AT THE start of our yoga classes, I always give my students the opportunity to set a sankalpa or intention.
What do they want to get out of the class?
Would they like to dedicate the peace they have generated from their practice to someone else?
Someone they love or perhaps someone they know who is in trouble.
It’s a beautiful routine and takes the yoga from the physical into the emotional, mental and spiritual realms.
By definition, a sankalpa is a little different to intention setting.
An intention implies something present, in the short term and something you might need right now.
A sankalpa honours the deeper meaning of our lives. It speaks to the larger arc of our lives, our dharma – our life purpose.
It starts from the radical premise that we already have what we need to fulfill our life’s purpose.
All we need to do is listen, go inward and connect to our most heartfelt desires, and to channel the divine energy within.
In the world of yoga, we embrace the idea that each of us is both being and becoming.
There’s the part of us that is transcendent and doesn’t need anything and there is a part of us that needs a purpose and a destiny and is always changing.
To fulfill your dharma, you must find a way to integrate these two seemingly opposite aspects of being.
A sankalpa is a daily practice that can integrate the all of you.
