Winter Dreaming | A New Year's Eve Gathering in Glasgow

The last day of the year. A curious place to find ourselves.

Somewhere between everything that's happened and everything that hasn't happened yet.

Winter has its own way of doing things. Beneath the surface, life continues. Water moves, settles, freezes, thaws and finds another way through. Nothing is entirely still, even when it appears to be.

This is where we'll begin.

We'll explore winter's Water element through the body — its capacity for fluidity, adaptability and stillness. Through movement, breath and an awareness of our internal sensations, we'll investigate what it means to move with less effort and greater freedom.

And because this is Root & Gather, there'll be plenty more than movement.

Cacao to share. Herbs to work with. Words, stories and a little winter folklore. Something to make with our hands. Homemade soup, conversation and perhaps a few unexpected discoveries along the way.

We'll look back over the year, not to judge what we've accomplished, but to consider what has shaped us, what we're carrying and what might be ready to change.

Then, as the afternoon draws towards its close, we'll settle beneath blankets for a long sound journey.

No grand declarations about the person you're going to become next year.

Just four hours to explore, create, move, eat, listen and mark the turning of the year in good company.

Winter Dreaming. A little depth, a little curiosity and a different kind of Hogmanay.

Gillian & Emma x

We'll begin with the body. Exploring the Water element through fluid movement, gentle oscillations, rocking, spiralling and opening up the spaces around our joints. A little Qigong, breathwork and curiosity about the sensations beneath the surface. How does movement travel through us? What changes when we soften our effort, change direction or find a different rhythm?

We'll share cacao, work with winter herbs and make something with our hands. There'll be stories, a little folklore and time to put pen to paper as we look back over the year and consider what we'd like to take into the next.

Somewhere in amongst it all, we'll gather around bowls of homemade soup, enjoy a good conversation and perhaps have a laugh or two.

And then we'll get wonderfully horizontal. Blankets, cushions, singing bowls, voice and sound. A long, unhurried sound journey to finish our final afternoon together in 2026.

A bit of movement, a bit of making, something to think about, something good to eat and absolutely no requirement to be good at any of it.

Thursday 31 December 2026, 11am–3pm
The Wee Retreat, 2 Myrtle Park, Glasgow
All materials, cacao, homemade soup and refreshments included.

No experience of yoga, Qigong or any of the other practices is necessary.

We’re Gillian Campbell and Emma Toms, the two humans behind Root & Gather.

Between us, our backgrounds span yoga, movement, breathwork, sound, meditation, nervous-system work, Reiki, coaching and healthcare — but Root & Gather has never really been about collecting practices.

It grew from a shared fascination with the natural world, the changing seasons and the many different ways we can explore what it means to be human.

Over the past four years our gatherings have changed as we have. We’ve become increasingly interested in nature, creativity, food, words, sound, making things with our hands and the simple act of gathering people together.

We’re still learning too. And that’s very much part of it.