http://www.knowingyourself.co.uk/

Knowing yourself, London (2026)

03/01/2026

🕯️ 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟗 — 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐈𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐌𝐞𝐭
𝐎𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐀𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 & 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟

Not all endings are symbolic.
Not all closures are gentle.
Some endings are real.
A life ends.
A future collapses.
A body reaches its limit.
And no amount of spiritual language changes that.
Ancient cultures knew the difference between:
release
completion
and death
Death was not treated as a mindset.
It was treated as an event that demanded presence.
Time was made for it.
Space was created.
Reality was faced — together.

This month, death was present in my life.
I did not speak about it publicly much...
Not because it wasn’t real, but because what unfolded around it made something painfully clear.
Writing these days — reflecting on endings, thresholds, and truth — showed me exactly what was missed.

Death was not met.
Instead, it was covered.
Covered with positivity.
Covered with spiritual language.
Covered with Reiki, light, reassurance, and the constant insistence that everything was fine.

But it wasn’t.
The body was failing.
Fear was present.
Reality was asking to be faced — and it wasn’t.

Ancient wisdom would call this a grave mistake.
Not because Reiki is wrong.
Not because spirituality is wrong.
But because spiritual practices were never meant to replace truth.
They were meant to support it.

When death arrives, it does not ask to be healed away.
It asks to be witnessed.

The elders knew:
What is bypassed at death does not disappear; it returns as disturbance.
Toxic positivity doesn’t comfort the dying.
It comforts the living who cannot bear what is happening.

Light is not a substitute for presence.
Energy work is not a replacement for honest conversation, medical reality, grief, and preparation.
This is the part we have forgotten.
Death is not improved by denial.
It is dignified by truth.

And here is the part that matters most:
I am not writing this from fragility.
I am writing it from peace.

A peace that only arrived from not pretending that what happened was healthy, conscious, or aligned — and allowed myself to see it clearly.

Ancient cultures understood this.

Maria Veiga | Knowing Yourself

02/01/2026

🕯️ 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟖 — 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡
𝐎𝐧 𝐖𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬, 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 & 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐎𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬

This is the time of year when many are invited to
make wishes, set intentions, visualise what they want to manifest.

I want to speak about this plainly.

The ancient world did not begin a new cycle by asking,
“What do I want?”
That question came later — if at all.

First came something more demanding, and far more grounding:
“What is true?”
Truth came before desire.
Reality before vision.
Relationship before outcome.

When we reverse this order, wishing becomes a way to escape discomfort.
Visualising becomes a way to avoid uncertainty.
Intentions become an attempt to control life rather than meet it.

The ancients knew:
What is imagined without truth beneath it becomes fantasy, not creation.
Life does not respond to what we want.
It responds to how we stand within it.

So if you feel drawn to intentions, here is the older, healthier way:
Do not ask: What do I want to manifest?
Ask instead:
How do I choose to walk through what comes?
Choose qualities, not outcomes.
Choose integrity, not images.
Life unfolds in response to that.

🕯️ Reflection
What way of being do I commit to, regardless of what the year brings?

—
Maria Veiga | Knowing Yourself

May 2026 be met with honesty and steadiness

01/01/2026

🌑 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟕 — 𝟏 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲
𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞

The new year was not entered loudly.
There were no fireworks in the old rites.
No pressure to be joyful.
No expectation of certainty.

The new cycle was approached with presence.
To arrive mattered more than to advance.

Ancient people believed that the way you crossed into a new year shaped its tone — not through fate, but through alignment.

You were not expected to become someone else.
You were expected to arrive more fully as yourself.
To bring your body with you.
Your breath.
Your truth.

This day was not about beginnings in the way we imagine them now.
It was about continuation with awareness.
Life was already moving.
You were simply stepping into it consciously.
So enter gently.
Nothing needs proving today.

🕯️ Simple Ritual
Upon waking, or at any quiet moment:
Place a hand on your heart.
Say inwardly:
“I arrive.”
Feel your body here.
That is enough.

✍️ Reflection
How do I wish to arrive in this year — in myself, in my life?
Let the answer be felt more than written.

—
Maria Veiga | Knowing Yourself

Come back tomorrow for a Bonus day 8 not to be missed.

