The Art of Wintering Part 2 - welcoming a New Year!
- emmasyogahut
- Dec 29, 2025
- 6 min read
Updated: Jan 1
Welcome to 2026! The start of a New Year can be a lovely time to revisit your highlights of the previous year, indulging in a little bit of reminiscing and finding the corners of the year that has just passed which we can feel gratitude for. These might be some sweeping general things - like the gorgeously sunny summer we had, or really specific events, celebrations, visits or holidays in the year that filled your heart with gladness. Spending time being grateful for the year that has just been is a gorgeous way to fill your cup! I sometimes make photo collages on my phone of various seasons or months, I like taking photos and I usually take waaaay too many of them! For me, this is a lovely way that I can revisit all the fun things that happened in the year, often little things I had forgotten about. A lovely way to revisit the year and to take a moment to appreciate the magic of the life!
We are at the point in the year where there is much talk about New Years Resolutions, and personally I can think of no worse time to add to the endless societal pressure to somehow always be better and improve in some way. Rest assured the current you is just as beautiful and wonderful as can be. Plus, it is cold, it is dark, it is still very much midwinter. That means we are in the window where we should still be taking things slow - dreaming and thinking about the year to comes possibilities, rather than jumping straight in when our energy is low. Now is the time for leaning into the darkness and the quiet, it is a time to gently nurture ourselves and through that we might discover what we sincerely want for ourselves and our lives next.... maybe in time for spring...when we have more energy!
In yoga, specifically in Yoga Nidra, there is a beautiful practice called Sankalpa. The idea of a Sankalpa is one of quietly tuning into your hearts desire. Sitting in silence to listen into the heart and soul, taking time to really ask yourself what it is you want most. Not what you think you should want, not what family or friends or society think you should want - but what you want most for yourself, deep in your heart.
Sankalpa is a Sanskrit word, often there is no direct literal translation of Sanskrit into English, but to break it down as best we can we have "kalpa" meaning vow, and "san" referring to our own highest truth. So a Sankalpa becomes a vow to support our highest truth - to support us in being our best self. It is there to help you meet your deepest, most important goals in a gentle, heartfelt and flexible way.
You turn this into a present “I am….” statement. You then use this when you meditate, as a mantra, as an affirmation as a personal reminder or, of course, in your Yoga Nidra practice until that Sankalpa has become your truth, or until it needs to pass evolve to meet a new need. Examples might be – “I am content and happy” “I am healthy and well” “I am at peace” or they might be very specific, especially if you are working to step away from a habit, develop a new routine or work towards a goal.
Having a Sankalpa takes off the pressure to have a given New Years resolution that is stuck to or not! A Sankalpa is more of a gentle, natural evolution, your Sankalpa changes as you need it to change, and because you are not static, your situation and circumstances and needs and wants are not static. This makes for a much more helpful way to develop and gently grow in the direction you want to travel.
Equally, it is not always the right time to have a Sankalpa. If you are in the middle of some big things and are in survival mode it is a time to simply offer yourself unconditional love and self care – which, in all honesty, is a pretty good starting point for anyone at anytime!
A lovely way to start investigating what your Sankalpa might be is to simply find a quiet place where you wont be disturbed for 5 or 10 minutes. Find a comfortable seated position, making sure you are sat with a lovely long, tall spine, soften the body, feel your connection to the ground and / or the chair, then tune into the breath. Begin to imagine the breath is travelling to your heart centre - perhaps let a little light glows in the heart centre. Let it glow a little brighter with every inhale, as if you were gently blowing on an ember in a fire, and as you exhale feel that glow travel all around your body.....Rest your attention at your heart centre and simply sit quietly with the eyes closed for a few minutes. Notice what comes up. Try not to get caught up in the noise of the minds chatter, when you start thinking about your shopping list or something that happened the day before, just notice that thought and kindly take your focus back to your breath. A few minutes quiet can help us to tune into what is most important to us. Nothing might come up, but then later on in the day or week maybe that little moment of quietude will mean something does appear. Perhaps you might want to do this every morning for a few days. Just set an alarm for 5 or 10 minutes and allow yourself quiet and stillness, because it is in this quiet that our heart gets heard over the noisy chatter of our heads!
Emma's Yoga Hut in 2026!
2025 bought so many new things at Emma's Yoga Hut, almost all of which simply gently evolved as we went through the year. Everything I do is inspired by you, created and curated with you in mind. I am working with the plan that the year 2026 will unfurl exactly as it is supposed to, and we will see what new things arrive with it! Emma’s Yoga Hut remains your space and place for the things you need to soothe, nurture and nourish you in body mind and soul - so please always feel free to share your thoughts and ideas with me!
We re-start classes in the week of 12 January.
Midwinter Sound bath in January: join us for a midwinter themed meditation and sound bath at Earley Crescent Resource Centre. What better way to deal with the return to reality than by arranging some self care and treats for yourself? Bring along pillows and blankets and make yourself cosy, we will be surrounded by candles and seasonal foliage as the sound of singing bowls and other sound healing instruments lull you into a meditative space of calm. 630pm Friday 16th January
January 16th also sees the start of a new yoga class starting at the Earley Crescent Resource Centre! A Friday morning 10am mat based class designed to gently stretch and strengthen the body, releasing tension, improving balance and flexibility and bringing a sense of calm to the mind and spirit. Suitable for everyone, even absolute beginners! Find out more here:
And finally, we have a super rare opportunity! There is a space available on our 1830 Wednesday Hatha Flow class in the yoga hut!!! If you are interested then book it here, or drop me a line to find out more:
Our Lunar Luxury Sound baths, Rest: Yin and Nidra classes, and Cross Quarterly Women's Circle are already sold out for this Winter / early Spring. I am currently ruminating on how Spring Equinox and Easter might be marked, and I will let you know as these things come to be!
In the mean time, Happy New Year, and please do not feel any pressure to transform yourself unless you are fully ready to - you are already absolutely perfect exactly as you are!
With love and the very best wishes for the year ahead,
Emma xx
(Emma runs Emma’s Yoga Hut in Earley. A teeny garden studio for nurturing holistic small group yoga. She is a yoga student and yoga teacher and has practiced yoga for nearly 30 years. She trained with the Traditional Yoga Association right here in Reading between 2016 and 2018 to achieve her 500 hour yoga teaching accreditation. She has additional teaching qualifications in Yin Yoga and Yoga Nidra. She is an Internationally Accredited Sound Bath Facilitator and specialises in singing bowls. She teaches Chair Yoga classes at local community centres where there is almost always a coffee and a chat after class. Emma is passionate about getting the beautiful benefits of yoga out to as many people as possible, and she tries her best to practice yoga every day, and her Sankalpa going into 2026 is "I am protecting my peace to create more space for play!")
Comments