Sankalpa - 2021 Intentions

The beginning of the year for many involves setting New Year's Resolutions. These wishes for the future are often lost in the first days of the year. What the yoga tradition teaches is something much deeper. intentions set from a place of deep knowing. 

The sages of the tradition teach that life is bereft without Sankalpa Shakti, using the power of intention to shape your life. 

There are a number of principles that inform how we work with Sankalpa:

1. Work with a desire you'd like to achieve in the foreseeable future (3-18 months)
2. Use clear, concise, present tense statements
3. Commit the Sankalpa to memory
4. Resite it to yourself silently after practice and meditation
5. Remember it during the day when you catch yourself about to engage in a bad habit, feel triggered or catch yourself in a negative thought pattern
6. Before falling asleep at night continue to repeat your Sankalpa silently
7. If you wake up with insomnia, continue to repeat your Sankalpa silently until you sleep again. 

It's important when working with Sankalpa that you don't have expectations of the outcome, for how it manifests may be entirely unique from what you anticipated. 

It's also very important to work with your Sankalpa in a disciplined manner. Every day you commit to remembering and repeating it.  

And finally, only work with one Sankalpa at a time. 

Good luck!