Transform Negativity by Cultivating the Opposite

"When disturbed by negative thoughts, cultivate the opposite mental attitude."

- Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, 2.33 (Vitarka-badhane pratipaksha-bhavanam)

On the mat, going through my daily practice, I am confronted with my own ego. The performative aspect of yoga asana gives so much opportunity to mentally step back and simply observe. I bring my right leg forward for pigeon, feeling the sensation reverberate through my pelvis, and immediately want to move. “Escape!” my hips call out to me. Not from pain, but from discomfort, from the dis-ease of the pose, from the tears that sometimes come spewing, from identifying with these sensations and emotional triggers. From holding onto things rather than letting them go. This pose is only one of many that brings up negative emotions and patterns, but my immediate and reactionary pattern is avoidance. It is a difficult pose to stay in a state of non-attached surrender. And yet, this is what is required to evolve. It is our job to interpret the world. All moments have many potential meanings. We choose whether our perception is positive or negative; which sensations to attend to in any moment, what meaning we give to a situation.

One of the biggest challenges of being an adult is being completely responsible for all our regressive tendencies. So many of these are habituated patterns that may have started as a coping mechanism, but got reinforced over time to become more of a ritual habit. Whether anxiety, fear, frustration, anger, smallness, whining, pessimism, sadness, greed, loneliness, pity, helplessness, guilt, inadequacy, etc., the negative emotion becomes part of our regular behaviors. Even worse, these emotions can become silent aspects of our identity where without even realizing it, we end up becoming defined by them. When we define ourselves by negative thoughts and behaviors, we regularly entrench our mind in patterns that are regressive and small. Eventually, we don't question these emotions, but think they are obvious and true. In the body, this correlates to tightness in the skin, tense muscles, contracted patterns that make us smaller and dampen our humanity.

"When we define ourselves by negative thoughts and behaviors, we regularly entrench our mind in patterns that are regressive and small."

Luckily for us, these emotions, like all habits, can be shifted with a bit of conscious awareness. In other words, these are emotions we have the power to choose to accept, or to shift. Once we realize what we are doing and the cost of negativity in our lives and relationships, we have the opportunity to shift. When our behavior starts being conscious and intentional, we are living yoga. We become wisdom in action. We choose peace, love, happiness.

Negativity is Regression

In the yoga tradition, negativity is anything that goes against the yamas and niyamas. This is quite interesting as the yamas (non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, right use of energy, non-greed) and niyamas (cleanliness, contentment, discipline, self-study, surrender to a higher being) are the ethical foundation for a yogi’s actions and cover our relationship with ourselves as well as our relationship with others. Together, these give a blueprint for right living. As such, anything that goes against them would also be seen as behavior that causes regression in a practitioner. Rather than expansion into higher consciousness, negativity contracts our awareness, focusing more and more on the self and the ego.

Like all things, it is important to keep your mind on what the purpose or intention of your practice is. It is also important to remember what is not included in that vision. As such, a yoga practitioner must stay aware of all the varieties of negativity in the mind and actions and discern carefully not to allow these emotions to become patterns. When practicing yoga, the individual learns ethical principles, tools and techniques to become more aware, build a balanced mind, and over time, shift these regressive tendencies into more positive actions and a higher consciousness. If the yogi falls into negative patterns, they may think they are evolving upward with their weekly yoga asana, but may actually be regressing by entrenching pride, vanity, ego, etc. Being able to clearly see your patterns, and be honest about the prideful, or righteousness that may creep into out thoughts and actions is very important.

If we look closely at the yamas and niyamas though, it becomes clear that negativity is so much more than just negative emotions. Negative emotions are perhaps easier to identify, but to progress on our spiritual path, we also need to own our messiness, our dishonesty, our misuse of energy and energy leaks, our relationship with divinity and inability to surrender. We also need to explore all the ways we cause harm, steal, avoid observing and studying the self, and all hoarding tendencies. In other words, we need to practice with a deep intention and awareness at all times and across all areas of our life.

In yoga, we are encouraged to start with what is, take one step at a time, and keep at it. Like Pema Chodron says, “start where you are.” It isn’t about being perfect, but constantly, consistently staying present and acting intentionally. It isn’t ignoring avoidance or dislike when it arises, but surrendering to it, not identifying with it, and actively planting the opposite and cultivating a higher frequency. This requires the practitioner to acknowledge that negativity costs one dearly on our spiritual journey by not just preventing our evolution but causing one to regress. When we realize that our negative patterns are taking us down; when we realize negativity hinders connection and is the antithesis to our evolution, the cost becomes too much. We need to shift. We can shift. We must shift.

"We need to practice with a deep intention and awareness at all times and across all areas of our life."

How do I Overcome Negativity?

The yoga sutras have a simple and effective method to help the practitioner overcome negativity - pratipaksha bhavana. This practice literally aims to cultivate positive thoughts every time a negative thought enters the mind. In doing so, the practitioner doesn’t avoid the negativity, but rather in acknowledging it, begins to use it as a trigger to cultivate the opposite emotion. In fact, pratipaksha translates literally to “opposite,” bhavana translates to “the process of cultivating.”

When applying this technique consistently, the practitioner slowly rewires their neural network to actively overcome regressive tendencies and cultivate empowering thoughts and actions. Rather than feeling weak or helpless, the practitioner cultivates resourcefulness, strength, and self-confidence. Rather than avoiding discomfort, the discomfort evolves into comfort and ease. Rather than laziness, the practitioner cultivates discipline and attention. This simple technique in other words, supports the practitioner to cultivate all the ways that negativity pops up in life, and affirms empowering thoughts and behaviors.

Once the practitioner begins this practice, their thoughts, actions and behaviors very quickly start shifting. The practitioner starts realizing how much energy it takes to be negative. Every negative emotion is heavy, whereas the positive emotions are lighter and bringer a higher frequency to our energy. We begin to understand why negativity “tears us down” whereas positivity brings a lightness to our step and easy smile to the face. Our relationships begin to shift as people want to be around us. Perhaps most importantly, we learn and cultivate the internal locus of control, feeling like we have the capacity to shift to change and to overcome negativity. This affirmation of the ability to grow is fundamental for our continued growth.

"The practitioner slowly rewires their neural network to actively overcome regressive tendencies and cultivate empowering thoughts and actions."

Don’t stress if negative thoughts come back. We are human and the human experience allows for a full-spectrum of emotions. The beauty of practicing pratipaksha bhavana is that we stop identifying with and attaching to the negative thoughts when they come. The negative thoughts become tools for our ongoing development. We learn to cultivate the opposite repeatedly so that not only do we build our capacity to overcome adversity on the mat or in our seated practice, we do so repeatedly cultivating a positive and cheerful mindset - contentment. We recognize that we are responsible for our own mindset and feel empowered to choose a more supportive mindset. Rather than letting the mind use you, we learn to use the power of the mind and overcome negativity one positive thought at a time. We choose joy.

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Join me below for a 10-minute meditation, practicing pratipaksha bhavana and bring more joy and satisfaction into your life!

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