It goes without saying that 2025 was “a lot,” as current slang goes.

Our bodies and our bones carried it all as we trudged into and through the holiday season, feeling the weight of a nation in chaos.

Even if our brains don’t realize how heavy last year was, our bodies and our bones know it all too well.

We are now only a few days into 2026, with an opportunity to reset mentally and start the new year grounded, with renewed purpose and hope.

As St. Benedict famously wrote “Always, we begin again.”

(On a side note, Benedict’s words remind us we don’t need the turning of the calendar to start over. So, if things should go south fast, we can ‘begin again,’ whether it is Jan. 18 or Aug. 27.)

Since we are beings made of body, mind and spirit, we can pray in various ways. Prayer isn’t just a mental exercise. The best prayer involves a total surrender of our being to the Divine Intelligence that designed and created us.

Those who are Catholic might not be aware that is why there is so much standing, sitting and kneeling during the Mass. With each movement, we place ourselves in a posture to receive and to offer reverence to the Word of God made flesh in Jesus. Engaging in these repetitious patterns every time we go to Mass leaves a deep, lasting imprint on our bodies and souls.

To that end, I want to encourage you to practice another way of prayer, even when you are not at church.

To begin, put your feet on the ground, preferably without shoes on. Allow the ground to represent God. Sit or stand with your back straight, and feel your feet on the floor, supported by the ground beneath you. Allow your feet to settle into the floor and imagine roots anchoring your body deep into the ground.

Close your eyes and imagine releasing all the physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual stress your body carries through those roots, as your stress descends into the ground. Then imagine the limitless currents of strength from the ground ascending into your feet and up into your legs and body, renewing every part of you.

Continue to visualize this exchange between your body and the earth for as long as you need to. All your stress going deep down into the ground. The strength from deep within the ground ascending into your worn limbs, abdomen, heart, back, shoulders, neck, brain, fingers, toes. Return to this exercise as often as necessary.

Another way to ground ourselves is to simply walk mindfully. Whatever you are doing, and wherever you are, walk with the awareness of your feet touching the ground with each step. Allow it to be a meditative experience, even while you are out and about at your job, shopping or at your kid’s or grandkid’s soccer game. Focus on your feet touching the ground, and forget all the noise around you.

Finally, we always have our breath. Our breath is the beginning and ending point for wellbeing. Everything else depends on it.

Whenever we feel ourselves beginning to carry too much in our bodies, we return to our breath. Most of us breathe too shallowly. Ideally, we should be breathing from deep without our abdomen, rather than our chest. Practice often throughout your day becoming aware of your breathing patterns, and allowing them to slow down and reset your nervous system.

By taking time to practice deep breathing at various times of the day, we train our bodies to return to its original way of breathing, and ultimately manage more efficiently whatever stress comes our way.

Life throws a lot at us every day.

But with a few practical exercises and other healthy lifestyle changes, we can take the upper hand and not allow exterior forces to control the quality of our brief lives on earth.

SPIRIT MATTERS is a weekly column by Jerrilyn Zavada Novak that examines experiences common to the human spirit. Contact her at jzblue33@yahoo.com.