As humans, we are deeply connected to cycles—whether it’s the shifting seasons, the rhythms of our menstrual and energetic flows, or the natural ebbs and flows of our mental and physical states. These cycles guide us through phases of growth, rest, and renewal, reminding us that life is not linear but ever-evolving.
In my classes, I aim to honor these cycles by beginning with a seemingly simple question: “What season are you in?” This question invites you to pause, reflect, and connect with where you are in your personal journey. Are you setting an intention like the seeds of spring? Feeling the fire of summer’s initiation? Turning inward in fall’s introspection? Or resting in winter’s integration?
This practice isn’t just an abstract reflection for the year or month—it’s something you’ll feel unfolding throughout the 90 minutes we spend together. Within the flow of class, you’ll experience the phases of intention, initiation, introspection, and integration in real time, just as they manifest in your life beyond the mat.
My hope is that this framework helps you align with your current season and tune into the wisdom it offers, both in class and in life.
Spring: Intention
What seeds of intention feels alive for you right now?
Intention is a focused and conscious commitment to a desired state of being, outcome, or energy. It is less about achieving a specific goal and more about aligning with a purpose or guiding principle that shapes your actions, thoughts, and energy.
Unlike a goal, which is outcome-driven, intention is rooted in the present moment. It’s about the why behind your actions rather than just the what.
Key aspects of intention include:
1. Clarity of Purpose: Intention begins with understanding what you truly desire and why it matters to you. It reflects your values, aspirations, or the qualities you wish to embody.
2. Energetic Focus: Setting an intention creates a shift in your awareness and energy, subtly guiding your decisions and interactions toward alignment with that intention.
3. Co-creative Process: Intention is not just about effort; it’s also about trust and openness, allowing life to respond and co-create with you.
4. Transformational Potential: A well-rooted intention can challenge you, initiate growth, and invite experiences that align with the essence of what you are calling in.
Ultimately, an intention is like planting a seed—it requires nurturing, patience, and trust that it will grow in ways that may surprise you. It serves as a compass, grounding you in purpose as you navigate the unfolding journey.
Last year my intention was EXPANSION. An intention might look like saying, 'I want to moby patience' or 'I want to live more connected to my heart." It's a seed you plant, trusting it will grow in ways you might not be able to predict.
Expansion to me looked like adding to what I already had- making everything I presently had, more. So my business, my personal knowledge, my relationships, opportunities, the fun I was having, family. Basically expanding in my connections in all facets. One thing not mentioned above is to truly consider the responsibility of what your intention could look like, and honestly, there really is no way to know how it will really show up for you.
Summer: Initiation
What steps can you take to initiate your intention?
Initiation to your intention is the phase where you take your first steps toward embodying it. It’s the activation of the intention—the point at which you begin translating your idea or desire into action and aligning with the energy it calls forth. This phase often feels like a spark or a doorway that requires courage, commitment, and presence.
Key aspects of initiation include:
1. Acknowledging the Call: Recognizing that setting the intention has already invited opportunities and challenges that are nudging you to step forward.
2. Taking Action: The initiation phase often involves a symbolic or practical step to signal your readiness, such as creating a ritual, saying “yes” to an opportunity, or making a change in your habits.
3. Facing Resistance: Initiation often stirs up resistance, fear, or uncertainty. Meeting these feelings with awareness is part of the process, as they test your commitment to the intention.
4. Opening to Transformation: Once you initiate, you’re saying “I’m ready” to the lessons and growth that come with the intention. This might feel like stepping into the unknown or beginning a journey that unfolds step by step.
Initiation is not about achieving the intention but about starting the journey with an open heart, trusting that the process will guide you forward. It’s a declaration of readiness to co-create with life.
Summer is the season of fire and action, where the spark of intention turns into motion- sometimes feeling like wildfire that challenges your strength and resilience. My personal initiation into expansion started the year with really special, and to me, very important new connections and those new connections ultimately created that resistance to my expansion. Resistance looked like a lot of loss, and me having to truly say "I'm ready" and "I trust" all the things, people and opportunities leaving my life to welcome in the expansion I am genuinely seeking for my highest path and purpose. I will tell you, my commitment to "expansion" has been tested 100% of the time.
