Positive Psychology: Living Better by Focusing on What Works

Elodie Abadie • 30 juin 2025

Positive Psychology: Living Better by Focusing on What Works

What if, instead of constantly trying to fix what’s wrong, we started nurturing what’s already working well within us?


That’s the essence of positive psychology, a modern scientific discipline based on decades of research. It seeks to understand how to make life more satisfying, more meaningful, and more aligned with our values.

What Is Positive Psychology?

Conceptualized by American psychologist Martin Seligman in the late 1990s, positive psychology is the scientific study of the strengths, resources, and mechanisms that allow individuals and communities to thrive.


Unlike traditional psychology, which focuses primarily on pathology, suffering, and dysfunction, positive psychology explores mental health at its best, sustainable happiness, quality of life, and the development of human potential.

It’s not about “thinking positively” or denying problems, but about exploring and strengthening the positive aspects of human experience using evidence-based methods.


A Science Based on Evidence

Over the past two decades, thousands of studies around the world have investigated the factors that promote:

  • life satisfaction
  • resilience
  • optimism
  • fulfilling relationships
  • personal achievement


Positive psychology relies on validated assessment tools, psychometric tests, and reproducible scientific protocols.
It is a discipline grounded in observable results — not vague concepts or wishful thinking.


The 5 Pillars of Well-Being: The PERMA Model

Seligman’s PERMA model identifies five essential pillars that, when combined, form the foundation for sustainable well-being:


1. Positive Emotions (P)

Cultivating emotions such as joy, gratitude, serenity, curiosity, and pride.
These emotions don’t erase negative ones, but they expand our mental and emotional resources.

Example: Keep a gratitude journal where you write down three positive things each evening.


2. Engagement (E)

This refers to being fully absorbed in an activity — the state of “flow” where time disappears and we feel completely aligned with what we’re doing.

Example: Playing music, painting, dancing, gardening, writing, or coding — any activity that makes you lose track of time.


3. Positive Relationships (R)

Human connection is one of the strongest predictors of long-term happiness.
Having sincere, deep, and reciprocal relationships is vital for emotional well-being.

Example: Taking time to nurture a friendship, offering genuine thanks, forgiving, or actively listening.


4. Meaning (M)

Having a sense of purpose — acting for something larger than yourself: a cause, belief, mission, or value.

Example: Volunteering, pursuing a meaningful career, mentoring others, or engaging in spiritual practice.


5. Accomplishment (A)

The feeling of progressing, achieving, or overcoming challenges.
This builds confidence and fuels motivation.

Example: Finishing a book, reaching a fitness goal, learning a new skill, or completing a creative project.


How Positive Psychology Complements Traditional Psychology

Traditional psychology aims to relieve suffering: treating mental disorders, addressing trauma, guiding emotional healing.


Positive psychology, on the other hand, aims to strengthen what is healthy, joyful, and alive.


These approaches are not opposites — they are complementary. One focuses on healing, the other on flourishing.

As Seligman puts it:

“There are two complementary strategies for improving the human condition. One is to relieve what’s wrong; the other is to strengthen what’s right.”


Why Practice Positive Psychology?

Here are some evidence-based benefits of positive psychology:

  • increased self-esteem
  • reduced stress and overthinking
  • improved physical health
  • greater resilience
  • deeper satisfaction in relationships
  • enhanced intrinsic motivation


In other words: what you train, you strengthen.
By cultivating positive thoughts, emotions, and actions, you activate brain pathways that improve your capacity to feel well.


Practical Exercises to Develop Your Well-Being

Here are 5 simple and powerful exercises to get started with positive psychology:


1. The Inner Travel Journal

Take a notebook and make it your personal space for self-expression.
Write, draw, collage, reflect. Let this journal become a mirror of your inner world.


2. Present-Moment Awareness

On a blank page, describe exactly how you feel right now — physically, emotionally, mentally.
No judgment. Just awareness.


3. The Happiness Triangle

  • What recent moment gave you deep satisfaction?
  • How do you feel in this present moment?
  • What upcoming event or activity brings you joy just thinking about it?


4. Flow-Based Activities

  • What activity brings you pure enjoyment?
  • When do you feel completely focused and engaged?
  • In which actions do you feel useful and fulfilled?


5. Daily Gratitude Ritual

Each evening, write down 3 positive things that happened during your day — a conversation, a walk, a meal, a smile.
Over time, this simple ritual trains your brain to notice and remember the good, even during tough times.


Conclusion: An Invitation to Live More Fully

Positive psychology is not about forcing happiness.
It’s a method, a mindset, a way of living that invites us to see what’s good, what’s working, and what’s worth expanding.

It helps you recognize your strengths, cultivate joy, create meaning, and build a life that reflects who you truly are.


Ready to begin today?


Take a few minutes. A notebook. A pen. A breath of presence.
And ask yourself this simple but powerful question:

What is going well in my life right now?


Namaste 🪷

Creating a Yoga Training School

par Elodie Abadie • 30 mars 2026
Creating your own yoga training school is an idea that attracts more and more experienced yoga teachers. After several years of teaching classes, many instructors feel the desire to go further: to share their pedagogy, train future teachers, and structure their approach to yoga within a professional framework. However, behind this ambition lies a reality that is often more complex than it first appears. Between regulations, educational structure, administrative obligations, and building a sustainable activity, creating a yoga training school requires preparation and clarity. So, is creating a yoga training organization a dream or a realistic professional project? This article explores what it truly involves.

