Sankalpa (Intention) and Your Intuition (Higher Knowing)

Tuesday night I taught a class and had one of those divine moments that I was completely in tune with the people in front of me and what they needed. It was one of those brilliant moments where you catch that spark of intuition and you run with it... my philosophy or dharma talk before class made a student cry. I felt for her, because the only way I can talk about things that are difficult and painful is having experienced them myself.

The discussion stemmed from the nature of our distractions -- and how they are there to guide us, in a sense. Your distractions on the yoga mat as well as off of the yoga mat are there to reveal something to you about yourself, so that you can then work on it and begin your intention -- your sankalpa -- there. For example, I shared with my students, if you are consistently bombarded by obsessive thoughts, but perfecting and controlling things, then your work is going to be first, to let go. However, obsession is really fear and doubt in disguise. We obsess and we control out of the fear and doubt that we are not going to be taken care of or that things are not going to work out the way they should. Therefore, after you have done your best work and given what you can to a situation, it then  becomes about the opposites of fear and doubt: courage and faith. Another example I shared with my students, is, if distracting thoughts are commonly about self-criticism and self-analyzing, you must learn to love yourself. Criticizing yourself disempowers you, and paralyzes you. You cannot move forward if you are constantly judging yourself. I've learned this the hard way; and if you have that tendency, no, it's not easy to abolish. It takes hard, tireless, conscientious work to turn it around. But it is absolutely work it. So love, acceptance, faith, courage, and confidence... endlessly. These are the topics for meditation and for your intention.

I was so moved that I reached someone in that class. I truly believe that certain students attend certain classes to hear, to see, and to experience whatever it is I have to offer at that time... they come when they are ready to learn what I am teaching. No accident, no coincidence. I hope that this knowledge can enrich the lives of my students as much as it has enriched mine. The wonderful is that we all have that Higher Knowing, that intuition, that guided me to say the things I said in that class on Tuesday night. We just must trust that we do.