Fall: Introspection
What patterns are you noticing as you reflect?
Introspection is the process of turning inward to reflect, observe, and deepen self-awareness. In the context of intention, introspection is the phase where you pause to evaluate how the intention is influencing you, uncover any hidden patterns or resistance, and connect with the deeper layers of your thoughts, emotions, and experiences.
It’s the listening phase, where the external effort of initiation gives way to an internal inquiry, helping you align more authentically with your intention.
Key aspects of introspection include:
1. Self-Reflection: Asking questions like, How is this intention showing up in my life? What is it teaching me? Where am I feeling resistance or flow? This helps you refine your relationship with the intention.
2. Awareness of Patterns: Introspection often reveals subconscious beliefs, fears, or habits that may be supporting or hindering the manifestation of your intention.
3. Integration of Lessons: It’s a time to process and assimilate the insights gained from the journey so far, preparing you for deeper alignment and transformation.
4. Cultivating Honesty and Compassion: Introspection requires a willingness to be honest about where you are while holding space for growth without judgment.
In the metaphor of planting a seed, introspection is akin to checking the soil—ensuring it’s nourished, observing what’s sprouting, and making adjustments if needed. It’s about taking time to align your inner world with your outer actions, creating a more harmonious path forward.
Introspection into expansion this last year has been a wild road:
Self-Reflection: Intentions official scare me! I lost a lot this year in an effort to expand... What did expansion teach me? That my growth pace is different than everyone else. That expectation of how I grow or the pace in which I do, is solely for myself and not everyone or everything will remain in that process or pace, and that's okay.
Awareness + Patterns: Things truly leave your life to allow the space for what you want. I've learned to embrace the ebb and flow of all, rather than clinging to the losses as I might have in the past. It's like checking the soil- noticing what nourishes the roots and what needs weeding out for healthier growth.
Integration of the Lesson: God/The Universe will block your value from those not aligned with your mission.
Cultivating Honesty + Compassion: Expansion means contraction. In my own personal expansion, and my business expansion, I deserve connections, people, opportunities and support in the ebbs just as much as the flow.
Winter: Integration
What small ways can you honor the growth you have experienced?
Integration, in the context of setting an intention, refers to the process of fully embodying and internalizing the energy, lessons, and experiences that arise from that intention. It’s the phase where the insights gained are applied to daily life, transforming the intention from an abstract intention/goal into a lived reality.
For example:
• Reflection and Assimilation: Taking time to process what has been learned or experienced. This might involve journaling, meditating, or simply noticing how the intention has shown up.
• Alignment: Adjusting habits, thoughts, or behaviors to be in harmony with the intention. It’s about making conscious choices that reflect the growth inspired by the intention.
• Balance: Allowing the changes to settle into a sustainable rhythm, avoiding extremes, and finding a natural flow in living with the intention.
Ultimately, integration is about making the intention a seamless part of who you are, creating a foundation for future growth and alignment. It’s the bridge between transformation and wholeness.
Winter is a time of rest and quiet transformation, where lessons of the past settle into the roots, preparing for the new growth in the spring. I have grown A LOT this year. From reconciling and expanding to new levels in my romantic partnership, to deepening my gratitude to my current genuine connections, to welcoming in new connections and opportunities. My personal expansion included taking a business class at Westminster at the beginning of the year and my integration to actually expanding will be launching that plan. I got my sound certification and became Reiki Master which has contributed to the expansion of my experiences to the depth I needed.
It was hard for me to see all the expansion that has really happened for me because through being initiated, all I could feel was the contraction and loss.. Sitting in immense gratitude for the season of introspection and integration.
No matter which season you find yourself in, trust that you are exactly where you need to be. Each phase- whether light or challenging- offers a gift, guiding you closer to alignment with your higher self.
I'm excited to share space with you and witness you in whatever season you are currently in.
Make sure to bring a journal to class so you can spend 10-15 minutes at the end of class in integration.
Xo-
Bonnie
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