Sankalpa The Ancient Art of Creating Positive Change

Deep within, you already know that something in your life is asking for your attention.

Perhaps it is a longing that has quietly accompanied you for years, patient and persistent, waiting for your attention. Perhaps it is a dream that refuses to disappear despite the demands of everyday life, or the unmistakable feeling that you are being called toward a life more fully your own. This longing is the birthplace of sankalpa — the very first spark of deep resolve.

The ancient yogis recognized this longing thousands of years ago. They understood sankalpa as a practical and spiritual art of creating change: a way of transforming longing into lived reality through wholehearted resolve, rather than wishful thinking.

A sankalpa is a resolve that gathers the whole of your being into a unified direction. It is a heartfelt commitment born from the deepest part of who you are, rooted in what matters most — going beyond a wish, a goal, an affirmation, or a positive thought. It brings together desire, imagination, language, feeling, and action, allowing them to work with each other rather than pull against one another.

Today, sankalpa is most often encountered in Yoga Nidra as a short, positive statement repeated during deep relaxation. For some people, this simple practice becomes the catalyst for profound change. For many others, the words remain heartfelt and the intention genuine, yet they never quite gather enough force to create the change they seek — to fulfill their sankalpa.

In working with students and clients, I've noticed this happens because some part of the sankalpa is missing. Most of us have never been shown its deeper structure: where it comes from, how it works, and what it truly asks of us. This workshop series was created to explore those deeper foundations.

Drawing together the wisdom of the yogic and tantric traditions with Jungian psychology and the Western esoteric tradition, these four workshops invite you into one of yoga's most enduring and transformative practices. By the end of this series, you will have a sankalpa that is carefully chosen, clearly worded, psychologically grounded, spiritually meaningful, and supported by the practices that help you live it.

All are welcome.

— Jayne Stevenson

Workshop Format

• Four recorded workshops (2 hours each)
• Guided reflections and meditation practices
• Written integration exercises
• Email support between sessions
• CPD recognition with Yoga Alliance USA, Yoga Australia, and SYTA (certificate provided)

When are the Workshops?

Choose your preferred schedule at registration checkout.

• Schedule 1 - Sundays
  5.00 pm - 7:00 pm AEST (GMT+10)
  6, 13, 20, 27 September 2026 
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• Schedule 2 - Mondays
  9:15 am - 11:15 am AEST (GMT+10)
  7, 14, 21, 28 September 2026 
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Early registration is recommended to secure your place.

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The Workshops at a Glance

Workshop 1. Introduction, Sankalpa's Origins and Evolution  

Establishing the Ground of Sankalpa

Understand what sankalpa is, where it comes from, and how its history continues to shape the way it is practiced today.

The first workshop introduces the ancient world of sankalpa: its Sanskrit roots, its place in India's profound spiritual texts, and its development across yogic and tantric practice over millennia. You will learn how sankalpa differs from contemporary practices such as affirmations and creative visualization, and why this distinction brings clarity and real power to your practice.

We will explore the full range of what sankalpa can address — transforming a disempowering habit, developing character, reaching goals in the world, or deepening spiritual connection — and how to recognize which of your desires has the depth and readiness to become a true resolve. You will also look at the inner qualities sankalpa requires, and how practices such as meditation and asana cultivate them.

This workshop introduces a study sankalpa: a guiding resolve that will support your engagement with the material itself, helping you listen, reflect, practice, and absorb the teachings with deeper intention.

Workshop 2. From Desire to Realization  

Sankalpa as a Creative Process

Discover the creative process through which a sankalpa moves from an inner impulse to lived reality.

We often imagine that creation belongs to artists, musicians, inventors, and visionaries. Yet every human life is creative. Every important decision, relationship, habit, and meaningful change begins as something invisible before it becomes real. A sankalpa is part of that same mystery — a creative process that gradually gathers your inner and outer life into a new direction.

Both the yogic tradition and Jungian psychology recognized that this process unfolds through distinct inner capacities. Some people are rich in imagination but struggle to translate their vision into action. Others possess determination but struggle to know what they truly want. Understanding these patterns is often the difference between a sankalpa that remains an inspiring idea and one that becomes a lived reality.

Through guided reflection, discussion, and a practical diagnostic exercise, you'll discover how your own creative process tends to unfold and where it most needs support, giving your sankalpa the best possible conditions to grow.

Workshop 3. The Language of Sankalpa

The Words You Choose

Learn how language shapes thought, feeling, and action, and refine your sankalpa into words that are authentically your own.

Most of us have experienced the extraordinary power of words. A single sentence can inspire us, wound us, change the course of a relationship, or stay with us for decades. Some words seem to carry life, while others, though perfectly reasonable, leave us unmoved. A sankalpa lives or dies in the language that gives it form, speaking not only of your intention but of what you believe is possible and how deeply you are willing to commit yourself.

