Day 4: Yoga Intention

  • By onthemat
  • 04 Dec, 2015
One of the more challenging parts of yoga for me is choosing my intention for my practice. It’s not because I can’t think of one, it’s because I always think of the same one, and it’s pretty simple. I always intend to stay focused and clear-minded and to be present in every pose. I always […]
One of the more challenging parts of yoga for me is choosing my intention for my practice. It’s not because I can’t think of one, it’s because I always think of the same one, and it’s pretty simple. I always intend to stay focused and clear-minded and to be present in every pose. I always intend to be grateful for the opportunity to be practicing yoga in the middle of the day in a small New England town surrounded by my yoga friends. I always intend to be compassionate and kind to myself on the mat and to others off the mat. But all of these intentions are beginning to sound a bit cliche, and definitely a bit self-centered. I’d like to be more profound in my intention setting, and more outward-minded in my focus. Is it too big an intention for one little yoga student to hope to rid the world of hatred and violence? Is it too big an intention to forgive the perpetrators of the endless bloodshed and to have faith that good will conquer evil? Probably a bit ambitious, yes, but I want to believe that if every yoga practitioner on the planet were to set a similar intention of hope, forgiveness and faith, it might just work. But now I’m getting too idealistic. I wonder what other people choose for their intention. I need some ideas.

On The Mat Yoga Blog

By Linda Malcomb 03 May, 2020

“There is a light in the core of our being that calls us home—one that can only be seen with closed eyes; We can feel it as a radiance in the center of our chest. This light of loving awareness is always here, regardless of our conditioning. It does not matter how many dark paths we have traveled or how many wounds we have inflicted or sustained as we have unknowingly stumbled toward this inner radiance. It does not matter how long we have sleepwalked, seduced by our desires and fears. This call persists until it is answered, until we surrender to who we really are. When we do, we feel ourselves at home wherever we are. A hidden beauty reveals itself in our ordinary life. As the true nature of our Deep Hear is unveiled, we feel increasingly grateful for no reason—grateful to simply be.”

—John J. Prendergast, PHD, The Deep Heart  

By Linda Malcomb 02 May, 2020

Seems like it’s been rainy, windy, dreary for eons. Which may have helped us shelter inside a bit more. I remember reading years and years ago in a Seth book that weather can be influenced, and even created by mass human emotion. Why not? We are far more powerful than we currently acknowledge, and science is beginning to validate many phenomena that had seemed inconceivable before. Those seemingly endless days of “bad” weather seemed congruent with the emotional tone of covid her in New England. And now SUN! Glorious, warming, invigorating, hope-filled Sun! Today I will be outside basking and gardening and thanking. And I’m sure the whole neighborhood, and most of New England will go outside, stand with our faces to the sun and breathe a huge healing breath of joy. And maybe the collective energy of that will resonate out across the word as a promise of brighter days to come.     


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