Definition of Sankalpa (or Intention): will, purpose, determination, resolution, and resolve.
Those of us who are regularly attending a yoga class are familiar with setting a Sankalpa, or intention at the beginning of the yoga class.
Setting an intention is an amazing tool to lead you to your heart’s desire, a call to action in this world, for you and your path.Setting your Sankalpa then becomes an opportunity for clarity, self-reflection, and discovery, a time to set goals and reinforce self-worth. It becomes a place to discover your purpose, and informs us of a path or particular direction to follow in life, an action on your path in this world.
Overtime, working with intention can have healing and transformative effects.
If the Sankalpa is made during Yoga-Nidra Its effect is to awaken the willpower within by uniting the conscious awareness with the unconscious forces lying dormant. So therefore, Sankalpa’s can be best made before a Yoga-Nidra session.
Create the best circumstances:
· Find a comfortable pose either in a Corpse Pose (Shavasana), Lotus Pose, or Hero's pose. Be sure to create an atmosphere of serenity and comfort for yourself.
· Use breath and pranayama tools to calm and center yourself, or recite a mantra such as ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’
· State your Sankalpa, or intention, 3 times, to yourself, and in the present tense, as if it is already happening, this makes the Sankalpa, or Intention, even more powerful, and the universe will begin to conspire with you to attain your heart’s desire.
*Try to eliminate words like: want, will, and wish.
· It is important to remember to focus on ONE Intention at a time. Intention goes where your energy flows.
You can set this intention for this moment, a day, week, month, year, or even for multiple years.
Some examples:
‘I am healthy my body knows exactly what it needs’
‘I am creative and I am talented’
‘I practice yoga and meditation daily’
‘I am a published writer.'
'I am a wanted public-speaker.'
'I am an inspirational teacher'
The sankalpa is like a seed that has a great power, but only if it is sown in fertile ground and looked after daily with the inner certainty that the seed will produce its fruit in its own time. After the sankalpa is made, the mind nurtures it at deeper levels as the roots of the seed grow further down.
Let the intellect not question it, faith is where all the dimensions of the personality are in harmony and where magic is created.