#cyclicalpractice

🕈 Why the Celtic Calendar? 

The familiar four seasons are based on equinoxes and solstices. But the Celtic calendar is rooted in Earth-based wisdom, agricultural rhythms, and the lived experience of the land. It divides the year into eight key festivals, spaced evenly through the turning wheel: 

Imbolc (early Feb) – first stirrings of life 

Spring Equinox – balance of light and dark 

Beltane (May 1st) – fire, fertility, flowering 

Summer Solstice – peak light and outward energy 

Lughnasadh (early Aug) – harvest begins 

Autumn Equinox – balance again, but waning 

Samhain (Oct 31) – the veils thin, descent begins 

Winter Solstice – deep stillness, and the spark of return 

Rather than locking us into rigid seasonal boxes, the Wheel honours the thresholds between, where much of the inner work happens. It helps us orient our practice not just around what we see, but what we feel. 

🌝 Moon Phases as Inner Weather 

Just as the Celtic festivals map the outer terrain, the moon charts our inner tides. Over 28–29 days, the moon mirrors the cycle of expansion and contraction that we experience in our nervous systems, energy levels, and emotional states. 

Here’s how lunar and seasonal energies interweave: 

🌿 Living the Cycles: Tips for Tuning In 

Let the season speak through you, not as something to copy but something to notice. You are not separate from the Earth’s rhythms. 

Use the Celtic festivals as markers, not rules. portals into different energies. What is stirring at Imbolc? What is releasing at Samhain? 

The moon is your mirror. Track its phases not as a doctrine, but a conversation. Let it guide your sensitivity, not your schedule. 

Rest is not the opposite of progress. Rest is its own intelligence. You are allowed to rest in spring, to bloom in winter, to pulse with the unpredictable. 

Hold the paradox: you can feel both inward and outward at once. There’s no wrong rhythm, only your own. 

🌸 A Gentle Practice: Your Cyclical Self 

At any point in the month or year, you might take a few moments to check in - with breath, with body, with being: 

Where is the moon now? 

Where are we in the wheel of the year? 

What is the felt sense of that in me, not as a concept, but a texture? 

What is my inner season, in this moment? 

What does that season call for - not what should I do, but what would feel kind? 

Let the answers rise without force. Let your body speak before the mind. 

Let your practice respond, not perform. 

You are not late. You are not early.  You are right on time with the turning world. 

💬 Join us for seasonal yoga in Sheffield

If you live in Sheffield you can join us in-person for yoga that honours the seasons and rhythms of the year. Or you can join our online studio for a wide selection of seasonal classes.