Happy New Year to you all

31/12/2025

🌑 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟔 — 𝟑𝟏 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫
𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝

The final day of the year was never about promises.
Resolutions, as we know them, are a modern invention.

Ancient people knew better.
They understood that behaviour follows being, not willpower.

So instead of goals, they chose qualities.
Instead of plans, they chose ways of walking.

On this day, elders would ask:
“What will you carry with you into the next cycle?”

Not everything was allowed to cross.
Not because it was bad, but because carrying too much makes the crossing heavy.
This was a conscious moment of selection.

Perhaps they chose:
Patience over urgency
Truth over approval
Presence over distraction
Trust over control
These were not ideals.
They were companions.

Tonight, you are not asked to change your life.
Only to decide how you wish to walk through it.

🕯️ Simple Ritual
Stand, if you can.
Feel your feet on the ground.
Ask yourself:
“What quality do I choose to walk with me?”
Let it be one word.
One felt sense.
Imagine stepping forward with it beside you.

✍️ Reflection
What way of being do I consciously carry into the new year?
Keep it close.
You will return to it often.

—
Maria Veiga | Knowing Yourself

30/12/2025

🌑 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟓 — 𝟑𝟎 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫
𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝

Ancient wisdom never expected life to be neatly completed.

The year was not seen as a closed book, but as a living scroll — some lines written clearly, others left open, waiting for the right season.

There was deep acceptance of what remained unfinished.

In old traditions, forcing closure was considered unwise.
It was understood that some things do not end because they are still teaching.
Others remain open because they belong to a longer cycle than a single year.

The elders warned against a subtle violence we still practise today:
the need to resolve everything in order to feel at peace.

Peace, they knew, does not come from completion.
It comes from right relationship with what is unresolved.

This day existed to release the burden of “should have been done by now.”

Dreams not yet lived.
Conversations not yet had.
Healing still in progress.
Paths that are still forming.
None of this was considered failure.
It was considered life unfolding.

Today invites you to soften your grip — not on effort, but on self-judgement.

🕯️ Simple Ritual
Sit somewhere quiet.
Bring to mind one thing that feels unfinished.
Instead of pushing it away, say inwardly:
“You may continue in your own time.”
Let your body feel the relief of that permission.

✍️ Reflection
What can I allow to remain unfinished, without carrying shame or urgency?
Do not rush to answer.
Some truths take time to trust.

—
Maria Veiga | Knowing Yourself

29/12/2025

🌑 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟒 — 𝟐𝟗 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫
𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝

In ancient year-ending rites, there was always a day set aside not for release, but for honouring.
Not celebration.
Not praise.
Honouring.

The elders knew that before crossing into a new cycle, something essential had to be acknowledged: What endured deserves to be seen.

This day was not about success or achievement.
Those were considered fragile things — easily lost, easily inflated.
What mattered was something else entirely.
What stayed.
What remained alive in you when circumstances were hard.
What continued breathing when hope was thin.
What did not leave, even when it would have been understandable if it had.

In old teachings, endurance was considered a quiet form of wisdom.
Not loud.
Not impressive.
But deeply sacred.

It might have been:
A sense of decency you refused to abandon
A softness you protected in a harsh moment
A truth you didn’t betray, even when it cost you
A part of you that kept loving, despite disappointment
These things were never rushed past.

They were honoured because the ancients understood:
The future is built on what endured — not on what dazzled.

Today is a day to bow inwardly to that part of you.
Not with pride.
With respect.

🕯️ Simple Ritual
Sit quietly.
Place both feet on the ground.
Bring your attention to your body and ask:
“What in me stayed?”
Let the answer come as a feeling, an image, a knowing — not a story.

Place a hand over your heart or chest and say inwardly:
“I see you. Thank you for staying.”
No more is needed.

✍️ Reflection
What part of me endured this year, even when it was hard?
Write it simply.
Do not embellish it.
Truth needs no decoration.

—
Maria Veiga | Knowing Yourself

We pause here again.
Tomorrow, we move into a very old and often forgotten teaching:
making peace with what remains unfinished — something the ancients were far more comfortable with than we are today.

28/12/2025

🌑 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟑 — 𝟐𝟖 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫
𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲

In ancient times, before a year was allowed to close, there was a day for naming.

Not confessing.
Not analysing.
Simply naming.

Because the ancients knew this truth:
What is unnamed does not dissolve — it lingers.

