Ep. 6 - Setting Intentions and Goals: A Mindful Approach to the New Year

Welcome to The Legal Yogi Podcast! I’m Vanisha, here to help you manage stress, find balance, and stay present in your busy life. As we enter 2025, today’s episode explores the transformative power of intentions and goals. Together, we’ll uncover why setting intentions is about aligning your energy and principles with how you want to show up in the world—rather than chasing rigid resolutions. You’ll learn three practical steps to create intentions that fuel your goals and sustain your growth, even when life gets busy. Let’s embrace reflection, grace, and aligned action to make 2025 a year of meaningful progress.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [0:47] Welcome to 2025 - What are your goals and intentions
• [2:29] Pulse Check - Think of something good
• [3:19] Vanisha shares her QUAD Christmas traditions
• [12:04] Definition of intention and setting goals with the QUAD
• [17:46] Three steps to setting intentions
• [20:52] Create a vision board for your intentions
• [24:18] The importance of staying present and checking your ego
• [27:50] Inviting challenge, shunning perfectionism and giving back

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Setting intentions is more effective and meaningful than making resolutions because intentions create a tangible, ongoing connection to your goals rather than focusing on rigid outcomes. Creative methods, like physical reminders or interactive tools, can keep you inspired and accountable throughout the year.
• Intentions focus on the energy and principles guiding how you live. Intentions allow flexibility and room for growth, helping you align actions with who you want to become without the pressure of all-or-nothing thinking.
• Reviewing your past year's achievements, no matter how small, creates a foundation for setting meaningful intentions. This process shifts the focus from what wasn’t accomplished to recognizing growth and energy alignment.

RESOURCES:

The Legal Yogi Podcast - Website

The Legal Yogi - Instagram

Vanisha Weatherspoon - LinkedIn

Jelina's BINGO Card Template

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation Collection

About the Host:

Vanisha is an RYT 500 and lives in Austin, TX. She began her yoga journey in 2017 during her 1L year at Georgetown Law. The first year of law school is the hardest and is often the gateway for the bad habits that run high among legal professionals. Lawyers are at an extremely high risk of alcoholism, drug abuse and dependency, anxiety and depression, so Vanisha turned to yoga to avoid falling victim to one of the former. It was here on her mat where she found peace, which led her to want to bring this to her law school community. Vanisha became a certified instructor during the summer of her 2L year of law school and began teaching classes on Georgetown’s campus in the fall of her 3L year. Upon graduation, she obtained her 300-hour certification in 2020 and moved back to Austin, where she teaches yoga and practices law as a 5th-year associate at a law firm.