Welcome!
Thank you so much for registering for my upcoming mini-retreat! I thought you might enjoy having these resources and recipes.
Here is the link for the recorded class.
passcode: @1dn9..w
The first 90ish minutes is complete as a yoga practice and sankalpa setting yoga nidra. After the nidra is a break (paused on video), it starts again with dates and ghee making demo, sankalpa/vikalpa journal exercise. Then the personal shares, which are not recorded for privacy, and closing.
The Art of Sankalpa
Sankalpa is a sacred intention rooted in the tantric yoga tradition. The process of creating a sankalpa is about slowing down, tuning in and listening to the deep desires already within us. Like a new year resolution it is a positive affirmation that is meant to bring greater peace, harmony and clarity to our minds and life. Unlike a News Year resolution it is not an elusive goal that requires renunciation, struggle and is instantly forgotten when it becomes challenging. A sankalpa is something so dear and true to our hearts that it arrives with the tools we need and the practices to manifest it. According to Richard Miller, PhD, clinical psychologist and teacher in the tantric traditions of Advaita Vedanta and Kashmir shaivism “a sankalpa arrives with everything needed to fully realize it. This includes iccha (tremendous will and energy), kriya (action), and jnana (the wisdom of how to deliver that action). “These are all aspects of the Divine, and they live within us. When the true sankalpa comes in, we awaken these three qualities of the Divine,” Miller says. “You don’t have to ask where you’ll find the will to do it. The energy and will is already there. The sankalpa informs us of the action we’re willing to take into the world.” Setting intention is a powerful way to shift your thoughts, emotions and ACTIONS to your highest purpose.
A sankalpa can be both the heartfelt desire and the specific intention—and should be stated in the present tense. For example, instead of than saying, “I want to be more kind” your sankalpa might be, “kindness is my true nature” or “I am kindness itself.” Rather than setting the intention, “I will not smoke” your specific sankalpa might be, “With compassion for my body and lungs, I will refrain from using tobacco. Stating your sankalpa in present tense acknowledges the tremendous will, energy, and truth that arrive with the discovery of your heartfelt desire. It also reminds you that whatever is required of you is already within you.
Snacks+Snark
Sankalpa Meditation Exercise
Clarifying a sankalpa is easiest in a form of meditation, often during yoga nidra, which is a guided relaxation. I will guide you through yoga nidra and read the sankalpa prompts. Once you have done the exercise I will give you all a few minutes to write and journal about your sankalpa.
Questions to Define your Sankalpa
What is your heart's deepest longing?
If you could manifest anything in your life, what would that be?
What are you most resistant to?
Without filtering through the lens of family pressure, societal norms and perceived limitations what goals and pleasures are important to you?
Why do we use it: Setting an intention is a powerful way to harness the energy of your practice towards your highest purpose. Just like we work with the alignment of our joints and muscles in yoga asana, we can also align our spirit and mind through sankalpa. During the days of incredible challenge for the head, heart and mind, a sankalpa helps keep us rooted in purpose and clarity.
How to Use your Sankalpa
We align with sankalpa every time we practice yoga. Many teachers will remind you of this act at the very beginning of yoga class during meditation or pranayama time . Each time you practice yoga, meditate, sit quietly in a beautiful place or quite frankly just remember, repeat your sankalpa to yourself in your mind's eye, planting it like a seed to be nourished by your breath, awareness, and movement during practice. This builds the sankalpa shakti, or the energy to take the action required by your resolve.
Traditionally, yogis recall sankalpa as they awaken from the state of deep relaxation in savasana, repeating it silently 3 times. I invite you to continue this, each time you come to practice repeat your sankalpa in your mind's eye 3 times and after savasana 3 times. Savasana, or the corpse pose, produces an equalization of awareness throughout the entire body mind – our energy is no longer gravitating towards one strong thought or sensation, but we experience complete balance of both our physical and mental energies. This state of equalization provides the perfect environment to realign with one’s highest intention. You may notice that the more you connect to sankalpa from this state of being, the more you live by sankalpa, and unhealthy behaviors towards yourself or others that you have worked so doggedly in the past to modify just fall away.