Hi Friend,
2025 was a big year. A lot happened.
This is true for me personally and professionally.... and in our world.
2026 will also be a big year.
In Chinese astrology, it's the year of the Fire Horse: bold action, dynamism, speed, and transformation. (Transformation here is neither positive nor negative.)
Not that you are reading these missives for any guidance on Chinese astrology (erm, this is not the best place for that!), but you don't have to be an astrologer to know that a lot is going to be happening, and probably happening fast, in 2026.
Are you ready?
And wtf does it even mean to be ready for unknown futures?
Well, one of the ways to prepare is to engage with the recent past. Not because the future looks like the past. Surely we know better than that by now.
But to find patterns. To say: ok, this is some of what I know/can sense is coming for myself/my family/my community/my organization/my country/my bioregion/our initiatives.
To look at the big picture - things way outside of our control - as well as those wherein we have influence.
And that, my friend, is part of what this season of reflection is for.
To look back as part of looking forward. As part of being in the present. As part of making decisions. Including planning. Unsurprisingly, there's a lot of reflective processes to choose from.
And this year, it's really important that you engage with them.
Exception: there are times when it is not appropriate to do major reflection exercises (ie, if you've had intense loss/grief/change sometimes you need to not-reflect, and just keep going.)
But when I look at 2025, the time I spent at the beginning of the year deepening into a) my own reflection and b) spiritually preparing myself for the new administration was really, really helpful for a year of an onslaught of Executive Orders, the breakdown of many fine federal initiatives ,and the increase of terror on already marginal communities.
Not that I could have predicted everything that happened. But it was still helpful.
This year, we have at least a sense of at least some of the trends. Which doesn't mean that 2026 will just be a continuation of 2025 - that's too simple! But engaging with what you've noticed is really important.
Which is one of the reasons we keep offering our year-turning reflection process. As we have for the last 8 years.
We keep offering circular time sessions because it keeps helping people. A lot. And our process of Circular Time is especially attuned for today's world.
If you are unfamiliar with what this is all about, here's a short explanation.
What is Circular Time?
Circular Time is the name I've given to a process that I've developed to bring people closer to 'Earth Time' instead of 'Clock Time' - that is to say, to move away from an overly linear, extracative, and segmented relationship with time that is at the heart of so much dysfunction, sickness, and disconnection in the world today.
One of the basic aspects of this is to re-position yourself on a primary natural cycle (ie, the path of the earth's cycle around the sun). By re-positioning, I mean to help you connect with something that is already happening. You are already spiraling around the sun which is moving around the galaxy. It's awesome, if you pause to think about it. But the dominant culture creates a delusion that time is primarily linear: cycles, especially in relationship to grief and loss, are largely omitted from most ways of thinking about calendar systems.... including reflective processes.
What is your Circular Time course?
The primary way I've developed this process is via an experiential, DIY reflective process that helps people to create their own "Circular Calendars." Note, here, that I'm well-aware that time is actually far more of a spiral/helios and often multi-dimensional experience, not a two-dimensional circle. That said, I still prefer the way 'Circular time' over 'Spiralical time' sounds.
The core of the Circular Time work is the act of re-connecting your experience of time/your life to your local ecology. It is an eco-spiritual practice.
Our process also entails a powerful practice for discerning patterns. And for helping you challenge the very categories that you are using to define yourself... which might not be remotely helpful for the particularities of your life. The process, including the questions we ask, as a whole can and often does help uproot unhelpful and false narratives about yourself and your world.
It is, thus, working on multiple levels. At the level of ecology. Of story. Of emotions. Of society. Of relationships. Like so much that we do at Sequoia Samanvaya, it is this wholeness, this multi-dimensionality, this integration in a way that is also quite simple that makes this work so powerful.
Where does it come from?
It came from a mystical experience I had when I first started Sequoia Samanvaya. I started creating circular time calendars based on the lunar cycle on each Dark Moon. When one of my clients/students heard me talk about my practice, she asked me to teach it. I realized that the easiest way for people to learn the process was via the Solar Cycle - especially since most people have some kind of reflective process already in place during December/January.
It is also very, very old. Cultures around the world have been charting their individual and shared lives through cycles for millennia. There's really nothing new here at all. That said, the process that I've developed and that has been honed through 8 years of teaching this to people around the world is cool, and rare to find elsewhere.
Krissy and I also do in person Circular Time Rituals. That is a ritual that came to us together (ie, it is not from either of our respective cultural traditions).
What does signing up entail?
Unlike most of my courses, which are multi-week, this is very simple. There is a workbook and only one (optional) in person zoom session. (Note:These are NOT recorded.)
When you sign up, we will send you a workbook. The workbook contains both some background philosophy/historical context and a DIY guide. (You can download the DIY guide separately so that you can easily print it if that's helpful for you!)
Then - you do as much as you can in the workbook. You make your own circular time calendar. Then you come to the zoom session and everyone gets a chance to share. This online session is a sacred space where people get to share, reflect, and encourage one another: it is a beautiful circle that we co-create together.
I will almost always offer some kind of reflection questions for you as part of this.
How much time does it take?
It varies from person to person. People can get really into this process, and really crafty - many people bring out their pens, colored pencils, big pieces of paper. It's an activity you can do with young children, partners, and community members. The first time you do it, I recommend at least 2 hours for making the calendar itself (not counting reading the workbook). Many people spend closer to 4-6 hours on it - because it can be immensely rewarding and satisfying. (I can do a 'quick version' in about 45 minutes - but at this point I have a pretty clear sense of what my own practice is and what works for me.)
Is there anything else about this work with you that is valuable?
I'm really good at pattern recognition, discernment, and integration. It is part of what my clients and students tell me they most appreciate about working with me. I understand this tool very well, and can often spot things and offer encouragement to focus in particular directions.
For those clients who are working with me long term, I always encourage they participate in at least one circular time session, because it deeply enhances our work together. Sometimes people book 1-1 sessions with me just focusing on what came up for them in their solar/annual reflection, and figuring out 'what does this mean' for the upcoming year.
We have dates available for the zoom sessions throughout January - we know that a lot of folks don't actually get to their annual reflection until January!
I hope to see you in a session.
