Say Goodbye to Resolutions – Start the New Year with the Yogic Intentions of Sankalpa

There was a time when an important part of welcoming in the New Year was to make resolutions. Many would plan to go to the gym more often or budget better or find the love that was lacking. These resolutions would last maybe a few weeks before the crowds in the gyms would thin out and consumer spending returned to normal. As far as finding love, well maybe it would last until Valentines Day. If you hadn’t found love at this point, on the most commercially, romantic holiday of the year it was bound to make you so bitter you had no option and swore off love all together, at least until you recover from disappointment not fullfiling your resolution. With this inability to stick with these resolutions, it is more and more common to hear people today say they don’t make resolutions at all. While not surprising, it does serve us to have intentions. The issue is that the resolutions we make for New Years come from a place of lack, ego, and self-doubt. By making these resolutions we are confirming we are flawed, need to be fixed and if we already are “hating” on ourselves, letting our resolutions go only makes us feel worse.

This year, I too have chosen not to make resolutions. Instead, I plan to set intentions. If you practice yoga, you may have heard your yoga instructor say at the beginning of class during  pranayama (breath work) to set your intention for the class. This could be for a strengthen practice or sending out loving energy to someone who needs healing or even for world peace. In Sanskrit, these intentions are call sankalpa. “San” meaning with great heartfelt desire or intention and “kalpa” meaning vow. In other words, we make our intention with true heartfelt commitment. Sankalpa is found predominately in Yoga Nidra, which is a yoga practice that roots us in a deep meditative state with little movement. Often at the beginning of this practice, you set your sankalpa, repeating a brief phase 3 times to seal it in as your mind goes into a relaxed state. Different from a resolution, implying change, a sankapla phrase is not one that points out lack, it is more about pull out your true nature and bringing it to the surface. The idea is we all have what we need within us, we just need to draw it out. For example, if you want to lose weight, you might say, “I am healthy and fit.” If you want to spend less so that you are not in financial crisis, you might say, “I am surrounded with abundance” and if you want more love in your life you might say, “I am love and love is all around me”. If this sounds a lot like “like attracts like” you would be right on track. We are all energy and the idea is that we harness that energy to bring in the positive staying far away from the negative.

As you end this year and look toward the next, if you consider setting a sankalpa here are some tips to get you started.

• Find a quiet space and do some deep breathing for a minute or two. My go to is Sama-vritti breath, equal counts on the inhale and exhale.
• Set your sankalpa. Remember this is a short phrase that comes from a place of worth within you. If your mind is blank or you cannot come up with something, sit with it and let it come to you.
• Repeat your sankalpa it 3 times to yourself.
• Sit in meditation or practicing your breathing for as long as it is comfortable for you.
• Close your practice by repeating and sealing in your sankalpa.
• Find time each day to repeat your sankalpa. You are conditioning yourself to make your intentions your reality.

Sankalpa can be practiced any day.   You do not have to wait until a new year and nor should you.   Everyday should be a day to be your best self and filled with your best intentions.

For more on Sankalpa, check out these articles.

https://yogainternational.com/article/view/how-to-create-a-sankalpa

https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/resolve-to-evolve

My wish to you is that all of your intentions come to fruiation in the upcoming year.  If you do set a sankapa for the year, let me know how it goes in the comments below.