Fourteen years, this December 10th, since I became a Londoner, and I still stop what I’m doing when I take the bus over a bridge. An hour before I sat down to write this I was riding over London Bridge, on the top deck of the 149 - a bus that has carried so much of my younger self, in further-flung parts of the city - and the sun was setting. It had just past three o’clock. The river looked pretty, it does when the light comes down it. Fourteen years since I became a Londoner, double that and a bit more living in England, and still caught out by sundown at this time of year.

I have been marking the Winter Solstice - the great pause when the shortest day arrives, and the daylight hours stand still for a few days, before beginning to slowly stretch out again - for several years now. When I was researching Why Women Grow I walked Barnes Common in the small flat light of solstice. At other times I have swum in cold water, or simply texted those sisters - and they are all sisters - for whom the return of the light matters.

This year, something different. Erin Taylor and I have been marking the seasons with yoga and writing workshops at the Chelsea Physic Garden since the summer. They have been precious things: a gathering of people who would never otherwise meet to share and savour while having one of London’s finest (partially) hidden gardens all to themselves. Slight snag is that they tend to sell out very quickly - in a matter of hours.

And so we thought that, what with December being overwhelming, perhaps we offered the Winter Balance Practice x savour session online this time. As members, you can either tune in live or download the workshop at a time that suits you to practice in a place that works. Gather your favourite blanket and notebook, light a candle, start your day or round off your evening. We don’t mind.

This is a save-the-date: simply mark your diaries. Subscribers will be sent the link to access and download the workshop - which will be dedicated to rest. If you want to come and you don’t subscribe, you can sign up here to get the full invite.

yoga, writing, rest

Date and time: 12-1pm GMT on Wednesday, 18th December

Location: online (subscribers will receive the link nearer the event)

What: Erin will lead an accessible, nourishing practice to help you find balance and creativity through rest as we move into winter. I will offer a short creative writing workshop to explore how we can write to make space and harness our attention during these darker days. You can do as much or as little of it as you like, as often as you like.

We look forward to celebrating the solstice with you!

more on savour sessions

roses

Alice Vincent · Aug 21

For the uninitiated, savour sessions are a means of offering a way of savouring together, in real time. Some involve writing workshops in the best-kept secrets in London, others have been intimate book events with cocktails.

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a morning stretch

Alice Vincent · Apr 17

I’ve been thinking a lot about balance this year. For so long it has felt elusive: I have been fortunate to be rich in joy, but poor in sleep, for instance. I have felt lucky to have work land on my desk but overwhelmed by the lack of time to do it in.

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another morning stretch

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When I teach, I always find it cheering when people struggle to come back into the room again after an exercise - when they want to keep writing, or they get caught on an idea. It suggests to me that something precious has begun.

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