On intentional reframing..

Happy New Year! I always have a rush of energy the first day of a new year and I, for one, love the reflective quality of the end of the old year and the greeting of the new. I feel lighter, happier and most strongly I feel hopeful.. no matter how challenging or shitty things were the previous year.

I know not everyone shares my enthusiasm and instead feel that New Years intentions put a certain pressure on our already driven and goal-focused lives. And that the date of January 1st is kind of an arbitrary one for intention setting. Indeed the January 1st date is a random date chosen for the Gregorian calendar for political and religious reasons but we carried over some pretty cool customs and put a modern spin on them.

We owe the January 1st celebration to an ancient Roman custom - the feast of the Roman god  Janus. He was the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings (kinda like Shiva in the yoga tradition and the energy of vata (wind and ether) in the Ayurvedic tradition). The name for the month of January comes from Janus, as he was depicted as having two opposite faces - one which looked back into the past, and the other peered forward to the future. The Romans celebrated the new year in part by making promises to Janus in the form of positive and uplifting words and good wishes and offering a sacrificial ram to him.

Our customs aren’t so different.. just slightly different colors of the same palate. On January 1st we look back at the year that just ended and forward to the new year ahead. We set intentions or goals which are positive and reflect our higher desires.. and we might even sacrifice some comfort or familiarity of habits and customs we had yesterday to make space for our truest desires the coming year.

For me, the ending of the previous year feels like a chapter closed and a fresh chapter filled with empty pages not yet written. Emptiness is not only the absence of the tangible but also the possibility of things we can’t yet imagine… because they aren’t here yet!

I prefer to use the term intention versus resolution deliberately. Resolution seems to imply that we were bad in some way. Imperfect. Flawed and not whole. We know from yoga philosophy that we are already inherently whole, complete and perfect. But sometimes we forget and the New Year can be a North Star to reorient towards what we already know.

Intention to me is also tied to desire and a feeling in the body which is beyond the cerebral. It is visceral and felt. An example of a resolution is.. I will practice yoga 4 times per week. The benefit of this is that it is definite and specific. You know if you did it or not. But the downside is it may miss why yoga is good for you. Maybe it is because your body feels lighter, or your mind more relaxed but sharp. So the intention is maybe something more around being present in your body. Same idea, different wording. More flexibility and no guilt!! On days or weeks where you can’t make it to the physical yoga mat, you may be present in your body taking a walk in nature, or taking a bath, or consciously riding your bike to work. Still measureable but it hits different. Know what I mean?

Happy intention - setting. If your intention is indeed to be more present in your body, consider enrolling in my Ayurveda and Healthy Habits program starting January 30. Or check out my January 22 Design your Day retreat or February Ski and Yoga Retreat.

Oh the pages that have not yet been written 2023…