The Holiday Season Series: Setting your intention

I love yoga. I don't love all types of yoga and I am no expert. I am a perpetual beginner. But I am okay with that. The reason I am content with it is because of the idea of intention. Let me elaborate on that and I promise it will relate back to the holidays very soon.

I have had some yoga instructors start the class with the idea of "setting your intention." I really like this idea. It means that I am setting my own intention for that one class on that one day. Sometimes I set my intention to feel more grounded and present. I work to just feel my body stretching and get out of my head and into my body. Sometimes I set my intention to get a workout. I want to feel my heart beat faster and I want to work my muscles. Sometimes I just need to relax and so that is my intention. These are just my own personal intentions. Who knows what the people around me are trying to do. I just know what I am working on.

This idea of setting your intention is applicable to many more things in life than just yoga. And, that is what I want to add to the idea of making meaning out of the holidays - this intention piece. In my last blog post on the holiday season, I wrote about reclaiming the holidays for something that matters to you. And today I'd like to suggest that how you relate to your meaning is just as important as what it is. For example, if you'd like the meaning of the holidays to be about "giving" to others, then take that idea and think of it as your theoretical framework or your intention. Giving doesn't have to mean buying gifts for everyone you know. It can mean that you approach these last couple weeks with the intention of giving inside you in your day-to-day life. It may not be visible to others, it is how you think of yourself. In yoga, others don't know what your intention is, and practice may "look" similar, but you are holding your ideas in a different way.

So, what is your intention for the next few weeks?