Embodying Intention: the magic of using intention to seed the aligned life you love

Lately, I’ve found myself in quite a few conversations about intention-setting as a practice and the challenges of living those intentions into our lives and into the world. These interactions have had me thinking a lot about embodying intention and the practical magic of working with our intentions at all layers of our being.

Embodying Intention Means Getting Out of Our Heads

One thing I’ve noticed is that we tend to approach the practice of setting intentions from a mind-centered perspective – listing what we think we want, allowing our mind to set the tone, the expectations and the waypoints on the journey, and believing what the mind offers as proof that we are (or more often, are not) making progress in the direction of our intention.

Our minds are notoriously fickle and thought energy can move and shift quickly. This makes the mind a very complicated place to center our efforts at bringing our deepest intentions to life for ourselves – on one hand, thoughts can shift seemingly with the wind (have you ever noticed that you can think a thought and before you even complete that thought, you can think the exact opposite thought? – thoughts are energetic speed boats in terms of changing direction) and on the other hand, thoughts are changeable (that same maneuverability that makes thoughts slippery can be harnessed through practice and conscious engagement to seed a life that is increasingly aligned with our truest intentions). 

When our intention-setting practices are anchored in the mind, they can feel a lot like wishful thinking – bring to mind something ideal, release it into the world like blowing dandelion seeds into the wind and hope that what comes back is aligned, or good, or at least not too bad.

Thoughts and Words Together

In 2020 (oh, what a year ?‍♀️), I wrote an article called “Living with Intention” (click on the title to check it out – I believe it has stood the test of time ?). In it, I focused on the power of our words in our efforts to live into our intentions. 

“Imagine that every word or phrase that you produce today is a seed that you are planting in the universal soil of life ~ each one holds within it pure creative potential. What are you giving life through your words? Do your words further the reach of Love in the world? Or do they ring with fear? When we begin to pay closer attention to the ways that we choose to express ourselves in the world, we begin to see the areas of our lives where we are living out of alignment with what we believe our values and intentions to be. Frankly stated, careful observation of our words shows us where we are not being fully honest with ourselves.

The good news? Intention-setting practices help us to break that cycle and support our efforts to be in a more loving and honest relationship with ourselves. Setting an intention ~ whether for the short or long term ~ is a way to tune our thought energy and point ourselves in the direction of our choosing. For example, if you set an intention around inviting more joy into your life, you are asking your mind to look for sources of joy. As you increase your awareness of the joy that is all around you, you naturally begin to expect the presence of joy and to express it through both your words and, ultimately, your actions. Over time, the quality of your being shifts toward the experience of joy and you readily express it.”

Embodying Intention as the Next Step

So how then do we move from thinking and expressing our intention – joy in the previous example – to embodying it? How do we harness all the energetic layers of ourselves in support of the physical manifestation of our deepest intentions? 

I explored this idea recently in a Moving Meditation class I guided for the Virtual Healing Arts Studio and we began the practice with anchoring into our connection with the Earth, the heavens and ourselves as sources of sustenance for the seeds of intention that we plant in our heart center. I see this as a practice of embodied intention-setting – experiencing not just the idea of our intentions but the energetic resonance of them throughout our whole selves.

You can follow along with the practice on YouTube here –

And here’s an excerpt of the transcript of the practice if you prefer to read it – 

Tuning into Yourself in the Present Moment

“Take a moment here to really connect to the bottoms of your feet and feel your feet as they connect to, root you, ground you into the earth. We talk about grounding a lot in yoga and meditation and spiritual practice and one of the most practical ways that it shows up for us is noticing our connection to the ground, especially through the bottoms of our feet – there is a lot of connection available to us in the bottoms of the feet.

We’re gonna start in Tadasana, Mountain pose. Bring a little tiny bend to the knees; think about drawing the kneecaps a little up toward the thighs to keep that micro bend in the knees.

