Dear friends,
The energy is ripe to make big declarations about what you want to leave behind and what you want to carry forward, cultivate and create as we turn to a new season, year and age. I reached out to our amazing teaching staff and asked: What is your word for 2021? What intentions are you setting for the next cycle? What have you learned that you want to carry forward or forever leave behind? What is your wish for yourself, for our small collective, for our global community? In reading the reflections of some of the amazing women who have held, supported and inspired you in this year that none of us will ever forget, I hope that you will allow your own answers, reflections and inspirations to rise. We would love to hear them. From our hearts to yours…
AMANDA
My personal word for 2021? Reset.
My intention for beginning the new year? Joy! How to embody more joy, experience more joy, and spread more joy. And help others do the same if they want to.
What I’ve missed the most? Travel and hugging my loved ones.
The silver lining from 2020 I want to carry forward? Slowing down and deepening meaningful relationships.
My wish for us as a community in the year ahead? That we humans remember the truth about our connection with each other. I hope that we remember we are a WE, and learn to come together.
ANGELA H.
My word for 2021 is growth, and my intention as we begin the new year is to have gratitude for the many, many blessings in my life!
What I’ve missed the most this year is seeing my grandparents! They are both 94 and live in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is the longest I have gone without seeing them and miss them dearly!
What I loved about 2020 was being able to spend so much time with my husband and my two kids in a way that didn’t feel rushed and hectic. Also, the opportunities that arose to deepen my Sanskrit and yoga philosophy studies.
In the year ahead, I wish for us to continue to support, connect with and practice together in community.
CARRIE
My word for 2021 is LIGHT.
2021 is my year of Yes — the openness of Yes gently enveloped in the supportive permission for No.
As more of an introvert, I appreciated (but never realized how much) I love sharing quality space with community. I look forward to communing dance and yoga in 3-D in 2021.
This past year I learned that when we embrace unexpected change, we open ourselves to new experiences….and we may absolutely love them! All the creative adjustments shine light on the adaptability and resiliency residing at the core.
My wish for the year ahead is better communication — deep listening and understanding so we can truly be a compassionate commUNITY, where our universality is elevated by our innate diversity.
CARRINGTON
My wish for the blue community, and the ultimately the world, is that we move into the new year, and into a new era, with a renewed sense of hope and a continued interest and investment in using our yoga to heal ourselves and to be of service to the world.
GLENDA
My 2021 word is POWER– not power centered in ego, rather power centered in source on behalf of all beings. Power centered in LOVE. I’m greeting the new year toes in the ocean on New Years day to honor being with the FLOW of things.
In 2020 I missed HUGS and partner dancing where we literally lift each other up.
My silver lining from 2020 silver lining was spending SO much time in nature as well as making home a real sanctuary.
My wish for our community: may we stay connected as people on the path, caring for ourselves and others.
KATHLEEN
— What is your personal word for 2021?
Ungrip/reclaim (yes that’s sort of a paradox)
— In 1-2 sentences, with what intention would you like to begin the new year?
I keep thinking of the line from Willie Wonka: “So shines a good deed in a weary world.” Let’s use whatever gifts and blessings we have to make things truly better for ourselves, for this good earth that is our home, and especially for those whose voices were not heard or honored in the Before Times.
— What are the things that you have missed the most during COVID, perhaps things you realize that you took for granted and/or what you look forward to getting back to?
Hugs and Alamo Drafthouse
— What was your greatest silver lining in the challenges of 2020 that you are carrying forward?
It’s OK to let something go. Also, backyard bonfires.
— What is your wish for us as a community in the year ahead?
May we continue to investigate what matters, explore what community means, and show up for ourselves and each other.
KRISTIN
I’m still deciding on my word for 2021, but I’m somewhere between these: acceptance, action, collaboration, gratitude.
As I move into the new year, I pray for useful hands and a heart that seeks to understand. I hope to hold each layer – healed or peeled – as a part of the divine.
Things I missed in 2020: Hugs. Hands-on assists. The collective energy and sound of a room full of moving, breathing bodies.
My greatest silver lining this year was that after moving away, I was able to reconnect with my Blue community. I also love that in 2020, people all around the world found their joy in a true home yoga practice, slowing down, feeling and dropping into their bodies in a new way.
Moving forward, my wish is that we continue to grow, however imperfectly, into new ways of being – together.
LEILANI
A word that keeps coming up for me lately is accountability. For 2021 I’m meditating on ways to bring the spirit of accountability into more areas of my life from the loving care I offer others to the loving care I offer myself. Accountability feels like expanded empowerment to me.
RAYNEEN
My intention for the new year is to allow myself to be in spaciousness, to prioritize balance in my day-to-day and to do more of what fills me up.
This past year, I’ve missed hugs and hearing the breath of my community when practicing.
In 2020, I had the constant reminder that life is ALL the things, ALL the time. A complete shit show and so, so beautiful. Heartbreaking, infuriating, tragic and just as magical. It’s part of our work here to remember and see that.
My wish for us in the year ahead is that we continue to find creative ways to stay connected and inspired.
As for me, for you, for us: May you stand in the center of your knowing, aligned with Source. May you know your worth, and value your purpose through being, as much as doing. May you be seen and supported by those around you and prioritize nourishing your Self so that each moment is imbued with fullness and presence. May you think, speak and act from a place that honors your connectivity to all of life. May you receive the coming lessons and blessings with grace and gently release what no longer serves you. And may you remember, daily, that you are loved.
Peace,
Jill
