Sankalpa: the importance of setting intentions for the New year
Setting Intentions
We are powerful creators and we have the ability to co-create with the Universe.
Setting intentions opens the path to see transformation in your life, the way you intended. You are the captain of your own ship. But how can you drive your ship if you are not clear of what you want or where you are going?
~ Know What Your Intention Is ~
Ok. So Let's Get Clear Now
2019 is right around the corner - another year down.
Every year, people set New Years resolutions
for something they want to achieve the following year.
But.... Why do we do this?
A New Year is a great time to reflect on the ways we've grown via all the challenges we've faced in the prior year. Then, we can explore how we can take those learnings and apply them to our year ahead, which is where the intention setting comes in. But you may ask, what's the importance of setting an intention for the New Year?
The chief influence in our lives is our mind. There are many factors in life that we can't control, but we can always control how we react to them. To create the life that we were meant to live, we draw our attention to our dharma and manifest our deepest intentions. To manifest these, we set an intention. Setting an intention directs the mind and gives us purpose, so that we don't lose sight of our purpose and stray off our path. Remember, intentions are not goals. Goals put pressure on us and have an external outcome. Intentions align us with our purpose.
In Yoga, there is the concept of Sankalpa, and it helps us set intentions. In Sanskrit, "San" means "connection to the highest truth" and "kalpa" means "the rule to be followed above all other rules" (or in more modern language, a vow). As such, Sankalpa is a vow we make to pursue our own highest truth and honor the deeper meaning of our life; our dharma, our purpose for being here now.
Your Sankalpa is something you can call upon in 2019 to guide your choices. Follow these steps to set it:
Identify a statement that reflects your true nature. This requires no change or action; it is what you already are, such as "I am already whole" or "I am love'.
Then, you can get more specific, but still don't make it a goal. For example, let's say you want to stop eating junk food every day. Instead of saying, "I will stop eating junk food every day" or "I will eat a salad every day", make it "I love my body.", which ties into the true nature statement.
The Sankalpa should be in the present tense. For example, your Sankalpa might be "Compassion is my true nature" and your specific Sankalpa “With compassion for all beings including myself, I eat a vegetarian diet.”
Now, plant the seed of your Sankalpa in your mind. You can do this by using it as a mantra in your regular meditations or yoga practices. One of the most powerful ways to plant the seeds of the Sankalpa in your awareness is yoga nidra.
Yoga nidra relaxes the body and mind and guides you into deep awareness. You are aware and awake, but you experience a disidentification from the body and mind. When you recall your Sankalpa in the waking state, it might trigger doubts or your ego. But when you recall it in the yoga nidra state, it is rather a sense in the body-mind and is absolutely present in that moment.
In 2019, set intentions, not goals, and consider creating a Sankalpa, whose seeds you can plant in your awareness using Yoga Nidra. And we at Shanti would love to
GIFT You A Guided Yoga Nidra Session - you can find it on Nathalie's podcast here:
