how to create a Sankalpa

A sankalpa in Sanskrit means resolve, a determination, what you really wish to fulfill in this life. It resonates precisely in your core and aligns sublimely with your essence.. It is a will power that is flexible and fluid enough to account for changing circumstances as the sankalpa begins to manifest in your inner and outer world. It is natural to have desires and these are the fuel for you to realise your fullest potential, especially when you align your individual desires with that which is more universal

Why:  Setting an intention is a powerful way to harness the energy of your practice towards your highest purpose.  Just as we work with the alignment of our joints and muscles in yoga asana, we can also align our spirit through sankalpa. It shifts your attitude towards the positive and that creates a change within you

What:  The possibilities are limitless… For example:  

• I transcend my ego and interact from a space free of fear and full of love, 
• I speak and act with the utmost clarity,  
• May my actions nurture the freedom and happiness of all beings on this planet,  
• I am thriving! I’m down 135 ponds; 
• my relationship is a source of bliss. 
• Allan and I are engaged. He’s, moved in. I am in love and happy. 
• I embrace myself for exactly who I am in this moment and celebrate all other beings for who they are in this moment?  
• May I be an open channel for the healing powers of the universe,  

…you get the picture....

How: I suggest doing a short meditation http://www.yogarelax.co.uk/Summer Wellbeing Relaxation.wav  ~ here’s a short guided mediation that might help you to create the mindset, once you feel more relaxed and centred it’s about observing your thoughts and then asking yourself the question 

~ what do I hope to gain or what do I wish to offer today for my life? 

Contemplate what do you really wish to fulfill in your life? Think big....

One way to start to get use to setting intentions is when you begin your Yoga practice even if it’s in your classes and the teacher doesn’t do this (you still can when you start to centre as no one knows what is going on in your mindJ) is to contemplate your intention for doing your practice on that day... ask yourself before you begin “what do I hope to receive from the practice today? Or what do I wish to offer through my practice?” through contemplation, thoughts and feelings arise which help you to formulate your intention.

Find a concise way to express it, a single phrase/sentence that is in the present tense as if you have received it and living it. Your sankalpa has the power to stir your heart energy and ground your deepest sense of self.  It should resonate with your core, stand resilient to patterns of self doubt, and become something that is clearly worded and easy to recall during yoga practice.  

Last, I personally believe it is most powerful to keep your sankalpa to yourself – as your own luminous secret. ♥

Namaste

Michelle

cOMmitment to your Sadhana

I am inviting you to cOMmit to a regular sadhana, say for 40 days...  

In the previous blog I told you about sadhana and so I am now seeing if you view your journey in life as a sadhana? if you do obSERVE the changes in you, your life, perhaps keep a journal to write them in....

Sadhana can be anything from:

• A mantra meditation
• Meditation, guided or observing the breath, if you've never done start with 5 minutes
• A specific yogic asana practice like surya namaskar (sun salutations)
• A visualization
• Reading a spiritual text
• A daily walk in nature
• nadi shodhana, anuloma viloma,
• jala neti

anything you do with the intention of discipline and devotion to meet and greet your self. it doesn't have to be for hours, it can be a discipline for 5 minutes and then as you go through your day be mindful, more aware and practice small elements of yoga

Why is it for forty days?

• A sadhana doesn’t have to be for forty days, it may be just every single day for an indeterminate length of time, or it may be a set time.
• Forty days is usually the minimum, it’s a number with significance in many spiritual texts 
• One reason for this is when you do something every single day for forty days, it ingrains a new discipline. It becomes part of who you are and what you do and it’s actually difficult to stop at the end as it becomes part of your life!
• every day creates discipline, the mind can be fickle and restless and so committing to do this creates discipline and then you see you evolve for that period of time, and it also plant seeds of intention that grow and become the foundation for your life and so you open the doors to experience. 

Here's something really simple to start your day... I invite you to cOMmit to meet your higher Self each morning as you awaken…. simply lie in savasana before you get up and ask, your higher self…

• Where do you wish me to go?
• What do you wish me to do?
• What do you wish me to say and to whom?

As you begin to cOMmune with the universe, simply observe what happens....

Namaste
Michelle

New Year ~ New You…..

cOMe back to yourself, ground and set an intention for your year ahead and through your yoga practice bring all your desires to fruition ~

.....As we say good-bye to 2012 and welcOMe 2013, what are your feelings? are you grateful for the year you've just experienced? what have you learnt? what do you want to bring forth into 2013 and let go of?

these are sOMe questions i've pondered in December, especially as I've been preparing for my New Year Urban Day Retreat at YogaRelax… and How Yoga really helps you move forward with your life...

