what are common intentions? Are they usually related to the upcoming practice or can the be outside of the practice?
A Yogic intention; Come to an understanding of one’s true inner nature to alleviate the illusion of human suffering.
A yoga asana intention; Respect and challenge mind/body/energy of the human apparatus through thousands of years trial and error of the Yogic Sciences.
at the beginning of many of my yoga classes, the teacher suggests we set an intention.
That is what I am referring to.
By ?yoga classes? I assume you mean asana practice therefore one might be working on specifics; posture, breath, bandas, focus etc.
It was a 12 day yoga class and he was referring to the other 7 limbs.
The intention is whatever you may want it to be for the “asana” practice. I suggest a focus on the breath for the entire class which is difficult but leaves little room in the mind for anything else thus creating a possible opportunity for calmness during the difficulty of the asana. Meditation in movement if you will. Add Pranayama and we have two limbs of yoga in one “class”.
so your saying one common intention is to say “I am going to focus on my breath the whole class” ? Can you give me an example of some others?
The breath should be the primary focus of every asana practice, first and foremost.
Some days it’s getting to the mat and letting the yoga come to me, rather than push myself to the yoga.
I’m not sure what it means to everyone else, good question. I teach the breath, every class, throughout the practice. Eventually you find meditation within the physical practice, getting in the zone if you will. That is my goal. Calm mind, strong body, the body is the temple of the spirit and must be strong and calm.
Don’t know if this will help you.
yogainternational.com/article/view/how-to-create-a-sankalpa
I Had a teacher who always spoke of setting a Sankalpa before each class.
The Sanskrit word has always stuck with me.
There would be no point to having “common” intentions. A student of yoga would desire unique intentions, ones that suited their path at the moment. It isn’t a matter of the intention being about the upcoming practice it is about to what the upcoming practice is pointed toward.
[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;85155]There would be no point to having “common” intentions. A student of yoga would desire unique intentions, ones that suited their path at the moment. It isn’t a matter of the intention being about the upcoming practice it is about to what the upcoming practice is pointed toward.[/QUOTE]
What I meant was that the teacher told us to set an intent for each class.Individually. I agree no sense to do a communal intent.
can you explain what
"it is about to what the upcoming practice is pointed toward. " means?
can you give me a few examples of this?
@ Shu
I was referencing the OP’s “common”. I responded to common not communal. Communal would be where there is one intention for everyone in the group. Common, as it’s used in the OP’s question, seems to ask for a listing of what others setting their individual intentions might be selecting. What I was inferring, and apparently not very well, is that one’s individual intention should not at all replicate the intention of another person.