Consider how you, or anyone else, arrives on his/her yoga mat? What are the forces that enable the next step of unrolling the mat and showing up? I suspect, of course, the answers to be many and varied, though at the core is there not an intention? And that intention would probably have something to do with supporting yourself.
Unlikely that you would show up hoping for some negative effect, however, I’m not certain that there needs to be a hoped-for effect at all. There are so many reasons to practice yoga, from increasing flexibility to calming emotions, and invitations abound as yoga increases in popularity among the general culture. Often these reasons feel as if rooted in advertising and marketing – not that they are not valid – but what else might there be?
Returning to the idea of supporting yourself – how might that translate into everyday language? It might have to do with improving or changing some aspect of your body or ability. It could also mean creating space to check in with yourself on another level, meaning besides what’s evident in your day-to-day consciousness. Perhaps just wanting to understand a bit more about what’s happening now with you and your body, and maybe noticing other aspects of your life that just might surface during this yoga practice. So it could potentially be many desires that determine how you choose to meet your practice this time; and maybe it’s not a desire at all, but an interest in just being and exploring.
Whatever it is, beginning your yoga practice with intention seems like a way set a direction or determine an attitude – at least for the start of the practice. It may morph into something else entirely by the time you are finished. Deliberately setting an intention, or recognizing the one you have, is about a readiness to begin. Actually you’ve already begun; you have just taken the next step…