'In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, then the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself.' Krishnamurti

are you ready to give yourself the key and open the door?

So welcoming in 2013, through the practice of Yoga, I will help to support you to find the door and use the key on the new journey.

Tools you need to achieve your goals

Yoga gives the time, space and opportUNITY to cOMe back to yourself again and again to create yourself again as conscious being that is in harmony with the One consciousness of the Universe. Everyday life you may find pulls you in different directions and you can lose your centre or forget your true nature, your essence, ultimately you may forget your magnificence ~ which ultimately is free and Divine, and yoga is the tool for you to reconnect, re-awaken.

What you seek is SEEking you ~ Rumi

Tantra is a cOMplete and glorious approach to Yoga, Tantra acknowledges the body as a temple, where the god of your own unique awareness resides and teaches the worship means to learn, be open to and master the dormant force of Shakti. Like the thread of a necklace, Tantra links all the gems that are the diverse aspects of Yoga into a united whole; mantra, mudra, asana, pranayama, meditation, bandha, bhakti.

Thresholds & Intentions

New Year is a time of threshold(s), as the global cOMmUNITY ventures into the newness of 2013, letting go of the last year and embarking on a new one… and embracing all it holds wholeheartedly. Events and situations arise its how you respond or you choose how to respond –I invite you to do it differently rather than the habitual. New Year opportunity to start afresh = YOU CHOOSE let go of habitual patterns, LET GO of the old year, respond differently RESPOND from your magnificence, for if you make a difference this will have an affect on the global community. 
 


So at New Year people make new years resolutions that tend to be forgotten, much like the forgetting of your true nature… I want to introduce you to a sankalpa. 

A sankalpa in Sanskrit means resolve, determination and intention – it is;

•    What you really wish to fulfill in this life.

•    It resonates precisely in your core and aligns sublimely with your essence.

•    It is a will power that is flexible and fluid enough to account for changing circumstances as the sankalpa begins to manifest in your inner and outer world.

A Sankalpa is more conscious than a new years resolutions, it is an intention for your life to come to your fullest potential. 

It all begins with intention. Conscious change is composed of attention, awareness and intention

Sankalpa

Your intention can be multilevel in its purpose ~ physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. A sankalpa helps you realize and awaken to your Divine nature, and co-create your life.

Why:  Setting an intention is a powerful way to harness the energy of your practice towards your highest purpose.  Just as we work with the alignment of our joints and muscles in yoga asana, we can also align our spirit through sankalpa. It shifts your attitude towards the positive and that creates a change within you

The Upanishads state, “You are your deepest desire” [sankalpa].

As is your desire so is your intention. As is your intention so is your will. As is your will so is your deed. As is your deed so is your destiny. ~ Deepak Chopra

Set an intention on what we wish to see happen – not based on fear – it is an intention that SEEks the highest – the sacred

Your yoga practice is the tool for understanding the body and mind more fully, to experience yourselves more completely and to be present to the depth of who you truly are.  It is an opportunity to set an intention to step into the sacred, to experience your self beyond the body and invoke into your body the space for your awareness to experience freedOM.

It is through your moment-to-moment awareness, choosing to move from the sacred that you act in ways, which reveal the highest and deepest offerings from within yourself.  Every moment presents you with a choice, every interaction, every relationship offers you the chance to move the sacred from within, into the world.

When you begin to move with intention on the mat, and also gratefully using an intention it becomes a ritualized practice; yes it stretches your body and mind to become stronger and more flexible, yet beyond this it gives you the opportunity to step deeper into your heart and into the heart of Yoga.

Vinyasa means link movement with breath or place in a special way. When you place your hands and feet and move in an out of each asana with the breath leading the way, this moves the practice into one in which it becomes an embodied prayer that holds you in the present moment in your own divine heart. The whole practice becomes a meditation in motion with divine intent, you become one with the Divine and your own divinity ~ they are One! 

