The savory smell of turnip cakes frying on a griddle takes me back to Chinese New Year gatherings in my growing up years in Hong Kong.

How do you prepare for the Lunar New Year?

The savory smell of turnip cakes frying on a griddle takes me back to Chinese New Year gatherings in my growing up years in Hong Kong. The fullness of households, adults chattering as they trade opinions on various stages of hot food prep, and little humans exploring the decorative platters with several small compartments to display the candied ginger and pineapple, roasted cashews and almonds, black and white sesame seed sticks. There is a rich mix of salty-sweet deliciousness. Each fruit, nut, seed, steamed dumpling, and long noodle is symbolic of luck, fortune, longevity and more.

Preparation for the new year starts well before the three days of gathering and feasting.

It was time for a haircut and new clothes. Trips to the market for oranges, kumquats, tangerines, and pomelos. Citrus gifts to your neighbors to symbolize prosperity for all.

Yet first there was a WHOLE LOT of cleaning. To be more accurate sorting and clearing was the priority.

What in this drawer? What stays? What leaves?

What about this cabinet? And this shelf?

Reduce clutter: What can be reused or recycled? Toss what is left.

And then we clean.

In my preteen years I remember learning the importance of settling debts before the new year; Did you borrow anything from your sister? Return it in good condition before the new year. As is with your sister’s borrowed cardigan, so is with all give-and-receive in life.

In my adult years as my family spread out across the globe, I made roots into new cultures and communities. I’ve been blessed to celebrate Lunar New Year in a wide variety of ways, from being welcomed to into friend’s homes and temples, to co-creating new customs with inventive pals inspired by the traditions. What has stuck with me all along the way is the practice of clearing and cleaning.

Perhaps the clear and clean ritual started with the intention of sweeping out any bad luck to help usher in good luck. In material terms I’ve heard it described as “clear out the old to make way for the new”. In my heart and soul, the act of clearing is releasing mental and emotional clutter so I may be whole and present with what is.

As we walk through the final days of the Ox and look to the dawn of the Tiger, I am grateful to have lived through another year, and this year has challenged me to stay the course, to listen and learn, to see, hear and be with what, in roots of yoga, is called satya (translated as truth/honesty/what exists) and keep going.

This year’s Lunar New Year prep is less about preparing for large in-person gatherings

of family and friends (because COVID), and more on the inner work. I am still doing the literal cleaning of our apartment, but I realize in the year of the Ox I’ve been sorting and clearing out much more from within heart-mind-body-soul.

I am releasing perfectionism, expectations and preconceived notions of how things are “supposed” to be.

Some examples that are related to bodies:

1. Rather than forcing your body to fit into a shape of a yoga asana (pose) you’ve seen on the cover of a magazine, I invite you release the preconceived notion and explore how the body you are in right now can embody the benefits, power and grace of the yoga posture.

2. Why would any of us expect one hip to act or feel like the other hip? Why would I expect one shoulder to act or feel like the other shoulder? I’ve been chopping veggies with my left arm since childhood so my left and right have developed in very different ways. Why would I expect them to feel the same when I pick up heavy loads, or attempt to spiral my arms and clasp my hands behind me? If I expect both sides to be the same, then I may be disappointed if one side presents more resistance. If I get hung up with unmet expectations/judging the resistance, I miss the opportunity to attune to what each side needs to get lymphatic fluid flowing and blood circulating, to what each side needs to build strength and soften to surrender.

3. The dominant culture of this country has very strong messages of how we are to feel about our bodies; if you are not what the dominant culture has decided is a perfect body, what is “pretty” or “valuable”, then you are supposed to feel bad/shame/unworthy about your body. Why not clear out the dominant culture message! Care more about how your body actually feels.

How we feel about ourselves can ripple into how we feel about other humans -- that no one is inside or outside a “perfect bubble.” No one is “less than” or “more than” any other. Imagine how we all would interact if we believed that no one of us is less than or more than the other?

The clearing for my heart and soul feels like I’m making space for learning, growth, and unity. When I clear out perfectionism, expectation and preconceived notions there is

space for unity with my inner and outer awareness.

If I can clear out, preconceived notions of how “things are supposed to be” I can welcome in the messy and magical process of creativity.

If I can clear out expectation, I can grow my inner and outer awareness to endless possibilities.

If I can clear out perfectionism, I can breathe with what is right here, right now and my thoughts, words, and actions can come from that space of clarity, discernment and unity.

Of course, the ripple effects of releasing paradigms that no longer serve us goes much deeper and wider than these examples of skin, muscle, and bones. The joyful news is every human has the ability to unify into the present, breathe with what is and keep going with the flow of life.

On February 1, we move into the year of the Tiger, by March we will be into the third year of the pandemic. My guess is that we will be grappling with local and global issues of inequity and climate change for the rest of our lifetimes. It can feel overwhelming and parts of me want to run and hide from it all, but parts of me know that the only way beyond this, is through it. No bypassing.

I wonder if we can lighten our load as we keep going. I wonder if we can lay down paradigms that no longer serve humanity and free ourselves to see each one of us is enough. Each one of us, in our own unique way, is very much needed to meet this moment.

The process of clearing is not limited to the Lunar New Year. It can happen any time you are ready to lighten your load, to expand your awareness, to unify, to grow, and learn. We can unify, grow and learn as we keep going with the demands of daily living, like daily cleaning and clearing.

I am learning to wash dishes as if I am bathing a baby Buddha (thank you Thich Nhat Hanh).

As an adult dish washing as a mindful practice came easily to me. For all my growing up years my sisters and I were on kitchen-duty every night after dinner. My sisters made the chore fun, we would sing out the kitchen windows to the humid night air until the dishes were done. I’m not sure how our neighbors responded to the 30 mins of singing every night for years on end, but I loved it!

Today the opportunity to “play” with water while it is being used for the necessity of dish washing is a sweet sensory-play-break in my day, and now perhaps my dish washing practice is advanced enough that I can be with the water play, AND the memory of sister song, AND handle each dish as if I was bathing a baby Buddha… give me a year to practice and I’ll let you know how it goes.

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!