17/09/2026
YOGA MEETS SCIENCE: Pratipaksha Bhavana
Long before we had the language of cognitive psychology or neuroplasticity, yogis were already interested in a very practical question: what do we do with patterns of thought that repeatedly take us in a direction we don’t want to go?
In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali offers a practice called Pratipaksha Bhavana. When thoughts arise that are contrary to the principles we are trying to cultivate, we consciously introduce and strengthen another way of thinking. The practice asks us to notice habitual thought patterns and then consciously cultivate a different response, gradually changing the mind’s tendencies through repetition. Rather than allowing a habitual thought to run its familiar course, we interrupt the pattern and practise another response.
From a neuroscience perspective, this becomes particularly interesting when we consider neuroplasticity: the brain’s capacity to change in response to experience. The more often we think, feel or respond in a particular way, the more familiar that pattern becomes to the brain.
When we interrupt a habitual thought and practise a different response, we begin to create and strengthen alternative pathways. With repetition, these new patterns can become easier to access, so our habitual response is no longer the only one available to us.
This is essentially what we mean when we talk about “rewiring” the brain. It doesn’t happen simply by replacing a negative thought with a positive one, but through repeatedly bringing awareness to an established pattern and practising something different.
The yogis were observing the patterns of the mind rather than studying the brain, but Pratipaksha Bhavana points to something we now understand through neuroscience: the patterns we repeatedly practise can shape the way we think and respond.
