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1/06/2018

Intention Setting Full Challenge

Happy New Year And Welcome 2018! Starting off 2018 on the right foot I'm already leading all by myself here as no one has joined me to lead as a group. My motto is To Help Each Other Is The Best Practice. But in my case it seems that it has always been like that:

I'm leading the way on my own
So others may follow later on.
And that's totally fine with me. Even while I worked as a model, or even in my many struggling years of dancing in Ballet companies, and all over the world in such a cutthroat atmosphere, I was helping many people out there. I lost the count of how many I helped along the way. Maybe that's my mission after all.
Not wait for things to get better or be another number on a page but stay firm and walk alone, barefoot, breaking barriers and making it easier for the next generation

Yes, I've been brave enough for that.
With that said:
Day 1 of the Intention Setting Challenge is:
What do I want to create more space in my life for? What can I do to make that a reality?


I want to create more space For What or Who I'm Grateful and Not Hateful. Turn into more positive changes that I cannot change and change what is negative in my life to something more positive. Have more time to read my own thoughts to recharge myself on my mission of leading the way
. And Many Blessings in 2018!

Infinity War for those sick of eternity
Are those who seek serenity!
#amwriting
It's all a series of serendipities
with no beginnings and no ends.
Such is life with many possibilities
Through which love transcends.
#anaclaudiaantunes


Day 2 of the Intention Setting Challenge is: What am I holding onto that is no longer serving me? It can be a person, a relationship, a job, the way someone perceives me, etc. What can I do to let go of this? I wish I could say Social Media. I would let go of it if it didn't serve me for nothing. But that is simply not true.
I'm mesmerized every time I see someone that I never met from the four corners of the globe sharing my thoughts, my quotes, and translating them into the most amazing pictures and intimate images of their soul. That touches my soul, in the deepest level
. So I will not abandon the media. I will let go of my own ego who got hurt for Seeing people who used to flatter me to the bones on Facebook and right on my Birthday they stopped being my friend. But that actually sound more like an untrue friend playing games with you. That I let go. After 11 years of having a Facebook account and being actively participating on it I saw people leaving and coming back. Now I simply let go of it. I do not need to let go of people. They simply leave. Of that I have no control. But when or if they want to come back it's another story and it's entirely on me to decide when or where I will write another chapter with them on it or not. It's all up to me!
Amazon In Europe

Day 3 of the Intention Setting Challenge is: We are what we tell ourselves we are. Ask yourself what you are good at and what you are not good at. Make a list. What gave you the impression that you are not “good” at something / “meant to do something?” Where are you limiting yourself unnecessarily? If there were no limits to your intelligence or capabilities, what would you truly like to do with your time? Share that and then set aside time this week to do just that.

No limits to my imagination! I would fly high up in the sky. Well, I will set sometime off and I might even try to fy away. I already do that anyway in my mind I might as well live up to my fantasies. Who knows! The sky is NOT the limit.

Day 4 is: You are not good or bad or right or wrong for existing as a human being in the way that you choose to live. As Glennon Doyle reminds us, life hurts and it is hard, not because you're doing it wrong, but because it's just hard! Society tells us a different story. It tells us we need to be, act, live, and think a certain way in order to be accepted, loved, admired, and respected.Write down a part of yourself that you consider to be “bad,” Write down an intention to meet yourself with more compassion for what you consider to be broken or in need of fixing. You’re allowed to be both a work in progress and a masterpiece. Counteract the negativity by writing down the aspects of yourself that you admire/want to continue developing.

I consider to be bad in Math. But when I start to count down my Blessings I don't believe I'm bad at all
! I'm shy and I lack confidence. I admire my courage, the respect I feel for nature, for others, my discipline, my willingness to see my own flaws and try to improve what/when I think and feel I need some adjustment, my wit and good sense, my entire disposition to be a better version of me and to help other people to do the same.

Day 5 of the Intention Setting Challenge is:

3-5 min. Meditation practice. Set a timer for 3-5 minutes. Lay down or come to a comfortable seat and close your eyes. Slow down the breath and find stillness. No need to set an intention here. Ironic, right?! Just notice what thoughts arise and watch them. When the timer goes off, cycle back through the stream of consciousness that your mind wandered through and note where the focus was: the past or the future? Conversations that happened or haven’t happened yet?

