No More Setting Intentions...?? Reflections of a Yogini

I just realized the other day that I've been a yogini for 10 years.

From Wikipedia: Yogini (Sanskrit: योगिनी, yoginī, [ˈjoginiː]) is the feminine form containing the masculine yogi. Yoginis are female practitioners of yoga, the disciplined pursuit of transcendence and steadiness.

Besides maybe my student career as a competetive volleyball player, I'm not sure I know of anything else that I've been or done for that long.

In a recent class at Zenergy Yoga in North Scottsdale (www.ZenergyYoga.net), the instructor asked us to set an intention for our yoga practice that day.

I dutifully "looked within" to set my intention, and discovered my mind and body were blank...

If my "bodymind" had a face, it would have looked at me quizzically for even asking it to set an intention for my practice.

For a brief moment I panicked at being so "blank".

"But I'm supposed to have an intention!!" my mind wailed. "Do I even know what I'm doing here or how my practice will go if I don't have an intention?? Is there something amiss? Should I be worried that I have no intention to set?"

Inside the "blankness", underneath these whirling thoughts, a little "ah-ha!" came to me.

In the blank, what came was - "What are you talking about?! There's no intention to set, this is you. There's no where to go, nothing to strive for. This is all there is!"

I realized that Yoga is no longer something I'm supposed to do because it's good for me or something I do because it keeps me fit and strong, etc...(though all of that is true). Yoga is me, Yoga is an intrinsic part of me, it's indescribable. I can be in yoga, just as I am in my life.

In other words...no intention necessary.

I can't tell if I'm even explaining well what happened in that moment of "blank" when I was asked to set an intention.

Side note: For all you Intrinsic Coach(R) professionals out there using the Intrinsic Coaching(R) methodology and working with the I>E>S hierarchy, I had a realization afterwards that those initial, rapid-fire thoughts were a product of my E & S thinking...they were not anything to grab onto or "believe" as real. I could leave room for a second thought!

In the days of my yoga practice since...I am still "intention.less". Only now I'm not worried about it.

My practice is me.

My yoga is me.

Never in a million years could I have imagined this for myself, but I am so grateful.

Namaste.