Purpose and Intent

OFF THE MAT

Weekly Thought Offering:

What are you hoping to achieve with what you are doing in this moment?

Is your action in line with that goal or antithetical to it?

Weekly Journal Prompts:
What I want...

Weekly Mantra:
I think powerful...

Hello Sadhakas!

Today marks a first for THE MAT. Today is the first time the Thought Offering for the week is a question. Most often when I think of how I want the Thought Offering to be of service to you, I imagine it as a quick nugget you can pull out of your mind in the midst of a difficult moment. A thing that can inspire you to make the higher choice, to take the road perhaps less traveled but the one you

know you will be prouder of in the end.

This week, this first week of a new year, I wanted you to be in a place of observance. It's quite possible that's not a real word ;P but what I mean by it is that I want you to be in a state of observing ;). Last week OFF THE MAT we talked at length about setting intentions. We talked about letting go what was no longer serving us, bringing with us that which we are proud of and committing to creating something new. The kicker to any of it becoming reality is action. "Eff" the actions you are taking if they are not in line with your Purpose and Intent.

You will not get the desired outcome.

This might seem simple enough and maybe even trite but truly here in lies the rub my friends. Too, too, too often we are shocked by the fact that we don't have what we want in our lives, but a little introspection leads us to realize that we are not doing what needs to be done to create the thing we want. A moment of raw honesty in your own heart will verify at least one area where you can see this truth. It is not something to shame ourselves for. Quite the contrary, we need to love these parts of ourselves, these scared and broken parts that are making these choices. They need to feel loved enough to trust us the answers to why they exist in the first place.

Then and only then can we let the self know that it is safe enough

to let the Self back into the driver's seat

How do we do this? By identifying our Purpose and Intent, then checking our actions against that and asking if the thing in the current moment is

in line or against that P&I. If it is against, we let it go and make a different choice.

For example, I remember a fight with my husband a few years ago, I can't remember now what the fight was about, but I remember I was really, really, mad. I was so mad, and I knew I was "right" and he was "wrong". In that moment, in the midst of that fight, I closed my eyes and I asked myself what I wanted. The answer was "peace and love in this moment". Well, I can tell you that my actions up until that point were neither peaceful nor loving and I could acknowledge that. So, I decided to make a different choice. I changed my tone completely, I dropped the pitch of my voice and anchored into the truth of how I was feeling. I let those words come out of my mouth. I tell you- it changed the energy and the moment completely. We moved out of the arguing and into a moment of love. It was pretty miraculous.

And that's how we do this. We become conscious of what we want. Which you did last week in your intention setting. If you didn't, then do it now- it's never too late! When all else fails, a good all-purpose P&I is: To Be Happy.

(It covers all bases :))

Then armed with that Purpose and Intent we study the areas of our life that have to do with that P&I. We ask ourselves if our actions are, or are not, in line. We get rid of the ones that aren't serving us and we begin ones that will. This takes time and it's not easy all the time but it's how we get from where we don't

want to be to where we do want to be.

ON THE MAT it is week 2 of revolved side angle and in our pose this week we turn our attention to the hand/arm and where it should be pointing in a twist. The reality is the placement of the arm originates with the shoulder and what it can do. This is also in conversation with the spine and what it can do. Too often people reach their arm for the sky or take the bind in this shape in total disregard for the health and mobility of their shoulders. So here, ON THE MAT, we explore the root

of a thing and if our action is in line with that or not.

With great respect and love,

Nicole