Was it generally positive or negative? Share as much as you’d like. A lot of intention setting is being able to recognize what happens to the mind when you’re left alone with your thoughts, and it’s the quiet and stillness that allows us create an environment for our intentions to become clear and meaningful. Pro-tip: Thoughts can bring up emotions, and this is perfect in helping us see what we truly feel about something that can be causing us stress or anxiety. Don’t ignore your feelings! They are trying to tell you something and lead you to taking the next right step.

I tried to ignore a girl screaming teasing me while I was doing the split with a mudra in meditation state. It looks so easy from the outside. Or maybe not! That is why the girl was trying to provoke me at all costs and with her lungs in full potency. I could have chose a more tranquil place but I thought to meditate in an open area would relax my mind and refresh my soul. If her intention was to distract me from my practice she failed. After a few breaths in I dipped deep into my heart. I was just feeling not thinking, totally in the present moment yet away from external disturbances.

(You can view the result on my youtube channel. I will post the video of me in lotus pose and then meditating in middle split as a presentation video for the #WellnessDay #AnaBowlovaChallenge)

Day 6 of the Intention Setting Challenge is 10 minutes of mindful movement. This doesn’t have to be yoga; it can be walking or dancing, doing any kind of movement that feels good and nourishes your body. Write down a list of 10 things that nourish your mind, heart, and body. Make a commitment to bring one of those things to the forefront of your day this week.

So that should have been pretty easy for me who just love to dance. Nothing could be further from the truth. I just woke up with the sensation that I had to accomplish this task. I jumped out of my bed already setting the timer. And with clock on hand, I turned on the radio, music playing and I just started moving. Pretty easy stuff, right? The only problem was those ten minutes turned into an eternity. As I moved my body as mindful of each move I was doing, I was also very mindful of the clock ticking. And that was tickling. Well, you may see the end result on my youtube channel where I post the whole flash-dancing scene: Dance As One or view it directly here: My Ten-Minute Workout

So here's the top 10 list that nourishes mind, body and soul for me:

1-
To dance freely NOT the least worried about accomplishing something much less counting the minutes to finish it up

2-
To create new moves without worrying about how silly, funky or clumsy they look

3-
To read a good book

4-
To write (about anything that comes to the mind)

5-
To go out with good friends and chat and laugh a lot

6-
To be with my family

7-
To eat good food

8-
To play with dogs and cats and basically any animal, just plain fun

9-
To create (period)

10-
To pray and meditate

#rootedandrising #yogaformentalhealth


#Wellnessday Next Wednesday Live Standing Split at 11:30 AM Brasília Time I'll be doing a Middle Split in the middle of the Atlantic jungle. Stay tubed! #yoga #compasspose #amazon #memoirs #movieset #lotus #quotes #book #quoteoftheday #tao #physical #meditation #holistichealth #healthystyle #wellbeing #wellness #yogaeverywhere #yogapose #survival #heartofgold #heart #happiness #quotestoliveby

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Day 7 of the Intention Setting Challenge! prompt today is: How do you plan on usingThe the practice of Intention Setting in your daily/weekly routine? What are your biggest takeaways from the intention setting challenge? What are your thoughts on this practice/ how have your thoughts, opinions and ideas evolved? All comments and feedback are welcomed!

I plan on keeping my new year's resolution intention setting challenging myself every day with new tasks rising the level of difficulty. I also keep a chart of each new challenge I create, and feel free to join me in. My next challenge is lotus pose followed by splits (you can find the instructions on my youtube channel) with the hashtag #AnaBowlovaContest

What is my takeaway on this challenge? I learned that although I know how to keep my mind steady in the hardest environment and I have discipline to follow instructions I still need to let go of forceful thinking. I mean, it's when I'm most vulnerable and I have no control of my thoughts that things start to flow. A swimming instructor once observed that on my swimming. He said that my strokes looked much better when I just swam not the least worried about HOW I did it. When I was focusing on doing it right, thinking like crazy on getting the right technique it was then that I failed on advancing on my swimming practice. And I may apply that on my daily activities. The same goes with any new challenge or task I take. If I'm too worried on being perfect that's when I don't do that well.
Just Do it✔

Thanks so much for allowing to go on this amazing journey of Intention Setting Challenge. They were 7 days that I looked forward to start. Sometimes anxiety gets on the way of everything but the excitement makes it all worth the try and we can try to control it with no progress. When we finally let it go it is when everything flows in total fluidity. Many Blessings! Many thanks for the challenge @auroralyrayoga I had a Blast!☺ #rootedandrising #yogaformentalhealth