Set your mindful intentions for the new year ahead.
Jan 3, 2024
The new year brings the energy of a fresh start. Yoga poses help set intentions for the year ahead through mindfulness and body postures. So where do you want this year to lead? Invite a year of happiness, abundance, and love with these yoga poses for the new year!
Bow Pose – Dhanurasana
Bending into the bow pose helps you feel energetically focused on your intentions, according to Yoga Journal. Like a bow shooting arrows at a target, this posture helps you take mental aim at the goals for the year ahead.
Begin by laying on your stomach. Extend your arms backward to take hold of your ankles with feet flexed. Open the chest upwards as you raise your heels in the air. Feel the full-body stretch through the chest, arms, and legs as you aim your intentions for the upcoming year.
Goddess Pose – Utkata Konasana
According to the Yoga for All Humans website, the goddess pose helps channel balance, power, and victory; ideal energies to tackle the new year ahead. Feel grounded in the earth and free-flowing to handle all that comes your way, like a true goddess.
Begin by standing with feet a little more than hip-width apart. Angle feet to 45 degrees. Lower into a squat position as you firmly root your feet and maintain an upright back. Raise your arms to the sky as you sink deeper. Move the hips from left to right to release tension and feel the flowing energy of the goddess yoga pose.
Eagle Pose – Garudasana
The eagle yoga pose helps build confidence in your balance, according to the online teaching site Ekhart Yoga. The pose can also help gain clarity and perspective, reminding us to look at the bigger picture from higher ground like a soaring eagle.
Start by standing in the mountain pose. Take your right arm underneath your left, bend the elbows pointing your fingers to the sky. Press palms together as you feel the stretch in your arm and chest. Next, balance on the left foot as you cross your right thigh over the left. Focus on one point as you maintain balance. Don’t forget to breathe! Then, repeat on the opposite side.
Happy Baby – Ananda Balasana
At the start of the new year, happy baby pose invites joy and playfulness. According to verywell fit, this yoga pose helps open the hips and thighs as you connect with the spirit of your inner child.
Begin by laying on your back. Keep a neutral spine (with lower back against the floor) as you bring your knees toward your chest. With knees bent, flex your feet like you’re walking on the ceiling. Wrap your first two fingers around your big toes and pull lightly down on both feet. You will feel playful like a baby as you shift and stretch your legs.
Chaturanga Flow
A new year marks a time of transition. And, what better way to embrace change than with a fierce, flowing sequence? Flowing from the chaturanga into the cobra and downward dog not only builds upper body strength, but it guides you smoothly through the transition, according to the Track Yoga app.
Begin in the plank yoga pose. Slowly lower from the arms until your belly meets the mat. Keep palms facing down on the mat as you enter the cobra pose, extending from the lower back and lifting the chest. Pull back hips from the pelvis and straighten the arms as you enter the upside down “V” shape of downward facing dog and then repeat. This pose will help you feel strong through the changes in the new year.
ALLISON MICHELLE DIENSTMAN,
CONTRIBUTOR
Working from her laptop as a freelance writer, Allison lives as a digital nomad, exploring the world while sharing positivity and laughter. She is a lover of language, travel, music, and creativity with a degree in Chinese language and literature.