How Yoga Can Help You Make a Change

4. Use self-inquiry to uncover your truest desire.

Self-inquiry, or atma vichara, is the core yogic process for navigating change. It's a simple but effective process of asking yourself core questions, like, "What is my true desire in this situation?" "What outcome would be the best for everyone?" As answers surface, write them down.

Next, sit for a moment in meditation, following your breath, until you feel a sense of connection to Presence. Say to yourself, "May my deeper Self, the teacher inside me, tell me what is the right thing to do." Then ask yourself the self-inquiry questions again and write down whatever responses come up, even if some of them seem irrelevant.

Now, look at what you've written and look for common threads that should give you a sense of what your deeper Self wants for you. Getting in touch with your deepest, truest desire will help you organize the entire change process.

5. Make a sankalpa (a strong statement of personal intention).

A sankalpa is a clearly articulated, affirmative statement about what you intend to do. When you make a true sankalpa, you call on the power of your personal will, and align your personal will with the cosmic will. If you have gone through the self-inquiry process and have a sense of what your true desire is, you should be able to make a sankalpa that is in line with your truest wish. The deeper the alignment between your core desire and your intention, the more likely you are to successfully initiate a life-change that supports that alignment.

That said, it's important to recognize that your sankalpa will change according to the time and the circumstance. At one point, the sankalpa may be, "I have a job that I love and that allows me to spend time with my children." At another time, it may be, "I am skillfully creating stepping stones to finding a new home". At another time it may be, "I am healing my body and my spirit." Notice that each of these sankalpas is stated in the present tense. That's because a sankalpa is not merely a wish, or even a statement of purpose. It's an articulation of direction that brings your goal into the present moment. goal. What gives a sankalpa its strength is that it assumes the outcome is not just certain, but has already occurred.

6. Take action, one step at a time.

The heart of the practice of yoga is abhyasa—steady effort in the direction you want to go. So when you are initiating a life-change, consider the steps you need to take to make it happen, again using the technique of self-inquiry. Rita, for example, has to consider stepping-stones to a different life. She asks herself, "Where will I live?" "Who will be my friends and support group?" "How will we help our daughter cope with the changes?" "What other sources of income do I have besides the studio?" "How will I pay the studio rent if my husband can't or won't?" Thinking through her options and possibilities helps settle Rita's fears and devise a plan, even though she doesn't have all of the answers to her questions yet.

Once you've thought things through, it's crucial to take action. Effective abhyasa, in the yoga of life-change, is to take things one step at a time so you avoid feeling overwhelmed. Rita's initial step is to increase her workload with private yoga clients. Her second step is to take a course in Conflict Resolution, an area where she has worked in the past and for which she feels an affinity. Taking actions that could lead her to financial independence gives her the sense of stability and the confidence to begin talking to her husband about a divorce. As you take your first small steps, you'll usually find that each step leads to another and that opportunities begin to show up in response.

7. Practice vairagya (letting go).

One of the positive byproducts of making a life-change, from a yogic perspective, is the opportunity it gives you to practice vairagya, which is usually translated as detachment, or letting go. That means letting go of the past, letting go of the way things used to be, letting go of your fear, your grief, your old relationship, your old job. You don't want to let go in a 'hard' way, forcing yourself to be a samurai of change. Instead, let yourself grieve the losses or feel the anxiety. But then breathe out and imagine that whatever you're holding onto is flowing out with the breath. Or offer it to the universe with a prayer—something simple like, "I offer this change and everything associated with it. May the results be of benefit to all beings." You do this again and again, until you experience the feeling of freedom that comes with real vairagya.

In my experience, just remembering to let go—moment by moment—can all by itself be the inner key to navigating positive and radical change. In fact, if all you learn from your change process is a little bit of letting go, you'll have received one of the great gifts of change—and you'll be one giant leap closer to living the life of your dreams.