Roll the shoulders a couple times to really gain a sense of width and openness and expansion there. And then let them relax. Let your arms come down to your sides, maybe turn the palms forward. Find that sense of openness and stability in the shoulders. And then if it’s comfortable for you, when standing, let your eyes softly close.

If you prefer to keep your eyes open, let your gaze drop a little bit without letting your head drop. So let your gaze be as low as it can be without your head following it. Soften around your eyes whether your eyes are open or closed. Maybe turn your head a little side to side. 

And so we’re kind of feeling into a sense of steadiness here with shoulders kind of stacked over the hips; hips kind of stacked over the knees; knees over ankles; feet rooted into the earth; hands gently open, palms forward.

And without sending your attention to any particular place here, just breathe and notice.

If you were asked right now – “where do you perceive most of your energy or your internal activity to be located?” – just kind of notice where that is. Is it high up in the body? Is it kind of in the middle? Is it low in the body? 

And notice what the nature of that energy, that activity, that inner activity is. Is it kind of like swirling rolling? Is it electrifying? Is it fullness or emptiness? Is it stillness?

Just observing the inner landscape as you step into it right now.

Without the need to change it or direct it in any way – just simply being with yourself as you are, as you arrive to this moment.

Let’s take three more nice deep breaths here. Just continuing to check in, to notice, not with an eye toward change, adjustment, fixing in any way; just simply being with what is.”

Grounding in a Relational Way

“Taking a nice deep breath in. And then with your exhale, let your attention kind of drop, follow all the way down the spine as if your attention were a pebble being dropped at the top of your head right into the crown of your head. Let your attention just slowly drift down your spine and then down the legs towards your feet. Let your attention kind of land in your feet and become really aware of the bottoms of your feet in contact with the Earth here.

Notice how your weight is naturally distributed. Is it a little forward, a little right, a little left, a little back?

Notice how the ground beneath you feels to your feet. Is it warm or cool? Is there pressure, ease, or is there any discomfort? What sensations are present in your feet? What do you notice about your feet in contact with the ground?

Taking one more nice deep breath in, and with this exhale, imagine roots reaching down into the ground, or imagine the bottoms of your feet and the surface beneath them – that there is no actual boundary. So kind of reaching into the energetic boundary of your feet. 

Your energy is all around you – your subtle body is all around the physical body that you can perceive to include beneath you. So you are always reaching into Earth. We just sometimes don’t really pay attention or think about it. 

So my invitation here is to really consciously become aware of the portion of your energetic existence, your energetic body, that is already interwoven, reaching into the representation of the earth that’s beneath you- so your mat, the floor that’s beneath you, the building you’re in and so on. You are always plugged in to Earth. Every time you take a step, every time a part of your body touches something, there is an entanglement, if you will – there’s a weaving.

And then now with your next exhale, allow yourself to really imagine reaching into the Earth with roots or a straw or something of that nature that you can imagine is not you releasing your container and dropping energy into the Earth – it is for you to connect. So you might think of it as an extension cord or an electrical cord that connects two devices – like when you plug your phone into your computer and one becomes an extension of the other, back and forth. So feel yourself plugging into the Earth. 

And then with the next inhale, invite the energy of Earth up in – so now just exchanging with Earth; welcoming in grounding, earthy energies, the support of Mother Nature.

And then as you exhale, send your love and gratitude down to Mother Nature. So that’s the energy exchange here, is drawing up on her love and gratitude, and sending love and gratitude back. Drawing up on her support, her strength, her stability, and sending strength and stability back -your version of strength and stability.

So this is being relational in our grounding.

Just breathe into that a little for yourself and see how that feels.

And imagine that Mother Earth is a source of infinite supply – she is a wellspring that you can step to and receive exactly the sustenance you need most.

So like planting a seed, a hydrangea, for instance, in a particular place, and providing exactly the nutrients that that hydrangea needs to be purple or blue or white in its blooming – imagine that this is available to you too. That when you step into this relational grounding with Mother Earth, you can receive exactly the nourishment you need most; that this becomes the most fertile ground for you to anchor into in exactly the way that you need. That the support for your most magnificent blooming is what’s available to you if you are willing to receive it.

