Crossing into the Year of the Horse: Clearing Space for Forward Energy

The snake helped us shed. Now the Fire Horse asks us to run. This conversation dives into a year defined by natural propulsion, honest choices, and forward motion that doesn’t require hustle. We explore why courage isn’t loud bravado but quiet alignment, how truth beats comfort when you’re ready to stop shrinking, and why creating space outperforms chasing speed. If you’ve felt pulled in five directions or stuck in familiar patterns, this guide to Fire Horse energy gives you the tools to clear clutter—physical, mental, and social—and move with intention.

Nikki breaks down the symbolism of the horse as life force in motion and the clarifying power of fire to reveal what no longer fits. You’ll learn how to spot people pleasing, overexplaining, and overcommitting before they drain your momentum, plus a simple somatic compass for decision-making: expansion versus contraction, clean yes versus obligated yes. Instead of forcing progress, we map a path for aligned movement that sustains like a marathon—direction over drifting, simplicity over noise, and small steps that compound into real change.

You’ll hear practical ways to travel light—renegotiating outdated roles, decluttering your environment, and resisting the urge to fill newly opened space with the nearest familiar substitute. We talk nervous system regulation, healing signals from the body, and how release often returns your vitality faster than any motivation hack. The Fire Horse year rewards initiation, integrity, and the willingness to choose purpose over permission. Start the page, send the email, take the class you’ve delayed for a decade. Your alignment serves your circle and strengthens the collective.

Reflection Moment

As we cross into the Year of the Horse, reflect on what you’re ready to release so momentum can feel free rather than forced. What becomes possible when you travel lighter?

Episode Links

• S2/E110 - Numerology For 2026: From Closure To Creation
• Inspiration video by

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening And New Year Framing
• 0:58 From Snake Year To Fire Horse Energy
• 3:10 Power, Momentum, And Necessary Change
• 6:40 Choose Truth Over Comfort
• 10:45 Horse As Life Force In Motion
• 14:05 People Pleasing, Roles, And Alignment
• 18:05 Overexplaining, Overcommitting, And Familiarity Traps
• 23:15 Space Over Speed: Creating Room
• 27:30 Aligned Movement Vs Forced Hustle
• 31:40 Simplify Your Life To Regulate
• 34:40 Membership Invitation And Support
• 36:10 Shadows Of Ungrounded Fire Horse

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:09

Hi, I'm Lizzie.

SPEAKER_01: 0:10

And I'm Nikki. Together, we welcome you to the Modern Sun Collective Podcast, a space where we explore holistic living, spiritual alignment, and personal growth.

SPEAKER_00: 0:20

Each week, we'll share conversations, practices, and wisdom to help you live with more joy, effects, and connection. And now on to today's episode.

