Chantal Russell on the winter solstice and figuring out your winter wellness rituals
I met Chantal Russel briefly when I attended a business reset day on Bowen Island here in BC, just before the pandemic hit. It was the last big group thing I did before lockdowns.
There was an option to go for a rainy walk or to stay in Chantal’s cozy yoga studio, where she'd be giving a talk and an introduction to ayurveda, which is a form of Eastern medicine. I'm so happy I chose the cozy route because I learned SO much from Chantal in that brief introduction.
We talked about seasonality, individual differences with lifestyle and nutrition and it was honestly very, very eye opening.
Fast forward to November 2022…I had the pleasure of chatting with Chantal on the podcast to chat all things winter solstice and winter wellness.
Who is Chantal Russell?
Chantal believes that being well is a daily choice and she lives that ethos in her life and in the work that she does. Chantal is a mother, an entrepreneur and cancer thriver.
She is a registered holistic nutritionist, an Ayurvedic Wellness coach, Equine Facilitated Wellness Professional, and she owned her own gorgeous yoga studio on Bowen Island for many years.
She does program management and is an educator at multiple wellness educational institutions. She offers on demand yoga and pilates, does soulful wellness coaching, and is an equine facilitated wellness professional. She does so much and I know she touches so many lives.
A reminder of the how the earth travels over the course of a year
Like life, there is dark and there is light. And what Chantal spoke about in this episode was that both deserve to be celebrated. I personally have always shied away from celebrating the dark. But this sentiment, and our conversation, has me thinking in a whole new way.
Winter is the word we use to articulate a season, but it can also be used to describe a feeling or a period of time. Chantal shares that her health journey with cancer was her period of “winter” in every sense of the word.
It’s only recently that we have had such an abundance of food, shelter… basically anything we could ever want and more. So we are no longer tapped into that season of gathering and preparing as a community.
A quick lesson, or reminder, on the earth-sun rotations
Let’s talk about how the earth journeys around the sun. One full rotation of the earth around the sun is one year.
There are four major points along that year that are marked by 2 solstices and 2 equinoxes (I’m going to be honest here…I actually didn’t know what an equinox was until my convo with Chantal!).
Solstice by simple definition: The Latin roots of the word 'solstice' mean 'sun stands still'. It marks the earth either moving away or coming back towards the sun. Energetically it’s a time to pause and reflect, and to be reminded that we have the strength we need to make it through; literally through the winter (like our ancestors), or metaphorically through tough times.
Equinox by simple definition: Nearly equal daylight and darkness. Energetically, a time to cleanse, organize (hello spring cleaning!), and rebalance.
So the spring and the fall equinoxes are really these balancing points between the light and the dark. And that's why we bring a lot of emphasis on cleansing, reorganizing and bringing balance back into our lives. Whereas the solstice are these turning points where the light starts to grow, or it starts to recede and wane.
Creating a winter solstice ritual
The winter solstice is a time where you want to re-awaken your vision (think light) and reflect on what lights you up, so you can start to bring all that goodness into your life.
To celebrate the winter solstice on December 21, you can make your own ritual. Chantal reassures us that it doesn't have to be a very fancy ritual with lots of elements, but simply making the space to pause and reflect on the energetics of the season and what's happening in your own life.
Candle light meditation
To nourish the eyes, strengthen your own inner fire and strengthen your vision. Training yourself to “see in the dark” so you can get through seasons of literal or metaphorical darkness. More on this practice here, or follow Chantal’s instructions below:
Light a candle.
Gaze at the candle with your eyes softly open without blinking until your eyes start to water.
Once your eyes start to water, close your eyes and you try to envision the flame inside your forehead with your eyes remaining closed.
Repeat this a few times.
Journaling
To connect with what has happened, what you’ll release and how you want to move forward. Answer these three questions:
What are you grateful for from the 2022 year? And being super specific about it.
What are you ready to release from 2022?
What are you ready to call in for this next season?
DIY - making it your own
Find your own way! Chantal loves to remind people that they have their own inner wisdom that will guide them. And so this is not about it looking a certain way. Really let your own intuition guide you and what feels good for you to take time to pause and celebrate the solstice in your own way.
Join Chantal’s Solstice Yoga Class & Ceremony
Sign up and join Chantal's Winter Solstice Class & Ceremony on December 21, 2022 from 7:30 - 9:00pm. Chantal is kindly gifting us all with a free ticket by using the promo code (case sensitive): SOULSTICE
Winter wellness practices to nourish you during the darker months
Pace
Follow nature, and slow things down. Allow yourself to sleep earlier, and rise later. You will be more productive if you bring in more practices of restoration like yoga, meditation etc. And if you’re in a season of life where more sleep just isn’t possible, like having a newborn, can you bring down the pace of other aspects of your life?
Chantal also recommends incorporating more baths, yoga nidra and anything that makes you feel good and slows you down.
Foods
From an Ayurvedic perspective, Chantal encourages eating naturally warming rather than raw foods that restore and repair the body. Yummy spices like cinnamon and tumeric, root vegetables, brown rice and healthy fats.
Drinks
Sip warm beverages all day. Cold beverages spend a lot more of your energy that you should be saving up.
The to do list and boundaries
Take on less. Do less. Set boundaries. Set times that you work and do not work. Set auto-responders sharing what times you check your emails. Be clear with the people in your life about what they can expect from you.
What can you stop doing?
Instead of always looking to “add on” to your rituals and routines, what can you stop doing? Yogic philosophy believes that we are, and are born, whole. That it’s about letting go and releasing that which doesn’t serve us. The same can be said about life in the winter.
Parenting, the winter solstice and wintering
Stepping into parenthood, or motherhood, in an intentional way
Chantal loves to support people as they move into parenthood. Our ancestors would celebrate this transition in community, through blessing the mom-to-be. Chantal believes it’s so important to acknowledge and talk about this huge shift. In a sense, motherhood can come with a period of “wintering” whereby it’s easy to feel lost and overwhelmed.
Parenting is hard; there is a sense of loss…and that’s okay, and it’s normal to feel that way
There are so many beautiful parts of becoming a parent. And it’s important to acknowledge how much changes. And how hard it can be.
Chantal encourages anyone in this season to remember that this too is a cycle and only a season. A lot of what you might be missing can be put on the back-burner for a bit, but not lost forever. Like the seasons!
Be flexible in your mind
There are many things in life that we don’t have control over or a choice in; a toddler’s mood, your family getting endless colds…the list goes on. So this requires flexibility in expectations and in the mind.
We put a lot of pressure on ourselves, Chantal shares, and so to the best of our ability, we need to let that go. Celebrate the small wins in your life and in the lives of other parents around you.
There’s a loss, but you’re also stepping into a more expanded version of yourself
Chantal said it so beautifully:
“What I've learned through this journey (of becoming a parent) is that you are stepping into a more expanded version of yourself. And so don't try to hold on to who you think you are, or who you used to be. Because you're becoming, you're becoming the mother and the mother is the Life Giver. When you take care of nature, when you take care of your own nature, when you take care of yourself, everybody benefits. It's about being flexible, but also prioritizing what really matters most.”
In summary Chantal says:
What do you really need to feel nourished? Quality sleep, quality food, quality relationships. That will nurture yourself and those around you.
More from Chantal:
Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.
To sign up for Chantal's Winter Solstice Class & Ceremony on December 21, 2022, click here and get a FREE ticket using promo code (case sensitive): SOULSTICE
To connect with Chantal on Instagram click here.
To visit Chantal's website, including her on-demand yoga classes,click here.
