.
• Brain Activity Shifts: MRI evidence shows that self-affirmation activates brain regions associated with how we see ourselves, allowing us to expand our sense of capability to “keep improving” based on what we value.
• Reduced Stress and Better Performance: Research shows that affirmations can lower cortisol levels—the stress hormone—and improve problem-solving performance under pressure.
• Health and Behavior Changes: Regular affirmations can motivate behavioral changes, such as increased physical exercise or improved academic performance-even when the affirmation doesn’t relate directly to these goals. 

According to Positive Psychology.com, one of the key psychological theories behind positive affirmations is self-affirmation theory.  According to Dr. David Hamilton in The Science of Affirmation:
“Through self-affirmation, we keep a global narrative about ourselves that makes up our self-identity. Self-affirmations make our self-identity more flexible. We can see ourselves as adopting a range of different identities and roles. If our identity is flexible, we can adapt much better to different situations and environments. It’s about an overall feeling of being competent and adequate.” https://drdavidhamilton.com/the-science-of-affirmations/#:~:text=The%20science%20behind%20affirmations%20includes:%20*%20**Brain,higher%20intentions%20to%20exercise%20in%20the%20future

Affirmations directly challenge old, rigid ways we might have seen or operated, helping us open to new responses.  What I like about the practice is that it makes us receptive to a new way of seeing and being rather than reinforcing what we don’t want, or where we feel lacking or broken. This is a practice of allowing the good we want for ourselves.

The most effective affirmations reflect our core values.  Often they challenge our negative or maladaptive thoughts (you know the ones that dart in uninvited!). Any harmful self-talk that sounds off like an old tape playing over and over might benefit from a reboot through effective affirmations.

In yoga we call this call and response of habit and reaction “samskara.” They are the deeply worn grooves of habit that send us down the same paths, like worn in ruts in an old dirt road that we keep falling back into.  To take a new way requires some energy, but it’s easier once we’ve set up some new pathways. That’s where affirmations come into play. New thoughts expand our map and offer newly expanded vistas.

Tips for Effective Self-Affirmations:
1)    Do a little self-inventory.  Make a list of what you truly care about-what kind of person you want to be and what things tend to challenge you. 
(ie. Old thought: I always eat unhealthy food when I’m stressed, or If I don’t take care of others even when I’m falling apart, I won’t be loved.)

2)    Create some positive, present-tense statements that affirm what you want to create.  Feel free to be narrow or broad, as needed.
(To counter our examples, you could say,
“I care for myself beautifully.”  If that’s too far a step from where you are, get more specific.  “I use many tools besides eating to cope with stress.”  Maybe that’s more possible and it leads to a road where you choose other things at least most of the time.
“I love myself with healthy boundaries which allows me to love and care for others effectively.”  Here you are already loved (by yourself!) and you are able to radiate caring without strings, which tends to produce happier, cleaner results.)

3)    Get specific about what you REALLY want.  Is your biggest goal to actually be rich?  Or do you want abundant opportunity and more ease?  If you think you want a thin body, are you really looking to feel healthy and enjoy being in your body?  Are you hoping people will respond to you differently?  These are the kernels that will help you target in on the right affirmations for you.  Think chewable bites!

4)    Repeat your affirmations day and night.  Morning affirmations set the conscious intentions that helps you stay aware of the “brain highways” you’re making.  And nighttime affirmations take advantage of the time when the mind is processing without mind interference, so we are best able to rewire our neuronal pathways.

When we are able to deal with negative messages and replace them with positive beliefs, we can construct more adaptive, hopeful narratives about who we are and what we can accomplish.  This literally changes us. In my work as a Sacred Anatomy Medicine practitioner, we call this “opening to possibility.”  We don’t expect to be perfect, but we know that we are capable of positive change, and that opens us up to miraculous shifts.

So, I have about a dozen self-affirmations I’m saying every morning and every evening before sleep.  I’m not beating myself up about the exact number of times I say it, but I do take time to notice how they’re landing in my body.  Does one stick every time I say it?  Maybe I need to tweak or reexamine it a bit more?  I know I’ve got it about right when my mind and body feel relatively comfortable, sometimes even lit up. 

If you’re interested, here are a few online articles that I studied, many of which contain additional links that are fascinating!

Hamilton, Dr. David (January 27, 2022). The Science of Affirmations. Better You Back By Science.
https://drdavidhamilton.com/the-science-of-affirmations/#:~:text=The%20science%20behind%20affirmations%20includes:%20*%20**Brain,higher%20intentions%20to%20exercise%20in%20the%20future

Barna Raluca. (January 27, 2022). Positive Affirmations: Woo-woo or Science? Medium.
https://medium.com/clear-yo-mind/positive-affirmations-woo-woo-or-science-859b70f062e0

Moore, Catherine. (July 14, 2026). Positive Daily Affirmations: Is There Science Behind It?  Positive Psychology
https://positivepsychology.com/daily-affirmations/
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