SPEAKER_01: 0:48

Welcome to another episode of the Modern Zen Collective Podcast. I am Nikki here with a solo episode for you. And I am wanting to start this episode a little different. Happy Chinese New Year, if you are listening to this on the release date of February 17th. Or as we say, when you listen to it, it's the right time for you. And I want to start this episode different by really going into the depth of what this energy of the fire horse brings, and then go really into the episode and breaking it down and everything like that. So relax, settle into your space. If you click this, you're interested in this new energy, this new year, February 17th. We are releasing the year of the snake. It's gone as of today when this is released. So that was old patterns, things that were trying to be healed within you that kept coming up: frustrations, anger, addictions, um, intensity, anything that wanted to be healed within came through with a fiery passion in 2025 to shed its skin, the year of the snake. So when you listen to this, perhaps the last few weeks have even been a little uncomfortable because it's the final hour of the year of the snake, really releasing, getting everything out so you can step into this new energy of the fire horse. So, with that, let's talk about what this new energy is. We did a lot of talking about release and the year nine and numerology. And I will go ahead and put that in the show notes if you want to go back and listen to our numerology podcast talking about releasing year nine, stepping into year one. This is all about the fire horse, the year of 2026, officially starting happy Chinese New Year today, February 17th, 2026. So every 60 years, an energy returns and it doesn't whisper, it comes in fiery. That is this energy, the fire horse energy. It's not waiting for permission. And when it arrives, it comes with power, with truth and with momentum that refuses to be ignored. This is the energy of the forward momentum, horsepower, moving forward, and you have the fire energy along with it. So the fire horse does not come quietly. This is not a year for small movements. It's not a year for hiding in the shadows. This energy comes to break old cycles, to burn away what no longer fits, and to remind you that you were never meant to live small. This isn't chaos for the sake of chaos. This is necessary change, necessary change for you as you move into this new chapter of your own life, a necessary change for the collective. We needed the systems that no longer work to break down. We needed the uh disclosure to come out and everything with it so that we can see the shadows that were beneath us rise to the surface, be integrated, healed, released. So now we can step into this new energy and we are all individually responsible and individually contributing to this new energy as a collective moving forward. That's why this year is so instrumental in our forward movement. The horse has always symbolized freedom, not the kind that runs away, but the kind that chooses itself. This year is about bold leadership, forward motion, the courage to stop shrinking. Stop shrinking yourself. Be that tall poppy, if you know that phrase, the tall poppy that sticks out. Stop shrinking. Stop explaining yourself, be strong in your foundation to move forward with your choices without overexplaining. And stop carrying what was never yours to begin with. The fire horse energy does not wait to be chosen, she chooses herself. How beautiful. And this year carries that same invitation for you to choose your purpose over permission, to choose truth over comfort. Let's say that one again. To choose truth, integrity, truth over comfort. We can often choose comfort because we want to be in that energy of not adjusting, not moving, not making things feel uncomfortable. That's where change happens in the discomfort. This is also a year to choose momentum over familiarity. This is a year about movement, not rushing, not forcing, but refusing to stay stuck simply because something is known. It's about independence, it's about leadership, whether you are fully a leader in your title or how you show up for your community, for your family, for your friends. It's about the kind of courage that only comes when you finally trust yourself. And the past nine years, that cycle really tore apart the layers, shed the skin, broke you open to finally trust yourself. And this year is your launch pad for trusting yourself. Your intuition was never too much. It's not too much. You have magic within you. That is your intuition. So this energy every 60 years returns to ask a single question. Are you brave enough to run toward the life that's calling you? This is your year. You have the momentum in so many different angles supporting you. Specifically, the fire horse. This year isn't for playing small. And for trusting that the fire is already burning inside of you. Today we're crossing into that new year together. Before we move forward, let's just really settle in and integrate and talk about this energy and what it means for you. What does it mean for you to move forward