"It is through your body that you realize you are a spark of divinity." BKS Iyengar

Sadhana

"What is sadhana? It’s a committed prayer. It is something that you want to do, have to do, and which is being done by you. … Sadhana is self-enrichment. It is not something, which is done to please somebody or to gain something. Sadhana is a personal process in which you bring out your best." ~ Yogi Bhajan

Sadhana is a daily spiritual practice designed to allow you to turn inward and perceive your life as it truly is; it is the foundation of all spiritual endeavor. Sadhana is your personal, individual spiritual effort. It is the main tool you use to work on yourself to achieve the purpose of life. Sadhana is whatever you do consistently to clear your own consciousness so you can relate to the divinity within you. 

A spiritual practice allows you to interweave your spiritual identity with your worldly identity, make your spiritual life one with your worldly life…

Iyengar describes sadhana in terms of practice ~ abhyasa and completed action ~ Kriya i.e. meditation, neti, kapalabhati, nadi shodhana, mantras

Sadhana is a discipline undertaken in the pursuit of a goal. Abhyasa is repeated practice performed with observation and reflection. Kriya, or action, also implies perfect execution with study and investigation. Therefore, sadhana, abhyasa, and Kriya all mean one and the same thing. A sadhaka, or practitioner, is one who skillfully applies...mind and intelligence in practice towards a spiritual goal

As you commit to a regular sadhana, say for 40 days, every day this creates discipline, you evolve, and plant seeds of intention that grow and become the foundation for your life and so you open the doors of experience. I invite you to cOMmit to meet your higher Self each morning as you awaken…. simply lie in savasana before you get up and ask, your higher self…

•  Where do you wish me to go?

•  What do you wish me to do?

•  What do you wish me to say and to whom?

As you begin to cOMmune with the universe, your life will begin to witness the essence of your soul; your radiance will express the meaningful intimacy of the Divine in each moment from waking. Imagine immersing yourself in the joy of victory that cOMes from starting each day with a POWERful sadhana and intention and every challenge becomes opportUNITY… as you choose to begin your sadhana, use your sankalpa every morning as well, with the knowledge that as your sankalpa is in the service of something much greater that you or your life. 

As you embark on this journey or rekindle or deepen the journey, acknowledge that you are part of and an expression of consciousness that is one with Divine consciousness that permeates everything….lastly always expression gratitude from the love in your heart for your sadhana, your sankalpa, your practice, your teachers, gurus, you life and all that fill it…

Namaste

Michelle

PS dive into 2013 with enthusiasm and make it an awesOMe year! 

12.12.12 Light your fire of awareness

The date represents a window of possibility for an evolutionary leap, as many of you by now are aware.  It also represents the closing of a chapter.  All the astronomy that goes along with this window was created by the forces of consciousness in your galaxy including astral bodies and interdimensional beings. 

In other words, this time was planned to be an opening and the forces to create this were aligned accordingly. The marker was set for you to begin exploring the possibility.  As you explore, you are opening the door to the plan.  We hope you are following this dynamic.  It once again is about the power of consciousness.  This opening is about the realization of your power to create a new world on a date that you globally decide to create it. 

The awakening can only occur in as much as your species decides to create it and herein lies the true meaning of December 2012.  The universal consciousness has offered the opening, but it is up to humanity whether they will walk through and how.

As it stands, December 2012 is wide open for this probability, and many are seeing the potential for something great to occur and for the old ways to die. Again, you decide how miserable the death of the old way will be.  Will it be a smooth passing with a smile of bliss, or will it go down with a fight?  Since the opening is now well established, many will go through it no matter what.  How gently you will go is a matter of speculation.  The energy is available for a profound awakening to spontaneously occur in December, 2012, following several smaller awakenings that have been and will happen all year. 

You are set to see global insights come rushing forth on or around the date of 12.12.12.  This day will be the gateway to what will be a final walk through on 12.21.12.  One date is preparation for the other. 

Numerology is significant in the universe.  It is a universal language that speaks of frequency and resonance on a multiplicity of levels.  One can have loads of fun delving into this language and in further sensing the vibrations that go with it.  We will give you a bit to ponder regarding these important dates, and please do take it further.  Just the contemplation of the numbers and meanings will put you into the frequencies that lie within their magic. 

Firstly, you can plainly see that the number 12 is prominent within these dates.  12 is a number of universal import and you see its repeating patterns in your culture; 12 hours of the day, 12 months of the year, 12 in a dozen, 12 zodiac signs, 12 apostles, and 12 days of Christmas, for example.  These relationships are not a coincidence, nor are they about convenience. 

