Sankalpa: Intentions Rather Than Resolutions.
2024 kicked my ass.
My Dad died.
The minor pain I believed to be arthritis escalated beyond my joints to muscles locking/cramping/shaking ushering in a new season of life. A season of fibromyalgia that continues to bring humility, deep listening, a solid practice of acceptance and self compassion and a necessary attention to proprioception (navigation) and awareness of my limitations.
Also, the election. Nothing more to say about that.
Layers of grief.
Even in the midst of so much intensity, I have found a renewed, solid connection and deep support with my sisters Kelly and Heather. We speak often on FB Messenger with Kelly in Australia being mindful of the time difference. We laugh and cry together as only those can who have survived childhood trauma together. I also reconnected with my Rochester sisters and treasure the restoration of these relationships.
Books continue to be a refuge, even more so now. The power that story carries never ceases to astonish me and keeps me motivated with my own writing practice. Perhaps something in my words can be of service.
Sankalpa
Yoga also saves me again and again. We have been exploring in my classes recently cultivating openness and receptivity not as passive, but as a conscious co-creator with the Universe. This aligns with the Tantric understanding. Taking the time to live into the circular, spiral shapes. Opening, receiving, nurturing, nourishing. Relational and intersectional rather than linear.
Sankalpa is Sanskrit for intention. According to my teacher Indu Arora, it is the invitation to be fully awake in this life. The invitation to fully enter into Dharma rooted in your core values, not only for personal gain and growth, but to contribute to the greater good.
Dharma
The unfolding path of Dharma for me looks different now. With age (hopefully), spiritual wisdom and discernment grow, root and bear fruit in our lives. The path for me in the last several decades has been to bring medicine (Music/Shared Practice of Yoga/Reiki/Community Organizing). I have always been a get up and go/respond/organize. This feels different now.
Quieter, softer but yet fierce, deep and expansive and thoroughly relational. For 20 plus years I have worked in hospice as a Certified Music Practitioner serving patients and families with the Celtic Harp and voice. This deeply relational work allows me to surround people (mostly strangers) with love. I show up and love people through the medicine of music, only the music is more potent because it comes from the boundless heart of compassion. This exists not only in my heart but is Universal Love that can be tapped into by anyone willing to open and connect. This involves paying attention in a different way, without expectation, or need for validation.
The boundless heart of compassion in Sanksrit, bodhicitta, refers to the compassionate wish to not turn away from suffering but towards it with the desire to be with and in the act of that witness, alleviate the suffering. I feel the shift not only in me, but in others, to show up, witness, love and turn towards one another in our own pain and in our collective pain. Solidarity extends from here when we recognize our shared humanity. What if we focused on cultivating our collective bodhicitta?
The Greater Good
Whatever your unfolding path looks like in your life, one thing I do know, it doesn’t need to be great, grand gestures. You don’t need to be different, but perhaps you, and me, can grow in our awareness of how to expand our capacity for love. This includes self honoring boundaries and deciding how and when to extend your heart.
So set your intentions for a lifetime of waking up.
What did you learn about yourself this past year?
What do you want to carry forward?
Leave behind?
What are 3 core values that guide your path?
How does this show they connect to not only your benefit, but to the greater good?
How does this show up on your unfolding path of purpose (Dharma)?
What is your anchor word for the New Year?
I will be exploring this all month in both virtual and in person Yoga classes. Join us?
