What I'm Holding Dear as We Move Into December: Ritual, Promise & Intention

As we move into December, something ancient stirs.

The days shorten. The light thins. The nervous system if we let it begins to exhale.

December is not meant to be conquered.

This season asks for fewer resolutions and more reverence. Less striving, more remembering. And as I sit with what feels most essential right now both personally and in my work I keep returning to three quiet anchors:

Ritual. Promise. Intention.

Where to connect with Andrea

• Website: https://andreaclaassen.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/seasonalandrea
• Perimenopause Support Quiz: https://quiz.tryinteract.com/#/681d3069f79fde0015c88d8
• 8 Week Perimenopause Reset https://andreaclaassen.com/8-week-perimenopause-program
• 5 Day Stillness Challenge https://andreaclaassen.com/sacred-stillness-challenge

Andrea Claassen Bio Andrea Claassen is an Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor, RYT 500 hour yoga teacher, and personal trainer who has been in the wellness space since 2007. She specializes in perimenopause. Her mission is to help women learn how to slow down, tune in and connect to their inner wisdom. The three pillars she focuses on are movement, mindfulness & mother nature through an Ayurvedic lens. You can hear more from Andrea on her Peaceful Power Podcast where she aims to deliver actionable takeaways for you to live a more holistic lifestyle. Connect with Andrea on her website at www.andreaclaassen.com

Episode Overview

In this episode, Andrea is joined by Kristina Masyte for a grounded and thoughtful conversation on what it means to evolve through yoga. Together, they explore yoga as a living, breathing practice—one that matures alongside us through different seasons of life, identity shifts, and inner inquiry.

Kristina shares her perspective on honoring yoga beyond trends and performance, returning to its roots as a tool for self-study, nervous system regulation, and embodied wisdom. This conversation is especially resonant for practitioners and teachers who are feeling called to slow down, deepen, and relate to yoga in a more authentic, sustainable way.

In This Episode, We Explore:

• Yoga as an evolving practice rather than a fixed identity

• Moving beyond perfectionism, hustle culture, and aesthetic-driven yoga

• How life experience, aging, and self-inquiry shape our relationship to practice

• Honoring the nervous system and subtle body through mindful movement

• What it means to teach and practice yoga with integrity and presence

• Listening inward and allowing your practice to change with you

Why This Conversation Matters

Many women especially those in midlife or navigating transition, feel a quiet pull to relate to movement and spirituality differently than they once did. This episode offers permission to soften, adapt, and trust your inner compass rather than external expectations.

If you've ever felt disconnected from mainstream yoga culture or sensed there's more beneath the poses, this conversation will meet you right where you are.

Connect with Kristina Masyte

Website: www.yogakos.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/yogakos_

Where to Connect with Andrea

Website: https://andreaclaassen.com/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/seasonalandrea

Explore Andrea's Offerings: Perimenopause Support Quiz: https://quiz.tryinteract.com/#/681d3069f79fde0015c88d8c 8 Week Perimenopause Reset: https://andreaclaassen.com/8-week-perimenopause-program 5 Day Stillness Challenge: https://andreaclaassen.com/sacred-stillness-challenge

About Andrea Claassen

Andrea Claassen is an Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor, RYT 500-hour yoga teacher, and personal trainer who has been in the wellness space since 2007. She specializes in perimenopause and supports women in slowing down, tuning in, and reconnecting to their inner wisdom.

Andrea's work is rooted in three core pillars: movement, mindfulness, and Mother Nature—woven together through an Ayurvedic lens. Through her Peaceful Power Podcast, she shares actionable, heart-led tools to help women live more holistic, sustainable lives.

Learn more at www.andreaclaassen.com

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a friend who's navigating her own evolution through yoga.

How to stay grounded when the world speeds up

As we enter the holiday season the parties, the full schedules, the expectations our nervous systems often feel like they're moving faster than our bodies can keep up. For many women over 40, this time of year can amplify the stress already present in perimenopause: sleep changes, mood swings, inflammation, and a general sense of being maxed out.

Where to connect with Andrea Website: https://andreaclaassen.com/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/seasonalandrea 5 Day Stillness Challenge https://andreaclaassen.com/sacred-stillness-challenge

8 Week Perimenopause Workout Program https://andreaclaassen.com/8-week-perimenopause-program

Andrea Claassen Bio

Andrea Claassen is an Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor, RYT 500 hour yoga teacher, and personal trainer who has been in the wellness space since 2007. She specializes in perimenopause. Her mission is to help women learn how to slow down, tune in and connect to their inner wisdom.

