NEW YEARS PASSAGEWAY
I have always loved doorways. As a child I could be found many days suspended in the air, hands and feet gripped to the sides of the door frame…grateful to exist in this middle space…the passageway between worlds.
Doorways represent possibility. Transition points, markers of change…and just like so much in life they can be met without recognition or with reverence, the mundane imbued with sacred power.
Each moment through a doorway can be used as a brief moment of mindfulness. As we move from one space into another we are offered an invitation to wake up. We can tune in to the state of our mind and body and make small adjustments in alignment and purpose, consciously stepping forward into whatever meets us next.
The entrance into a new year is a doorway. It doesn’t change everything…we still bring our selves into this new space and yet it is a passage, an invitation to pause, reflect, take stock and take in…assess our current state and path, not with judgment but with discernment, and consciously make small shifts as we propel forward.
Happy New Year to all. May it be a doorway into something new that cannot yet be imagined.
Meditation for the New Year or Any Time You’d Like to Pause and Shift -
Find a relaxed yet alert posture, coming into a state of a little more alignment and balance.
Tune into the support beneath you, your feet and your seat, breathing and resting here for a moment.
Let’s start by taking in the good, take stock in any good things from the past year, or the past day, challenging and training the brain to locate and take in anything positive, supportive, or growth enhancing. Inviting in a sense of letting these good things sink deep down into you, becoming a part of your being, your lived experience.
Let yourself feel a sense of gratitude and notice how this feels in the physical body.
Now, we shift into letting go. Sensing with kind awareness, anything that your mind/body would like to release or start to let go of from the past year, day, anytime… Inviting, without force, whatever you are ready to let go of to start to release, sensing that with each out breath your mind and body could soften and let go just a tiny bit more.
Now that you have made some space by releasing, start to sense into your in-breath. Notice how the more you release with the out-breath, the deeper and fuller your in-breath becomes. Consciously sense the in-breath coming in, bringing with it fresh new energy and nourishment. Visualize and sense what energy you want to welcome in for the new year.
In this moment, practice embodying the qualities you would like to cultivate. Sense yourself feeling relaxed and confident, easeful and healthy, feeling connected, loving and loved. Let yourself feel this as a reality in your mind and body now, as if you already exist in this state. If it is hard to access, let your imagination or intuition guide you into sensing what this might feel like, even just a tiny bit of this energy.
Take a few more breaths here, and as you are ready, coming back to the room, back to your day, continuing to stay connected to gratitude, letting go, and your deepest intentions.
Cheat Sheet: The three basic elements
Gratitude and Taking in the Good
Letting Go and Releasing anything that is no longer needed
Forming an intention and consciously shifting into a state of deeper alignment with this intention