This day existed across cultures in different forms.
Sometimes it was done in community, around a fire.
Sometimes in silence, alone.
Sometimes whispered into the earth or water.

But the purpose was always the same: to bring into the light what had been carried quietly.
Not to judge it.
Not to solve it.
But to stop pretending it wasn’t there.

Grief that was never given space.
Anger that had no voice.
Weariness that hid behind strength.
Truths swallowed to keep the peace.

The old ones understood something we often forget:
Silence does not mean peace.
It often means burden.

This is not a day for telling your story to others.
It is a day for honesty with yourself.
Nothing more.

🕯️ Simple Ritual
Sit somewhere still.
Place one hand on your chest or belly.
Ask inwardly:
“What have I been carrying that needs to be named?”
Let one thing come.
Not everything. Just one.
Say it quietly — even if only inside you.
That is enough.

✍️ Reflection
What truth has asked for my attention this year, even when I tried not to hear it?
Do not force an answer.
Let it arrive in its own time.

—

Much Love, in gratitudeitude to all of you.
Maria Veiga | Knowing Yourself

We will stop here for today.
This work needs space between days, just like the ancients allowed.

27/12/2025

Making sense of intense spiritual experiences
(without losing the body)

I want to offer something a little more educational today, because there’s a lot of confusion online right now — and confusion needs clarity, not louder voices.

Many people are having very real experiences: strange dreams, disrupted sleep, heat or cold surges, time feeling off, moments of deep disorientation, strong emotional waves, sudden certainty about meaning.

These experiences are not imagined.
But how we interpret them matters.

There are two languages we can use to understand what’s happening:

Symbolic language
This is the language of myth, initiation, rites of passage, death–rebirth cycles, and liminal spaces. Humans have always used this language to make sense of deep inner change. It’s poetic, meaningful, and often deeply personal.

Body-based language
This is the language of the nervous system. It looks at sleep, stress, overwhelm, adrenaline, dissociation, integration, and rest. It asks how the body is coping with change, pressure, and stimulation.

Problems arise when we only use one language and dismiss the other.
When body-based experiences are explained only through cosmic or spiritual narratives, people may start overriding themselves instead of caring for themselves. Intensity gets mistaken for growth. Dysregulation gets reframed as advancement. And grounding is seen as unnecessary or even “less evolved”.

But real inner change doesn’t pull us away from the body — it brings us back into it.
Deep transformation often makes us quieter, slower, and more humble.

It increases our capacity to tolerate questions, uncertainty, and nuance.
It doesn’t require constant broadcasting, proving, or defending.

If an experience leaves you feeling unsteady, superior, frightened, or dependent on someone else’s interpretation - It’s a signal to pause and return to basics: breath, rest, rhythm, connection.

Spiritual maturity isn’t about escaping being human.
It’s about inhabiting the human experience with more presence, responsibility, and care.

Both mystery and mechanics matter.
Meaning and grounding matter.
Soul and body belong together.

— Maria Veiga

27/12/2025

I want to say something that might not be popular — but it feels important.

Not everything intense is profound.
Not everything strange is spiritual.
And not every altered state is a sign of evolution.

There is a difference between deep inner change and a nervous system under pressure trying to make meaning.

I’ve been in spiritual spaces for decades.
I’ve sat with silence, with grief, with initiation, with real inner death and rebirth — the kind that humbles you, slows you down, and makes you quieter, not louder.

What I’m seeing more and more online is something else.
Highly charged experiences are being shared without grounding.
Disorientation is framed as awakening.
Over-stimulation dressed up as cosmic truth.
And chaos being passed around as insight — often rewarded with likes, shares, and applause.

This isn’t about calling anyone wrong.
And it’s not about dismissing spiritual experience.
It is about discernment.

When the body isn’t settled, the mind will rush to explain.
When rest is missing, meaning gets louder.

When attention replaces integration, things start to fragment.
True depth doesn’t need to shout.

Real embodiment doesn’t attack questions.
And genuine wisdom can tolerate curiosity without collapsing into defensiveness.

If something leaves you feeling ungrounded, agitated, superior, frightened, or dependent on someone else’s interpretation — pause.

Come back to your body.
Come back to your breath.
Come back to what steadies you.
Spiritual life is not a performance.
It’s not a race.

