Reasons To Smile: New Moon

During stressful times, maintaining inner peace can be a challenge. Yet it remains as important as ever to carve out small moments to re-center and reconnect with what grounds us. We asked our community to share stories of finding joy amidst adversity.

This week, Roxanne Menzies, a long-time leader at Wedgewood Weddings, shares how she rebalanced with the new moon.

Finding my inner peace

Roxanne Menzies

I usually attend a New Moon Ceremony each month at my local yoga studio. We complete some light yoga to start, followed by a tea ceremony. Our instructor will then guide us through a meditation that includes breath work, rosewater spritzes, burning sage and palo santo, and finishes with a sound bath.

What is a New Moon Ceremony?

"A New Moon marks the beginning phase of the monthly lunar cycle, when the Moon and the Sun are in divine alignment. This energy is potent; you may feel weary and low in vitality as energies of change and transformation boil up. Be gentle with yourself in the way you move, expend your energy, communicate or think, allowing time for ritual, meditation and relaxation during this New Moon phase."
Wellbeing.com

My Ritual

Once we come out of the meditation, we do three things individually while enjoying being part of a group:

1. Commit to our intentions for the coming month
2. Explore what behaviors or feelings we need to release
3. Decide what we want to call in to help reach our goals.

At the end of the class, we are given a healing crystal that the instructor has chosen based on the upcoming astrological situation. This is always my favorite part because I'm not so secretly obsessed with crystals. It's one of the things I look forward to most every month because it gives me the perfect little slice of "me time" and allows me an opportunity to focus inward without interruption.

I created my own little ceremony to celebrate the new moon on Tuesday, March 24. My ceremony began with clearing out the negative energy in my home by burning sage and calling in positive energy with burning palo santo. Then I did 30 minutes of restorative yoga in my newly cleansed space. I found a guided meditation on Insight Time (a meditation app) that had me follow some journal prompts to help me set my intentions for the month. When I finished all of this, I whipped up a mug of my favorite mushroom hot cacao and sipped it surrounded by crystals. It definitely helped me let go of some stress and focus on the positive things I have in my life.