Planting the Seed of Intention

Over the centuries, the world has changed dramatically but the human experience hasn’t really changed that much. People are fundamentally the same over the ages and the ancient yogis had much the same kind of problems we have today. For example, people do not behave as they should. Things aren’t going my way. Will I have enough to get by? The practice of yoga teaches us to harness our energy and attention; to use it to advance our personal growth. According to “Yoga Master Amrit Desai, “what you want in the end must be present in the beginning. You would not plant an apple seed and expect to grow a lemon tree”. Once we become committed to the path of our greater good, we must create the intention. This intention will put what we want at the end at the center of our awareness in the beginning.  It serves as a compass to point us in the direction we want to go. An intention is different than a goal because with an intention there is no “arriving“. There is only traveling. Your intention can evolve, shift or change over time. Its purpose is two-fold.

The fundamental teachings of yoga are the eight limbs of Patanjali. The first two limbs describe the ethical principles of yoga. We look at these first because if we are participating in behaviors that are violent, deceitful, selfish and greedy, we will have no energy left to focus on a positive intention. For this reason, in the beginning, the Yamas and Niyamas serve as an intention to guide us to a place where we are prepared to let go of our karmic patterns and selfish behaviors. Only then are we ready to move toward higher levels of personal growth. The path to happiness and freedom is fraught with painful work. Life’s lessons appear and reappear until we have truly learned them. Our natural instinct says that pain is bad; avoid it at all costs. When we practice these ethical principles, it will most certainly bring up painful things we have suppressed. The only way that pain can leave us is if we let it arrive and arise. If we continue to avoid it, it cannot leave. This is how pain becomes suffering.

The process of practicing the Yamas and Niyamas is the first step in the journey to prepare for adversity in life. It removes the largest obstacles from our spiritual development. The Yamas are the ethical observances of yoga.  They are: non-violence, truth, non-stealing, non-excess and non-possessiveness. The Niyamas are the ethical disciplines. They are purity, contentment, self-discipline, self-study and surrender. We will look at each of these more closely in later posts. At Bhakti Yoga Teacher Training you have the unique opportunity to be guided through these ancient teachings to choose your attitude and experience. We not only cover all of the teachings of yoga; you develop a personal intention and get support in practicing it on and off the mat. The principles of yoga can raise individual and collective consciousness. We need that now more than ever before.