Setting Intentions

A few months ago, I subbed a yoga class and afterwards a regular student of that class came up to me to offer some feedback. He told me that the normal teacher usually instructs them to set an intention at the beginning of class and instead of saying something like “look buddy, I set the intention at the beginning of class when I said to keep this awareness of breath through class” I said something more like “Thank You for the feedback.”

My takeaway from the conversation was that my class had lacked depth. Setting an intention would have filled that hole for this student.

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A few weeks later, I decided to start cutting my hair off and set an intention of dropping some baggage; created a theme of burning and recording the process; and as I move through this process, it has a savory feel that I am really enjoying.

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Then, New Years rolled around and I set some other intentions and didn’t really tell anyone, so I don’t really feel accountable to them and I don’t even really remember what they were.

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And then, I taught a really beautiful asana class at the Kashi Retreat. We had a really solid theme, and had sent many intentions during the planning process. This gave the class depth and substance.

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More recently, I was talking to a friends wife about Jaye Bryant’s class and decided that I want my yoga classes to be poet and immersive, like Jaye’s. I want to plan themes for the week or month and teach on that subject with breadth and poignancy. I want to write a blog about my theme before hand to pull the ideas out of my brain and into my life to share firstly, through my writing, then with my voice. Now that I can teach a solid asana class off the cuff, I want to teach with a kind of intention that makes people fall in love with the practice of yoga, not just the movements of the body.

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Wish me luck & please ask me about my current theme. Monday, I’m subbing a class and will be sure to ask the students to set and intention. Thursday, I’m teaching my first class at Jupiter Point Marina and we’ll be setting intentions and making wishes for the new space! The theme is to make it sacred with an intention.