If you do not know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere. - Henry A. Kissinger
An intention is a statement about who we are that reflects our deepest needs and values. Intentions describe how we want to show up in the world and help to direct where we focus our attention and energy. Unlike goals, which are future oriented and tied to specific outcomes, intentions are more general and are grounded in the present. As such, they serve as guideposts, offering us ways in which we can respond to our world so that we offer the best of who we are, every day, moment-to-moment.
Powerful intentions share four qualities. First, they are built on what is true. This includes past successes, strengths, as well as the values that call to us. Secondly, they stretch our status quo, asking us to reach our edge without pushing too far. Thirdly, they reflect one’s deepest needs, not a “should” that is meant to please others, but a statement that honors what is treasured and held closely to one’s heart. Fourth, they are palpable. A powerful intention resonates; it is aligned so closely to who you are that it can be stated as if it were already true.
The raw materials used for setting an intention come from a process referred to as grounding, which requires bringing our full attention into the realm of the physical. We start by attending to the breath, body sensations, and the environment. The physical world, our flesh and bones, is the only place in which we experience the present. Our bodies are the vehicle that connect us to the solidity of the earth. Establishing this connection is the essence of grounding. Although thinking tends to dominate what we do as humans, it minimizes our ability to stay grounded, carrying us away as it analyzes, spins stories, and creates worries about a future that does not exist. The more we think, the further we get pulled away from the present, becoming untethered as our energy disperses. The physical world is dense, it has boundaries, and is less expansive than the limitless realm of thought, yet these qualities are precisely what keep us connected, focused and dynamically present. It is through our physical body, by connecting to earth through grounding, that we extract the materials used to build our intentions.
The foundation of all yoga poses is formed by the action of pushing down into the earth to create the energy we need to extend up. Enacting this principle requires an awareness of our physical relationship with the earth--not a conceptual understanding, but a tactile, sensory experience of solidity and stability. A lack of body awareness, a result of spending too much time thinking, weakens our ability to find our ground. When we live in our heads, we lose the strength to push forcefully against the solid surface of the earth. Our understanding of the present can become clouded and foggy, and our energy is scattered. And when thinking turns to the harsh light of analysis, we become critical of the present, perhaps judging our body with a desire to “fix”. Grounding becomes heavy and requires a tremendous amount of energy to lift and extend. We get stuck, paralyzed by the burden our thinking has created. To quiet our thinking we need only to come back to the breath, again and again, continuously reestablishing our connection with the solidity offered by our earthly existence.
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