Intention Setting for the New Year
As we approach the new year, yogic philosophy offers us a very different approach to growth and transformation through the ancient practice of Sankalpa. The word San means "connection with highest truth," and Kalpa means "vow" or "sacred promise." Sankalpa is a promise to connect with your highest truth. A Sankalpa is not a resolution to become someone you're not. It's a remembering of who you already are at your deepest core.
Connect to your heart to discover your true intention
Setting Intentions with Sankalpa
There is a fundamental notion of wholeness with this concept. Sankalpa begins with the understanding that you already possess everything you need to fulfill your life's purpose; you are already whole. Rather than focusing on lack or inadequacy, this practice invites you to turn inward and listen. Some part of you already knows what's out of balance, what wants to shift, what's trying to emerge. Your work isn't to force change, but to align with the truth that's already present within you.
Unlike resolutions that target external behaviors, intention setting works at the level of your being. It’s about who you are and who you are becoming, not what you're doing. A Sankalpa connects you with your dharma, your unique purpose and the specific way you're meant to show up in the world.
Sankalpa is traditionally phrased in the present tense, as if it's already true: "I am peaceful. I trust my path. I honor my body's needs." This isn't positive thinking or wishful denial. It's recognizing the truth of who you are beneath the layers of conditioning, fear, and self-doubt. When you state your Sankalpa, you're not creating something new; you're awakening to what's already present.
The Different Energy of Intention
Consider the energetic difference between these approaches:
Resolution: "I will go to yoga class three times a week." Intention: "I nourish my body with movement that honors its wisdom."
Traditional New Year's resolutions often operate from a place of deficit. They can focus on what's wrong, what's missing, what needs fixing. They're externally driven—shaped by societal pressures, comparison to others, or images of who we think we should be.
An intention is spacious, adaptive, and rooted in a quality of being that is based on our most positive and true qualities. Resolutions require willpower and external accountability; intention flows from internal alignment and self-love. When you're aligned with your deepest truth, right action flows more organically. You're not fighting against yourself; you're moving with the current of your own inner wisdom. Your intention can carry you throughout the whole year, while resolutions often fade by February.
The practice of Sankalpa recognizes the importance of timing and receptivity. Intentions are traditionally set during states of deep relaxation, like meditation, yoga nidra, or those quiet moments just after waking when the boundary between conscious and subconscious is most permeable. In these states, your Sankalpa can take root at the deepest levels of your being.
This is why taking some time to become quiet and reflective in the new year offers a potent opportunity. Not because of an arbitrary date on the calendar, but because it's a natural pause and transition point. A new year can be a moment when we're already turning inward, reflecting, and opening to new possibilities. Moving into 2026, we have an even more potent opportunity for stillness and reflection with the full moon on January 3.
An Invitation to Listen
As you consider what you want to call into your life this coming year, I invite you to approach it differently. Before making lists of external goals, create space to listen deeply. What is your heart's truest desire? What quality of being wants to emerge? What would it feel like to live more fully aligned with your purpose?
Your Sankalpa will evoke a sense of joy and rightness when you speak it aloud. It will feel like a homecoming and remind you of the wholeness that's already present, waiting to be recognized and embodied.
This is the gift of intention setting: it transforms the new year from a pressure-filled mandate to change into a gentle invitation to remember who you truly are. And from that place of remembering, everything else naturally unfolds.
If you would like guidance in entering stillness, connecting with your heart and recognizing your wholeness, Lonnie Galt-Theis and I are offering a space to do exactly that. We're creating sacred space for a full day of deep nourishment, restoration, and intention-setting for women ready to begin the year with clarity and purpose. We will lead you in mindful movement and profound yoga nidra rest, a walking meditation in nature and fireside gathering, an herbal tea ceremony and heart-opening cacao tasting and creative practices to identify and anchor your intentions.
As of this post, we have only 3 spots remaining for the retreat. We offer a sliding scale and can accommodate payment plans.
If you are ready to connect with your heart’s intention, here is the link to register:
May all beings find peace. May all beings find healing. May all beings be free.
With love and in service,
Michelle Greenfield