The Power Of Setting an Intention Gives YOU the POWER, by Priya Narsai-Puna

The power of Sankalpa or ‘intention.’

As many of the great thinkers of our time have said, “you get in life what you have the courage to ask for”. Oprah Winfrey being one of them. I truly believe that being clear about the values I hold and qualities I want to develop provides purpose and drive in my life.

Everything starts with intention, however, we often storm ahead with what we are doing without knowing why we are doing it)…. Our Intention needs to be the starting point.

What is a Sankalpa / Intention? San ~ Higher Self, Kalpa ~ Vow and Promise ~ intention formed by the heart and mind a solemn vow

An intention is an aim that guides action, it is formed by the heart and mind and based on what really matters to you in your life. It is NOT a Goal but a continual aspiration or path you’d like to follow. It’s about the person you want to become, rather than the stuff you want to do or things you’d like to have.

At the start of 2019 I began by setting goals related to running the family business around Business Growth, Marketing Strategy, Accounting… etc. All this gave me a framework to understand what I needed to do strategically, it kept me on track with business, and that’s what I needed. But to get me to the Goals I needed to use intentions, its the intention that gave me the drive.

Why set an Intention?

Your Intention can set the tone for the day or for whatever task you are going to undertake.
Intentions come from the heart, they come with emphasis, meaning and emotion. You have a different relationship internally with yourself and with your intension, its personal and it becomes your intuition, your guide.

Mahatam Gandhi Said

“Our thoughts generate words,
words generate actions,
action generate habits,
habits generate character and your
character becomes your destiny”

3 Steps to setting Your Intentions

1) Acknowledge what you’d like to focus on: Do you have a block or negative belief you’d like to clear. We all have blocks in most areas of our life. Many, if not all, we have put in ourselves or taken from others saying something to us which is negative.

You may have made plans to go to the gym every morning or just wake up earlier….
This is me – I’d like to wake up earlier, my goal is 6.30am
The thought and the plans of the goal make me feel great when I set them but they don’t just happen.

You have to realize that its okay and forgive yourself and move on if they don’t happen straight away. Start fresh and set your intention each week or day to move forward with your goals. By honouring your limitations you can use it as a tool to let go of or clear the blocks or to make room for change.

2) Take Action and Step Forward: Small steps and thoughts create big changes, but you have to take Action.

The Doing is in the Action, so to move forward with your Goal with an intention which focuses on the doing and what’s needed to get to your goal. This is where we learn and find the steps to achieve and grow. We can waste so much time and energy on the not doing it stops us from moving towards our intention or goal.

Maybe your intention means that you simply take a step forward each day in acknowledgement of the Value you hold.

I’ve been setting my morning alarm 10 minutes earlier at 6:50am for the past 3 weeks so that I am getting used to being up earlier. I have now changed the time to 6:40am aiming for 6:30am. I have some days where my body is tired and I press snooze more than once. But I forgive myself and acknowledge that on some days I need more rest depending on what I’ve done, but overall I’m reaching the goal.

3) Attention – You need to pay attention to your Intention
When you’ve made your Intention known, it’s there and now exists in the present. Give it some thought, not over thinking but acknowledge it’s there.

You’ve planted your seed of intention. Like any flower growing, you have to water it and pay attention to it. You have to notice if there are weeds growing around the flower and if you see the weeds you take them away, picking them out to allow the flower to grow to it’s full potential. Similar to your Intention, if you see challenges work with them to change and support your intention. Focus less on the weeds, so they don’t grow and block your growth.

I love this analogy which comes from the Vedic scriptures about forming Sankalpa, it’s simple but perfectly explained.

When I set my intention about waking earlier, the first few weeks I was feeling quite tired so I began to think more about my bedtime routine and how that has an impact on my sleeping and mornings. Paying attention to my whole routine is helping me get a better nights sleep and reach my goal.

Simple Tips on Setting Intentions:

To support your intention setting you could have a notebook for your intentions and Goals

Here are some thought starters:

What would you like to let go of? Who would you like to forgive?
What fears would you like to release? What are you grateful for?

This can be a daily ritual, YES Daily how cool is that… I set my intention just before I get out of bed after some mindful breathing, sometimes in the shower, it sets the tone for the day and your actions start to align with your intention.

Here are a few ideas on how to word your intentions:

To Reform a Habit: “I am whole and healthy”

The Release Something “ I let go of what I no longer need”

To Improve Quality of Life “ I am Light”

To Create Change “ I will Change”

As a Yoga and Meditation Teacher I always start my teaching with inviting participants to set an intention… and repeat that intention 3 time to transform one’s life physically, mentally, and spiritually.

By setting the intention for a Yoga practice you create the space to become more of the person you want to be, simply by holding focus and exploring it throughout your practice, working with the mind and body and at the end of a Yoga Class bring the Intention to your Meditation Practice.