Welcome to the IYE Winter Wellness Club, a one of a kind three-month long offering we share in select years to help others build a deeper relationship with winter, create consistent opportunities for community connection, and more!
Through intentionally designed members-only gatherings, morning meditations via Zoom, classes in the winter forest, and exploring specific winter-focused nature connection techniques, this club is intended to help bring some joy and appreciation into our experience of the season – as individuals, and also as a shared community.
Whether we are offered a glittering wonderland of snow or a weeks of non-stop rain, winter has something to offer us. When we lean in and embrace this with a new curiosity, our entire experience can change.
Seasonal dread doesn’t have to be your story. We know, because we’ve been there.
2026 is an *off year* for the club, but if you’re curious to learn more and get excited for future years you can check out what we offered in 2025 by scrolling through this page.
Beginning January 1 and Running Through March 19, 2025
Our Winter Wellness Club Includes:
Monthly Member Gatherings & Learning: Our once monthly, members only gatherings will be hosted on the first Thursday of each month from 6-7:30pm. We’ll also have a closing gathering on the last day of winter. During these experiences you’ll have a chance to learn about nature-focused self-care approaches, claim some time for you, and be offered the opportunity to connect to community in a welcoming, friendly atmosphere. You’ll also go home each month with a specific winter nature-connection technique to explore on your own, helping you grow your personal relationship with winter as the season progresses. Dates and themes listed below!
❄️ Opening Gathering & Overview of Core Winter Wellness Techniques: January 2, 6-7:30pm (indoors at Beaubien Holistic Care) – Meet Other Club Members during an Opening Community Circle + Cozy up in a Blanket and Learn about Nature-Focused Winter Wellness Techniques with Katie + Learn about How the Club Will Support You + Calm Your Mind with a Short & Sweet Guided Relaxation Practice + Set Your Winter Intentions
❄️ Mid-Winter Gathering & Wild Tea Exploration: February 6, 6-7:30pm (indoor/outdoor at Beaubien Holistic Care) – Enjoy Fresh Air With A Luminary Lit Opening Circle Outside + Embrace Fun with a *Warm Clothes Competition* + Get Curious about the Beauty of February + Warm Up With an Indoor Wild Tea Exploration (including hands-on identification of winter wild tea plants and a tea tasting) + Engage in Community Connection with Closing Time to Visit
❄️ Final Indoor Gathering & Approaches to Deepen Your Nature Connection: March 6, 6-7:30pm (indoors at Beaubien Holistic Care) – Engage in Community Connection with an Opening Circle and Time to Visit + Learn About Two Approaches to Cultivate Deeper Awareness in Your Time Outside + Calm Your Mind with a Closing Guided Relaxation Practice
❄️ Closing Gathering & End of Winter Tea Ceremony: March 19, 6-7:30pm (at an outdoor park, location TBA) – Celebrate the Last Day of Winter and Connect with Community Around a Wild Tea Ceremony in Nature + Reflect on the Season and Revisit Intentions + Create a Tool of Support to Lean into for Winter Wellness in 2026
A peek into our monthly gathering space, in the peaceful and private Beaubien Holistic Care studio – conveniently located just off the East Beltline!
Tuesday Morning Meditations via Zoom: Morning is a special time. Our minds are clearer, the world is quieter, and we have the opportunity to claim a whole new attitude to bring into the rest of our day. Join Katie on Zoom every Tuesday morning from 6:30-7am for a guided forest bathing meditation and centering practice, offering you a chance to connect to the nature nearby (whether you are in a city high rise or a quiet home in the country) and explore how adding a morning practice may benefit you. (EVERY Tuesday, 11 meditations total)
❄️ Recordingswill be available for those who cannot join at 6:30am, but we highly encourage you to try!
❄️ Start Your Day Fresh: We encourage you to use this guided experience as a formal beginning to the day, before checking social media, email, texts, etc.
❄️ What to Expect: Roll out of bed, grab your warmest blanket and a pair of headphones, and head outside or set yourself up by a window. Even a sky view from a city window will work for these experiences! Meditation’s will be about 15-minutes long and focus on sensory awareness and connection to the world around you, with the remaining time offered as an opportunity for each of us to share a few words about what we are noticing in the world around where are are sitting – if desired. Whether you choose to share a bit or opt to simply listen, by sharing about our individual experiences we can deepen our connection to what is happening across the landscape at a single moment in time – ultimately expanding our perspective on the beauty of a new day as we go forward in our mornings.
