SANCTUARY REPLAY: Cultivating Inner Peace Over the Holiday Season for Sensitives

Honoring winter’s quiet rhythms in a season that asks us to rush.

Nov 28, 2025

∙ Paid

Monday, in Sanctuary Circle…

A small circle of us gathered in The Nourished Sensitive Collective sanctuary for our bimonthly Monday evening catchup, and this week, the energy just felt different. No rush to arrive, no frantic transition from one obligation to the next.

Just three women – three good friends – catching up before Thanksgiving.

We opened the circle with check-ins about the season.

Lynn talked about putting away her patio furniture before the cold snap in Michigan, and we laughed about how people in San Diego never have to drag chairs into the garage. I shared that I’m in Atlanta for the winter, where it’s still warm, and also that I’m in the middle of planning a move to Savannah to finally plant some roots after a season of transition. Marina called in from her cosy upstairs office where she does tarot readings for clients at Heartspace Yoga Study in Fryeburg, Maine.

It felt like such a clear reflection of the night’s theme:

all the ways we’re each trying to find groundedness, ritual, and inner peace inside a life, and a season, that doesn’t always slow down on its own.

What’s going on in your world this holiday season, and where are you finding little pockets of peace in the midst of busyness?

Inside The Conversation

Our anchor question for the night was simple and grounding:

How do we honor winter’s invitation to slow down when the holiday season often pressures us to speed up?

In sitting with this question as a group, we lightly commiserated about how the world seems to leap past winter the moment New Year’s Day ends, even though the season has barely begun.

We reflected on how some of us feel overstimulated by big family gatherings, while others—like me—sometimes feel the opposite: wishing for more warmth and connection during a season that can feel emotionally charged or heavy with grief.

We kept returning to the idea that winter has its own rhythm—one that asks for softness, slowness, and presence. And in between these reflections, we shared the little things that help hold us through the holidays like: a walk in the woods with a pet, lounging next to a cozy fireplace at a relative’s house, taking a grounding breath in the cold air, or a moment away from the noise of a crowded family room.

What about you, friend?

How do you honor winter’s invitation to slow down when the holidays ask you to speed up?

Open Sharing – Thoughts on Surviving the Holidays:

Movement as winter medicine. Lynn shared how important movement is for her—not as “exercise” but as everyday walks, stretching, and trampoline time, especially when her usual fitness classes pause for the holidays.
Cozy rituals and grounding anchors. Marina talked about walking in the woods with her dog Blue, and her excitement about sitting by the massive fireplace at her aunt’s hunting-lodge-turned-home around Thanksgiving. We shared about hot drinks, candlelight, and little rituals that bring us back into our bodies.
Letting ourselves be celebrated. I shared some of my own winter intentions: taking myself out for my December 23rd birthday at a lovely garden-themed restaurant called The Garden Room; visiting the Atlanta Botanical Garden holiday lights; going to see The Nutcracker ballet, and letting myself feel like a queen for a night instead of skipping my day because of its proximity to Christmas.

Anyone else here understand the holiday birthday struggle?

Opening Grounding Meditation: A Peaceful Wintry Visualization

After catching up and exploring the evening theme, we dropped into our usual grounding practice: a guided winter-themed grounding visualization practice to help our nervous systems feel the pace of the season and gently settle into it.

In this meditation, we:

Settled into cozy positions, some of us holding anchors like blankets or pillows.
Brought awareness to breath and body, imagining tension melting like ice to water, and water to vapor. A helpful visualization I learned from psychologist and meditation teacher, Tara Brach.
Then, traveled in our mind’s eye to a wintry landscape of our own making—lying back in a blanket of snow, watching our breath move through the cold night air, feeling our faces cool but our bodies warm as we stare up at the trees in our imaginary peaceful place.
Sitting with two anchor questions:
- What does peace feel like in my body?
- What needs to slow down?

It was a simple and short practice, but afterwards, Marina and Lynn shared that they “really went there.” which was nice to hear. That’s the power of giving our sensitive systems a clear, sensory image to rest inside.

Here’s a short preview.

A Space to Breathe, Ground, and Connect

If this moment of grounding felt good to you, imagine having a place to return to twice a month—a room of sensitive souls breathing with you, reflecting with you, and growing with you. A place where you can fully relax, and snuggle into belonging.

If that sounds like something you need and have been searching for, we would love to welcome you deeper into the TNSC Sanctuary where the full recording and all future circle gatherings are available to our beloved members.

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