Within the 12 you find the number 3; the sacred trinity, third chakra, and number of creation.  It is universal that when you put two things, ideas, or what have you, together, a third is naturally created.  In these December dates, you have three threes.  This equals 9.  Thus the creational value is tripled and the result is the completion of a cycle, which is a meaning inherent in the number 9.  From this we can plainly see the vibrations at play of creation and completion, in the cycle of development.
 
These two dates, 12.12.12 and 12.21.12 are divinely linked.  The 12.12.12 is the gateway to what will transpire on 12.21.12.  Thus, the gateway that you align with on the first date will determine what world you see when the gate opens on the following date.  Are we saying it is important what you are doing and being on these dates?  Yes, and particularly where you are and what you are focused upon on 12.12.12 will be significant.  Needless to say, what you will be focused on will likely be determined by all you have done in preparation during this year 2012 and leading up to it.
 
Most who are leading a path of greater awareness will know the import of these days and will find themselves inexplicably drawn to particular places, people and circumstances.  They may be drawn to places of power where they can be of service energetically.  They may also be drawn to places related to past lives where they will fuse with the power of their soul energy as it existed through time.  Or, they will be stead fast in bringing revelation and focus to a place important for the future Earth and its fruition.  The same can be said of the people you are attracted to be with.  All of this is in the works now, and may already be established for you energetically without you even being aware as of yet. 

Some of you will also note that 12.12.2012= 11.  This numerology also has a spiritual significance as to transcendence, and the doubled power of one, and its ability as an initiator and propulsion unit for the start of new growth and new evolutionary urges.  No matter how you slice the numbers, there is potency inherent in these dates for your civilization, and this is no mistake.  Not to mention, we do suggest you take a look at the astrological influences at play during this month.  You will find some interesting planetary alignments that will add to the energetic forces. 

Given all this, it is hoped that you will allow your soul to open to your highest state of being for these dates.  The predictions of December 2012 are true and real. However, you will determine what and how they will manifest.  Allowing the fruit from the old tree to fall to the ground and rot away will be beneficial to your Earth.  What new seed you plant, and in what soil, is now up to you.  What seeds will you plant at the gateway to flourish on your new fertile soil as you walk into the threshold of your new world?  This is more than a metaphor, and numbers speak of more than mathematical calculations. 

Three is the opening to twelve in the next octave.  What will you create from the fires of your third chakra, and what will this look like in the octave of 12?  The solar plexus contains your drive and your element of fire.  This element has many octaves of expression.  The drive you bring into 12.12.12 will flame your 12.21.12.  We can of course go on with the significances to these dates on many levels, but we wish to leave some of the fun to you.  Take your solar plexus third chakra drive and allow it to move you into the next dimensional octave. 

Your personal journey is the journey of humankind. Everyone’s third chakras can unite on and around 12.12.12, and be a fire on Earth to burn away the old ways and inflame the new.  Once this gateway opens on 12.21.12 everything will have new possibilities seeded within, and nothing will really be the same from that point forward.  Some will say nothing happened, but those in the know, will say that everything happened! 

That said, give consideration to where you will be on 12.12.12 and 12.21.12.  Be in a place that you feel is, or will be, a gateway place for you on December 12 and in a place to see fruition on December 21.  The gateway for you may be to face a fear, or it may be a place that encourages you to come into a new power.  It may be a place that you feel you can reconcile and bring new truth to the past.   Perhaps it is a place that needs transformation and you will go to aid in that for the location, and for your soul.  Even if the spot is your backyard, do not take it as if it is just another day.  Make it a gateway day of import for your soul.  Have a special ritual or create a sanctuary in your yard that will be your symbolic, and perhaps real, gateway to your next dimension of being. 

There will be a lot of travel during December 2012, as the light workers move into key positions, physically, and psychically.  So whether you travel across the planet, across dimensions, into your emotions, or all of the above and more, make it impactful for your soul.  By acknowledging your gateway, you add to the greatness of the gateway for humanity and Mother Earth.  Start creating your gate now and make it relevant and contributory to the day you walk through it on December 21, 2012. 

You may not be in the same physical place on both days. Consider what you are doing and being on the gateway day and how it leads to the threshold day.  If your gateway finds you crossing a bridge of fear, then allow 12.21 to be what you have in mind for life on the other side of that fear. 

Have fun with the symbolism of your gateway crossing, and use it in a way that becomes real for you.  In other words, you may really want to cross a bridge to somewhere else.  Or you may want to actually build a bridge on 12.12.12 and cross it on 12.21.12.   

