31/12/2025
No recap. No list of goals. No grand resolutions or catalogue of desires. As the year opens, I carry just this single intention:
“May my actions be aligned with dharma” - inspired by one of my teachers, Kristin Marshall & the many teachings from The Bhagavad Gita.
The Bhagavad Gita defines Yoga in different ways. 'Samatvam Yoga uchyete - Equanimity in all situations is Yoga.' 'Yogah karmasu kaushalam - Perfection in action is Yoga.' Doing things with the right attitude and with the right effort is Yoga.
The Gita offers this verse not as theory, but as a way of living. An instruction on how every action, whether it feels like a gift or a burden, can become a step toward freedom rather than another layer of entanglement.
When we set intentions, whether for 2026 or for a single day, it’s worth noticing how we move through our actions. Much of our struggle arises not from what we do, but from the intentions and emotions we carry into each moment.
When action is driven by ego-centred, impulsive, or self-serving desire, it tightens the mind and creates a sense of bo***ge and unrest. These underlying desires and emotional patterns form the soil of the mind, shaping how we respond, choose, and act throughout the day.
Yoga does not ask us to stop acting. It asks us to act differently.
To act with care.
To offer effort without clinging to outcome.
To shape our intentions so they serve something larger than ourselves, allowing each choice to loosen the knots we carry within.
This is yogah karmasu kaushalam: Not doing less, but doing with discernment. Not escaping life, but meeting it with skill.
So in 2026, may you be guided by devotion rather than desire, and let your intentions be less entangled with reward. May you meet life more evenly, whether it arrives as ease or difficulty.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
