Who do you want to BE in 2018?

Who do you want to BE in 2018?

You may already have a long list of things to do or ways you think you should improve yourself in the new year. Or you will once you get through the holidays!

Yogis’  lists often look like this (especially after rich holiday food, over-spending and under-sleeping….). Things like- drink green juice daily! Cut out sugar! Go to yoga 5 times a week! Read more books! Pay off credit card after the holidays! While plans and resolutions, goals and aspirations small and large like these are wonderful … so often we just put pressure on ourselves to be better and do more and we add to a heap of feeling like we’re still not enough. Oh but we so wish- if we just did everything right - we could somehow prevent both world tragedies and personal difficulties and losses and the overall mess of life. What you didn’t realize everyone does that? Yeah, we do. We wish we had that much control. We don’t, but we do have is agency. Agency to respond to life in skillful ways, agency to ignite change and make a difference. Agency to BE our best self which is always going to be flawed, human, in process- and remarkably tender and beautiful.

What my husband and I love to do every year is to have a theme for the year. We tune into where we have been working in ourselves and our lives and what it feels like the next year is about. I try to listen for the word, the feeling, the theme. Sometimes there is a quality of being we know we want to lean into more- such as courage, or trust, or joy. Sometimes it is about recognizing whether we are in a cycle of expansion or a time when we need to draw in more. After all, growth doesn’t always have to be in an active, outward form. Seeds are gestating in the earth all winter long. Wrapped up in the dark and cold, they are working in a quiet and concealed way, waiting for their time and the right conditions to burst forth and bloom for all the world to see. Some years we need to turn more inward, and some, more outward. Some years are about attending to hearth and home, relationships and family, or personal healing, and some years are about career growth or change, bigger moves and visible shifts, contributions to community and society. Some years we end up coping with an unexpected loss or challenge which was not on our to-do or our to-be list. Some years are more about adding and creating new, and others, letting go of the old (which makes space for that eventual cycle of new growth).

To be healthy, be inspired by nature’s cycles. Even if you don’t think anything is happening in your life, chances are if you’ve been working on places in yourself or your life you want to change, it’s happening, but still underground. Perhaps that growth you seek is in the womb stage, and needs the quiet protection of darkness and concealment before you’ll be able to see the outcomes and changes you are working towards. Trust, dear ones. Do the work, and let go of the results (said Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita).

If you see yourself both in a kind and an expansive way, what would an intention for the new year about BEING look like for you? For example, your theme or new year’s intention could be any of these:

2018: A year to be:

Brave.

Quiet.

Bold.

Kind.

Truthful.

Gentle.

Outspoken- To Speak out.

Self-caring.

Worthy.

Abundant.

Luminous.

Creative.

Reflective.

Open.

Soft.

Strong.

Authentic.

Receptive.

Ok, you’ve got it right? Take some time to sit with yourself in these darkest, longest nights of winter, and just listen. There’s no right answer, there’s nothing you should be requiring of yourself or adding to your long to do list. Listen to your heart and soul. Listen to your body. You are a yogi and our bodies, both in movement and stillness, have so much wisdom to reveal to us. Your body and heart know what you need. Lean into the dark and quiet and receive the gifts waiting for you. 2018 might be a bold year of breakthrough for you, or it might be a gentle year of healing, listening and letting go. Or both! When we are honest with ourselves and true to our needs, the result is inner peace. That’s what true alignment is, and it starts with acceptance. No matter how beautiful or frightening the ride may be along the way, what you will grow is more of YOU. And, you are beautiful, so that’s a good thing.

When you grow yourself in just the ways that you need, you help heal the world. We’re in this together! We at Yoga Sanctuary are so grateful to share this loving community and our healing, empowering yoga practices with you, all of us, together.

With Best Wishes for you in 2018! Keep the resistance alive and the self-care strong!

Sara Rose