Winter Solstice Stillness - Held in the Mountains

Set within the ancient forests and valleys of the Wicklow Mountains, this Winter Solstice gathering invites you to slow down, turn inward and honour the deepest pause of the year.

The solstice marks a turning - but not an instant shift.
Although the light technically begins to return from this point, the darker, quieter weeks that follow remain some of the deepest of winter. The land continues to rest. The mornings stay slow and dim. The body still craves warmth, stillness and nourishment.

This gathering honours:

• The longest night of the year

• The quiet medicine of slowness

• Warming the light that lives inside you

• And the space between the turning and the thaw

This is a space to soften, to listen and to be held as the world sleeps around us.

What to Expect

🕯️ Opening Circle - Honouring the Turning

We begin together in softly held candlelight, grounded by the deep stillness of the Wicklow Mountains in midwinter. As we acknowledge the longest night, you’ll be guided into gentle reflection:

• What am I ready to release into the dark?

• What do I wish to nourish through winter?

• What quiet inner light am I tending?

This opening creates a shared threshold - the crossing into ceremony.

☕️ Ceremonial Cacao - Awakening the Inner Flame

You will be served a warm cup of ceremonial-grade cacao, a heart-opening plant ally traditionally used in ritual to support clarity, grounding and emotional connection.

Here, cacao becomes the symbol of the steady winter ember:
not loud, not forceful, but warm, present and quietly sustaining.

🧘🏻‍♀️ Gentle Winter Yoga - The Descent Into Stillness

A slow, nurturing, floor-based yoga practice designed to soothe the nervous system and soften the body into rest. Expect long holds, minimal transitions and deep, supported stillness.

This is not an energising or driven practice, it is an invitation to descend into winter rhythm, where rest becomes the foundation.

*No yoga experience is required and can be adjusted to cater towards pregnancies or physical concerns.

🎶 Sound Bath with Robyn Browning - Entering the Quiet Night

Robyn will guide you into a deeply restorative sound journey using crystal bowls, chimes and grounding frequencies. This extended sound bath becomes your winter cocoon. Allowing the body to release, the mind to settle and the subconscious to rest in spacious quiet.

🌑 Closing Solstice Ritual - Planting the Winter Intention

We close with a simple, grounding ritual where you will be invited to name a personal winter intention, not a goal to chase, but a quality, boundary or nourishment you wish to tend gently through the darkest months ahead.

🌲 Who This Gathering Is For

This space is for anyone craving:

• Stillness and nervous system rest

• Seasonal ritual and grounding

• A conscious pause before the year turns

• Gentle movement and deep relaxation

• A return to inner quiet

This experience is slow, accessible and deeply supportive. You are welcome exactly as you are.

📍 Location

Anam Kara Wellness, Glendalough House Estate, Wicklow Mountains.
Set within forest, river and mountain landscape, Anam Kara offers a peaceful sanctuary surrounded by ancient woodland and winter stillness, the perfect setting for a solstice gathering. We will gather, cocooned indoors in The Fernery, a beautiful room with a 180* view across the estate land and extended out to the Wicklow Mountains. As day slowly turns to night, the space will be held in candlelight, inviting us to soften into the darkness rather than resist it. From our sheltered vantage point, we will watch the landscape fade into shadow while remaining warm within.

✨A Note on Pace & Energy

This is not a high-output, festive experience. It is a slow, inward, winter-honouring gathering. You are invited to move gently, rest deeply, and allow yourself to be held in the darker half of the year.