The yoga tradition offers a unique and powerful set of tools for shifting from negative energy to positive energy. Most of these practices are fairly simple and easy to perform, making them great additions to your daily or weekly routine. With regular practice, these techniques can become habits that create and attract more and more positive energy into your life.
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Core Philosophical Principles
Prana and Chakras
The cultivation, purification, and management of prana, or life-force energy, is central to creating positive energy. Prana flows through nadis, or invisible energy channels. While prana flows throughout the entire body, there are three main nadis along the spine that intersect with the seven chakras, or energy centers. The chakras are where positive versus negative energy is primarily expressed and felt in the body. When the chakras are balanced and harmonized, prana flows freely, helping to promote positive energy.
The ancient yogis discovered an interesting relationship between the thoughts of the mind and the quality and flow of prana in the body: where our focus and attention go, prana tends to follow. If our minds are chaotic and distracted, our prana becomes dispersed and our vitality feels drained.
Sukha
The primary philosophical principle in yoga relating to positive energy is Sukha, which translates to “making good space.” Sukha is the practice of creating an internal state that is calm, balanced, easeful, and joyful. It’s the opposite of Dukha (bad space), which is characterized by constriction, agitation, discomfort, and suffering. When we cultivate Sukha, we create a fruitful environment where positive energy can flow and grow.
The Upanishads tell us that Sukha is an “eternal, unchanging happiness” emanating from the Atman or the Self. External joys are temporary and fleeting. Internal Sukha, however, is a continuous source of joy and peace. While cultivating Sukha is a challenging practice, it’s a powerful way to produce positive energy.
Effort and Effortless Effort
Positive energy can be greatly boosted when practitioners avoid the struggle of forcing poses or outcomes. This reflects Patanjali’s teaching of Sthira-Sukham Asanam, which is finding a balance between effort (sthira) and comfort (sukha). By bringing awareness to finding the sweet spot of “effort and effortless effort,” our mental chatter diminishes and Sukha increases. By approaching our challenges with grace and ease, we build patience, emotional resilience, self-compassion, and self-confidence.
Key Practices for Positive Energy
Pranayama
Pranayama is one of the quickest methods to affect the prana in the body and create stillness in the mind. It boosts positive emotions by resetting the nervous system and modulating the brain regions responsible for emotional processing. Slow-paced pranayama reduces activity in the amygdala, the brain’s emotional reactive center, helping practitioners stay calm rather than react impulsively to negative stimuli. Regular practice increases the levels of dopamine and serotonin—the “feel-good” neurotransmitters that promote pleasure, happiness, and motivation.
The best techniques to create positive energy are:
Practice Tip: You can add a layer of visualization to your breathwork to amplify its effects. On the inhalation, focus on drawing in positive energy, thoughts, and feelings. On the exhale, focus on releasing and letting go of any negativity or thoughts that are incongruent with your true self.
Nada Yoga
Nada Yoga is the yogic path of union through sound. It’s based on the perception that the entire universe is a manifestation of vibration. Vocal practices like chanting and Kirtan (devotional call-and-response) stimulate the release of “feel-good” neurochemicals, including endorphins, oxytocin, and dopamine, which improve mood and confidence.
Chanting helps your brain relax. It shifts brainwaves from alert, often stressful Beta states to calm Alpha or Theta states, promoting an experience of inner peace and spiritual connection. When practiced in a group, chanting creates a communal vibration of equanimity, love, and connection.
Nada Yoga uses specific bija (seed) mantras to activate and balance the body’s chakra energy centers. When you chant a bija mantra, the physical sound matches the vibrational resonance and frequency of that specific energy center. These vibrations break up stagnant energy or blockages within the nadis (energy channels), allowing prana (life force) to flow more freely.