Four IYE community class passes for personal use, encouraging you to nurture your seasonal nature connection through learning at foraging/plant walks and relaxing at our 1-hr winter forest bathing classes.
❄️ Forest Bathing Class Calendar (classes run from 10-11am): Saturday, January 4, February 1 and March 1
❄️ Foraging Class Calendar (classes run from 10:30-11:30am): Saturday, January 18 (winter foraging & winter tree ID), Saturday, February 15 (winter foraging for tree syrups & maple tapping for tea), and Saturday, March 15 (early spring foraging)
Social Connection with Like-Minded People: Members will have access to a special, members only “Sharing Nature” WhatsApp group, where our small community can share nature photos or nature moments to brighten one another’s day, send open invites for hikes, and more – all without the triggers of being on social media.
Connect to Nature: Experience Winter With Us
A Note from the Club Creator, Katie:
It surprises many people to hear that I used to hate winter. And when I say hate, I mean hate.
Up until about seven years ago, I struggled with an annual seasonal depression that arrived like clockwork around the end of Daylight Savings Time and got worse as the months went on. The lack of light and constant cold of winter impacted my mood in pretty extreme ways, bringing with it sadness, irritability, and many nights glued to my couch in a giant blanket, wishing away the days until spring.
My dread of winter deeply impacted my happiness – more than I truly realized, if I’m honest. In the fall, I was filled with anxiety. In the winter, it was resistance. And in the spring…complete impatience.
Thinking back to that version of myself, it is shocking to realize how much my relationship with winter changed over the course of just a few years. It began for me one February evening while sitting on my couch, sick of being cold and sad and wishing I could live somewhere else. I was scanning through some summer photos on my phone and it dawned on me that if I didn’t actually intend to move somewhere warmer, my dislike of the cold-weather season was going to impact my quality of life for over half the year, every year if I didn’t figure out how to change it. After that, I decided to try to approach the season differently. I threw fashion to the wind and invested in a very warm jacket. I began taking walks in the winter woods. I started exploring winter nature-connection techniques, tried to open my mind to the season, and committed to making a genuine effort to lift the seasonal resistance that I’d been living with.
Since then, the dread that I once experienced each fall has lifted. My impatience in the spring has fizzled. I now appreciate winter in a whole new way, and I even caught myself expressing to my husband during a winter walk in 2022 that “winter may be my favorite season.” (We were both shocked at that!)
I feel very fortunate to have made this journey.
My life is different because of it.
As Paulo Coelho once wrote, “no two leaves are alike, just as no two journeys along the same path are alike.” Your pathway toward winter connection and wellness will not be the same as mine, but I do believe that there are certain techniques that can support each of us on our journey, and this is what I intend to share during our time together. My hope is to inspire you to explore what the season has to offer in simple but meaningful ways, offering you a resource for self-care that is focused on connecting to nature, while also creating an opportunity for deeper community connection at a time of year that can be quite lonely for many people.
For those living with seasonal depression, it’s a big deal. But even if you don’t identify in that way and are simply looking for something new to do this winter, this club is intended to be an opportunity to boost your experience of the coming cold weather season.
SERVICE NOTES: Membership in the 2025 Winter Wellness Club runs from January 1 to March 19, 2025. Space is limited to 18 people and the club will be hosted with a minimum of 8 participants. Club is for ages 18+. Purchase of a club spot is non-refundable and non-transferable (unless purchased as a holiday gift). There are no extensions and all components of your club membership expire at the end of the enrollment term, including unused class passes.A-la-cart purchase of individual club gatherings or other member opportunities is not available. If you have any questions, please contact Katie before enrollment so that she can help you. Thanks and we hope you can join us!
2025 Winter Wellness Club registration is CLOSED as of December 30, 2024!
There are 15 of in the club this season and we can’t wait to see you all soon.
Questions? Feel free to email Katie. She’d be happy to help!