This workshop explores language as a creative force through the wisdom of the yogic tradition, alongside insights from poets, artists and philosophers who understood that words participate in creating reality rather than only reflecting it. Together we'll explore what gives certain words their vitality, why some sankalpas feel dull or too vague, and how language can either gather the whole of you into a single direction or quietly divide you against yourself.

By the end of the workshop, you will have refined your sankalpa into language that feels deeply resonant — words capable of carrying not only your intention, but your imagination, your feeling, and your life.

Workshop 4. Doubt, Disillusionment and Regaining Faith

Working with What Resists Change

Develop the understanding and practices needed to sustain your resolve through doubt, change, and the unfolding mystery of life.

Every genuine sankalpa will be tested. Doubt, setbacks, and periods of discouragement are part of every meaningful creative journey. This workshop explores why we so often lose heart when change takes longer than we hoped, and how both the yogic tradition and Jungian psychology illuminate these experiences.

We'll explore the forces that draw us back to negative patterns, and how disappointment can become the beginning of a deeper, more authentic commitment. You'll learn to work with resistance and discover what it may be asking of you.

At its heart, this workshop is about restoring trust: trust in your own deepest nature, trust in the path unfolding before you, and trust in your capacity to remain faithful to what truly matters. 

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What You Will Take Away

By the end of the series, you will understand the tradition from which sankalpa emerged, the creative process through which it unfolds, the language that gives it life, and the practices that sustain it through times of doubt and change — a carefully worded resolve is only the beginning.

More importantly, you'll leave with a clearer relationship to your own deepest intentions, practical ways to bring them into everyday life, and a framework you can return to as your sankalpa grows and evolves over the years ahead.

Who This Workshop Series Is For

You may recognize yourself in one or several of these situations.

You want to understand sankalpa more deeply. Perhaps you've encountered sankalpa through yoga, meditation, Yoga Nidra, teaching, counseling, or personal practice, and want to understand it beyond the brief instructions often given in class. This series explores its historical roots, philosophical depth, psychological significance, and practical application.

You're at a crossroads. Something in life is asking for change, but the direction isn't yet clear. A loss, illness, transition, disappointment, or quiet restlessness may have unsettled what once felt certain. A willingness to reflect, listen, and explore is enough.

Too many voices are competing. Several meaningful desires may be pulling you in different directions — work, health, relationships, creativity, study, service, and spiritual practice all asking something of you while your energy feels divided. This series helps you discern which desire is ready to become a genuine sankalpa.

You have found your sankalpa but want to live it. You already know what matters. Your resolve may have been with you for months or years, yet bringing it fully into your life has proved more complex than you expected. This series offers practical ways to deepen your relationship with it, so it becomes something you increasingly embody rather than simply repeat.

Wherever you are, this is the right place to begin.

A sankalpa works alongside whatever therapy or medical care your life may call for, bringing clarity, depth, and strength to the actions that truly need to be taken.

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About Jayne Stevenson

Jayne Stevenson is a dreamworker, counsellor and contemplative teacher whose work brings together decades of study and practice in the yogic and tantric traditions, Jungian depth psychology.

This workshop series has grown from many years of personal practice and therapeutic work with clients and students. Jayne approaches sankalpa as a living practice that brings creativity, language, resolve, and faith into a more conscious and integrated way of living, rather than simply a technique for achieving goals.

Client Reflections

“Working with Jayne on my sankalpa didn't make me a musician. I'd already done that part. What it changed was everything behind the music. I'd spent years carrying anger, disappointment in my declining popularity, and ideas about myself that weren't doing me any favors. Jayne gave me the know-how to find a sankalpa that really meant something. After that, things started changing. My relationships got better. The songs got better and more people started listening too. Looking back, the biggest change was that I finally felt like I was living a life that felt authentic, creative, and totally in sync with who I am.”

Steve, Musician, Minnesota, USA

“Thanks to Jayne's encouragement, I've achieved goals in my work, relationships, and personal life far faster than I expected. I was prepared to spend five years getting to where I am today. Jayne helped speed that up by finding and standing in my own power, through meditation, visualization, dreamwork, and her deep wisdom and listening. She is like an alchemist: shining a light into the darkness, helping me see through the fog, and guiding me to the other side, where I could awaken to my own wisdom. From the bottom of my heart, I am thankful for Jayne's ongoing guidance, warmth, and wisdom. It is PURE GOLD.”

Esther Becchio, Yoga Teacher & Yoga Therapist, Yoga in Hornsby, Australia

Whether you're discovering sankalpa for the first time or returning to an established practice, these workshops offer an opportunity to deepen one of yoga's most enduring teachings and begin living your deepest sankalpa with greater clarity, purpose, and trust.

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