Only rarely do spectacular weather and lunar events come together to produce the most phenomenal of winter conditions. Clear, calm skies without a breath of wind combine with sub-zero temperatures to freeze water vapour in the air producing ice crystals on the cold surfaces of trees, plants and ground. The result is a hoar frost that brings to all it comes into contact with, a touch of breathtaking magic as the world is seen again in a new light. The landscape is brought to our attention suddenly, as if for the first time, when the taken for granted shapes of nature – leaves, grasses, berries and seed pods – are made shockingly beautiful overnight, and revealed dramatically by day: their forms and edges highlighted with feathered white crystals glistening in the winter sun.
Add to this a magnificent Wolf Moon, and you have the perfect conditions for a winter yoga retreat in England. Shining bright among the stars, close to the earth and seeming to be extraordinarily large, and powerful enough to draw guests out of their sleep and to their windows in the middle of the night to bear witness and marvel at its presence, the full moon later met the sun in the morning sky, and filled everyone with a sense of awe and wonder as we made our way to the beautiful Mongolian yurt in a frosty winter field, ready for morning yoga practice by the warmth of the wood burning stove. We counted ourselves amazingly lucky to wake on the first weekend of the New Year in Somerset, at the beautiful retreat centre, 42 Acres, and to find ourselves spellbound, moved to a state of wonder by the first Saturday morning of 2026.
We practised morning and evening in the cosy warmth and circular formation of the yurt, coming together to move slowly through the Sun Salutation sequence at dawn – releasing tension, freeing the breath and revitalising after the excesses of the festive season. The focus of our morning enquiry was the question of what it means to come back to life through the feet, to establish and awaken the relationship with the ground, as the foundation of our being on earth in a balanced and enlivened state. At dusk, we enjoyed the restorative Spinal Release practice and were relieved to come down to earth, to rest deeply and find a sense of peace and calm as we reflected over the course of the weekend on the often profound challenges of 2025.
Overall, there was a sense on the retreat of a need for recuperation, and a reset before the demands and opportunities of a New Year could be embraced. We gathered in yoga community and enjoyed wonderful heart warming company as usual by the fireplaces of the kitchen in the Farmhouse to enjoy chef-made meals prepared with devotion from locally grown ingredients and inspired by the soil to gut philosophy of the 42 Acres team. The retreat was vegetarian and alcohol-free as we were recovering from Christmas feasting and I invited guests to take part in a digital detox for the weekend, which meant not looking at our phones until after breakfast, so that we could practice arriving to ourselves first thing in the morning before anyone or anything else could command our energies and attention. This proved to be transformational for many people who admitted that the first thing they usually do on waking is to look at their phones and get immediately distracted from their own needs, making it impossible to make time for rituals of self-care and self-enquiry before the demands of others and the day take priority. We all noticed that time slowed down at 42 Acres as our attention span withdrew from our phones and we became present to ourselves, each other, the yoga practice and the beauty of the environment in the here and now simplicity of life on retreat.
Clear and Five Degrees Below Zero
“Perfectly still this solstice morning, in bone cracking cold. Nothing moving, or so one might think, but as I walk the road, the wind held in the heart of every tree flows to the end of each twig and forms the idea of a bud.”
Ted Kooser (Winter Morning Walks)
Central to my own yoga enquiry at the start of this year is the proposition that the whole of the ninety minutes yoga practice, (whether Sun Salutations or Spinal Release), is a preparation for the beginning of meditation. On retreat, this meant that I offered a meditation practice and contemplation in the mornings as the culmination of Sun Salutations rather than as an introduction, or prelude to them. The invitation was to experience in silence, and to notice and savour quietly, the outcome of the morning movement practice, which is a softening of the state of the heart, the body, the breath and a sense of calm in the mind as the possibility of peace arises. There is a sense even if only for a moment, of being able to sit well with oneself, freed from anxiety about the past or worry about the future, just being in the here and now with a sense that in this moment, all is well and letting that feeling drop in the ocean of the nervous system.
This kind of meditation practice – cultivating a sense of presence through paying attention to all the layers of the experience of being alive – internally (body, breath, energy, emotion and mind) – and externally (sight, sound, touch, taste and smell)- lends itself well to a broader enquiry about what it means to be pay attention to life and through this, to learn to listen to the wisdom of the body. It was a reminder for some of us of our first time on winter retreat at 42 Acres, six years ago, in 2019 when I offered as contemplation poetry from Mary Oliver, whose whole body of work could be said to be an exercise in the art of paying attention to nature, and in so doing, learning how to pay attention to oneself and the body as an expression of the wild, which calls us home.
The unique and breathtaking beauty of the winter weather this year on retreat made it easy for us to take our meditation practice out into the environment, to enjoy silent walking together through the frosty landscape in the late morning and later, to find time alone to explore and experience the land in various ways. Some guests enjoyed the lovely wood-fired sauna in the woods, and even dared to dip in the plunge pool, breaking the thick ice on the surface of the water to cool off and shout out loud with the shock, while others quietly discovered the unique species and habitats of the re-wilding project at 42 Acres. We saw deer in the woods, wild cats on the shores of the lake, and on the frosty lanes. We startled hares in the fields, and observed the feats of engineering of the beavers that are thriving now after their reintroduction to this place where they are creating a network of dams and waterways around the lake.
