Rooted in Presence

Wonder in Winter

3 Hour Workshop

January ???, 2025

12:30 pm - 3:30 pm

Nature Nurtures, Yoga Grounds — Find Your Harmony Here

If you’re craving stillness, clarity, and a deeper sense of connection, this workshop is your invitation to pause and return to what truly grounds you. Surrounded by the natural beauty of pine trees and open sky, you’ll experience the transformative power of mindful movement, breath, and sensory awareness. Step away from busyness and into the calm presence of nature, where every breath feels more expansive and every step more intentional. You’ll leave feeling rooted, clear, and restored — carrying with you a renewed sense of balance that supports your well-being long after the workshop ends.

Discover the Quiet Magic of Winter’s Stillness.

Discover the Quiet Magic of Winter’s Stillness.

What To Expect

Opening Circle

Arriving in Place & Presence

  • Orientation to Place: Acknowledge the land, its history, and its natural inhabitants. Share the context of the environment, encouraging participants to sense their place within it.

  • Welcome & Intention Setting: Introduce the theme of the day, "Rooted in Presence," and invite participants to share one word or feeling they bring with them.

  • Grounding Meditation: Guide participants to feel the support of the ground beneath them, attuning to sensations of weight, gravity, and contact with the earth.

  • Breath Awareness: Use a simple breath practice (like 4-4-6 breath) to bring awareness inward. Encourage participants to "breathe with the land," noticing how the breath reflects the natural rhythms around them.

  • Threshold Practice: As a symbolic entry into the space of deeper awareness, invite participants to slowly walk through a natural "gateway" (like two trees, an opening in the trail, or a designated line). Pause before entering, asking participants to take 3 intentional breaths, release distractions, and consciously "step into" a state of openness.

  • Sensory Awareness Walk: Guide participants in slow, mindful walking, opening their senses to sight, sound, touch, and smell. Offer sensory invitations like:

    • Notice how sunlight or shadow plays on surfaces.

    • Feel the texture of leaves, bark, or stones.

    • Listen for distant and nearby sounds, exploring the layers of the forest's "music."

    • Smell the air and notice subtle shifts in fragrance as you walk.

Sensory Awakening Walk

Crossing the Threshold to Awareness

Nature-Inspired Yoga Therapy

Embodiment of Nature’s Rhythms

  • Centering Practice

    • Invite participants to find a comfortable seat or lie on their mat or the earth.

    • Use a grounding visualization, asking participants to imagine roots extending from their bodies into the earth, anchoring them to the land.

    • Lead them through a gentle breath practice, perhaps using "Wave Breath," in which the inhale rises like an incoming tide and the exhale recedes like the tide returning to the sea.

  • Yoga Therapy Practice

    • Opening Movements: Gentle movements to warm the joints and awaken the body's "natural flow." Inspired by nature’s rhythms, incorporate swaying (like trees), circling (like the movement of water), and spiraling (like unfurling leaves).

    • Grounding Postures: Focus on postures that reflect stability, strength, and rootedness, such as:

      • Child’s Pose (like a seed resting in the soil)

      • Low Lunge (rooting the legs as "roots" into the ground)

      • Tree Pose (balancing with the steadiness of a tree)

    • Flowing Sequences: Use slow, fluid vinyasa-like movements inspired by nature's cycles. For example, a slow transition from Warrior II to Forward Fold to Mountain Pose mirrors the growth, expansion, and return to stillness in nature.

    • Closing Restorative Postures: Reclined Bound Angle (like a flower opening) and Restorative Reclining Twist to encourage soft release..

Forest Therapy Invitations

Reciprocity & Relationship with Nature

  • Sit Spot Practice: Invite participants to find their own quiet "sit spot" in nature. They will sit in stillness, observe one small area of nature, and notice subtle changes, movements, or interactions.

  • Nature Inquiry (optional journaling): Offer reflective prompts like:

    • "If the wind could speak to you, what would it say?"

    • What do you notice about this space's growth, release, and stillness cycles?"

    • Option to journal or share reflections afterward.

  • Closing Council: Participants are invited to gather in a circle to speak from the heart, listen from the heart, be spontaneous, and be lean in their expressions. This practice encourages authentic sharing and active listening without judgment. Participants may share one reflection, insight, or feeling they are taking with them.

  • Gratitude Ritual: Invite participants to express gratitude for the land, nature, and elements. They may place a small natural object (such as a stone, leaf, or flower) on a collective altar or symbolic space.

  • Closing Breath: Close with three collective breaths, honoring the rhythm of breath, body, and nature as one interconnected system.

Closing Circle & Council

Integration & Gratitude

Move with Intention, Listen with Presence, Live with Ease

Enhanced Mind-Body Awareness and Sensory Presence
Yoga therapy tunes you into the internal landscape of body, breath, and mind, while forest therapy heightens sensory awareness of sound, scent, and texture. Together, they deepen presence and attunement to life’s subtleties.

Stress Relief and Nervous System Balance
Both practices activate the parasympathetic "rest and digest" response. Breathwork, mindful movement, and nature's calming presence reduce cortisol levels and promote a state of ease.

Improved Emotional Well-Being and Resilience
The stillness of the forest and the self-compassion practices of yoga nurture emotional balance, cultivate patience, and enhance the capacity to respond, rather than react, to life's challenges.

Breathe, Wander, Awaken — Where Inner Calm Meets Natural Wonder

Immune System and Vitality Support
The phytoncides released by trees and the lymphatic stimulation of mindful movement support immune health, increase vitality, and boost the body's natural defenses.

Creativity, Clarity, and Mental Spaciousness
Unstructured time in nature, paired with the mental focus of yoga and meditation, creates space for fresh ideas, creative problem-solving, and mental clarity.

Physical Health and Embodied Movement
Walking natural trails and practicing intentional movement support joint health, strengthen balance, and invite mindful movement rooted in nature's rhythms.

Rooted in Presence: An Invitation to Nurture Your Mind, Body, and Spirit

Step outside and sink into the natural rhythm of the forest. This immersive workshop blends yoga therapy, forest bathing, and heart-centered mindfulness to foster a deep connection with nature and self. Through sensory awareness, gentle movement, breath practice, and shared reflection, you'll cultivate presence, clarity, and inner stillness. Rooted in the beauty of pine trees and guided by the wisdom of the natural world, this experience invites you to slow down, breathe deeply, and return to what truly grounds you.