Here’s a chart with the bija mantras and their energetic effects:
| Chakra | Bija Mantra | Positive Energy & Emotional Benefit |
| Root (Muladhara) | LAM | Deep Belonging & Vitality: Anchors your spirit in a state of unwavering safety and physical vitality. It fosters a powerful sense of “home” within yourself and the world. |
| Sacral (Svadhisthana) | VAM | Pure Joy & Creative Flow: Ignites a zest for life and the ability to experience healthy pleasure. It celebrates emotional fluidity and the radiant birth of new ideas. |
| Solar Plexus (Manipura) | RAM | Radiant Confidence & Willpower: Fuels your inner sun, transforming intentions into bold action. It cultivates a sense of personal mastery and the courage to shine brightly. |
| Heart (Anahata) | YAM | Boundless Love & Harmony: Opens the heart to give and receive unconditional warmth. It nurtures a state of deep peace, empathy, and a harmonious connection to all living things. |
| Throat (Vishuddha) | HAM | Authentic Expression & Resonance: Empowers you to speak your truth with grace and resonance. It fosters creative communication and the ability to listen with a soulful presence. |
| Third Eye (Ajna) | OM | Luminous Intuition & Wisdom: Sharpens your inner vision and mental clarity. It connects you to a profound sense of “knowing” and aligns your thoughts with higher truth. |
| Crown (Sahasrara) | Silence / OM | Infinite Bliss & Unity: Elevates the consciousness to a state of spiritual ecstasy. It celebrates your direct connection to the universe, resulting in a feeling of total oneness. |
Practice Tip: Chanting does not need to be a standalone practice. Try chanting the bija mantras while you are holding yoga poses.
Contentment
Santosha is the second Niyama (observance) of Patanjali’s eight-limbed yoga system. The Yoga Sutras (2.42) state: “By contentment, supreme joy is gained.” Santosha is not craving what we do not have, as well as not coveting the possessions of others. It’s one of the most powerful yogic tools to promote positive energy.
It is easy for the mind to become fooled into thinking that we can attain lasting happiness through the possession of objects and goods, but both our personal experience and the teachings of the sages prove that the happiness gained through materialism is only temporary.
Contentment is not complacency or giving up on goals or ambition. It is a deep state of acceptance for all that is in your life and a deep state of trust that you have enough. It shifts our mindset from wanting and craving towards gratitude, acceptance of the present moment, and finding peace regardless of external conditions or desires. Roadblocks, disappointments, and setbacks are reframed as lessons or blessings.
Practice Tip: If it feels too challenging of a practice, start first with a daily gratitude habit. Then build a contentment practice on that foundation. Over time, the practice of Santosha creates a resilient reservoir of positive energy that isn’t dependent on external circumstances.
Faith
Patanjali lists Sraddha (conviction or faith) as the first of the Five Keys of Wisdom in Yoga Sutra 1.20. This is not the blind leap of belief that religion often asks of us, but rather an inner sense of direction based on the experience and evidence we gain as our yoga practice develops and builds.
When we practice with Sraddha, we feel pulled deeper and deeper toward something greater, even though each of us may describe that “something greater” in different ways—as truth, peace, bliss, oneness, self-realization or, as Patanjali described it, Samadhi. When we lack this faith, our focus, energy, and determination become unpredictable and diminished.
Sraddha shields us from the “bad space” of fear, anxiety, and the uncertainty of the unknown. It clears the mind of Avidya (ignorance) and Raga (attachment), creating a mental clarity that allows our inner truth to reveal itself.
Sraddha creates a deep internal knowing that positivity is our natural state, not a fleeting emotion we must manufacture. Cultivating this faith involves anchoring awareness in the heart (Hridaya), which is viewed as a source of light and a generator of positive spiritual emotions like bliss, compassion, and love. Over time, those with strong Sraddha develop a positive aura and a high level of spiritual wellness, allowing them to remain centered even during life’s most difficult transitions.
Practice Tip: Create a positivity journal. At the end of each day, note 1–3 things that went well. This builds the cumulative evidence your mind needs to trust in the positive flow of your life.
Karma Yoga
Often defined as “the yoga of action” or “the path of selfless service,” Karma Yoga is a way to help others while lessening our own suffering and egoistic tendencies. It is the practice of performing our daily duties as an offering and letting go of attachment to the results. Positive energy is quickly promoted when we shift our focus from “What can I get?” to “How can I serve?”
Karma Yoga is said to purify the mind and cleanse the heart. It promotes positive feelings like humility, kindness, compassion, honor, gratefulness, generosity, love, and joy. Karma Yoga reduces and removes negative emotions like envy, hatred, fear, greed, selfishness, and jealousy.
Practice Tip: Pick one “invisible” chore today, like tidying a shared space, and do it without telling anyone. Act without seeking credit or a specific result.
