As I have written before, I’m a strong advocate of benefits
of yoga especially as it relates to focusing within my body, mind and spirit. I
try to attend a class at least once a day and have found that it has not only
strengthened my body but it has positively impacted my business in that I am
more focused and energized.
One of the more meaningful parts of yoga is to set an
intention at the beginning of the practice. An intention is something that you
set in your heart and mind and hopefully carry with you after your practice. It
is an aspiration that you can carry from the classroom into your life. I’ve
used a variety of intentions in my yoga practice; and sometimes choose the same
one day after day. One of those is the word, “Focus”. I tend to get distracted
and my mind rushes non- stop. Sometimes it makes it difficult to concentrate or
remember the words and phrases I need for writing a resume or giving job search
coaching. On days that I feel that I am losing my edge I use the word “Focus”
as my intention.
Today in yoga class I selected the word “Acceptance”. In my
yoga poses or asanas I used my intention if I was hard on myself for not
perfectly managing a pose. I then forgave myself and moved on. As we wound up
the practice and came to our final pose or Savasana, I repeated my intention in
my mind again. Acceptance. My mind then floated to the deeper life areas that I
needed to Accept.
Driving home I continued to think about Acceptance and came
up with many examples within my family, friends, work and life. I thought of
past and current relationships, I thought back to when I lost my job, I thought
of things that frustrated me because I couldn’t change them. I thought of my
clients who may be beating themselves up because they feel as if they screwed
up an interviewing response or maybe turned down a position that they felt (at
the time) wasn’t right for them. It happened, life happens… Acceptance.
Yoga isn’t for everyone but the process of thinking deeply
about an intention, especially Acceptance is beneficial to everyone. If you are
looking for a new job or career, think about what you have or haven’t done in
the past to get you to that position. If you had a few mishaps along the way
Accept them and think about what you might have said or done better. And move
on.