And it doesn’t require you to override yourself.
We’re not here to escape being human.
We’re here to inhabit it — with presence, responsibility, and care.
That, to me, is where the real work lives.

— Maria Veiga
knowingyourself

27/12/2025

🌑 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟐 — 𝟐𝟕 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫
𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

There is a modern obsession with “letting go.”
As if life were something to be decluttered quickly.
As if what shaped us could be discarded without consequence.

Ancient teachings never approached endings this way.

In old earth traditions, early Christianity, mystery schools, and indigenous rites, nothing was rejected at the end of a cycle.

Nothing was shamed away.
Nothing was spiritually bypassed.

Instead, there was a different question:
“What has completed its task?”

Completion is not failure. It is fulfilment.

Some experiences come to teach, not to stay.
Some relationships come to awaken, not to remain.
Some struggles arrive to shape the soul, then quietly step back.

The elders understood this deeply:
What we reject does not leave.
What we honour can rest.

Today is not about pushing anything out of your life.
It is about recognising what has finished its work in you.

Not with relief.
Not with resentment.
But with respect.

In ancient rituals, this day often included words of thanks spoken inwardly — not because the year was easy, but because it was true.

You do not need to carry everything forward to prove your strength.
Some things are ready to lay down.

🕯️ Simple Ritual
Sit quietly for a few moments.
Bring to mind one thing — a pattern, a role, a way of being — that feels complete.
Place a hand on your body and say inwardly:
“Thank you. Your task is done.”
No drama.
No force.
Just an acknowledgement.

✍️ Reflection
What in me has completed its role this year?
Let the answer come slowly.
Truth does not rush.
—
Maria Veiga | Knowing Yourself

26/12/2025

🌑 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟏 — 𝟐𝟔 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐬

Across many ancient traditions, the days after the solstice and before the new year were not for action.

They were known as the liminal days — the in-between.
In old European, Celtic, Roman, and early Christian practices, this was a threshold time:
The old year had ended energetically
The new year had not yet arrived
Life slowed so the soul could catch up
No rushing.
No fixing.
No promises.
Just standing at the doorway.

Ancient people understood something we often forget:
What is not consciously closed follows us forward.
So today is not about letting go forcefully.
It is about acknowledging.

🌿 Ancient Teaching
In many earth-based traditions, closure began with witnessing, not judgment.
Nothing was labelled good or bad.
Only true.

The elders would ask:
What lived through you this year?
What asked for your attention?
What changed you, even quietly?
No gratitude lists yet.
No intentions yet.
Those come later.

Today is simply: “I see what has been.”

🕯️ Simple Ritual (5–10 minutes)
You only need a candle or natural light.
Sit quietly.
Say inwardly (or aloud):
“I am standing between what was and what will be.”
Let three moments from this year rise — not the biggest, just the truest.
Do not analyse them. Just nod internally, as if saying:
Yes, you were part of my path.
That’s it.

✍️ Reflection (optional)
Write one sentence only: “This year taught me…”
Do not finish it perfectly.
Let it be unfinished if needed.

Tomorrow, Day 2, we will move into an ancient teaching about release without rejection — a very different approach from modern “letting go.”

Maria Veigaco.uk

06/12/2025

“𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗕𝗘𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗱𝗲𝘀”

🌟 𝕃𝕒𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕖𝕣 & ℂ𝕒𝕔𝕒𝕠 – ℂ𝕙𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕞𝕒𝕤 𝔼𝕕𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕚𝕤 𝕝𝕚𝕧𝕖!

And honestly… could there be a better moment to laugh than 10 days before Christmas?
No. There could not. 😂

Between the turkey stress… the gift lists… the family dynamics (“So… are you still single?”)… Christmas brings joy but also triggers.

So let’s release it all together - the tension, the silliness, the pressure - in a cosy circle of laughter, warmth and cacao.

On Saturday, 14 December at 4pm, we’ll laugh, breathe, shake off the madness, and then slow down with heart-opening cacao.

All welcome — no yoga mats, no poses, just joy.

✨ BOOK HERE: https://Laughter-and-Cacao.eventbrite.co.uk

Come as you are.
Leave lighter, calmer, and maybe a little bit sparkly inside.

Knowing yourself

Note: photo for mood purposes

Knowing yourself

03/01/2026

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