Intention:
- a thing intended; an aim or plan.
At The Dailey Method, we recommend that you start your practice with intention. If you’re a student, you’ve heard us remind you to check back in with your set intention during the workout and then once again as you settle into your final resting pose at the end.
We encourage you to carry this with you throughout your day because going back to the intention you set is what helps you stay present within yourself and with those around you. There are so many intentions to choose from: move with your breath, move with grace, forgive yourself or simply to shine your light out. The options for intentions are limitless and can be altered even just slightly each day. To correlate with where you are RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!
Personally, I am grateful for this process being part of my Dailey practice so I can continue to improve upon keeping an intention each day throughout everything I do since it is a built-in opportunity for me to bring myself back to the present.
Intention:
- the healing process of a wound.
The second definition of Intention made me stop hard when I first read it, but it is true! Just as everything in life is a process, the intentions we set and do our best to live by are a means to healing wounds; wounds that have been passed down to us, or that are self-inflicted. A conscious practice to move past thoughts or feelings we’re holding onto, helps us become more able to continue in a more positive direction so that we can let go, truly heal and just BE.
To move intentionally within your body allows you to fully notice how your body is feeling so that you can acknowledge it at that time. Some days we push ourselves harder than others and yet some other days, we push too hard! We do this both in class and in other areas of our life. It’s necessary to remember how important it is to permit ourselves to allow for our body’s rhythms or fatigue, to make space for our humanness, feelings, or even our need to be vulnerable.
Exercising intentionally also adds in the component of being mindful of what and how you’re moving. At The Dailey Method, we sometimes refer to this as a meditation in movement.
Here are intentions that one of my favorite teachers, TDM Master Teacher Trainer Katina Griffin, wrote as inspiration for our teachers for talking points this month:
- Be INTENTIONAL about the way you set up each exercise today. Remember that just like in life, taking a moment to pause and build the appropriate foundation will undoubtedly provide you the support necessary to be 100% successful on your journey. The same is true for your SeatWork!
- When things get challenging for you in any particular place in class today – set an INTENTION to pause and revisit the fact that we are ALL on this same path and doing this exercise together. All the tools you need to be fully successful are given to you – even if it means you take a quick rest or a reset of your alignment!
- As you leave here, move with deliberate INTENTION and show up at your next appointment, event, family thing, or grocery shopping excursion as the greatest version of you. You just rocked this class and brought effort, strength, perseverance, and commitment. Bring that into your life. Things are looking up!
I generally have a couple of intentions I focus on each month to support myself in my mindfulness, yet the one I am specifically focusing on right now is the word CALM and how I may use just the simplicity of that word to remind me of the small ways I can create stillness and remain present in all the chaos that life throws my way.
What are yours?
Intentionally sending you LOVE!
Jill