This can be a literal bridge, or be something in your life that represents a bridge for you.  Think big.  Go beyond what your limits allowed in the past.  Stretch yourself and use your imagination in the creation of your gateway and your following threshold.  Do it all with a lightness of being, and a sense of soul purpose.
 
These dates also fall over and invite religious holidays, and there is no coincidence in that either.  The religious ties can be gateway tools for these days of transformation.  You can call upon the collective ritual power and infuse new light into these holidays.  Breathe gateway creation into the rituals and make them new in your heart.   Even if you are not religious, you can be a part of the transformational opportunity by joining in the ritual power of millions of souls; by lighting miracle candles on Chanukah, or Christed Christmas lights, or the flames of Kwanzaa’s worthy principles, to ignite these within your soul and for all humanity.  Why not celebrate them all.  You have much to celebrate!
 
All these days of power also relate to the third chakra where your fire is lit, or a new fire comes forth on Earth as in a birth or rebirth to then awaken the heart chakra energy.  Furthermore, there is the dawning of the light of the Winter Solstice.  All of these events and holidays happen every year, but this year is special, as it is the start of the new octave for human and Earthly rebirth. 

Enjoy the beauty of the procession of these holidays this December.  Start by lighting miracles in the days of Chanukah, leading to your gateway day of 12.12.12.  Step through the threshold of December 21 at the Winter Solstice.  Walk into the 12 days of Christmas, and finally embrace the seven principles of Kwansaa, for a renewed human experience.  You will be ready then to embrace the octave shift as it unfolds thenceforth, as this will be just the beginning!

by Simion the Evolutionary

Sahara Sunset - Karunesh

Silent Ganges

Maneesh de Moor - Silent Ganges

Om Namah Shivaya

Om Namah Shivaya

My Favourite Yoga Tunes

A few have requested what Music I love to prACTive Yoga to so here are sOMe of my favourite tunes - all are downloaded frOM iTunes 
I'll list in an order i use with name of track, artist and album.... 


Shiva Devotion Mix - I personally Love this one, my devotion towards Shiva is deep so this and my practice enLIGHTens it even more 


Silent Ganges             Maneesh De Moor                               Sadhana
Durga Shakti             Shaman's Dream Project                       Kerala Dream
Shiva's Dance             Neel Dhorajiwala                               Namaskaram,
Om Nama Shivaya     Donna De Lory                             The Lover and the Beloved
Bolo Bolo [feat MC Yogi]  Go-Ray & Duke                             Sounds of Tadasana Shiva Station (Namah Shivaya) Jai Uttal & The Pagan Love Orchestra Shiva Station
Shiva's Ecstasy    Anandmurti Gurumaa                     Shiva's Ecstasy Shivoham            Anandmurti Gurumaa                             Shiva's Ecstasy Mangalam [fet Steve Gorn] Go-Ray & Duke                    The Yoga Sessions:
Shiva's Flute                Shaman's Dream Project               Kerala Dream
Samba Sadashiva      Donna De Lory                            The Lover and the Beloved

another mix

Karuna Sagari Ma                             C.C. White           This Is Soul Kirtan!
Om Nama Shivaya                           Donna De Lory       The Lover and the Beloved

Rasa Lila                                    Craig Pruess            Language of Love
Rivergoddess                                 Maneesh De Moor      Sadhana

Aaye Bhairav Bholonath           Cheb I Sabbah Sounds of Tadasana
Purnima Namashkar (Crown Chakra )  Chinmaya Dunster Yoga On Sacred Ground
Sahara Sunset                            Karunesh                   Joy of Life


Return of the Rains               Karunesh                  Joy of Life
Raghupati                                 Go-Ray & Duke           The Yoga Sessions:  

The Fullness [Poornamadah] Go-Ray & Duke The Yoga Sessions: 

Longing                                  Craig Pruess                  Language of Love 

Alap                                   Jed Smith                   Chai - Chill out at the Bombay Lounge

Buddha's Lullaby              Manose                   Sounds of Tadasana

Albums I'd recOMmend

Joy of life by Karunesh

Language of Love by Craig Pruess

Yoga on Sacred Ground by Chinmaya Dunster

enJOY your prACTice with sOMe new tunes and remember you can get your free downloads at the YogaRelax website

   
i'll post a couple of videos so you can listen too

Om Namah Shivaya
Michelle x