The three pillars she focuses on are movement, mindfulness & mother nature through an Ayurvedic lens. You can hear more from Andrea on her Peaceful Power Podcast where she aims to deliver actionable takeaways for you to live a more holistic lifestyle. Connect with Andrea on her website at www.andreaclaassen.com

How to stay grounded when the world speeds up

As we enter the holiday season the parties, the full schedules, the expectations our nervous systems often feel like they’re moving faster than our bodies can keep up. For many women over 40, this time of year can amplify the stress already present in perimenopause: sleep changes, mood swings, inflammation, and a general sense of being maxed out.

Where to connect with Andrea

Website: https://andreaclaassen.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/seasonalandrea

Join the Ayurveda Holiday Survival Workshop on December 11th at 7:30pm CST. https://andreaclaassen.com/ayurveda-holiday-help

5 Day Stillness Challenge https://andreaclaassen.com/sacred-stillness-challenge

Andrea Claassen Bio

Andrea Claassen is an Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor, RYT 500 hour yoga teacher, and personal trainer who has been in the wellness space since 2007. She specializes in perimenopause. Her mission is to help women learn how to slow down, tune in and connect to their inner wisdom.

The three pillars she focuses on are movement, mindfulness & mother nature through an Ayurvedic lens. You can hear more from Andrea on her Peaceful Power Podcast where she aims to deliver actionable takeaways for you to live a more holistic lifestyle. Connect with Andrea on her website at www.andreaclaassen.com

How to stay grounded when the world speeds up

As we enter the holiday season the parties, the full schedules, the expectations our nervous systems often feel like they’re moving faster than our bodies can keep up. For many women over 40, this time of year can amplify the stress already present in perimenopause: sleep changes, mood swings, inflammation, and a general sense of being maxed out.

Where to connect with Andrea

Website: https://andreaclaassen.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/seasonalandrea

Join the Ayurveda Holiday Survival Workshop on December 11th at 7:30pm CST. https://andreaclaassen.com/ayurveda-holiday-help

5 Day Stillness Challenge https://andreaclaassen.com/sacred-stillness-challenge

Andrea Claassen Bio

Andrea Claassen is an Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor, RYT 500 hour yoga teacher, and personal trainer who has been in the wellness space since 2007. She specializes in perimenopause. Her mission is to help women learn how to slow down, tune in and connect to their inner wisdom.

The three pillars she focuses on are movement, mindfulness & mother nature through an Ayurvedic lens. You can hear more from Andrea on her Peaceful Power Podcast where she aims to deliver actionable takeaways for you to live a more holistic lifestyle. Connect with Andrea on her website at www.andreaclaassen.com

Kathy Páez is a yoga teacher with over two decades of experience, a published author and an assistant to functional Yin Yoga founder Paul Grilley.

Connect with Kathy-www.kathypaezyoga.com

www.instagram.com/2yfunctionalyogaschool

Where to connect with Andrea

Website: https://andreaclaassen.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/seasonalandrea

Perimenopause Support Quiz: https://quiz.tryinteract.com/#/681d3069f79fde0015c88d8c

5 Day Stillness Challenge https://andreaclaassen.com/sacred-stillness-challenge

Andrea Claassen Bio

Andrea Claassen is an Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor, RYT 500 hour yoga teacher, and personal trainer who has been in the wellness space since 2007. She specializes in perimenopause. Her mission is to help women learn how to slow down, tune in and connect to their inner wisdom.

The three pillars she focuses on are movement, mindfulness & mother nature through an Ayurvedic lens. You can hear more from Andrea on her Peaceful Power Podcast where she aims to deliver actionable takeaways for you to live a more holistic lifestyle. Connect with Andrea on her website at www.andreaclaassen.com

As we head into the darker, slower months of the year, our nervous systems start whispering for rest but the world around us rarely slows down. Between work, family, and holiday expectations, many of us end the year overstimulated, undernourished, and running on empty.

That’s where Ayurveda offers such profound wisdom.

Ayurveda reminds us that true calm isn’t something we achieve by doing more  it’s something we cultivate by tending to our inner fire, our agni, and finding balance among the doshas that govern our body, mind, and spirit.