Heart-Centered Awareness
By anchoring our awareness in Hridaya, we lessen the dominance of the ego-mind, which thrives on comparison, judgment, and separation. Shifting our awareness from the head to the heart is a vital path to spiritual awakening. As the ego-mind recedes, we have more access to this deep, hidden sanctuary of the heart and are able to tap into a source of infinite peace and joy.
Practice Tip: During your next meditation or yoga practice, place one hand lightly on the center of your chest. Close your eyes and imagine your breath and energy flowing in and out of your spiritual heart.
Color Therapy
One of the easiest ways to improve your positive energy is through chromotherapy, or color therapy. This technique uses color to affect your mind and body by drawing on established psychological associations. Yoga and Ayurveda also use color to balance and harmonize the body’s chakra energy centers.
Just as a specific mantra vibrates at a certain pitch, each color carries a unique wavelength that interacts with our energy field. By consciously surrounding ourselves with certain colors—whether through the clothes we wear, the decor of our practice space, or focused visualization—we can actively increase positive thoughts and emotions.
Primary colors to vibrate prana at a positive frequency include:
- Red: Linked to energy, motivation, and passion. It correlates with the Root Chakra to boost vitality, though it can trigger anxiety or irritation if overused.
- Blue: Promotes tranquility and focus. In the Throat Chakra, it supports clear communication and is often used to manage anxiety due to its ability to lower blood pressure.
- Yellow: Associated with optimism and creativity. Focused at the Solar Plexus, it boosts personal power and confidence, though excessive exposure can lead to restlessness.
- Green: Visualizing green at the Heart Center promotes healing, emotional balance, and a sense of harmony with nature.
- Pink: In color therapy, pink is the hue of the “higher heart.” It represents unconditional love, compassion, and emotional soothing, serving as a powerful tool for shifting out of a “fight or flight” state.
Practice Tip: Try practicing on a pink yoga mat. In color therapy, pink is the hue of the “higher heart,” representing unconditional love, compassion, and emotional soothing. Looking at this color while you practice can calm anger and frustration and make you feel more kindhearted toward yourself and others.
Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy is a quick and effective way to balance the energy flow of your chakras and boost your mood and energy. Aromatic compounds—found in plant seeds, bark, stems, roots, and flowers—possess a unique ability to affect mental and emotional wellness, relieve sore muscles, and support physical and spiritual well-being. By bypassing the conscious mind and activating the limbic system, essential oils act as a brain hack to promote positive emotions.
Powerful scents for promoting positive energy:
- Bergamot & Orange: Powerful “sunshine” oils that ease anxiety and boost feelings of joy and optimism.
- Lavender & Chamomile: Encourage the “rest and digest” state, fostering peace and tranquility.
- Peppermint & Eucalyptus: Wake up your mind, helping you feel clear, alert, and ready for anything.
- Rose & Jasmine: High-frequency floral oils that open the heart to feelings of love, self-worth, and spiritual sweetness.
- Sandalwood & Frankincense: Grounding scents that promote a sense of deep security and reverence.
Practice Tip: Before you use essential oils, assess what you need from them. Take our quick quiz, “What Essential Oil Will Enhance Your Yoga Practice?” to help you choose.
Mindful Eating and Yogic Diet
A yogic diet emphasizes fresh, whole foods that are packed with essential nutrients. By nourishing your body with wholesome, plant-based foods, you promote a balanced flow of prana, boost your energy levels, and enhance your vitality. This results in increased productivity, improved focus, and a greater sense of overall well-being.
The yogic diet encourages the consumption of Sattvic foods, which are believed to promote inner peace and harmony. Known for their purity and lightness, Sattvic foods include fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and herbal teas. These foods have a calming effect on the mind, making them ideal for those seeking to enhance their meditation and yoga practices.
Developing Mitahara—the habit of moderate and mindful eating—can help you avoid mindless munching or emotional bingeing. Mitahara treats eating as a sacred ritual (Yajna). When food is prepared and consumed with gratitude, reverence, respect, and love, it naturally promotes positive vibrations.
Practice Tip: Take the first three bites of every meal in total silence. Notice the texture, flavor, and temperature without the distraction of a screen or conversation.
Truth-Speaking
Vedic thought views speech as a divine energy. The practice of Vak Siddhi (truth-speaking) creates positive power by aligning your words with truth and divine vibrations. When you speak truthfully, it purifies the internal Vak (the subtle organ of speech). This slowly removes toxic verbal patterns and promotes harmonious interactions and healthier relationships.
