Sankalpas for 2018

At lunch last week, my co-worker was telling me about her yoga retreat in Costa Rica. It sounded like an amazing experience, albeit one I have no desire to partake in; but what really interested me was the idea of a sankalpa. During the retreat, they had everyone tell their life story and then with the lessons learned from their stories they were to create a sankalpa, or resolve, for the rest of the retreat. 

A sankalpa is an intention from the heart and mind that you vow to yourself and repeat three times at the beginning of any yoga practice or meditation - ideally it should be done each day. By making and repeating the vow you are bringing a positive change to your life and making your sankalpa a truth in your world. It should be a short phrase or sentence and begin with "I am." Unlike a New Year resolution, this does not come from the idea that you aren't good enough and need to make a change to be better; instead the sankalpa is a declaration of your core beliefs and what you will use to guide your choices. 
After hearing all of this, and doing a fair amount of reading on the internet - I was sold. In lieu of a resolution, I was going to be making a sankalpa. Well two actually, as there are two kinds. The first is a statement you make about something which is already in place, and the second is the to set a specific intention or goal, which you have to aim for.

All my reading advised to meditate and spend a few days thinking about my life and where I want to go. I still struggle with meditating, but I have spent a lot of time this past year thinking about both of these things, so the first sankalpa came pretty easy to me: "I am at peace with myself." I almost went with "I am me," but the first seemed to be a bit more along the lines with the philosophy behind the practice. After everything I have been through the past few years and all the work I have put in to my life this past year, this statement is the most pure and true reflection of where I am in my life. I know who I am - strengths, weaknesses - I accept and respect the whole package. It wasn't easy to get there, but I have gotten there and truly am at peace with who I am. I also accept and respect that this may change, as I continue to grow and change as a person, but at this moment - "I am at peace with myself."

For number two, I struggled a bit not to turn this into a resolution or a focus on something that I saw as a lacking. I wanted it to be something that was right form me and that I could benefit from holistically, and not some specific goal that would restrict me in what I am hoping to achieve this. So after some reflection, and some googling on creating your sankalpa, I settled on "I am happy and open to whatever life may offer me." For me this is a great intention to challenge myself this year and open myself up to new possibilities. I am a planner, down to my very toes; and the idea behind this intention is to be open to not having control or a plan. Leaving behind 2017 and walking into 2018, I don't think anything else could benefit me quite as much as saying "I am happy and open to whatever life may offer me."

With that, my sanklapas are made for 2018, "I am at peace with myself" and "I am happy and open to whatever life may offer me," and have been repeated three times to set the intentions. And now I wish you all a safe and peaceful 2018 and if you are up for it - go ahead and make your own sankalpas in lieu of the traditional resolution. Let's start 2018 focusing on our strengths instead of our weaknesses.