in way, to be bold, to follow the synchronicities, to listen to your intuition, to trust yourself, to not apologize, to not over-explain, to be here fully for who you are. So let's talk about what the horse represents. The horse represents life force in motion. If you take, you know, you do yoga, tai chi, qigong, all of these things, life force energy. Life force energy is what's moving through your body. And when you have blocks, whether you get them released in acupuncture, chakra clearing, Reiki, the life force energy gets stuck. And we release that block and have it totally flow through our body. So the horse represents that life force energy in motion. It's not frantic energy, it's not hustle, it's natural propulsion. The horse moves because it's aligned with where it's going, not because it's being pushed. Fire adds truth to that movement. Fire reveals, fire purifies. Fire says this no longer fits. And you know, you know things that no longer fit. You can feel in your body as you listen to this right now, what are the things you're holding on to that you know are not a fit anymore? It could simply be holding on to how you approach situations and how you come at them in the same way, but expect a different outcome. It can be a job, it could be a relationship, it could be a house, it could be a city where you live. It could be something small, like you know you're supposed to stop drinking Diet Coke. You can feel it in your body that is whatever it is, it's not good for you. Little things, right? To my friends, I drink Diet Coke. I don't think that'll be a little thing because they really enjoy it. That was just an example that came to me while I was going through this. Uh, so this year really highlights where we're still performing it for others, where are we still people pleasing, where identity has been shaped by expectation instead of your internal truth and your internal fire. And that could be difficult if we are in a uh, you know, more of a commercial setting or in a setting of having a uh corporate nine to five, your identity there might have been shaped by the expectations of you in that role. And that's what you have almost pigeonholed yourself into to become so that you can be comfortable in that role without fear of losing your job, make your money, pay your bills, et cetera, and have that. Does that align with your internal truth? It might. You might feel completely aligned in who you are at your core, your internal truth, and then who you show up as at work. If they are misaligned, you are going to feel that this year. You're gonna feel that this is the year that it needs to shift. You need to get back to your inner truth and see if your current job appreciates that, honors that, and wants to be there with you during that when you show up a little bit differently, talk a little differently, bring things up a little differently. Or is it time for you to find something new? Horse energy cannot move freely when it's being pulled in five directions. This is the year of direction and understanding where you are going. Like a ship. A ship uses the wind, it uses the waves to navigate and to grow and to flow. But if you don't know your destination, you will go wherever the waves and wherever the wind is taking you. So you use those to your advantage to adjust and move yourself towards your destination. So having that idea of what your destination is, not holding on to it tight, but that clarity that you know you want this, this, et cetera, whatever it is, or something you've been putting off and procrastinating. You know that this is the year you want to step into that and start doing it. So this year may expose for you, over-explaining. Are you overexplaining things? Why are you taking this crocheted course? People keep asking you and you keep having to explain why you're taking it, but you know in your heart of hearts that this is something you've been wanting to do for 10 years, you just never do it because you don't want to spend money on a crochet course and you don't want to explain to people that you're doing something as a hobby in your 40s or 30s or however you old you are, but it's something that your soul is calling you for. Whatever it is, that's just an example. This year's also going to expose overcommitting. So you have multiple things on your calendar and things that you don't get excited about doing. Yes, we're adults. Yes, we have responsibilities. Of course. You have responsibilities, you have things that you need to do. Understandable. Are there things on your calendar that are considered social or even considered almost autopilot? You do it every month on this day, et cetera, but you get no juice from it, you get no propulsion from it, you get no excitement from it. This is the year to look at where you are overcommitting. Maybe you go to the same workout class constantly and you feel drawn to do something different or switch it up or move to a different level. Maybe you have lunch with friends and you do the same thing over and over every month. Maybe it's something different. Maybe you have a new friend circle