Avoiding the “four evil tendencies” of gossip, backbiting, unkindness, and excessive talking purifies your speech and keeps it unpolluted.
Speaking words that have positive vibes—such as love, peace, and gratitude—quickly uplifts your energy. This moves you from low-density frequencies, like fear and uncertainty, into higher states of harmony and well-being. By speaking only what is positive and beneficial, you use your words for the good of others, which spreads your positive energy out into the world.
Practice Tip: Filter your speech through the three gates: “Is it True? Is it Kind? Is it Necessary?”
Pratipaksha Bhavana
Pratipaksha Bhavana is a powerful mental discipline from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (Sutra 2.33) that translates to “cultivating the opposite.” It is a simple practice to replace negative or harmful thoughts and emotions with positive ones. The goal is to promote inner peace and mental balance by consciously interrupting negative thought patterns—such as anger, greed, or worry—before they can take root and spiral you into more negativity.
In yoga philosophy, every thought we have leaves a groove or impression in the mind called a samskara. When we loop negative thought patterns, these grooves deepen, making it easier for the mind to slide back into toxic patterns. Repeated positive thoughts form new, healthy samskaras. Over time, these become the mind’s new “default mode,” replacing well-worn negative habits with healthy, uplifting patterns that encourage positive energy.
Practice Tip: When you catch a negative thought, such as “I’m not good at this,” immediately follow it with its opposite: “I am learning and growing.” Continue to dwell on the positive thought until the negative one recedes.
Generosity
The act of Dana, or giving without the expectation of return, is a powerful heart-opener that cultivates Puñña (spiritual merit) for progress toward enlightenment. The ego thrives on “contraction”—the feeling that we must hold on tightly because there isn’t enough. Genuine, heartfelt giving helps us overcome the ego-mind’s stinginess, clinging, and narrow self-interest.
Science now confirms this ancient wisdom. Acts of generosity trigger the release of “feel-good” chemicals in the brain, such as dopamine and endorphins, often referred to as a “helper’s high.” Internally, Dana shifts your focus from what you lack to what you have to offer, moving the mind from a state of “not enough” to one of abundance. Both the giver and the receiver can experience the positive emotions of gratitude and kindness.
Practice Tip: Give one genuine, unexpected compliment to a stranger or colleague today. Notice the “warm glow” it creates in your heart and theirs.
Dharma
The essence of Dharma (right action or duty) is doing the right thing and doing it all the time. This “right thing” is not a one-size-fits-all rule; it is deeply dependent on your personal obligations, purpose in life, talents, privileges, and societal duties. Practicing Dharma “all the time” means constantly striving to align your work, social life, diet, values, and other choices to support a path of right livelihood. When your external actions match your internal truth, you create a state of Sukha that allows positive energy to flourish without friction.
Living in accordance with your Dharma brings deep satisfaction. Fulfilling your personal and social responsibilities (Sva-dharma) reduces inner turmoil, guilt, and stress. It creates clarity, inner strength, and a sense of purpose.
Practice Tip: Throughout the day, ask yourself: “Is this action in alignment with my highest values?”
Community
Surrounding yourself with a Sangha, a community of positive, uplifting people, is the easiest and fastest way to support your positive energy. The late Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh compared the Sangha to a boat that transports practitioners across the “ocean of sorrow.” He noted that while a single stone, representing individual suffering, will sink when dropped in water, a boat can carry many stones without sinking. In the same way, the collective energy of a community supports us when our own strength is low.
Interactions with diverse community members also help polish our hearts and help us to shine. Much like stones in a riverbed, our interactions with others smooth out our rough edges, helping us learn to manage our reactions and develop greater compassion. Ultimately, Sangha offers a deep sense of belonging that serves as a “safety net” of positive frequency.
Practice Tip: Identify someone who makes you feel good just by being near them and send them a text or meet them for tea this week.
Final Thoughts
While the yoga tradition provides a vast treasury of techniques to boost your positive energy, you do not need to master every tool at once for great results. Experiment with these practices with a sense of curiosity and playfulness. Notice which tools feel most accessible and provide the positive energy you are seeking. Once you find the handful of techniques that work well, commit to them. But don’t let this be the end of your exploration. Come back to this list on a regular basis to continue your journey of raising your positive energy.