11/7/08

Day 25: Setting Your Intention

Pose # Pavanamuktasana - Wind Removing Pose


I'm down to the home strech. Seven more days of the 31 day challenge left. Today I did a double to start catching up on the classes I've missed. I have to be honest...I am exhausted...I really want to bag this but I've come this far and just can't bring myself to quit with only 7 days left (actually 10 total classes for me).

At the start of each class that Kat teaches, she tells us to look at ourselves in the mirror, focus on our best teacher and SET OUR INTENTION for our practice. All I could think of as my intention was a motivational quote that a friend of mine sent me entitled - JUST ENOUGH.

The short version:
"Everything we do to build and become stronger helps us JUST ENOUGH for the time we are in."
My intention for each and every of these last bunch of classes is to do all I can in each practice to build on what I've learned & become stronger...and pray that it we be JUST ENOUGH for the moment that I am in.

Pose #15: Sit up

Here is the long version (I highlighted below the part that stood out to me the most in relation to this challenge):

When compared to our ambitions and our dreams minor accomplishments may
sometimes leave us feeling like failures. When we dare to compare our feats to the triumphs of others it sometimes becomes cause for giving up.

No matter how miniscule our achievements may appear every single completion brings us closer to the place we envision ourselves. There is no shame in wanting more but none of us can afford to sabotage our hopes in a pity fit simply because we are not at the place we desire. Learning to embrace early victories is what fuels the vision of further greatness. A marathoner is at best a jogger first. It is through
continued effort and determination that he or she finds the strength to run
distances that were once beyond their ability and imagination.

Expectation must always be at the forefront of our every effort. When we see ourselves performing at levels beyond where we are today, we are literally calling into being every possibility. There is nothing more joyous than when we step toward what was once a barrier and before long find ourselves crashing through its formidable walls. Everything we do to build and become stronger helps us just enough for the time we are in.

Pose # Bhujangasana - Cobra Pose

My body is telling me...Lisa, enough already. My mind tends to wander down that same path, but my mind & my expectations are stronger than the fleeting temptation of quitting. Perhaps it is just as simple as doing the harder right over the easier wrong. If I quit now, I might never get to see the formidable walls that I'm sure I will break through. I'm willing to stick it out and call into being possibilities that I just can't see yet.