Earlier this year, I put together a vision board. I cut out photos from magazines that I like to read, such as Yoga Journal, Natural Health and Whole Living. I cut out ads for yoga conferences, pictures of India, and photos of yoga teachers that I wished to meet. Overall, the entire theme ended up being about health and wellness.

I didn’t do this alone. I did it with the company of my spiritual bookclub. We call ourselves Mamaste. We drank wine while we sorted through magazines and catalogues and cut out words and phrases that inspired us. We shared our hopes and dreams while we used our children’s glue sticks to turn our dreams into reality.

If you haven’t heard of a vision board before, the premise is simple: you cut out (you can do this online with Pinterest, too) photos and words of things that excite you. Say you want a new house. Find a photo of a house that you like, cut it out and paste to a poster board. Want a relationship? Cut out things that make you feel all lovey dovey. To me, the key is to create something that makes you feel good. Happy. Excited. If you want more details, you can read this article that was featured in Oprah magazine.

That’s what I did. I cut out photos of things that I wanted to happen in 2012. One of my dreams is to get published in a national woman’s magazine, like Self, Natural Health and Whole Living, so I put those titles on my board. I even cut out a masthead and wrote my name as a contributor. I wanted to attend the Yoga Journal Conference in New York City. I put an ad on my board. I wanted more opportunities to bring yoga to kids, so I put that up there too. Of course I also have wishes for my family and to end world hunger, but for now, I focused on light hearted, yet, meaningful wishes.

I put all these pictures on an orange poster board. Orange is the color of transformation. I would have chosen purple, since that’s my favorite color, but Staples didn’t have purple and orange felt bright and cheerful. It did make me happy to look at my pretty, colorful board. I placed it in the bedroom, on top of a stack of clothes, where I could see it every day.

When I looked at it that night, however, I had a moment of panic. I had pasted a photo of Omega, Kripalu and India. How on earth could I visit all three places in one year without my husband filing for divorce? I emailed my bookclub. One friend advised me to let go of the how and just let it unfold. I took her advice.

Slowly, my dreams started to come true. I went to the Yoga Journal Conference in NYC. On my board, I had an ad for the conference that featured three teachers; I ended up taking a class with two of the teachers. I did a webinar with a yoga teacher that was on my board. I was invited back to teach my kids yoga class at Shakti Yoga that begins in September. A new opportunity to teach kids yoga at a local space landed on my lap.

However, not everything went as planned. I booked a tour to India. On Mother’s Day, I received an email saying that the tour was canceled. I was devastated. I didn’t want to listen to well meaning friends who said that everything happens for a reason and that something even better was going to show up. A cancelled trip to India was not on my vision board!

As time went on, even more of my wishes manifested. I booked another trip to India. This trip, indeed, seems to be a much better fit. An opportunity to visit (and write about) Omega appeared out of the blue. When I returned from that trip, I reached for my vision board. I had gotten into the habit of putting a check mark next to all the photos that had come true. As I grabbed a pen and my board, I started laughing. Remember that Yoga Journal Conference ad that I mentioned? At Omega, I studied with the teacher that I hadn’t studied with at the other conference!

I told my book club how amazingly successful this vision board had been for me. One friend said it wasn’t the board. I made these wishes come true. I had taken action. Maybe it was the fact that creating the vision board helped me focus or that it was just my karma that these wishes came true.

My wish to get published in a woman’s magazine hasn’t manifested yet. I know it will happen though. It’s on my vision board.

Judie Hurtado has been practicing various styles of yoga for over 13 years but has always been particularly drawn to vinyasa. She is a Registered Yoga Alliance Teacher and a Certified Kids Yoga Teacher. She is also a Reiki Master Practitioner and a Health and Wellness writer.  She can be reached at judie.hurtado@gmail.com. She blogs about her fitness and spiritual adventures at www.judiesjuice.wordpress.com.