WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SET AN INTENTION?

When you ask your students to set an intention at the beginning of the session, do you really know what that means?

Intention is a tool that has the ability to transform our daily lives if we use it wisely.

But first we have to make the difference between intention and expectation.

In yoga, we don't want to have an expectation because it generates a lot of frustration and disappointment if it didn't happen the way we wanted or if we didn't get the result we hoped for. An expectation is linked to the result.

Setting an expectation creates an attempt to control the process of working towards our desired goal and if we did not achieve the expected result then we are disappointed and frustrated and lose the teaching of life as we control it. We may feel guilt for not doing things right, anxiety because we have created this injunction of "I must". Expectation does not create anything good.

So we have to formulate an intention "I wish that". The intention is linked to the process, it is the way we want to live the path, the way we want to accompany ourselves during a trial, a practice or a day.

To make an intention is a mark of self-love because we are doing something for ourselves, without the aim of sharing it with someone else, even if it is dedicated to someone else.

With a set intention, we connect to ourselves, to self-love and we choose the way we want to practice. The intention is related to the process, to the path we want to walk on and not to the result we want to achieve. What matters is not the expectation we have of a practice or a day, but the intention we put into it that will completely change the way we experience things.

Intention takes us away from our expectations and allows us to better focus on the process that is the path. It is a real learning process, it allows us to better receive the teaching of life and thus to create much less frustration and disappointment because we are much less attached to a result.

We learn to marvel at the path on which we are walking. Intention is a formulation that comes from the heart, we connect deeply to the moment we are living with ourselves, we connect to the truth and not to the ego, whereas expectation is a formulation of the ego. Expectation is there to fill our need for certainty and importance to protect us from our fears and from wanting to achieve our results.

In intention, there is a notion of letting go of the result we want to achieve and of what may happen, regardless of the result. Intention directs what we are going to focus on and how we are going to experience it, which is also why intention is an important component of the law of attraction.

Intention also creates a connection with ourselves and with others because it detaches us from judgment by welcoming what comes naturally, we take off the autopilot mode. We know why we do things, we gain clarity on the path we are walking on and we find a connection with ourselves, with others and with the universe. It is an invitation to vibrate for something. To put intention on a practice is to put awareness, energy, and momentum on what we are experiencing. Clearly formulating an intention is a promise we make to ourselves. It is taking control of what is happening by doing our best, without judgment. We must learn to put intentions into everything in order to appreciate the path because the path, the teaching of life, is the most important element.

Example of intention: To welcome everything that comes to us with love