And so in the space of the next few breaths, feel yourself start to be in relationship in that way. And know that Mother Earth is requesting something of you that she needs too and that you are a wellspring for her- that you can give her exactly the nourishment, exactly the sustenance that she needs most right now.

So trust the reciprocity available here in this relationship.

Even if you’re not exactly sure, just trust. With every exhale, send down what she needs and trust that that’s available.

With every inhale, receive what you need and trust that that’s exactly what’s available.

So now with your inhales, start to imagine drawing that earthy energy up toward the heart.

So inhale, earthy energy draws up. 

Exhale, you’re sending the sustenance Mother Earth needs right now from you down; love, gratitude, compassion. However you see that- it might be golden light, it might be, little sparkles; however you sense, see, hear, know, feel that, let it be just right. Inhaling welcoming in, receiving the sustenance that you need. 

Exhale release, sending sustenance down to Mother Earth.”

Your Heart Center as the Vessel for Your Intentions

“So trust that that flow is established without your continued intervention or attention and let your attention come to the center of your heart- you might bring one or both hands there. And imagine that the heart is a vessel, a garden, an ornate clay pot into which you are placing the seeds of your deepest intentions or the seed of any intention, an intention that you wish to live out into the world, a way in which you would like to bloom. So maybe that’s a seed of grace, of love, of compassion, of groundedness, of openness, joy. This may be an intention that you’ve already been working with; maybe you’re seeding a new intention here. There’s no wrong way; no intention too small or too grand.

And in your mind’s eye, your felt sense, imagine yourself planting that seed or those seeds in that vessel, in that garden bed, in that ornate clay pot. 

And then sit for a moment and feel Mother Earth sending up the nutrients that this intention needs most; Mother Earth gifting you the nourishment that this intention needs in order to flourish.

And you sending what Mother Earth needs right back.”

Reaching toward the Heavens for Support

“And now imagine through the crown of your head there is a sunbeam, a spotlight, shining directly down on the crown of your head, directly down the spine toward the top of the heart. And this is a sunbeam that you can adjust to center it right on these seeds of intention that you’ve just planted.

And this is the sustenance, the nourishment that your intention needs most from the heavens, from spirit, from the divine, from God and settle into the reciprocity of this relationship as well. 

You sending up what divine, what the heavens could use from you right now too. 

Receiving nourishment. 

Sending nourishment.

Notice how this seed or these seeds that you’ve planted, your intentions, they alchemize the earthy energies that are supporting them from beneath and the heavenly energies that are supporting them from above. They synthesize these energies, alchemize them into expression on earth through the vessel that is you.

So we’re gonna take three more breaths here.”

Ending the Practice

When you’re ready to release this practice, imagine bringing the energy from the crown (and that connection to the heavens) back down to what feel sustainable and nourishing for you to move through everyday life – trust that you know exactly what that is without overthinking it.

And then imagine drawing your roots back to the level that feels sustainable and nourishing for you to move through daily life – again, trusting that you know.

Send a little gratitude to the heavens, gratitude to the Earth and gratitude to yourself and your heart center as the vessel for your seeds of intention.

Revisit this practice – rooting down to draw on the nourishment you need, rising up to draw on the nourishment you need, and settling into the richness of the heart center to support your seeds of intention – anytime you need a boost or a reminder that you are never truly alone or without resources to connect to.

Next week, we connect a little more to those seeds of intention through the wisdom of the body.

Sending you Love,

Tawnia

PS: Have you checked out the practices in the Community Library of the Virtual Healing Arts Studio? It’s filled with a selection of offerings and a curated set of practices that changes every month to support whatever we’re allowing ourselves to be curious about as a community. It’s 100% free and open to everyone. When you sign-up, you’ll also be signing-up to receive my Soul-Centered email notes – they arrive in your inbox near every Full and New Moon and are filled with musings, practices, information and inspiration for this spiritual journey we call life.