Ten Degrees of Sunrise. Light Snow Flying
Ted Kooser (Winter Morning Walks)
“The beaver’s mound of brush and cornstalks stands at the edge of silence this morning,
a pyramid on an untracked desert of snow with black,
open water shining beyond it.
Somewhere inside are the hidden mysteries: an old yellow-toothed pharoah,
wrapped up in bandages of sleep, and on his shallow breath,
oily odor of tanmark and the priceless perfume of summer’s willow leaves.”
“Over the past few years, ‘rewilding’ has become a household word. What began as the buzzword for allowing nature back into our landscapes has become synonymous with making anything wilder and more dynamic, including much smaller areas, such as gardens, churchyards, playgrounds and roadside verges, right down to window boxes. Inspired by its association with radical change and ‘letting go’, we’ve even begun to talk about re-wilding institutions, belief systems, urban infrastructure, social conventions and – perhaps the biggest challenge of all – ourselves.”
The Book of Wilding. Isabella Tree & Charlie Burrell
Part of the reason for me deciding to lead a retreat at 42 Acres this year is because on summer retreat in Sardinia last year, we began to deepen into an enquiry about the relationship between the practice of yoga and appreciation and cultivation of the natural environment including what it might mean to start to participate in an environmental movement at a time of profound earth crisis. At 42 Acres we learned that the UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and that bringing back native species that have been lost to our local landscapes plays a vital role in reversing human impact. The effects can be felt throughout the food chain, restoring balance to the entire ecosystem and setting it on a path to recovery. This is part of the re-wilding movement in England which works not to conserve endangered environments, but to actively bring lost and endangered flora, fauna and fungi back to our landscapes. Through carefully managed breeding and release programs, the aim is to return lost and rare species back into the ecosystems in which they evolved. Currently, at 42 Acres, the focus is on two species: white storks and wild cats.
It was a straightforward connection to make in such breathtaking conditions of pristine winter beauty to enquire on retreat into the idea of what it might mean to re-wild ourselves. I proposed that from a yoga perspective this is always going to be do with learning how to listen to the wisdom of the body, cultivating new habits of living that allow us to gently return to the parts of us that are instinctive, embodied, and deeply connected to the natural world. It is a process of remembering that we are not separate from nature, and we are therefore governed by its rhythms, which requires that we learn how to honour our limits, and trust our embodied intuition against all cultural expectations that we will do the opposite. To re-wild is not about naively abandoning modern life, but to find ways to soften its grip: to slow down, to feel the ground beneath our feet, to allow time for rest, and creativity, and to let emotion to move fully and freely. In doing so, the aim is to reclaim a sense of aliveness, resilience, and belonging that has often been dulled by busyness, disconnection, and constant striving in a way that requires that we abandon ourselves and our health in the service of others and for relentless productivity and ambition in the workplace.
Our practice on retreat was complimented powerfully by the reflexology treatments of Rieko Oshima Barclay – a Japanese herbalist and essential oils specialist – whose phenomenal practice allows for an understanding of the feet as a gateway to knowing the whole body as a physical-emotional-energetic system. It was remarkable for many guests to understand that what any person needs to come back into alignment and a state of flourishing can be discerned through the feet. As the retreat unfolded it became clear that yoga and reflexology complement each other beautifully because, through different practices, they support the same underlying systems—particularly the nervous system, circulation, and flow of energy. Yoga works holistically, using movement, breath, and focused attention to encourage energetic balance throughout the whole body, while reflexology offers a more targeted approach, stimulating specific reflex points that relate to organs, body systems, and energetic pathways. Together, they deepen relaxation, enhance grounding, and support both top-down awareness and bottom-up energetic regulation, creating a sense of balance and vitality that is often more profound than either practice alone. As a reflexologist, Rieko could offer pointed and timely information about our state of health and make suggestions for our wellbeing in ways that often appeared to be remarkable given that many were meeting her for the first time and there was no opportunity for in-depth case histories. Rieko’s offering emphasised the phenomenal potential of the feet to become central to the process of what it means to come back to life and rebalance.
Join me in London on the 21st February at the Honor Oak Wellness Rooms for a whole afternoon’s workshop dedicated to exploring the feet in depth: Finding Your Feet: Coming Back to Life from the Ground Up.
What beautiful memories are conjured in your post. We were truly blessed with the weather and Moon. I have finally returned home to Italy. Here I will plant my feet and feel the rich generous soil which blesses us with wonderful olive oil and delicious seasonal vegetables. As I look out of my window at the tree covered hill opposite I see the trees denuded of leaves like bleached bones, waiting for their new annual coverage of lush green foliage. Good things to come as I plan my deeper connection to the land and place I have chosen to be.