The Impact of Language

In 1994, Masaru Emoto started conducting a series of experiments to determine the effects of different energies—through pictures, words, and music—on water crystals. What he found was nothing short of amazing: In his experiments with words, the water that was exposed to positive words like “gratitude,” “truth,” and “peace,” created beautiful, symmetrical patterned water crystals. In contrast, the water that was exposed to negative words like “evil,” “you disgust me,” and “you fool,” created disfigured crystals.

Emoto’s experiments found that the words we use have a huge impact on the physical form of water.

Humans are made up of over 60 percent water, with our blood containing 92 percent water. About 71 percent of the Earth is water. If this much of our physical world is composed of water and water is hugely affected by the words and energetics we put in and around them, how can we adjust our vocabularies so that we’re creating more beauty?

The voices that we use to talk to ourselves—on and off the mat—can be on a sliding scale from so loving to so harming. The next time you step on your mat, check in to see how you’re talking to yourself. Is there room to be more compassionate? More loving? Can you shift your vocabulary from “don’t/can’t/won’t” to the positive alternatives?

This post was originally published at Yoga Pod LoDo