The season before Winter solstice is upon us! Top tips to embrace Samhain & yoga.

As October turns to November, we enter the Celtic festival of Samhain — a time the ancient Celts called the thinning of the veil. The final harvest is gathered, the days grow shorter, and the natural world draws inward. At the intersection of yoga, Samhain offers a sacred pause — an invitation to listen, reflect, and tend the quiet spaces within.

When I look around my neighborhood, I see trees releasing their leaves (for endless raking:), and we too are invited to let go — of habits, tensions, and unfinished stories that no longer nourish us. This season reminds us that endings are not failures but transitions, rich with the promise of renewal. In the yoga tradition, this is the essence of aparigraha — non-grasping — trusting that by releasing, we make space for what is to come. I find this such a beautiful concept.

On the Mat

This is a lovely time to slow your practice down. Some suggestions for my fellow yogis to help embrace this season:

**Choose gentle, grounding postures that echo the energy of the earth: forward folds, supported child’s pose, and seated twists to help the body release what it no longer needs.

**Yin or restorative yoga offers space for stillness and surrender,

**Slow sun salutations can honour the balance between light and dark.

**Try ending your practice in meditation or with hands over the heart — a gesture of gratitude for what has been and trust in what is coming.

Samhain also honors our ancestors and the unseen threads that connect us across time. In yoga, this remembrance can take the form of metta (loving-kindness) practice — sending gentle compassion to those who have come before, to those who walk beside us, and to the generations yet to be born. Maybe try and incorporate metta into your meditation.

So, light a candle, observe the mists roll in across the Pacific, wander slowly through nature and perhaps take a few quiet moments on your mat. Breathe into the mystery of this turning season. Feel the deep exhale of the earth and the whisper that says: you, too, are part of this endless cycle of letting go and becoming.