you haven't gotten together with yet. Maybe you want to be a little bit more open and vulnerable with your new friend circle and create more bonds and new bonds and release the ones that you felt weren't aligned with who you are when you were there standing in your foundation of your inner truth. So this year may also expose staying because it's familiar, not because it's aligned. That favorite quote that I have from Joe Dispenza, we will choose an unfamiliar hell over, we will choose a familiar hell over an unfamiliar heaven. We will choose a familiar hell over an unfamiliar heaven because it is comfortable in our nervous system. And our subconscious tries to keep us safe. So when something's familiar, that's safety. When something's unfamiliar, that's scary to our nervous system. That is something that's our our subconscious is trying to keep us away from that danger, danger. You don't want to go over there. So this is our year to step through, step through that to get to the other side and not stay in something because it's familiar. You want to be in the energy of having alignment. So the reframe for this to think about is the horse doesn't ask for speed, the horse asks for space. Because a horse, when you see a beautiful horse running on the beach, running in the mountains, it needs the space to go for the speed. It needs a space to be able to pick up and have the speed. If it doesn't have the space, it has nowhere to go, it can't do what it's meant to do. If it's shaped and in a circular compound and it can't actually ever get out to do what it wants to do and release energy and be fully in its power, one isn't there without the other. So we need the space during the fire horse year. That space is regulating our nervous system, that space is releasing the things that no longer serve us, that space is aligning us with our inner truth so that we can move forward in the way that we want to move forward. We don't need speed this year, but you might find when you have things really narrow down and you have tunnel vision on that thing you want, you released all the bullshit that you don't want to have and you're moving forward on this thing that you want, you might feel some speed because you finally have released all those old shadows that have been keeping you in your familiar story. So momentum this year does not come from pushing harder. Forced movement typically always leads to exhaustion. Aligned movement creates vitality and clarity. You may notice this year sudden clarity about what doesn't fit, like we just said. Energy returning when something is released. So you release something, whatever it is, tangible or not tangible. That energy clears inside your body, and that stagnant energy has cleared, and now you have your vitality back. There is a trick there because if you release something that no longer serves you, you know it's not aligned, your nervous system and your subconscious is going to try to find the thing closest to that to replace it with. So when you release and you let it go and you know it's no longer for you, focus on yourself, focus on your truth, focus on your inner fire. Do the things that light you up and be very cognizant, third-party observer of when something comes into your field and it's familiar, like the thing you released. Some in the spiritual community call those tests, right? To know that there's something else for you. There's something else there, there's something else that is more aligned. And that filling of the energy you released could simply be the energy of your own inner fire, your own vitality that you feel expansive within without having to have something fill that area. And you might also notice this here a desire to simplify, simplify things, simplify your life before you expand. Do you feel chaotic? Do you feel sympathetic nervous system energy? Do you feel you get frustrated easily? Do you feel that you're always rushing? You're always, you know, worried about the next thing that's going to happen. Do you feel that you always are waiting for the other shoe to drop? You might have some anxiety, et cetera. Simplifying, creating space in your day, creating space so the fire horse can live and breathe and grow. You might get that desire to simplify. Maybe it's marie condo. Maybe it's when you get into spring, you start to release. You know, everything in your house is energetic. So when you clean and you do that house cleaning, yes, that's great. Yes, Marie Kondo was a huge part of, you know, however long ago it was, five, 10 years ago. But there's a lot of truth to that because our clothing, our old furniture, anything that's um stuck energy or clutter is cluttering up the energy that's all around us. So we don't feel simplified. So we don't feel expansive. So we don't feel that vitality. So doing a cleaning, simplifying, donating, releasing, etc., is something that also you might be drawn to this year to really help you step into this new energy. This energy of the fire horse is not asking you to do more, it's asking you for honesty, for you to move with integrity of who you truly are.

