into the dark: nourishing the kidneys in the heart of winter

Date: Saturday, january 17, 2026

Time: 6pm - 8 pm PST

session fee: $45

location: ma yoga sky room (victoria, BC)

register now

DESCRIPTION:

As we turn within the darker season, our bodies know something our minds often forget:

We are not meant to push through winter.
We are meant to slow down. To root. To rest together.

Winter is a time for incubating and gathering. We dream, reflect, sleep, and integrate. There is, in Mary Oliver’s words, a “dazzling darkness” inside of Winter that offers us deep nourishment and resource.

The health of our wholeness depends on this dark and rich passage.

Into the Dark is a 2-hour workshop designed to help us do just that—not alone, but in community.
It’s an opportunity to pause in a season of contraction, and offer your nervous system space to metabolize what it’s been holding.

We’ll gather in a warm, low-lit space to move gently through somatic practices, guided rest, acupuncture, and quiet reflection—each grounded in the wisdom of Winter and the Water Element.

This is not a space for fixing or striving.

It’s an invitation to slow down and gently expand your capacity to be with what is real—
in your system,
in the season,
and in the field between us.

You won’t be asked to share personal stories or process your experiences aloud—nor to hold the stories of others. This is a space for inward exploration, held in shared presence.

You don’t need to be certain or ready to attend.
This space meets you where you are.
It’s enough to wonder how your body is holding the season.

In a world that asks us to go faster,

doing something slow and gentle can be radical.
This is a gift of time you give not just to yourself—but to your household, your relationships, your community.

What we’ll move through together:

An introduction to the Water Element and the Kidney/Adrenal system through the lens of Tao of Trauma + Five Element theory.
A slow, somatic attunement practice and guided inner inquiry.
Restorative acupuncture offered in a group setting.
Moments of inward reflection rooted in the Water Element.

What you might carry with you after the workshop:

A felt sense of what winter is asking of your body.
A somatic map of the Kidney/Adrenal system as a source of restoration.
Subtle shifts in how you relate to rest, relationship, and the unknown.
A personal seed, intention, or image to tend through the winter months.