Wild Wintering on the Winter Solstice

❄️ Wild Wintering on the Winter Solstice

Oak & Willow Yoga presents a workshop with Sam Gravestock (The Forest Path).

Join Sam and Sarah for Wild Wintering, a workshop rooted in nature connection, somatic presence and the quiet medicine of the dark months. This is a time to soften, to slow down and to remember that winter is a rite of passage.

Across languages, the Solstice is described as a pause in the heavens.Solstice is an English word derived from Latin. In Latin solstitium means “the sun stands still.”

In Irish Gaelic (Gaeilge), Grianstad means “the stopping of the sun.” The same word-shape appears across the wider Gaelic family in Scotland ((Gàidhlig) and the Isle of Man (Gaelg), each carrying the old sense of the sun standing still at midwinter.

In Sanskrit the Solstice is Uttarayana, the great turning of the sun’s path toward the north, a sacred hinge in the year. In Persian Yalda marks the birth of the returning light. In Norse Jól or Yule honours the rebirth of the sun in the deep dark of winter.
Every culture recognises the stillness and the turning.

A cosmic breath held at the darkest hour.
A moment when the sun pauses.
A moment of stillness before the return of the light.

This is the threshold we will gather at.

Wild Wintering is an online gathering designed to bring you back into relationship with self and land through the medicine of stillness. We gather at the moment when the sun appears to stand still, entering a season that invites slowing, resting and the soft, cosy nourishment of winter. 

Sam will guide us in land-based practice, You will be guided into creating a sit spot in nature, a small place on the land that becomes a personal sacred site across the turning year. He will teach us how to map this space, how to understand the directions and the rise and set of the solstice sun, and how a sit spot can become a place for mindful practice, reflection and where to foster a deeper connection with the natural world.. Sam will offer prompts that will be put in place on the morning and evening of the Solstice. He will weave theory with hands-on experience, moving between practice and reflection to root the learning in your body. Wild Wintering invites you to be in, with and as the land, rather than a visitor passing through, and to honour the seasonal wisdom that calls you back into purposeful pause, quiet regeneration and inner rooting.

Sarah will lead gentle somatic movement, lymphatic activation to support winter stagnation, and a guided meditation to explore the internal pause that winter calls for. This is a time to recognise where your own life needs to soften where you might choose to winter in yourself, and how rest can become purposeful rather than something earned through productivity.

The workshop consists of an online gathering on
Saturday 20th December from 10am to 1.30pm,
followed by a second gathering on the evening of the Winter Solstice,
Sunday December 21st from 6pm to 8pm.

Between these two sessions you will be invited to take the tools offered by Sam and meet both the sunrise and the sunset at your chosen sit spot. This small piece of land becomes your own sacred site, a place to stand at the threshold of the Solstice and witness the stillness of the sun for yourself. Through this simple but profound practice you begin to create a personal relationship with the land, one that continues to deepen across the turning year.