How to celebrate the new year like a spiritual yogi

2020 has been everything that none of us expected it to be when it started. Now, as the year comes to an end, we are not exactly the same people as when 2020 began. Many of us had the time to reflect, rewind, and take self-care as a priority, turning us to healthy living and spirituality. With new perspectives on well-being and safety being a priority, most of us are likely to spend New Year’s eve indoors. It is a chance for us to celebrate the new year with soul, bringing the fun and laughter from the parties to our homes.

So, celebrate this day like a spiritual yogi, with lots of bliss and a bang.

Treat for the body & soul

Cook a scrumptious and healthy meal with and for friends and family. Replace the previous year’s tequila with a soup or herbal tea concoction. How about a delicious meal, cooked mindfully, to satisfy the taste buds, body, mind, and soul? 

• Plan your perfect meal by picking from our fifty-two delicious and Ayurveda-based recipes of drinks, salads, soups, starters, and desserts here. 
• Get a few friends and family members to do the cooking together.
• While cooking, play soulful, uplifting music of your choice. You can also play this playlist of the most soothing and energizing bhajans from The Art of Living.
• Try to have an early dinner, a practice which is good for the body, and save some fun and laughter for the night.

Make something and gift it to your loved ones

Before the celebrations begin, consider making something with your hand for yourself or your loved ones. Creating connects us with ourselves and nourishes the soul. It is not necessary for you to be historically creative, you can always learn anything you like online.

• Write something
• Make a painting
• Do pottery
• Stitch an embroidery
• Click the things you like and pick something to frame
• The list is endless

Celebrate with a Satsang

Satsang means the company of the truth. Singing or playing songs for the Divine is one way to be in the company of the universal truth. The activity creates a positive shift in one’s energy, connecting you with your soul. 

• You and your friends and family can sing devotional songs together. You can pick from popular bhajans of The Art of Living. Sing along their lyrics which you can find here. 
• Find and sing songs written by saints of yore like Sant Kabir and share their meanings with your Satsang gang.
• Replace last year’s clubbing dance playlist with upbeat fusion bhajans like Krishna Govinda. Get your gang to dance to this playlist.
• Create a special ritual by doing something completely different. For instance, you could join Gurudev for New Year celebrations live.

Gratitude, wisdom, and a prayer

As the clock strikes midnight, sit in gratitude for everything that you’ve been blessed with - the strength to go through this tough time, the new opportunities to explore, the family time brought by the pandemic, and so on. Pray for your loved ones, hug them if they are in the same room, and pray for better times for the world. Introspect and reflect on the past year’s efforts, achievements, and lessons, to create a fulfilling 2021.

Here is a special New Year message by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to guide you:

“A poor man celebrates the new year once a year. A rich man celebrates each day. But the richest man celebrates every moment.

How rich are you? Do you celebrate once a year? Once a month? Every day? If you celebrate every moment, you are the Lord of Creation.”

Review the year while you celebrate. This is your homework. 

• What did you do? 
• What did you achieve? 
• How useful were you this past year?

Sit for an hour and think about every week, one minute per week, and see the year's growth in less than an hour. With a flower, on New Year's Day, offer the whole year to the Divine.

Start the year with your favorite spiritual practice

Welcome the first day of the New Year with your favorite spiritual practice. You can meditate, practice yoga, listen to chants, spend some alone time with nature or all of them together. 

New Year sankalpa 

There is a saying: when the rest of the world takes resolutions, yogis take sankalpas. Sankalpas are intentions that we let go of and offer to the universe. It is a way of communicating with the universe: bring me whatever is needed to fulfill my intention.

On the first day of this New Year, take your sankalpas: one for your spiritual progress and one for your progress in the world. Most of the time, the first resolution will automatically help you achieve the second. Some ideas for the first resolution:

• Resolve to be more regular with your spiritual practices
• Study a scripture this year
• Learn a chant
• Be committed to staying in the present moment
• Resolve to stay calm and centered
• Reserve some budget and time for spiritual retreats this year
• Add a feature to your practice: start listening to a chant while practicing yoga or add some more yoga poses to your practice

Choose a sustainable lifestyle this year

An important part of taking yoga beyond the yoga mat involves choosing a sustainable lifestyle. Extend your yogic celebrations throughout the year with choices good for your body, mind, pocket, and the planet.

• Eat organic. 
• Choose walking and bicycling over driving.
• Make it a habit to skip the nightly phone use. It will save electricity and ensure a good night’s sleep.
• Avoid processed foods. 
• Choose eco-friendly materials over plastic.
• Buy animal-friendly cosmetics.
• Make your own natural face scrub, masks, and creams.
• Donate your old clothes. Don’t discard them.
• Buy what you need. Avoid buying what you want.

Consider donating for a cause

With the money that you’ve saved from celebrating like a yogi, donate towards a cause you are passionate about. It will bring contentment to the soul, ending the celebrations like adding a cherry on the cake.

Add a powerful spiritual practice this new year. Learn Sudarshan Kriya in the Online Meditation & Breath workshop. 

Also, reserve a few days for our special meditation retreats.