I was in the middle of a hot and sweaty yoga class last Friday when I noticed my thoughts were becoming overwhelmingly negative: “You can’t do this; This is too hard; I can’t bend my knee any deeper; Ohhh, my shoulder hurts.” And the list goes on. I did the only thing I knew: drop to my knees and find child’s pose.

While I was drawing in, the positive affirmations came: “Yes, I can do this; What can I do to modify these poses so they feel better for my body in this moment?; Each time I bend my knee even a tiny bit more, I am getting stronger; How can I adjust so my shoulders don’t hurt?” I felt energized by these new thoughts, and I was able to continue practicing, and focusing on the breath instead of my thoughts.

When I think about this situation, what I ask myself is, “Why do I have negative thoughts in the first place?” “Why does my mind go to giving up before it goes to digging in?” But before I went to far down that path—a pointless one, in my opinion—I decided to focus on how I can change that thought process.

When in yoga, I can find child’s pose. But what about in other situations, where child’s pose may not be an option? That is where the breath comes in. In one inhale, I can stop the thoughts as I focus on drawing in the breath; in one exhale, I can clear out the negativity and make room for a positive affirmation.

By just changing the way I see the situation, I can make progress on how I feel about it. No one ever said that change was easy or comfortable–in fact, it’s often the opposite: difficult and uncomfortable. But it’s up to me to not assign negative values to those emotions or feelings. They just are what they are: challenges; a process of softening what is hard; a shaking leg that wants to find stability.

I may never know why the negative thoughts creep in, but I do know that I can replace them with a deep breath and a positive affirmation. When I release my judgment and just notice what is going on, my thoughts are just that: thoughts. They are not who I am.