Clearing Space for the New

January arrives like a long exhale but not always the kind that brings relief.

For some it is but for others it is the exhale you make when you are bracing yourself to push on after the festive season has taken more out of you than you expected.

The celebrations rarely unfold as smoothly as we imagined. There is joy mixed with exhaustion, connection mixed with pressure and a familiar sense of frustration when the chaos leaves us feeling unsettled rather than renewed.

Yet, every year we approach the 1st of January with the same determination. Another year, another promise that this year will be different.

The gym membership is renewed. The detox is planned. The vision board is ready. This is it the fresh start, the new you, the year everything changes.

Except... it doesn't, does it?

A few weeks later, we find ourselves slipping back into the patterns we were trying to escape. We try to outrun the heaviness.

So perhaps the question is not “How do I create a new me?” Perhaps it is: “Why is this the same every year?”
“How am I truly feeling this January?”

Tired? Overwhelmed? Heavy? Disconnected? Like you are already behind before you have even started?

Before anything new can begin, we have to meet ourselves honestly.

The Energy We Carry

We walk into January holding far more than we realise.

Frustrated that we overindulged, overspent or overcommitted. That we said yes when we meant no. That we pushed through when our body was asking us to stop.

We carry tension in our shoulders, tightness in our chest, a nervous system that has been on high alert since mid December.

And instead of acknowledging how we actually feel, we jump straight into fixing ourselves.

Then there is the breath, tight, shallow guarded. Not because we choose it but because our bodies adapt to what we live through.

Every year we layer more onto the same patterns, trying to fix the surface without tending to what lies underneath.

Setting intentions is beautiful but if the inner space is cluttered, the intentions cannot take root.

This is where breathwork comes in. Not as another thing to add to your list but as the clearing that needs to happen first.

Breathwork as Energetic Clearing

Patterns are not just mental. They are energetic.

The frustration from the holidays is stored in the body.
The pressure to hold everything together is held in the breath.
The belief that you need to be different or do more is wired into the nervous system.

Until you clear that energy, it does not matter how many goals you set. The pattern will repeat because the energy that created it is still there.

Transformational Breath® works with the energy stored in your body: the tension, the holding, the emotional patterns that resurface every January, no matter how committed you are to change.

Breathwork does not ask you to reinvent yourself. It helps you release what keeps pulling you back into the same loops.

When you breathe consciously, you are not just oxygenating your cells. You are clearing residue that has accumulated over time. You are making space inside yourself so this year does not have to mirror the last.

Your body is like a home that gathers clutter each season. You can keep rearranging the furniture but until you actually clear the clutter, there is no space to move or add new piece.

The breath clears the clutter.
Clearing space is not about making yourself better. It is about releasing what is covering who you already are.

What Are You Still Carrying?

What patterns keep repeating themselves year after year?

You do not need to analyse or make sense of them, awareness is the beginning of release.

Patterns live in the body.
You cannot think your way out of them but you can breathe your way through them and that gives your body permission to let them go.

You cannot take in something new if you are still holding the old.

January invites you to inhale new goals new habits new energy but if you have not exhaled last year’s stress patterns or expectations, there is no space.

You deserve to start from a place of clarity not chaos.

A Simple Clearing Breath

Sit comfortably. Close your eyes. Place one hand on your heart and one on your belly.

Ask yourself: What pattern am I ready to release?

You do not need to name it. Simply feel it. Notice where it sits in your body.

Begin to breathe into that place. Inhale fully and deeply. Exhale with sound, sigh it out, let it be messy, let it be loud.

With each exhale, imagine you are releasing the pattern. Not forcing it, just allowing it to move.

Inhale: “I see this pattern.”
Exhale (with sound): “I release it.”

Continue for a few minutes then rest your hands on your heart and affirm:
“I am clear. I am open. I am ready.”

Notice how you feel. Lighter or emotional, both are welcome.

When Space Opens

The “new you” is not someone you need to become. It is who has been underneath everything you have been carrying.

The breath is how you clear the way back.

This is my wish for you this month: not pressure or perfection but an honest beginning and a clear sense of yourself beneath the noise.

Ready to Begin?

If you feel the call to break the cycle and begin the year grounded, I would love to support you.

The Breath Opening
A gentle introduction to Transformational Breath® if you are curious or ready for a new approach.

1:1 Sessions
A deeper space for clearing patterns and reconnecting with what you actually need.

New dates will be added soon on my website.

Clear First. Then Begin.

You do not need a perfect plan for January.
You need breath.
You need space.
You need yourself, without the weight you have been carrying.

Before you rush into doing, pause, breathe, clear.
Let this year begin differently.

With Love and Light
Stefanie

Founder of The Oya Energy
www.theoyaenergy.co.uk

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