Nearing the New Year can stir up a mixed emotional bag of hopefulness and anxiety. After the rush of the celebratory countdown and the lull of post-party recovery, a sense of urgency may follow.  Perhaps, as I’ve done in the past, a cloud of guilt and dissatisfaction storms in with the demands of New Year’s Resolutions, driven by self-judgment.  Personal development is fundamental, but when laced with condemning should’s and shouldn’ts, this mindset can easily lure you into self-defeat.
 
Instead, what about exploring ways to shed the social conditioning of not being enough and not having enough?  What about practicing ways to remember that vibrant wellbeing, peace and abundance are already your true nature?  If a fulfilling life journey is marked by moments of wholehearted presence, how about planting the seeds for these moments while you transition into the New Year?
 
Here are five ways to empower this conscious transition:

1. Take a reflective pause.  
Amidst the year-end sales, winter weather, family gatherings and socials, carve out a moment for yourself to connect with your inner being.  This moment could be 20 minutes on a silent nature walk in your neighborhood, unplugging from internet devices and intently seeing, hearing and smelling the natural world around you—a practice that’s called forest-bathing.  Or this moment could be having a meal in solitude, simply breathing, tasting, smelling and appreciating healthy nourishment. 

2. Connect with your intuition.  
Find your personal way to surrender to creative flow. Write stream-of-consciousness style in your journal with your timer on for 5 minutes.  Engage in an art activity, like Somatic Flow, that you enjoy for the sake of immersing playfully in the present moment. Allow yourself time to fantasize your answer to this question: If anything is possible, what new adventure does my soul wish to embark on this year?  Connect wholeheartedly to the joy of possibility.

3. Ground in what is.  
Just as it is important to play and befriend your imagination, living intentionally entails self-awareness and understanding areas needing healing or growth.  Truthfully assess the state of different aspects of your life, such as finances, your relationship to yourself, your relationship to family, work life, physical health, mental well-being, sense of spiritual connection, recreation and hobbies.  What do you normally spend most of your time, energy and resources on? With non-judgment, notice if this aligns with what’s important to you.
 
Depending on your processing style, consider creating a pie chart, journaling or discussing this with a trusted friend.  Celebrate areas in your life in which you feel fulfillment or have made progress in. Pinpoint areas where you would like to create a conscious shift and consider listing actions for moving forward on your journey.  Avoid overwhelming yourself with too many items on your list by perhaps choosing a theme for your year ahead and starting with a few basic doable steps.

4. Commit daily to remembering and being inspired by your WHY.  
Decide on your personal values that you feel devoted to as you step into the New Year.  What daily practice can you do, no matter how small, that connects you to what you love and care deeply about?  For example, if you are devoted to feeling and being healthy, what action can you take first thing each morning that contributes to your feeling of wellbeing?  Perhaps, before opening your eyes each morning, begin with the thought: Today, I’m grateful for…  Use this to cultivate an attitude of gratitude to spark joy at the start of your day.  Consider starting 28 days of guided daily physical yoga, skillful breathing and meditation for 10-20 minutes with Daily Yoga Habit.

5. Create the space for what you invite.  
Whatever your intentions may be for the New Year, does anything need to be de-cluttered or released to prepare yourself to be open for what you’re calling in?  If you’re choosing to focus on a healthy lifestyle, scan your home for any items that may not serve this intention.  Consider donating them.  Are there old beliefs that no longer serve your wellbeing or the wellbeing of your relationships?  Consider ways to address them at their roots and finding resources and tools, such as therapy or mindfulness meditations, to help you move through areas where you may feel stuck or energetically blocked. 
 
Here’s a free yoga class recording, called Creating Space for What You Invite.  As Yogi Sri T. Krishnamacharya said, “Yoga is a process of replacing old patterns with new and more appropriate patterns.”  With self-compassion and mindfulness, notice the ways you can allow space for what you’re inviting into your life in the New Year.
 
It’s essential to remember that these practices are a continuous process, not a one-off.  Our human journey is filled with seasons and cycles of feeling blissful and encountering challenges to awaken our continued expansion of consciousness and everything in between.  Let the new year serve as among the many times of the year when you reassess, reflect, realign, celebrate, release, forgive, allow grace and keep flowing.  Use the consistency of your mindfulness and spiritual practices to strengthen your ability to ground in clarity and awaken inspired wise action.  Consider joining our monthly Full Moon Reiki, Yin and Sound gatherings as a monthly tuneup in these practices or our seasonal retreats as a quarterly realignment to refresh your inspiration.
 
