While the Earth Holds Its Breath

When the cold months make you hunker down and hide, how do you teach your soul to open up instead--to new rhythms and unlikely beauty--and begin participating in the unique joy of winter?

Helen Moat used to dread winter. When it approached, she would hunker down inside, yearn for the sun, and wait it out. Then, determined to overcome this anxiety, she vowed to set out into the darkness in search of ways to embrace it.

Beginning her discoveries at home in Scotland, she moves on across the world through the Arctic Circle to Asia. Along the way, she finds beauty in the small things that only winter can offer. Helen’s quest to dispel her seasonal blues has its ups and downs; slowly, though, she learns not only to accept the darkness of winter, but to welcome it. When she travels to Lapland and Japan, their cultural and philosophical attitude to the season is a revelation.

While the Earth Holds Its Breath nurtures resilience and determination, finding a joyous positivity that does not ignore the darkness, but finds something to love there.

Helen Moat is the author of A Time of Birds (Saraband, 2020), a travelogue of her journey across Europe, by bike, with her teenage son. She has also written multiple travel guides and is a regular contributor to BBC Countryfile magazine, Wanderlust, a variety of websites and to regional radio, as well as leading travel workshops. Originally from Northern Ireland, she lives in Derbyshire, in the heart of the Peak District National Park.