Make time for yourself this holiday season.
The holiday season can bring a lot, all at once. Connection, celebration, and traditions, alongside stress, complicated family dynamics, financial pressure, social commitments, and expectations about what this time of year is supposed to look like.
Tessa and Anna created The Holiday Break with the hopes of offering you an opportunity to put some time aside for yourself during this busy season, something we often forget to do. With so much competition for our attention and energy, it can be easy to move through the season focused on what everyone else needs, while losing touch with our own capacity.
This workshop is designed to create space to slow down, check in with yourself, and consider how you want to move through the holidays with a little more intention.
We’ll begin in community with a grounding conversation led by Tessa, Registered Psychotherapist. Together, we’ll explore self-care during the holidays, people pleasing, expectations and “shoulds,” and the basics of setting and maintaining boundaries when our time and energy are being pulled in different directions.
Through guided journaling, you’ll be invited to complete a Holiday Energy Audit. From there, we’ll explore how boundaries can help us honour our capacity while staying connected to the people and things that matter to us.
After some reflection, we’ll move into practice. Anna will guide a yoga practice, offering an opportunity to slow down, move with intention, and reconnect with your body.
We’ll close with gentle reflection and an invitation to carry what you’ve noticed with you into the weeks ahead, with a little more clarity around what you need, where your energy is going, and what you might give yourself permission to do differently this holiday season.
What to expect:
— Grounding conversation around holiday stress, self-care, and expectations
— Guided journaling and a Holiday Energy Audit
— Guided yoga practice
— Space for reflection, intention, and reconnection
Date: Sunday, December 13, 2026
Time: 2PM - 4PM
Location: Pure Yoga Centretown (359 Bank St)
Investment: $50 + HST
*spots available for those needing financial assistance
Note: Pre-registration is required and spots are limited. A number of spots are reserved for those requiring financial assistance. Please reach out directly to Liane Wilson (liane@pureyogaottawa.com) if this would support your participation.
Please bring a yoga mat, water bottle, journal, and pen for the reflection component. Wear whatever you feel comfortable journaling and moving in.
Disclaimer: This workshop is educational and reflective in nature and is not intended to replace psychotherapy or mental health care. Some exercises may bring up emotions, and participants are encouraged to participate at their own pace and take breaks as needed.
Your GUIDES
Tessa Natale, M.A., is a Registered Psychotherapist and Canadian Certified Counsellor offering virtual psychotherapy and counselling to adults across Canada. Her work is trauma-informed and integrative, drawing from attachment-based, mindfulness, cognitive behavioural, and relational approaches to support greater self-understanding, self-trust, and a more compassionate relationship with oneself. Outside of session, you can find Tess on her yoga mat, exploring the West Coast, or in the ceramics studio.
Anna Grace is an Ottawa-based movement instructor specializing in yoga, Pilates-inspired movement, and Lagree. Her approach to teaching is rooted in curiosity, playfulness, and the belief that movement can be both empowering and enjoyable. Through her classes, Anna encourages individuals to explore movement with an open mind, embrace the freedom of trying something new, and find connection within themselves along the way. She strives to create welcoming spaces where strength and softness can coexist, inviting people to move with intention while leaving room for exploration, self-expression, and a little play. When she’s not on her mat, Anna is likely exploring somewhere outdoors, getting lost in a creative project, finding magic in the mundane, or hanging out with her two cats.
~ This workshop is non-refundable and non-transferable. ~