As we enter the New Year, let’s celebrate that we’re both a masterpiece and a work in progress, as we plant the seeds for empowered wholehearted living!

The memories and insights from deep forest-bathing are engrained in me, and I appreciate my learning journey there and that which continues.  (For three nights after returning to LA from Yakushima, I dreamt of its forest and jungles so vividly that in walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night I saw all the furniture in my apartment as plants.)  I’m inspired to continue deepening the practice of forest-bathing that I guide within our Root 2 Rise Yoga community and retreats.  I owe it to our Mother Earth and the more-than-human life that sustains and supports us, including our ancestors, who made it possible for us to be here now. 

​May we embody the love that is our unifying essence with all life on this planet and beyond.  

Yoga uprooted my life and led me on a healing journey of inspired wellbeing that moved me to share the practice with as many people it could also benefit.  I envisioned a Yoga practice that was accessible, sustainable long-term and inclusive to diverse bodies, backgrounds, ages and experience, including beginners.  At the heart of this vision was the knowing that when we root into our true nature of pure love, we rise individually and collectively in wellbeing and consciousness.  ​

The many practices of Yoga, from meditation and physical postures to balance energy to practicing non-harm (ahimsa) and devotion to what you hold sacred (isvara pranidhana), are tools for aligning with our true nature.  Naturally, the name Root 2 Rise Yoga sprouted for this community offering. ​

I began offering Yoga classes by donation at my mom’s home for family and friends in 2010, as I completed my first Yoga Teacher Certification at YogaWorks. Our monthly gatherings usually ended with a healthy potluck.  Our Root 2 Rise Yoga community gradually grew to include regulars from the classes I facilitated at gyms, local YMCAs, universities, running clubs and more.  ​

While we stemmed from different walks of life (which contributes to broadening our perspectives), we were unified by common values: expanding our consciousness, wellness in all dimensions and sincerity in trying to live the values of Yoga.  We began practicing together more regularly at parks, where nature invited us to connect with her.  Our practices branched out into hiking and meditating among trees, retreats, and more recently, Reiki energy healing sessions and Soundbaths. ​

Our first Yoga retreat (photo above) was a one-day gathering in my mom’s backyard in 2012 and included guest speakers from a meditation temple and the vegan chef and co-owner of Sun Café Organic.  ​

​Over the years, our retreats expanded to other locations in California and internationally to Bali, Peru and Costa Rica, the latter where I received the impetus to reroute my vocational path to facilitating Yoga and the healing arts while teaching abroad as a schoolteacher in 2009-2010.  Now in 2024, we prepare for our retreats in Yosemite in August and Northern Thailand in October.

​A universal theme that threads throughout our retreats is exploring ways to integrate the practices and values of Yoga in our daily lives to support our and the collective wellbeing.  During our international retreats, we explore ways to connect with the local culture and nature meaningfully, embracing the definition of Yoga as union and expanding it to harmony with all beings.  

​We also integrate creative arts, such as dancing freely, drumming or painting meditatively, as ways to tap into the expression of, and strengthen trust in, our true nature.  Nature connection, such as through forest-bathing, is an integral part of our retreats, to help us deepen a conscious relationship with Mother Earth, who in turn awakens the remembering that we are nature too and carry wisdom deep within, just like the trees do.  Retreats have allowed us to strengthen our relationships with life, nature, each other and ourselves.

Steps:

1. Dice the whole red onion and let marinate in the juice of 1 whole lime.
2. Chop the hearts of palm into coin-shaped "fish"
3. Dice the rest of the produce, except for the flowers and add to the bowl of marinating onions.
4. Add a tablespoon at a time of Braggs Aminos, stir and taste to choose how savory you prefer the dish.  I used 3 tablespoons.
5. Grind black pepper to taste.
6. Sprinkle Peruvian spice to taste.
7. Add the juice of more limes to taste.
8. Just before serving, top with edible marigolds.  I chose to have the flowers just for the eyes's enjoyment and didn't prefer their taste added to the ceviche.
9. Dip some plantain chips into the ceviche and taste, or sprinkle the corn nuts over your bowl of ceviche to add the taste and crunch. 

As we learned on our Peru Retreat, the Inkas were very spiritually connected to Pachamama (Mother Earth) and would make gratitude offerings to her throughout their day, sometimes in the form of a simple prayer.  Remember to pause before you devour this nourishment and find a personally meaningful way to offer gratitude for your ability to enjoy it.

Feel free to leave a comment below and share any feedback or fun tweeks you made to this recipe!

Costa Rica 2018

Bali, Indonesia 2017 (left) & 2019 (right)

Ghana 2008