Where to connect with Andrea

Website: https://andreaclaassen.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/seasonalandrea

Join Peri-Pause- https://andreaclaassen.com/peri-pause

Andrea Claassen is an Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor, RYT 500 hour yoga teacher, and personal trainer who has been in the wellness space since 2007. She specializes in perimenopause. Her mission is to help women learn how to slow down, tune in and connect to their inner wisdom.

The three pillars she focuses on are movement, mindfulness & mother nature through an Ayurvedic lens. You can hear more from Andrea on her Peaceful Power Podcast where she aims to deliver actionable takeaways for you to live a more holistic lifestyle. Connect with Andrea on her website at www.andreaclaassen.com

Shalini is a Nutrition Coach who helps busy professionals maintain healthy eating habits without the overwhelm. Unlike cookie-cutter programs, she creates personalized meal planning systems that adapt to chaotic schedules, work travel, and real-life demands. Her approach focuses on reducing the mental load around food decisions while building consistency in progression toward health goals, not forcing life to be consistent. She believes that sustainable nutrition should work with your lifestyle, not against it.

Connect with Shalini

Website: www.repeat-wellness.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/shalini_nutrition

Where to connect with Andrea

Website: https://andreaclaassen.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/seasonalandrea

Perimenopause Support Quiz: https://quiz.tryinteract.com/#/681d3069f79fde0015c88d8c

5 Day Stillness Challenge https://andreaclaassen.com/sacred-stillness-challenge

Andrea Claassen Bio

Andrea Claassen is an Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor, RYT 500 hour yoga teacher, and personal trainer who has been in the wellness space since 2007. She specializes in perimenopause. Her mission is to help women learn how to slow down, tune in and connect to their inner wisdom.

The three pillars she focuses on are movement, mindfulness & mother nature through an Ayurvedic lens. You can hear more from Andrea on her Peaceful Power Podcast where she aims to deliver actionable takeaways for you to live a more holistic lifestyle. Connect with Andrea on her website at www.andreaclaassen.com

Learn why slowing down and tapping into your inner stillness is the medicine of the winter season.

Where to connect with Andrea

Website: https://andreaclaassen.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/seasonalandrea

Perimenopause Support Quiz: https://quiz.tryinteract.com/#/681d3069f79fde0015c88d8c

8 Week Perimenopause Reset https://andreaclaassen.com/8-week-perimenopause-program

5 Day Stillness Challenge https://andreaclaassen.com/sacred-stillness-challenge

Andrea Claassen Bio

Andrea Claassen is an Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor, RYT 500 hour yoga teacher, and personal trainer who has been in the wellness space since 2007. She specializes in perimenopause. Her mission is to help women learn how to slow down, tune in and connect to their inner wisdom.

The three pillars she focuses on are movement, mindfulness & mother nature through an Ayurvedic lens. You can hear more from Andrea on her Peaceful Power Podcast where she aims to deliver actionable takeaways for you to live a more holistic lifestyle. Connect with Andrea on her website at www.andreaclaassen.com

Dr. Zulia Frost is the co-founder and clinical director of Recharge Health, creators of FlexBeam, the world's first targeted infrared therapy device designed to naturally accelerate recovery time for active individuals looking to heal injuries, muscular-skeletal pain or improve their physical energy. A Doctor of General Medicine and Pediatrics with post-graduate training in ultrasonic diagnostics and radiology, Zulia is also a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Acupuncture. She is world renowned for her use and research of neuromodulation, bio-resonance and photobiomodulation therapies.

Connect with Dr. Zulia

https://www.instagram.com/theflexbeam/

https://recharge.health/

FlexBeam:

https://recharge.health/

My website:

https://drzulia.com/

Where to connect with Andrea

Website: https://andreaclaassen.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/seasonalandrea

Perimenopause Support Quiz: https://quiz.tryinteract.com/#/681d3069f79fde0015c88d8c

8 Week Perimenopause Reset https://andreaclaassen.com/8-week-perimenopause-program

Sacred Stillness Challenge: https://andreaclaassen.com/sacred-stillness-challenge

Andrea Claassen Bio

Andrea Claassen is an Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor, RYT 500 hour yoga teacher, and personal trainer who has been in the wellness space since 2007. She specializes in cyclical living. Her mission is to help women learn how to slow down, tune in and connect to their inner wisdom.

The three pillars she focuses on are movement, mindfulness & mother nature through an Ayurvedic lens. You can hear more from Andrea on her Peaceful Power Podcast where she aims to deliver actionable takeaways for you to live a more holistic lifestyle. Connect with Andrea on her website at www.andreaclaassen.com