What is your heart asking you to commit to this September?
I got home late last night from a yoga retreat in New Hampshire that I have the incredible good fortune to attend each year. On a small, wooded island on Lake Winnipesaukee—accessible only by boat—I spend five days without phone, email, texts, or TV. Instead, I practice yoga, meditation, and pranayama surrounded by the magical beauty of the lake and mountains.
I cannot fully express how grateful I am for this place and the people who make it happen. After five days, my cup felt SO full.
This retreat reminds me of what made me fall in love with yoga in the first place. Yoga is a practice of getting to know yourself at a deeper level. Yes, there is the physical body—and I experience it in a far more intimate way through yoga than with any other physical practice (although I LOVE many forms of movement, and swimming in the lake this past week was pure JOY!). But yoga asks us to go deeper.
Yoga is a way to find union with your body, your mind, your breath, and your heart. Getting to know yourself deeply can open the door to feeling more connected—to other people, to all beings, and ultimately, perhaps, to the divine. Whatever “God” means within your own understanding, yoga can be a way of accessing that connection.
Yoga is my life and my livelihood—and yet, sometimes, embarrassingly, I forget that.
I get so caught up in the logistics of running a yoga studio that I can get pulled away from the yoga itself. My annual “Yoga Camp,” as I fondly call it, is a reminder to come back. To remember what matters. To re-commit.
September feels like the perfect time to explore this.
The slower pace of summer gives way to school, work, fuller schedules, and a quickening pace. New commitments can easily become a never-ending list of things to accomplish and check off.
And yes, getting things done is an important—and sometimes even fun—part of adulthood. (Easter egg for anyone who remembers my “Get Shit Done” mug. 😉)
But productivity isn't necessarily the same thing as purpose. Sometimes the momentum of our to-do lists can drown out what is truly important to our hearts.
In Sanskrit, Sankalpa is often translated as a heart-directed vow—an intention or commitment that reflects your deepest truth. It isn't another item on your to-do list. It focuses on being, not just doing.
This month, we're going a little deeper.
As we return to routines and re-enter the faster pace of fall, we invite you to pause and ask:
What is your heart asking you to commit to?
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