Honouring the Winter Solstice: A Journey Into Darkness, Stillness, and Inner Light

The Winter Solstice is near. The moment when the sun reaches its lowest point in the sky and we experience the longest night of the year. Astronomically, it marks the time when the Northern Hemisphere tilts farthest from the sun, offering us the least daylight and the deepest darkness.

Spiritually and symbolically, the Winter solstice has been honoured for thousands of years as a turning point -  the birth of light from darkness, and the beginning of the sun’s slow return.

The gift of darkness

Winter’s darkness often gets misunderstood. We hurry through it, resist it, or try to brighten it before its work is done. But the darkness of the solstice isn’t a empty void. It is a vital holding space, allowing gestation, and rich with potential.

Nature becomes still. Animals retreat. Plants sink into their roots. The world quietens.

And so can we.

This season invites us into a kind of sacred introspection, a gentle slowing down that allows us to listen beneath the noise of daily life. When we allow ourselves to settle into this stillness, we can discover wisdom that cannot be heard in the brightness of Spring or Summer.

The solstice reminds us that even during our darkest moments, light is already on its way.

Listening to Your Deepest Wisdom

The Winter Solstice is an energetic threshold where our inner truth and wisdom can emerge. We cannot force this clarity, but by creating quiet, and allowing space, we can often hear the whisperings of our truth.

I invite you to ask yourself these questions:

• What wants to be released?

• What is ready to rest?

• What seeds of intention are quietly forming within me?

Practical ways to work with Solstice energy

Here are a few simple practices to help you align with the energy of the Winter Solstice:

1. Create a stillness ritual

Set aside 5 or 10 minutes in complete quiet. Sit, breathe, and feel the darkness around you. Imagine it holding you rather than consuming you. Let thoughts drift without chasing them. This is a space for listening, not doing.

2. Journal in candlelight

Light a single candle in a dark room and write about:

• What wisdom has emerged for you this year.

• What inner light you want to cultivate.

• What shadows you’re ready to understand rather than avoid.

The candle becomes a symbol of your own inner flame.

3. Connect with your body

Winter’s energy is grounding and inward. Gentle movement—like slow yoga, stretching, walking, or self-massage—helps you soften into your body’s natural rhythms and hear what it needs.

4. Honour both your light and shadow parts

Take a moment to acknowledge:

• Your strengths, gifts, and growth (your light).

• Your fears, wounds, and doubts (your shadow).

Both are essential. Both are worthy. Both create wholeness.

5. Set a Solstice intention

As this day marks the return of the sun, set one clear intention that you wish to grow in the coming months. Think of it as planting a seed beneath the snow.

The Winter Solstice invites us not only to celebrate the light’s return, but to honor the darkness that makes that return meaningful. May this season offer you the stillness you need to hear your own deep wisdom, and the courage to follow it into the year ahead.

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✨ A Special Winter Solstice Gathering! 🌙 

This year, on the Solstice - 21st December - I am offering a special Winter Solstice Yoga and Shiatsu Wellbeing Session where we will intentionally work with the energies of the darkest day of the year. Through grounding movement, hands-on acupressure touch, restorative breathwork, and inner inquiry, we will explore some practical ways to find balance, alignment, and inner light during this key time in the seasonal cycle.

It will be a time to pause, breathe, reconnect, and enter the new season with clarity and centredness.

Find out more here.

As always, I can't wait to share with you the beautiful ancient practices of Hatha Yoga and Shiatsu. This session is suitable for everyone, including beginners to these practices.

Don't hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any questions at all.

Kerry x

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