The holidays are rarely just about the joy, connection, and magic we see in the media. Alongside those pleasant experiences often comes the expectation to do more: consume more, create more, decorate more, cook more. At the same time, nature is slowing down. Shorter days. Colder air. Animals resting. This seasonal mismatch can create stress, tension, guilt, and overwhelm. 

As a holistic therapist in Denver, I often remind clients that this time of year pulls us in opposite directions. So, it makes sense that you may be noticing tension in your mind, body, and spirit.

A Holistic Worldview: Mind, Body & Spirit as One System 

What does it mean to have a “holistic” worldview? Simply put, it’s a perspective that honors cognitive, emotional, physical, relational, and spiritual experiences. It considers the whole system: how we perceive, process, and experience life as complete human beings. 

A holistic approach especially helps explain the mismatch between our “inner winter”—the natural slowing our bodies crave—and the outward cultural expectations of the season. We feel the tension in all parts of ourselves. 

How the Holiday Season Impacts All Parts of Us 

Even if we aren’t fully aware of it, the holiday season pulls on our mind, body, and spirit. As a holistic therapist in Denver, I see how this seasonal tension shows up simultaneously across all areas. Take a moment to reflect on your own experience as we explore each part: 

Mind 

What expectations have you placed on yourself this holiday season? Is there pressure to make things “special” or “perfect”? 

Are you juggling plans, creating experiences, or maintaining peace in your family? 

Body 

When you tune in to your body, what sensations arise during this season? Headaches? Overstimulation? Chronic fatigue? Nervous system overwhelm? 

How is your body experiencing its natural internal winter?

Spirit 

What do your deeper parts crave right now? Meaning? Slowness? Rest? Are you going through the motions, or allowing yourself to be present with the holidays? 

If expectations didn’t exist, how would you like this season to unfold?

Holistic Practices for the Mind 

Mindfulness: Notice when you begin to feel mental overstimulation. Pausing for one slow breath. And then another if it feels supportive. Creative practice: Set a timer for 5 minutes. Make repetitive marks on the page that mimick your racing mind or thoughts. 

Reframing expectations: Become aware of the parts of you that feel responsible or pressured. Reassure then that you are taking care of things, and that not everything has to be done up to their expectations. 

Somatic Practices That Honor Winter While Supporting Holiday Stress 

Nervous system reset: Take a moment to lay on the floor. Notice how it feels to be held and supported by the ground. 

Restorative movement: Starting with your feet, begin to bounce up and down while standing. Then begin shaking your legs, arms, and shoulders to release energy. 

Nature-based grounding: Get bundled up and go on a winter walk. Notice the quiet stillness of nature and connect to the slower rhythm outside. 

Spirit-Nourishing Holiday Practices

Micro-rituals: Create a holiday ritual for yourself to stay connected with spirit—have dinner by candlelight, start a gratitude art journal, or state an affirmation to yourself in the mirror each morning. 

Choosing meaning: Identifying 1–2 meaningful seasonal values that are important to you. Then, act in accordance with those values and use them as your guiding light throughout the season. 

Creative ceremony: Make a holiday decoration or gift by hand (because you enjoy the act of creating). Notice how it feels to be in relationship with your creativity. 

Integrating Mind–Body–Spirit Practices Into a Season That Demands More 

The holidays can feel like an internal tug-of-war. Winter invites us to slow down, yet the season asks us to do more: plan, create, connect, and show up for everyone else. 

Honoring the season, not the pressure, means remembering that resting is natural and nurturing during the winter months. You can make it simple: take a few mindful breaths before tasks, spend 5–10 minutes stretching or grounding your body, and create one small ritual that reconnects you to what matters. Ask yourself, “Which parts of me need rest, even when everything around me is speeding up?” 

When Support Might Help 

If overwhelm starts to feel too heavy or like persistent dread, irritability, or exhaustion, it’s okay to reach out for more support. 

If you’re looking for a holistic therapist in Denver who takes a holistic approach, I support women and moms who want to feel grounded, connected, and more like themselves again.

You don’t have to choose between slowing down and showing up; you can do both, even during the hustle bustle of the holiday season.

About the Author: Leanne is a Denver-based art therapist, perinatal mental health specialist, and space-holder for deep-feeling women and mothers who long to return home to themselves. Blending creativity, mindfulness, and somatic approaches, she guides clients through the sacred work of remembering who they are beneath the noise of trauma, perfectionism, and overwhelm. Discover more at www.WildSunflowerWellness.com.

While the winter begins to set in, take notice of how the change in the air, the temperature, the barren trees, all impact you. It is not uncommon for many of us notice a sense of melancholy; perhaps we’re more agitated or angry, or maybe we feel more sadness and hopelessness. Sometimes we may even notice our body feels more achy, more stiff and tired. Very often, these feelings can be effectively managed, although other times the weight of mental and physical discomfort can feel relentless and fierce. When we begin to lose touch with our purpose, and begin to struggle to find meaning around us, we may want to consider how we can begin to refocus and re-evaluate. It may be possible to learn how to move with the changes of the seasons, rather than against.

Learning to accept the things I can not change… this has been a tough lesson.

I often wrestle with trying to distinguish between what I can and can’t change. But what I do know, is that I cannot change the seasons, I cannot change the weather, and I cannot expect Mother Nature to bend to my will or wants. So, instead of trying to change what is impossible, I am trying to learn how to lean into the ups and downs that I experience as we move through seasons. One way I do this is to remind myself that this feeling or discomfort is momentary; this day, and this season is not permanent. As winter came, so will spring, and so it goes. While winter is here, I try to appreciate the lack of pressure to do anything but seek warmth and comfort, to look for nourishment and to enjoy rest. Of course, some days this is not possible, and circumstances for some of us mean that being outside, in the cold winter, is inevitable and necessary. When in this position, I have found that meaningfully engaging with nature in the moment, finding that sliver of sun to warm my face, or taking note of the moody sky above me, I am able to reconnect with nature on Her terms, not necessarily mine. I begin to appreciate Her changes. Learning to accept this has been humbling and powerful… and it has also helped me to appreciate some of those seasonal blues.

There is something to be found in the dark as much as there is to be found in the light.

Sometimes the loss of one sense helps the other senses improve by overcompensating. Winter, the darker months, the cold, reminds us of how both harsh and beautiful this world can be, and that this can exist simultaneously. When we choose only to see the sad and ugly, we rob ourselves of the opportunity to reconnect with the inherent beauty that surrounds us. The leaves fall so they can grow again – when fall comes back, they give us a magnificent show of yellows and oranges just before they blow away again in the winter breeze. All this holds beauty and purpose, and reminding ourselves to re-focus on that which brings us delight will help us to accept and embrace all that is moody and temperamental.

Samantha Camerino (she/her) is the owner of Nomad Therapy Services. She uses a “Person in Environment” approach, addressing not just the individual, but also exploring the environmental, societal and historical components that may be impacting self-growth. She has nearly a decade of experience working with persons struggling with an array of challenges such as depression, anxiety, anger, low self-esteem, trauma, et. al. Currently, Samantha conducts sessions in the office or online, and she also encourages ‘walk & talks’ and meeting in outdoor settings. If you are interested in learning more about the Nomad approach, visit her website at www.nomadtherapyservices.com or email her at samantha@nomadtherapyservices.com.