Winter Solstice Retreat: Nature, Peace, and Connection

This winter solstice retreat at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, is a three-day, four-day-schedule stay built around rest, nature, and the longest night of the year. It is led by author Micah Mortali, founder of the Kripalu School of Mindful Outdoor Leadership, and it suits anyone who wants to slow down with the season rather than push against it. No prior yoga, meditation, or outdoor experience is needed.

The premise is simple: winter is a natural time of retreat. Bears hibernate, trees draw their energy down into their roots, and earth-based cultures have long spent the dark months telling stories, making things, and living on what they stored. The retreat invites you to do something similar and to heal your relationship with winter.

What to Expect

Program sessions weave together guided Mindful Outdoor Experiences, outdoor fire meditations, and indoor meditation. Teachings draw on the Nordic philosophy of hygge, which centers on comfort and nature, as well as the Celtic Wheel of the Year and Ayurvedic wisdom for finding balance. The emphasis is on quiet, coziness, and receiving what the season offers.

The days follow Kripalu's usual rhythm. Opening day begins with check-in at 2:00 pm, a Kripalu Yoga class from 4:45 to 6:00, dinner, and an evening program session from 7:30 to 9:00. On the full days, yoga runs from 6:30 to 7:45 am, followed by silent breakfast, then program sessions from 9:00 to 11:30 am and again from 1:30 to 4:00 pm, with lunch in between. Another yoga class comes at 4:45 pm, then dinner. On the closing day there is morning yoga, silent breakfast, a final program session from 9:00 to 11:00, and lunch before departure. Actual times may shift, and the schedule given at check-in has the details and room locations.

About Micah Mortali

Micah Mortali is an author, a member of the Kripalu faculty, and the founder of the Kripalu School of Mindful Outdoor Leadership. He is known for bringing mindfulness and time outdoors together, and he guides this retreat with that background in mind.

The Setting

Kripalu is a yoga and health center in Stockbridge, in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, with wooded grounds that guests can explore throughout their stay. Accommodations are intentionally simple, meant to help you unplug and feel grounded. Options include private single rooms for solitude, shared double rooms, and community-style dormitory lodging for a more collaborative stay. Rooms are ready by 4:00 pm, and a luggage room is available if you arrive earlier.

Three nutritious meals are served each day, and breakfasts are taken in silence.

Before You Go

Registration includes more than ten yoga classes over the retreat, three meals a day, guided mindful outdoor experiences, meditation and fire ceremonies, and access to the Kripalu grounds and other amenities. Healing Arts treatments and purchases from the Kripalu Shop and Cafe are extra, and the treatments pair well with this program.

The retreat is taught in English. On departure day, room check-out is at 10:00 am, though you may stay on campus and join workshops until 2:00 pm. Since much of the program happens outdoors in winter, plan for cold-weather time outside.