Setting an Intention for your Practise
Creating an intention for your yoga or yoga nidra practise might be something you wish to explore. Maybe you are not sure how to do it or why you are doing it?
An intention is an aim or a plan or something that you wish to achieve from the practise. It can also be something you are working towards achieving or overcoming.
Sometimes the thought of creating an intention can create a barrier to the practise, which is not the goal. In many cases the mind might start to ask questions, such as - What is an intention? How do I think of one? Is my intention good enough? And so the list continues and quite naturally a sense of feeling detached or uncertainty develops. If we consider that the word yoga translates to mean join or coming together, additional obstacles and mental activity could prevent this from being achieved.
Creating an intention takes a little preparation.
It needs to be a positive statement in the present tense.
It is a good idea to think about what you would like to achieve, what you would like to welcome into your life or anything you would like more of.
It is also worth considering if there are any negative behaviours or patterns that you would like to eliminate from your life.
Take a little time to consider these ideas and make a list of anything that feels relevant.
Look for something that you can create a positive statement about. The statement needs to be worded as though you have already welcomed this into your life. Here are a few examples of positive intentions: -
If an intention does not feel appropriate you can always select an affirmation.
How an Intention Works
When you first roll out your yoga mat and lie down to practise, spend a few moments considering your intention. When you reach a state of deep relaxation towards the end of the practise the intention should be revisited. During deep relaxation the subconscious and the conscious mind are able to communicate and pass information between each other, positive seeds planted during deep relaxation are able to percolate and grow and help to form new more positive thoughts and habits.
This blog article was written by Sue Fuller creator of the Yoga 2 Hear range of audio yoga classes and yoga teacher training courses.