SPEAKER_00: 19:00

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SPEAKER_01: 19:35

Now, with everything that comes up, of course, there's shadows. There's shadows with it that can show up, shadows that are within us. So when this energy of the fire horse is not grounded, so you have this energy of the fire horse, we all do, now that we're moving from February 17th forward, we have this energy. When energy within you is not grounded, it can look like impulsivity, overcommitting, running without direction, just filling your time, mistaking motion for progress. We've talked about this a lot on the podcast. Just filling your calendar to fill your calendar. This is why clearing comes first. The simplicity comes forward, the first, the resetting your nervous system comes first. And it's as simple as just, you know, being here at home with yourself, seeing what no longer serves you, release, releasing it, having that faith and that hope, that trust in yourself of releasing the thing that you know is not serving you. Without clearing, the fire horse energy can scatter instead of carrying you forward. And this year is not asking you to burn everything down. It's asking you to burn what's no longer true. And with that, that void of what you burned and released that's no longer true, catapult you forward into the energy of your purpose, of your passion, your inner fire, your inner peace, your fulfillment, your health, even your happiness. You know, our health is directly related to how we are on a subconscious level, how we show up. That inner struggle we have shows in our skin, shows in our stomach, our digestion issues, shows in our heart, shows in all of these different ways. Because how else will our body communicate with us that something's off? You know, I've done a lot of learning and working with those in different spiritual communities, and particularly shamanism, and learning a lot about, you know, as soon as you get a pain or an ache, we are taught to minimize it. We are taught to take something to get rid of it. And from a shamanic perspective, that's your body speaking to you. Taking something for it is, I don't want to say crazy in their eyes because I can't speak for them. That's not who I am. I don't know. I'm not, I don't live and breathe out every day. But taking something for how your body is speaking to you, to tell you something is off, is repressing and not actually looking at what the issue is. So So it's getting to know ourselves and feeling the energy inside of our body. So knowing that this energy is asking you to burn what no longer is true, you know what's no longer true. And you cannot make a wrong decision because you will be guided back to the decision by your guides. If you feel that you need to release or you need a break, or you need to have yourself free of something that's pulling you down, whether it's any of the examples I gave to start, you can make that decision in this year and you have the energy behind you and you can feel it in your body. When you release something that's no longer true, you might feel lighter, your headaches might go away, your acid reflux might go away, your lower back pain might go away, your anxiety might go away. I know when I had anxiety and I've had uh a journey with anxiety, and I healed myself of anxiety, not saying it doesn't rear its ugly head every now and then, but I healed myself of anxiety from 2006 to 2010-ish. And with that, that was a lot of releasing things inside of me that in situations and relationships at that time that were not serving me and my highest good. And when I released, it started my healing process. So that's just something to ask yourself what's no longer true, and you cannot make a wrong decision here. How do we work with and walk with the fire horse energy? Let the body lead. You this is the year where your body gives you better information than your mind. So I just talked about that with the body and how the body keeps the score. We love that book. Um, the body is giving you the peek into what's going on in your mind and your subconscious. So things that you might notice expansion versus contraction. When you think about doing something, or when you even do something, do you feel expansive or do you feel constricted? Do you feel lightness or do you feel heaviness? Very subtle. Do you feel a clean yes, an empowered yes, an excited yes, or an obligated yes? And yes, we're adults, yes, we have responsibilities. Yes, there are things that we have obligation towards. Understandable. But if you do have an obligated yes, is there anything in that obligated yes that you still feel empowered about? It was a class you signed up for and you want to see it through to the end, so you feel empowered about living in integrity and finishing the course to completion. That is aligned. Even though you feel obligated to go every week and you just feel, oh, okay, this is this is a lot. This is a lot to do while I have a full-time job. But if you could peel the layers and feel that clean yes behind it, it's still aligned. So this is about you knowing your energy, knowing what's right for you. Aligned movement really feels natural. Energy sustains like a marathon, not a sprint, instead of spikes. So you don't need more motivation this year. The fire horse is there. You don't need motivation at all. The fire horse is there for you this year. What you need is clear direction, what works and what doesn't work. What are you releasing? What are you keeping? How are you moving forward? What is your clear direction? And let's just say, for the sake of saying your clear direction is 10 things that you want. That's okay. You can make your vignette of the 10 things you want. Maybe you want a wedding and marriage and babies and the house and a big savings account and a full-time job that pays this amount and you want to travel the world, etc. Pocket all that together and know that this is your ball of energy that you're moving forward towards. You don't have to pick one out of those things. Because they all live harmoniously together. So having your clear direction of where you're going. Asking yourself, where am I actually going? Am I just going through the motions and expecting to arrive somewhere else one morning when I wake up? What am I moving forward towards? Not just away from. Yes, we're releasing, we released, the snake helped us, and now we have that clarity this year of releasing. What are you moving forward towards? Because if you don't have an idea of where you are moving forward towards, the universe, God, your guides, whatever you believe, as I say, will put the pieces together of what you energetically want. And if we don't have a forward idea of what that is, we can move in a direction we don't want, because as humans, we tend to look at the things that aren't going great in our life. So the universe says, Oh, she likes being poor. She likes not having a job. She talks about it all the time. She talks about not finding a job, she talks about not having enough money. Okay, we'll give her more of that. So knowing what direction you're going in, releasing the things that are clogging up your energy, having clarity and simplicity. Another thing is the fire horse travels light. You know, you don't need those unnecessary explanations like we talked about. You don't need outdated roles, responsibilities that aren't serving you anymore. Think of it in this way: do you have a role? Maybe it's a