I haven't written about yoga once since I started this blog. It is because, especially over the past few months, my practice has been sporadic at best. I always thought that I had great intention, just lousy follow-up.
Today I went to an afternoon flow class at Yogastudio, where I have had a membership for a little under two years now. It was Cynthia's class - she is one of those teachers who makes you work hard, but in an understanding and fun way, full of positive energy. She is very much in tune with her students, which makes it feel like you are taking a class from an old friend. Because I have that comfort level with her, I always feel very relaxed in her class.
At the beginning of the class, Cynthia asked us to think about our intention. Why are you here? What do you want to accomplish today? This is a common subject that yoga teachers talk about, intention. Usually I say to myself, well, I want to have a good class, I want to get better and go deeper in my poses, I want to quiet my mind, I want to feel good. Then when we start stretching, my mind often goes back to where it was before - wrestling with a problem, or simply going over my checklist of things to get done later. I try to be spiritual, it's just that it doesn't always stick.
Today, I decided that I was going to try to apply the same discipline to my mind as I apply to my body. I cleared out all of my other thoughts, and challenged myself. What was my intention? Why was I there? What came to mind was this: "I want to feel a shift".
With that, I had a focus for my practice. A shift does not just happen. If you do the same things in the same way, nothing changes. So it made me work a little harder, trying to feel that shift. I paid attention to my posture. I took my time going into poses, making sure I felt right before settling into the positions. When my limbs got tired and started to shake, I held the pose as long as I could. I tried to imagine myself in another time and environment, stretching and growing into the space. I forgot about the other people in the class and if my shirt was riding up in the back.
It was towards the end of the class that I felt it. We were in pigeon pose, which requires your hips to be very open and your hamstrings to be flexible. I have issues with both, but I love this pose and I was determined to hold it. I started to feel tight, and I wanted to release it - but I didn't, I stayed in it. I tried to imagine my muscles expanding to accomodate my wishes. And then I felt it - the shift. Mind over matter. My wanting to do something and working hard to achieve it.
After class I felt amazing. There were areas of my body that felt that they had been opened for the first time. Mentally, it was like a door opening - the door of possibility.
I think I have a better understanding of intention now. It is what we apply to something to give it meaning. It takes an action or a series of actions and brings them together to become something unified, something with a purpose. It makes us respect what we are doing, in all things, and with this respect elevates the ordinary to the extraordinary.
And what a great practice to take a moment to ask yourself this question before starting something, like your day at work. It may remind you of your values, your dreams, or it may tell you that you have lost sight of these and that you need to regroup with yourself. It is not enough just to do something if you want to have growth, you must have intention and with that you can be focused on achieving anything.
