The Art of Holding Both

Women Only

A women’s day retreat for the season when your body asks for less and life asks for more

Date:
Location: Kingston Quaker Centre, Fairfield E, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2PT
Price: £120 / Early bird £99 until 20th October

A women's day retreat in Kingston to pause before winter asks more of you. Breathwork, grounding practices and real space to gather yourself first.

A day to pause before winter asks more of you.

In a few weeks, the clocks will go back. The evenings will start arriving earlier than we feel ready for, and beneath the to-do lists and everyday responsibilities, something in you may already be asking for a slower pace.

This is a day to step out of the noise before the full rush of winter begins. A day to breathe, soften, listen to your body, and remember that you do not have to wait until everything is finished before you are allowed to rest.

At the same time, life rarely slows down just because the season does. By November, the lists may be getting longer rather than shorter. Christmas may already be creeping into conversations, shop windows, and the back of your mind. More to plan, more to buy, more to remember, more to hold — right when your body is quietly asking for rest.

This Day Is for You If...

No experience is needed. You are welcome exactly as you are, whether you arrive tired, tender, scattered, curious, or simply in need of a day that is just for you.

What This Retreat Is About

So often, this season is spoken about as if there are only two options: slow down or keep going, rest or show up. But for many women, that is not a real choice. You may not be able to opt out of what December asks of you, and you should not have to override what your body needs in order to move through it.

This retreat is about learning how to hold both: the part of you that must keep going, and the part of you that is asking to be cared for.

As the days shorten, your nervous system can begin to shift too. The pull toward rest and inwardness is not a lack of discipline, and it is not a luxury you have to earn. It is part of the way the body responds to the season. When we understand what is happening inside us, it becomes easier to work with the season rather than fight it, even while life keeps asking for more.

What to Expect

Over the course of the day, we will explore this together. There will be conscious connected breathwork to help shift your nervous system state and bring you back to yourself. There will be grounding and nurturing practices you can use long after the retreat has ended, in the middle of a chaotic week in December, not just in the room. And there will be space, real space, to connect with yourself and with the other women around you, away from everything that will be pulling at your attention by then.

What You’ll Leave With

You will leave with a simple, practical way of holding both needs together. Not a plan to make life quieter than it really is, because that may not be realistic. Something steadier than that: a way of moving through the busy season with more awareness, more choice, and less self-abandonment.

Event Details

Spaces are limited so that the day can feel spacious, personal, and well held.

Come Before the Rush Fully Begins

If the thought of the darker months arriving, and everything the Christmas season may ask of you, already has you wondering how you are supposed to hold it all, this day is for you. Come and take one day out of the rush, before the rush fully begins.

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