Funding a Yoga or Pilates Teacher Training

par Elodie Abadie • 16 mars 2026
Becoming a yoga or Pilates teacher is a path that attracts more and more people today. Behind this decision, there are often very different life stories: a career change, a desire to bring more meaning into one’s work, the wish to share a practice that has transformed one’s life, or simply the aspiration to work closer to the body and movement. But very quickly, a practical question arises: how can you finance a yoga or Pilates training? Contrary to common belief, several options exist today that can help fund part or all of a professional training. Understanding these possibilities is an important step in building a realistic and sustainable project. This article explores the main ways to finance a yoga or Pilates training , whether you are changing careers, currently employed, self-employed, or seeking new professional opportunities.

Becoming a Yoga Teacher: Where to Begin?

par Elodie Abadie • 2 mars 2026
Changing career paths to teach yoga is becoming increasingly common.
Corporate professionals in transition, healthcare workers, teachers, artists, exhausted entrepreneurs, or simply people searching for meaning… Many feel, at some point in their lives, the call of yoga as both a professional and personal path. But once that inner pull is felt, one question almost always arises:
w here do you actually start?
 Between idealized visions, fears, financial constraints, and external expectations, the transition toward teaching yoga can feel unclear, even intimidating. This article guides you step by step to understand what changing paths to teach yoga really involves, and how to lay the first foundations in a realistic, aligned, and sustainable way.

Do You Need to Be Flexible to Teach Yoga?

par Elodie Abadie • 16 février 2026
It’s a question many future yoga teachers ask themselves—often quietly:
“Am I flexible enough to teach?”
And behind that question, there’s usually a deeper doubt: am I legitimate? Here is a clear and honest answer: no, flexibility is not a prerequisite for teaching yoga .
Believing otherwise is one of the biggest misconceptions of modern yoga.

Creating a Coherent Yoga Class

par Elodie Abadie • 2 février 2026
Creating a coherent yoga class is one of the fundamental pillars of teaching yoga. It’s not just about sequencing postures, but about designing an inner architecture —an invisible thread that weaves together body, breath, energy, and meaning.
A successful class doesn’t merely “feel good.” It tells a story, supports a transformation, respects the body’s rhythms, and creates a safe space where each student can truly arrive and settle. Between intuition and structure, many teachers feel torn. Should you follow your inner feeling or stick to a clear framework? Improvise or plan everything?
The truth is that intuition and structure don’t oppose each other. They complement one another. One brings life; the other brings stability.

Why Teaching Yoga Is Never a Neutral Act

par Elodie Abadie • 19 janvier 2026
Teaching yoga is never a neutral act. Behind every class, every transmission, every guided posture, there is a deeper intention than it may seem. For some, teaching yoga comes from an inner calling—almost visceral.
For others, it is a fully structured profession, grounded in economic reality.
And for many, it is also—sometimes without intending to be—an engaged, almost militant act in a world that moves fast… too fast. So, teaching yoga—
Is it a vocation?
A profession like any other?
Or a conscious stance toward society? The truth is that teaching yoga often sits at the crossroads of all three.
And that is precisely what makes it so powerful… and so complex.

🌿 How to Find Your Path: A Journey Back to Yourself

par Elodie Abadie • 5 janvier 2026
Finding your path.
These words sound like a promise… and sometimes, like pressure. We’re constantly told to “find our purpose,” “follow our heart,” “live our passion.”
But in reality, it’s rarely a straight road. It’s more of a winding path — full of doubts, sparks, turns, and awakenings.
A deeply inner journey before anything else. So how do you find your path when you feel lost?
How do you know what’s truly right for you — without being influenced by others’ expectations?
And most importantly, how do you move forward even when the answers aren’t clear yet? This article is an invitation to come back to yourself — not to search harder, but to listen differently.

🧘‍♀️ How I Stay Organized as a Yoga Teacher & Entrepreneur

par Elodie Abadie • 29 décembre 2025
Between teaching, creating, managing projects, running trainings, and nurturing a personal life, being a yoga teacher and entrepreneur can easily feel like a balancing act.
You’re expected to inspire, teach, plan, organize, create — all while leaving space for yourself, your family, and your breath. People often ask me: “How do you manage it all without burning out?” So today, I’m opening the doors to my own routine — not a perfect or rigid system, but a living, breathing, adaptable rhythm that changes with my energy, priorities, and inspiration. If you’re a yoga teacher, a creative entrepreneur, or simply someone trying to find balance between structure and flow, this is for you.

🪷 Yoga: Spiritual, Physical or Political?

par Elodie Abadie • 15 décembre 2025
Yoga intrigues, fascinates, and sometimes even divides.
Some see it as a physical practice, others as a spiritual path, and some as a symbol of engagement or resistance. But deep down… what is yoga really?
Is it a lifestyle? A path of awareness? A way to connect with yourself and the world? In this article, we explore the many faces of yoga — physical, spiritual, and even political — to rediscover its essence: a living, embodied, and profoundly human practice.

🌿 Living Yoga Every Day

par Elodie Abadie • 1 décembre 2025
What if yoga wasn’t just about postures?
What if, beyond the mat, this ancient practice became a way of inhabiting your life — acting with awareness, breathing with presence, and connecting deeply to yourself and the world around you? Through its eight branches, yoga offers far more than a series of physical exercises.
It’s a complete philosophy of life, a daily art of living, and an inner compass to navigate with balance, authenticity, and serenity. In this article, you’ll rediscover the 8 limbs of yoga — known as Ashtanga Yoga — and learn how each one can transform your life, step by step, breath by breath.