Mantras and Scientific Affirmations: The Relationship Between Yoga in the United States and Positive Thinking

Abstract

This paper will discuss the relationship between New Thought and yoga in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century through their shared practice of positive affirmations. As swamis from the Vedanta Society came to America and dozens of Indians in the country remade themselves into yoga teachers, medical hypnotists and practitioners of New Thought had already been practicing the repetition of positive affirmations to themselves to influence their thoughts and shape their reality. In a dynamic feedback loop, metaphysical practitioners began to support this practice by aligning it to the recitation of mantras in South Asia to give it a more ancient and universal provenance. Swamis and yoga teachers began to teach many of the same positive affirmations, or present authentic mantras as positive affirmations, to appeal to their American audiences and negate the stereotype of South Asian religions being world-denying. The overlapping use of these affirmations is some of the clearest evidence of the shared networks and mutual influence between early teachers of yoga and metaphysical religions in America. It is also an important and fascinating case study of how the history and influence of mantra can extend far beyond India and shape our world today.