allowing structured reflection to guide surprising realizations
sometimes we avoid taking stock of how far we’ve come because embodying our boldest self is then the next step
Join me for an Embodied Intention Setting Workshop on 2/17, or schedule a 1:1 session.
Whenever I’m leading a workshop or learning space, I’m being transformed by the experience as much as any participant. In my recent Winter Review workshop, we synthesized and honored the growth of the last year through the metaphor of tending a garden, and then I led a guided visualization for participants to receive a symbol or representation of who they have become over the last year.
The symbol representing my last year that arrived in my own reflection has been somewhat uncomfortable to receive, because it requires me to own and acknowledge a powerful version of myself that I previously wanted to remain hidden. It necessitates coming into radical acceptance of myself and my role on this planet. Winter Review comes out of my own yearly integration practice, and hearing from participants about their experience reminds me why this sort of cyclical reflection practice is so important.
Folks shared that:
the specificity of the structure helped them really slow down and come to new realizations about the last year
the garden metaphor process helped really make meaning out of what initially felt like an overwhelm in reviewing the events of the last year, and helped them find confidence and gratitude for their growth
helped them to see how they have become a different person inside of important relationships
they were led to investigate attachments to what they had been putting out in the world, and transmuting this to acceptance of allowing themselves and other people to be where they are
they tracked how deep held beliefs about self/identity had to transform - coming more into their values and aligned beliefs
It’s still the perfect time to do your own review of the last year. Winter is still offering its gifts of slowness and quiet, and space for us to regather our pieces that stretched out in the expansion of the last year. Utilizing winter to tend the soil of our lives by honoring and integrating last year’s growth prepares us to blossom with consciousness and agency in the spring. This grounded and integrated awareness is then the ideal space from which to set intentions for the next year.
Even if you missed the workshop, you can still do your own Winter Review. I’ve made the workshop available for download here. (This guided process is also great to do anytime you’re wanting to honor a cycle with reflection, like a birthday or anniversary.)
Then I’m offering an Embodied Intention Setting workshop on 2/17 (the new moon that takes us into the year of the fire horse), and you’re welcome to join whether you’ve done a winter reflection process or not. This new moon and the Saturn-Neptune conjunction right after are a big point of transition, and the perfect time to get clear about what you’re birthing in the next year/era.
In this Embodied Intention Setting workshop we’ll exploring how to come into clarity in order to take liberatory action in the world with your whole heart and the consent of your body. The workshop is online and sliding scale, and is a part of this Embodied Workshop Series with various local practitioners.
I’m so grateful for who I’ve become and remembered myself to be over the last year and I’m leaning into deep courage to embody this potent version of myself. I hope you’ll join me in embodying the truest version of your most powerful self.
Sufia Ikbal-Doucet (they/them) is a creator of luxurious healing spaces, a teacher of heart-led earth connection, and a doula of personal transformation. You can work with Sufia one-on-one, invite them to speak or teach, and check out their upcoming events at PrismaticRealm.com.