Samhain Journey | An Evening of Breath, Meditation, Nidra, Sound & Reiki

An immersive two-hour evening, moving from breath to yoga Nidra to journey to a Reiki-infused deep sound bath, into rest as the year turns toward winter.

However you come to this, tired, tender, or curious, let the door close on the week behind you. You don’t need to have done anything like this before, only to arrive as you are and let yourself be guided down into the dark and gently back. You’ll be held the whole way. This is a tended evening, a cocoon of deep rest and quiet listening to what the year is ready to have you set down.

As the veil thins and the light draws low, we gather to meet Samhain, the old Celtic new year, together. This is an evening of journey and introspection, held in the amber glow of winter. You’ll be invited to let the year’s harvest fall and to settle a single intention into the velvet earth, into winter’s rest, where seeds lie waiting until spring.

Long before the costumes, sweets, and parties, there was an older tradition. Come and feel the ancient energy of this night.

You’ll be welcomed with a cup of tea, blue lotus or a gentle relaxation blend, and time to arrive before we move as one breath into the night. Optional teas are available.

This evening includes:

- Breath and Somatics: we’ll begin by gently settling the body and breath, easing you out of the day.

- Oracle and Intention: draw a card and journal, sensing what you are ready to set down and the one thing you wish to carry through the winter.

- Grounding Meditation, Yoga Nidra and Journey: lie back and be guided down into deep rest, and into a journey through the thinning veil. You won’t travel alone. In the quiet, a guiding presence may come to be with you, an ally for this night, as you set down what the year has asked of you and carry one intention into the winter ahead. Then you’ll be gently returned.

- Sound Bath with Reiki Infusion: surrender and rest into crystal bowls, ocean drum, and gong as the veil thins. Reiki is offered by invitation only, and you’ll be guided to open silently if you wish to receive.

- Witnessing and Closing Blessing: speak your intention aloud to be held in the circle, and seal the evening with gratitude and collective tone.

* An evening to soften, listen, and settle your mind, body, and spirit. *

Hosting this evening are Daniela Vanasco and Kookie Gill.

Daniela Vanasco is a Reiki Master, certified coach, and facilitator whose work is rooted in yoga nidra, depth psychology, and a long relationship with shamanic practice, both trained in its foundations and shaped by more than twenty years alongside shamanic teachers. This evening she leads the nidra and a guided journey drawn from both yoga and shamanic traditions, and infuses Reiki through the room during the sound bath and while you rest.

Kookie Gill teaches from the heart, with a gift for guiding the nervous system back into balance. An Indian yoga teacher raised within the living tradition of yoga (paramparā), with heritage from Kenya and Northern India, she weaves yoga, somatics, qigong, breath, and sound into practices that honour the body’s own wisdom and its innate capacity to heal. Inclusive, compassionate, and warm, she offers sustainable practices for immune and emotional wellbeing, and a felt sense of safety, belonging, and wholeness. Kookie is a faculty member on The Shala School of Yoga’s 300-hour programme.

Bring: journal and pen, water bottle, layered clothing, eye pillow, and any small object (a crystal, a stone, or something that connects you to those who came before) that feels supportive.

Trust in what your body is feeling, your heart hearing, your spirit receiving.

Please note:

On the welcome tea

: we offer blue lotus or a gentle relaxation blend, with other optional teas available. Blue lotus is a gentle Egyptian water lily, used since antiquity in ritual for calm and a soft, dreamlike ease. We serve it as a light cup, a short steep rather than the long ceremonial brew, so the effect is subtle and relaxing rather than strong. It is completely optional, and the relaxation blend is always there instead. If you would like the blue lotus, please skip it if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, if you are driving straight home (it can be gently sedating), if you take sedative, antidepressant, or antipsychotic medication, or if you are allergic to water lily.

On the sound bath

: sound is deeply restful for most people, but please let us know before booking or on arrival if any of the following apply, as they are known contraindications.

- Metal implants or a pacemaker, or a serious heart condition, as sound can resonate metal and affect pacemaker rhythm.

- Pregnancy under three months, as the first trimester is a tender and unsettled time.

- Tinnitus, Ménière’s, epilepsy, or any condition that is sound-sensitive or can be triggered by sound.

- A serious mental health condition. If you are holding something fragile just now, do check in with us beforehand so we can hold you well.