New Year’s Eve is a liminal space - the old year is about the end and the new year is about to begin. Before transitioning to this new cycle, it can be helpful to pause, breathe, and reflect on the year that’s past, and create clear intentions for the year ahead. Below is a 6-step guided reflection and meditation practice for New Year’s Eve. Follow the prompts below or listen to an audio version of this meditation and follow along.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Find a comfortable place to sit, dim the lights. If you’d like, you can light a candle or burn incense to help you find a more reflective mood.
Close your eyes, let your body relax and be still. Take 3 deep breaths, inhaling through the nose, and exhaling through the mouth.
SUCCESSES
Begin to reflect on our successes from the year that’s ending. You can either reflect in your mind or you can use a paper and pen to write down your successes of the past year. They don’t have to be big achievements or accomplishments, they can be simple things like the success of staying healthy, transitioning to a different way of living or working than you may have been used to. Begin to bring to mind all of your successes from the past year. When you start to run out of things that feel like successes to you, see if you can challenge yourself; begin to think a little more broadly about the idea of success and what it means to have a success.
CHALLENGES
Next, begin to reflect on any challenges or obstacles that you may have faced in the year that’s coming to an end. There were many collective obstacles this year (2020) and there may have been some that were personal to you. What was hard, what was challenging? These may be challenges you were able to overcome and turn into your successes, or they may be things that are still challenging you, that’s okay too. Without judgement or wishing things were any other way, take time to reflect on those challenges and obstacles that you faced this year. As you reflect, there can be the tendency to judge or criticize yourself or others or wish things were different. See if you can avoid that, and in an almost objective sense, as objective as you can be when things are personal, just observing what was challenging, what was difficult, what was an obstacle for you. You’re not trying to change anything or solve any problems, just bringing awareness.
LESSONS LEARNED
Sometimes when we face challenges, one of the things that can come out of it is that we learn some lessons. As you continue to think about challenges or think back to your successes, you can also begin to reflect on what lessons you learned this year. What was the moral of your story this year? The thing that you learned from your experiences, whether they were good or bad, wanted or unwanted. Begin to reflect on those lessons that you now have; that wisdom that you gained that you’ll be able to take with you into this near year.
FEELINGS
As you leave the old year behind, and of course taking on those lessons learned so that as you move into the new year you are better able to handle challenges or obstacles that may come your way, begin to ask yourself, “how do I want to feel in the new year?” A few adjectives that may resonate with you (or may not) including feeling: abundant, happy, content, safe. Writing or mentally listing whatever words come to mind of all of the words and ways you would like to feel in the new year. If there’s one particular word that stands out for you above the rest, keep that in mind. If there’s not just one, that’s okay. Begin to use that feeling or feelings that you’ve brainstorm as you begin to craft your intentions for 2021.
SETTING AN INTENTION
In the yogic tradition, an intention or sankalpa is different than a goal or resolution. We’re not trying to achieve something or do something in particular or be something that we’re not. The practice of yoga reminds us that we are already whole, perfect, and complete just as we are. The purpose of an intention is to bring forth from within you qualities that you already posses. Like a flower that starts as a seeds and that seed begins to grow until the flower blossoms. The flower doesn’t just come out of nowhere, it’s already programmed to turn into a flower, it’s already programmed into that seed; it’s already inside. Everything you set an intention for or wish for or want to manifest, the more we can remember that it’s already there inside of us. It’s not somewhere out side where we have to become someone else or achieve something. We don’t have to become something else or achieve something else. All we need to do is focus our minds and intentions. When our focus is more single pointed then we are more able to manifest that quality within ourselves . That’s what we’ll begin to craft is an intention. An intention is similar to an affirmation. It should be in the present tense. Instead of coming from a place of lack or feeling less than or something outside of us, the intention should reflect the quality as already being inside of you. The intention should be stated in the present tense, as though it’s already something that is part of you because it is, in the positive instead of the negative, our minds don’t have the capability of taking in the negative so then we focus on the thing we actually don’t want. We are focusing on these qualities that are already inside of us but maybe are not being expressed by us fully. When an intention is in the present tense, our mind starts to grab onto the fact that we already possess and embody these qualities.
Examples:
my heart is open to new possibilities
I am filled with abundance
I am the embodiment of lovingkindness
i am in perfect health
I can see all things with clarity
I accomplish whatever I wish to do, easily and effortlessness
I am powerful, capable, and strong
I am loving to myself and others
Really think about where do you want your focus to be in the new year? What is your guiding focus? What would you like to manifest? What do you want to call forth from within you this year? What do you want to express in the word? Take time to think for yourself what that might be. Once you have settled on an intention, write it down.
After you’ve created and written down your intention, silently repeat it to yourself 108 times.
REMOVING OBSTACLES - MANTRA
The last thing you can do to seal this practice is to use a sacred mantra to help you remove any obstacles that may be on your path and that may keep you from being able to manifest these intentions. The recommended mantra for the new year is Om Gum Ganapataye Namaha.
This mantra is also associated with new and auspicious beginnings, of course the new year is a brand new beginning, so this is the mantra that we practice. whenever we start something new, we want to remove any obstacles so that we have a clear path.
If possible, try chanting this mantra 108 times, an auspicious number in the yogic tradition. Using a mala (prayer beads) is helpful if you are going to chant this number of times. An alternative is to simply chant the mantra 3 or 7 times as a way of centering yourself in meditation or the beginning of a yoga practice.
FINISHING
When you’ve finished chanting the mantra, take a few deep breaths and as you’re ready slowly open your eyes.
MORE RESOURCES
Click here to listen to an audio recording of this meditation: New Year’s Guided Meditation
For more New Year’s rituals and practices, check out: Yoga Rituals to Ring In the New Year
Happy New Year!
Andrea Creel, MSW, LMSW, E-RYT 200, YACEP
Andrea is the founder of Inspiration Yoga & Wellness and Shining Kids Yoga and has been teaching yoga to all ages since 2005. She is also a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) through the State of Maryland, having received her MSW degree from University of Maryland, Baltimore.
When not teaching or practicing yoga, Andrea enjoys playing board games with her son, Quinn, singing karaoke, and trying out new vegetarian recipes!