Grey Days, Bright Rituals: Winter Mood Guide
- Shannon Le Mintier
- Dec 12, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 17, 2025
Every December, as the days narrow to their darkest edge, I feel the inward pull. I’ve always needed sun, or at least warmth, to feel like myself. What helps isn’t about perfection; it’s about rhythm.
My daily anchors
I’m up at 5 a.m. because my girls swim. This isn’t a flex, it’s just how the schedule works for our family. I do protect and defend my sleep and get into bed by 9pm (sometimes before!). This has become a quiet sanctuary for me: on pool days, I lift, move, and take time in the sauna for gentle asana, breathwork and meditation; home days, I roll out my mat and welcome my full practice. It’s not flawless, but it’s steady—and steady matters for me, especially in the winter.
Light + warmth: first light exposure or sauna minutes to spark agni (digestive fire) in kapha season.
Movement: sometimes strong to build resilience, sometimes fluid to soothe, staying strong and soft at once.
Caffeine as a functional tool: hydrate first; coffee and tea only when I truly need focus or to round out a meal.
Sleep as sacred: earlier nights, magnesium tea, book > scroll.
Food as renewal: greens, roots, good fats, herbs. Less “detox,” more cellular tuning.
Winter can make it harder to stay consistent, especially when life feels full. Having a steady place to return to matters.
The Whole Living Memberships offer an online library of movement, breath, and nourishment practices designed to support consistency through busy seasons. It’s less about doing more and more about having something reliable to come back to.
Food-first SAD support
Feeling lower or heavier in winter isn’t a personal shortcoming. It’s often the body responding to shorter days and slower rhythms.
Food can be a steady form of support here. Not as a fix, but as nourishment that helps regulate mood, energy, and focus over time.
I keep this simple and doable, focusing on what adds stability rather than stress.
Vitamin D: get levels checked; most of us need more support even when the skies are blue. Genetics can tell us a lot about this. Curious to learn more?
Omega-3s: fatty fish 2–3×/week or a quality EPA/DHA; target an optimal omega-3 index with testing.
Gut–brain axis: probiotic foods daily (yogurt/kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso) + prebiotic plants (onion, garlic, leeks, asparagus, oats, apples).
Protein + fiber at breakfast to steady mood + cravings.
Magnesium glycinate in the evening supports calm/sleep (discuss dose with your provider).
Light therapy: Sunglasses off, face in the sun first thing.
I like to focus on adding what serves before I remove anything.
Fire Cider: a Winter Elixir
Forget about Ho Ho Ho shots, try this one instead! Earlier this fall, my dear friend and former Atlanta yoga student Dr. Karen Miller wrote beautifully about Fire Cider, the now-classic winter tonic popularized by Rosemary Gladstar.
Her story nudged me back to the ritual: onion, garlic, horseradish, ginger, jalapeño, cayenne, raw ACV, plus hibiscus, rosemary, citrus, nettle, and a touch of local honey.
Sip 1–2 tsp in warm water before lunch or whisk it into olive oil + Dijon for salads.
It’s warming, bright, and somehow cheers up even the greyest day.
Read Dr. Miller’s full Fire Cider story and get the recipe here.
(As always: spicy/acidic; if you’re pregnant/breastfeeding, on anticoagulants, or have reflux/ulcers—modify or check with your clinician.)
The Market Mushroom Moment (Joy as a Nutrient)
One rainy Saturday in Cascais, I bee-lined to my favorite mushroom vendor who has boxes and baskets of oyster, chestnut, chanterelle piled high. I made Chef Christina Sots’ creamy, thyme-scented mushroom soup (Ottolenghi-inspired), and it is becoming my new ritual heading into winter. I served it to friends; they asked for seconds. On repeat ever since. Even shopping in the rain felt like a mission for joy.
Three winter plates on repeat
Creamy Mushroom Soup with Oregano, Thyme & Cashew Cream: Earthy umami, plant protein, calming.
Warm Detox Greens with Lemon-Tahini: Sauté kale, chard, bok choy; finish with tahini, lemon, garlic, toasted seeds. Bitter greens + crucifers support bile flow and phase-II pathways—cellular humming.
Golden Root Bowl: Quinoa, roasted turmeric beets, avocado, microgreens, and a Fire Cider vinaigrette (ACV + olive oil + Dijon + a splash of your tonic). Color therapy in a bowl.
Connection as medicine
In winter, connection becomes quieter and more essential. Less about keeping up, more about showing up. A shared walk, a pot of soup, a simple check-in. Being seen and held in the ordinary moments. David Whyte puts it simply: “The ultimate touchstone of friendship is witness.”
Grey days feel lighter when we tether ourselves to people.
Tiny circles: a standing check-in with a friend, a neighborhood walk, video calls with sisters and loved ones far away.
Soul Soup: I love to make soup and you are invited to my recipes or my house anytime! Or I will drop to your door and share. No fuss, just warmth.
Text threads that lift: gratitude text (one line) or a “you in for a walk?” ping.
Service: a volunteer shift or donation drive flips the inner weather.
Looking Forward: How Anticipation Supports the Winter Blues
Another gentle antidote to the winter blues is having something meaningful to look forward to. Anticipation itself activates the brain’s dopamine reward system—the circuitry that fuels motivation, hope, and emotional resilience. Research shows that the expectation of a positive experience can lift mood almost as much as the experience itself.
In winter, that forward-facing energy gives the nervous system something bright to orient toward.
This is why I encourage clients to anchor the season with future experiences that inspire them—whether it’s a personal reset, a new intention, or joining a retreat like Awaken Greece, where light, movement, and Mediterranean living meet.
As part of this retreat, we’ll be using TruAge and TruHealth testing both before and after the experience, giving each participant a clear picture of how their biology shifts with targeted nourishment, rhythm, and deep restoration.
It creates its own healthy anticipation: a sense of direction, agency, and possibility. A shift from waiting for motivation to creating it, one intentional choice at a time.
Rest, Breath, ReSet
In winter, I lean into slower practices that support deep rest and nervous system regulation. Yoga nidra is one I return to often. It allows the body to settle without effort and can be especially supportive when energy is low or the mind feels busy. It’s a simple way to add rest back in during a season that asks us to conserve.
When heaviness creeps in, breath:
Inhale 4.
Hold 2.
Exhale 6.
For 5 rounds.
Simply with breath, the inner weather shifts.
I remind myself: “add what serves.” That’s the heart of ReSet, our guided twice-yearly group journey, with a self-paced option coming soon for whenever you need a deeper seasonal recalibration.
The turn toward winter doesn’t dim our lives; it invites new ways to tend the light.
Together. A pre-dawn drive to the pool, a pot of soup, a small act of service, a shared breath, a moment in front of the fire. That’s how we make the darkest days feel brighter.
Support looks different in every season. If you’re exploring what might be most supportive right now, you can learn more about the ways we can work together to support rhythm, nourishment, and wellbeing throughout the year.
In warmth,
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