The Lunar New Year on February 17, 2026, launched the year of the Fire Horse, according to the Chinese zodiac calendar. The Fire Horse year is a rare combination that only occurs once every 60 years as the zodiac cycles through 12 animals and five elements.

The year of the Fire Horse follows the year of the Green Wood Snake, when that which no longer serves us may be shed. The more we have shed, the more room there is for new growth. While the year of the Green Wood Snake promised a year of thoughtful growth, quiet strength, and nurturing energy, the year of the Fire Horse can be an exciting phoenix rising moment.

The Horse symbolizes movement, vitality, and forward momentum. It is associated with travel, change, and freedom. The Horse energy is amplified by the Fire element, creating a year that emphasizes action and passion. The year of the Fire Horse is a time for powerful new endeavors, stronger expression,n and forward progress. If you made a New Year’s resolution on January 1, the year of the Fire Horse may give you another opportunity to take action on that resolution.

The last year of the Fire Horse was 1966. That was a year filled with countercultural movements, like women’s liberation and the Black Power movement. 2026 is likely to yield significant movement on the collective and individual levels.

I hoped to prepare myself for the year of the Fire Horse. First, to further my shedding before February 17, I traveled to Costa Rica for a somatic healing retreat led by Canadian Keli Carpenter of The Other Side of Average (TOSA). I have tried years of traditional talk therapy, getting sober in a 12-step program, yoga, meditation, anti-depressant medication, and more before coming across somatic healing. Somatic healing dramatically changed my life. I was even able to stop taking medically prescribed antidepressants because of the somatic healing tools I incorporated into my life.

Somatic therapy is a body-centric therapeutic approach, developing awareness of the mind-body connection. In the world of somatics, practitioners often say that the “issues are in our tissues,” meaning our bodies hold our pain, sometimes in debilitating ways. Trauma can register within our bodies, causing physical manifestations. Attention to the body and the signs it provides can be a starting point to achieving healing. Somatic healing helps people develop resources within themselves to self-regulate emotions or to move out of the common fight/flight/freeze responses into a higher-functioning mode with clearer thinking. Somatic therapy explores how the body expresses painful experiences and can apply mind-body healing to assist with trauma recovery.

In the last five years, I have attended three of TOSA’s somatic healing retreats, one in the Yucatan region of Mexico, one on Vancouver Island, and one on the western coast of Costa Rica. Each provided me with a deeper level of healing for my big T and little t traumas, including sexual assault. It can include healing the mother wound, the father line, ancestral lineages, and the inner child. I truly believe that quality somatic healing modalities can help everyone.

A safe space must be provided for any effective healing to occur. “When we are met without judgment… when we are witnessed without agenda… something ancient inside us finally exhales,” Carpenter says. “We heal through being met, being seen, being held, and being loved exactly where we are.” Fewer people are trained in somatic therapies than in psychotherapy, but Carpenter is gifted, especially in her ability to create a safe environment for healing.

Meditation can be part of somatic healing because meditation de-stresses and centers us. It allows our nervous system to recalibrate and assists in removing barriers to healing.

Breathwork is an important part of somatic healing. Acupressure, hypnosis, body awareness, dance, and other techniques are sometimes used to treat trauma-related disorders, mental health conditions, and even chronic pain.

Using somatic therapy to help us become more in tune with physical sensations and able to process emotions can free us to take bolder moves in our lives. The year of the Fire Horse can compel us to move forward with enthusiasm and clarity.

Perhaps you can choose one central area of focus for your Fire Horse energy. The fire element may activate something already started. You may discern a kernel of a dream you have put off until now. You might take on a new or previously abandoned project, strive to improve your health, work to deepen a relationship, make a career pivot, or pursue another opportunity. Intentionality is important in responding to the faster pace of this Fire Horse year, to ensure success.

The year of the Fire Horse invites willingness to step into the truth of who we really are. We have a choice in how to respond to its energy. What will you do in this year of bold discovery?