Circle Time
Make your New Year’s resolution powerful through circle time. By Julia Davis and Tessa Venuti Sanderson
Reading time: 4-5 minutes
After New Year’s Eve, when the celebrations are over, there is time for contemplation of the year we’ve left behind and the one to come. There can be an urge to make resolutions to turn ourselves into a better person and yet the fear of not keeping them makes us think twice.
As co-authors of Circle Holding: A Practical Guide to Facilitating Talking Circles, we encourage you to bring together a group of likeminded souls to hear what you’re happy to let go of from last year and what your goals are for the future. To say aloud your resolutions gives them power and those in the circle can give you encouragement and accountability.
A talking circle can create the perfect environment for reflection, whether it’s in your home with a group of friends, woven into a New Year’s class or as part of a special workshop. Making a resolution for the whole of 2025 could be overwhelming, so why not just focus on the month ahead?
Here are some ideas for your New Year circle:
Invitation: Share your idea to reflect on the year past and to create a positive mind set for the year to come in a supportive environment
Starting the circle: Light a candle, share a poem about new beginnings and/or take some settling breaths
Introduction: Explain that you’ll take turns to talk rather than talking over each other, that this is not a place to fix or judge ideas, but instead to listen respectfully.
Journalling: Take some time to write what has brought you joy in 2024, what do you want to leave behind, and what are your heartfelt desires for 2025 (or the month ahead if that feels less daunting).
Special activity: Buy ‘flash’ or magic paper to write what you’re letting go. When you hold it to the candle, it will disappear in a flash.
In pairs: Share your ideas for the future with one other person. Give the first person 4-5 minutes to talk without interruption, then swap over.
In circle: Choose one joyful experience from 2024 and one wish for 2025 to share in the group.
Special activity: Decorate an object as you talk with acrylic pens or have a crystal / pebble to take home as a reminder of the resolutions and time together.
Closing the circle: Share one word for how you feel now, hold hands and send a ‘Mexican wave’ (a squeeze) around the circle, take a big breath in and a sigh out together and/or blow the candle out.
Special activity: Come closer so your hands are together and pass a thick cotton thread, weaving around each person’s wrist. Cut between each person and ask your neighbour to tie it as a bracelet. This will be a daily reminder of your heart’s desires and New Year resolutions.
Why not make this a monthly gathering? Introduce the idea of cyclical living and refresh your positive mindset with others.
Circle Holding is out now, available from Singing Dragon (singingdragon.com)
For more circle holding information visit: circleholding.org
Om Magazine
First published in November 2009, OM Yoga magazine has become the most popular yoga title in the UK. Available from all major supermarkets, independents and newsstands across the UK. Also available on all digital platforms.
