What Are Your Intentions?
Friday May 23, 2008
At the beginning of a yoga class, the teacher often encourages you to set an intention for the class. Mine has changed a lot over time. I used to always think of fearlessness- the courage to try everything and not be scared of looking silly or falling down. These days, I usually settle on restraint. I try to remind myself not to push past my limits into a place where I will be sore and unhappy the next day. Kind of polar opposites, huh? I think back in the day, the stakes were different. I was afraid to try things because of my mental limitations, not my physical ones. I've always wondered what others think of as their intentions- care to share?
Comments
This is an interesting question. In massage school, they were always emphasizing “intention,” but I never quite understood what they meant. I never thought about it in the context of yoga. Mostly my intention was to stretch out tight muscles and stay young and limber in my (almost) old age.
My intentions keep changing, because when I started doing yoga seriously I was charging at it full-speed with the intention of being the best. Now I’ve learned to rein that in and am trying to be *my* best. My secret intention is, one day in the future, to be as bendy-stretchy as a human can possibly be, but it takes conscious effort to hold this back and just try to be where I am.
Mine changes by the day because I have a stressful job. Sometimes it is to feel energized instead of worn down by the day, or to gain a bit more flexibility than yesterday, or just to get through the class.
I think the intention needs to be distinguished from goals (future oriented). Intentions focus on the now (so I’ve read).