Yoga Teacher And Reiki Healer Thara Natalie On Manifesting Intentions In The New Year - Exclusive

The beginning of a new year always provides a great opportunity to take a step back, reflect on where you are, and set some intentions for the year to come. Thara Natalie, an accomplished yoga teacher and Reiki healer, has lots of experience with setting intentions and manifesting the life she wants.

Thara's been on a spiritual journey since she began practicing yoga at the age of 19. On that journey, she's learned how to set intentions and bring those intentions into reality through the practice of manifestation. Thara had become a signed recording artist by her early 20s. When she decided to take on yoga teacher training in her mid-20s, a chance phone call put her on the path to a nine-week-long intensive training. A friend's spiritual journey introduced her to Reiki. She says the practice has helped her heal physically and emotionally, and it set her on the path to becoming an energy healer herself, much like her own grandfather. Now, she teaches others how to follow their spiritual paths, find healing, and manifest the lives they want.

In an exclusive interview with Health Digest, Thara shared how she sets intentions for each new year and throughout the year, and how she manifests those intentions.

Intentions – not resolutions

Thara Natalie says she's not really a fan of New Year's resolutions. She says that as a yogi, she sets intentions every time she practices. As such, she doesn't really need to set resolutions at the beginning of each new year.

However, she does get extra reflective at the beginning of a new year. She takes the energy of the new year, the new beginning, to check in with her intentions, review how they're manifesting in her life, and see if she needs to shift her focus. This new year, she's putting extra focus into her morning routine.

"So one of the things that I am loving doing, and I really recommend, is waking up a little bit earlier than normal," Thara told Health Digest. "I'm waking up about a half-hour earlier every day ... so that I can do either [my] gratitude journaling or my intention setting, my meditating, before anyone else is awake. So I'm really starting my day with intention."

Manifestation requires intentional work

Thara went on to explain how her intentions help her practice manifestation. Many people get confused about what manifestation means, she detailed. They may think that if you put enough energy into the universe wishing for something, it just magically happens. Since it doesn't work that way, Thara explains, some believe manifestation does not work. Thara, however, insists it does — but only if you put in intentional work.

"Manifesting is intentionality," Thara explained. "It's showing up for something every single day. Consistency and putting your energy in. Connecting your energy to that thought every single day. And then you have to put the work in behind the intention... it's having an idea, having a thought, consciously thinking about it and then creating the plan: What do I need to do to bring this intention to life? Here's my plan, here are the action steps. And then every day, showing up to those action steps"

She highlighted a metaphor used by Deepak Chopra, saying that manifestation is like planting a seed. Planting a seed is just the start. After that, you have to water it and intentionally care for it until it grows. Manifestation is the same. After you plant your intentions, you need to take all the actions to manifest whatever it is you're looking for.