role that's a volunteering role, or a role you're on a board, or a role that you're um, you know, part of a mom's group or of a woman's group or just something in general, and you feel you've outgrown it. The old energy can stay in it because of obligation, and you don't want to disappoint people, etc. But this new energy is empowering that if you have something outdated like that, you can with integrity decide to resign, communicate it, and that actually opens up the space for someone who's been vying for that, and that's their dream job. So imagine that you're hanging on to something that doesn't really serve you anymore, but you feel obligated and it's scary to move into the next direction. When we don't move into that next direction, when we don't take those risks and those next steps, when we don't step into the unknown, when we don't release what doesn't serve us anymore, we're actually keeping that from someone who wants what we have as their dream. So we can keep the flow of energy and the trust and the flow so that we can all step into the energy and continue to move and evolve. And time is moving so fast. You might have been in a role for one month and say, this isn't, this isn't for me. I'm realizing pretty quickly this isn't for me. I I want to be responsible. I want to be open about it. I want to be direct and I want to know and communicate that this is what I'm I'm feeling and understanding with those that are impacted by whatever decision you make. Life's too short to be doing something that you hate. Life is too freaking short to be doing something that you hate. Life's too short to be doing something that you hate when you feel feel good now, right? Down the road, if there is illness in family or illness with you, you don't want to be looking back and thinking, I should have wrote that book, I should have wrote that screenplay, I should have took that job, I should have tried to get that other job, I should have started my business, all the should've's, shoulda, shoulda, should've. This is the year to step into that fire and step into the energy of who you came here to be. Changing your mind's allowed. Things are time is moving fast. Renegotiating is allowed, time is moving fast, life's moving fast, bills are moving fast. How much it costs to live on planet Earth is changing, right? And letting things evolve is also allowed. The horse needs that spaciousness, that time, that energy to be able to be fully in the energy of itself. So let that sink in. What is it that you would like to release this year? Knowing that with the last year that you had of the snake and year nine, it probably already started to move towards release, or at least showing you the different ways that it should be released. And it doesn't have to be something tangible like a big breakup or a new job or a new house or a new city. It could be how you show up in a situation, how you heal yourself, how you provide for yourself, how you take care of your physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. It could be that. So the clearing doesn't need to be dramatic. We're not emptying everything. We're simply making room for your power, your inner fire, your purpose. You don't need to rush, but you need to meet it unburdened. That's how you get the most support in the fire horse year. Allowing what's meant to release, release, and stepping into the power of who you are, what you are meant to be, what your purpose is, and what you are here to contribute to the world. How absolutely beautiful is that? And this is the year that you get to do it. This is not the year for playing small. This is the year for telling the truth, being the truth, living in integrity. This is the year for courage, for trusting your inner fire, and for being the one who does not hold you back. There are so many factors in this world that can hold us back. Why would we want to be one of those factors? We push ourselves forward. We allow ourselves to grow. And I know I said push, and this is not the year for push, but the energy of not making excuses. That's the fire horse energy. The energy of, I'll do it tomorrow. That's not 2026. 2026 is the energy where you are greatly rewarded when you rip the band-aid off and you do the thing you've been avoiding. Do you have on your manifestation list write a book right now? When you close this podcast, either pull up your document or open your journal and write one or two lines. That's it. Start the energy. Start shaking the tree as we talk about in spirituality. You're starting to shake the energy and do that thing you've been avoiding. Because typically we avoid because we will choose that familiar hell over the unfamiliar heaven or the judgment or anything else that we are projecting would happen to us if we actually step into this energy of who we are. So to close, I want to again reiterate everything that we just talked about and just bring it all together. The fire horse doesn't arrive quietly. It brings absolute courage and power, transformation, truth, integrity. This is the year of your courage and your momentum. The fire horse symbolizes your freedom over your fear, stepping into beautiful leadership, breaking old cycles, choosing your purpose instead of permission from others. The fire horse does not wait to be chosen. Listen to that. She chooses herself. This is the year to stop shrinking, stop over-explaining yourself, and stop carrying what was never yours to begin with. It's about burning down anything old that no longer serves you, so that something that does align with your purpose and is truer can fill your beautiful heart. This is not chaos for the sake of chaos, but this is necessary change for where you are going and how you're contributing to collective. This year reminds us so much so that you are never meant to live small. This is the year about boldness, freedom, and beautiful, beautiful change. This is about movement, movement forward. Refusing to stay stuck because it's familiar. Independence. And your own leadership within yourself. This is the kind of courage that comes from absolutely positively trusting yourself and knowing that you were never too much. You are meant to be more. Every year again, this energy returns to ask us Are you brave enough to run to the life that's calling you? This isn't a year for playing small. It's a year for your momentum truth and trusting your inner fire. Sending you so much love in this new year. So much love for your clarity, your inner power, your inner fire. When we work on ourselves, when we do the things that we love, when we release the things that no longer serve us, we not only help ourselves, we help our close circle of friends and family that are closest to us and even animals, but we also help the collective. And that's exactly what we need right now. So we are all being called to move forward with this energy, to heal the collective and move into the world, the new earth that we came here at this time, we incarnate at this time to be a part of it. Sending you love. Thanks for listening to the end. We'll check you on the next one. Bye.

SPEAKER_00: 37:23

Thank you so much for spending time with us on the Modern Zen Collective Podcast. This podcast is at the heart of everything that we do, created to guide, inspire, and walk alongside you on your journey. If you're ready for more, explore our Practitioner Collective, a trusted resource of experts in healing and wellness to help you be practiced.