Returning to Yourself: How to Reset Your Body and Soul at the Beginning of the Year

There is a special moment on the calendar — the first weeks after New Year’s. The celebration is already behind us, the holiday lights have dimmed, lists of plans have been written, and inside… there is silence. And often, in that silence, we can hear what we have been carefully drowning out throughout the year: fatigue, tension, accumulated emotions, and the feeling that “I seem to be living on autopilot.”

That is why the beginning of the year is the best time not for a sprint, but for a reset. Not for a race, but for a return. A return to yourself.

We are used to measuring success by pace: how much we managed to do, how much we accomplished, how many tasks we crossed off the list. But human energy works differently. It is not an endless resource that can be drained down to the last drop. It is more like breathing: we need to receive it, allow it in, and replenish ourselves.

In this sense, the wisdom of ancient practices has not become outdated in the slightest. Meditation, breathing techniques, mantra chanting, mindfulness rituals, gentle movement, working with the body and attention — none of these are simply trends. They are tools that have helped people for thousands of years restore balance, clear the mind, regain strength, and hear their inner “yes” and “no.”

Not far from Ottawa, in the picturesque area of Val-des-Monts, there is a place that many describe as a “place of power” — the Academy of Health and Happiness. Here, there is a quiet lakeshore, majestic pine trees, and air that makes you want to breathe more deeply. Most remarkable of all is the feeling that nature itself is acting like a gentle therapist: reducing background noise, slowing the inner rush, and bringing you back into your body.

It was here, from January 23 to 25, that the intimate retreat “Returning to Yourself” took place. It was organized by Dina Weizman, a guide and teacher of spiritual practices and meditation, which she has been practicing for more than 14 years.

Three days may not sound like much. But sometimes just a few days in the right environment are enough to shift something inside that months of effort had failed to move.

The Healing Power of Intimacy

This retreat was not about scale or spectacle. It was about depth. A small group, closeness, trust, and care. When there is no crowd around you, but rather people who are genuinely ready to be authentic. When there is no need to “keep up appearances.” When you can finally exhale.

And perhaps this is one of the greatest rarities of our time: a space without background noise — external or internal.

The retreat program may sound like a list, but in reality it was a journey in which each element worked like a doorway — toward the body, emotions, and inner freedom.

What the retreat included:

A cacao ceremony with Dina, who is certified to lead such ceremonies. The ceremonial cacao was specially brought from Guatemala. This is not a drink simply “for taste,” but a gentle ritual of opening the heart and focusing attention, where warmth seems to spread not only through the body, but through the soul as well.

Kirtan with musicians: two hours of live mantra chanting together with professional musicians. Here, it does not matter whether you know how to sing. What matters is allowing your voice to be heard. The voice is also energy. And when it is released, something much greater is released along with it.

Breathing practices, meditation, and gentle movement — practices that bring you back into the body and help “rewire” the nervous system.

Tension-release practices and energy work, where fatigue stops feeling like a sentence and becomes a signal: “I need care.”

A tea ceremony — a lesson in presence. Not running. Not rushing. Not trying to “get one more thing done” during a conversation. Simply being.

An introduction to neurographic art — an extraordinary way to loosen inner knots through line, shape, colour, and symbol.

Ecstatic dance and mantra chanting — the culmination of liberation, when the body stops holding itself back and joy begins to feel natural.

Classic Indian vegetarian and Mediterranean cuisine — delicious, warm, nurturing food that does not weigh you down, but supports you.

When the Outside Switches Off, the Inside Switches On

One of the most powerful moments happened on the final day: because of an accident in Quebec, the electricity and water were cut off.

It would have been an easy reason to cancel the program, become confused, complain, or say, “Well, of course… just our luck.”

But something else happened.

The participants did not give up for a single moment.

Wearing jackets, wrapped in blankets, by candlelight, they completed all the planned meditations. Because the new inner state they had discovered had become more important than external circumstances.

It was deeply symbolic: we cannot control the world, but we can choose who we are within what is happening. And moments like these reveal what we have truly found — temporary inspiration or genuine inner support.

Energy That Spreads Joy

Kirtan deserves a chapter of its own. It was a tremendous success.

It seemed that the musicians had never before seen people dance so enthusiastically to Sanskrit mantras, form circles, and shout with happiness.

Then ecstatic dance amplified the flow of energy many times over.

Later, many participants said that it felt like an incredibly powerful “surge of life” — exactly what they had been missing.

Not the artificial stimulation of coffee and deadlines, but real energy — the feeling of truly being alive.

Dina is endlessly grateful to all the participants for entrusting her with the most precious things one can share: their souls, hearts, openness, and courage.

She found great joy in watching people, step by step, release control, allow themselves to be authentic, surrender fully to the practices — and discover more within themselves than they had expected.

Why Do We Need to “Return to Ourselves”?

Because life as an immigrant, in a new rhythm and a new country, often demands extraordinary effort from us.

We are constantly “holding everything together”: work, children, documents, plans, worries.

And without noticing it, we can begin to turn ourselves into yet another project that has to be “managed.”

A retreat is an opportunity to become human again.

Not a function.

Not a role.

But yourself.

And perhaps the most important thing the participants took away was not a collection of techniques.

It was a state of being: inner silence, clarity, lightness, a sense of meaning, and trust in life.

That very feeling of: “I have come home” — into my own heart.

Until the next spiritual journey toward our true selves.

To contact Dina Weizman, call 343-572-8334 (WhatsApp, SMS).