Stillness & Sleep Residency in the Dolomites (Italy)

In December 2025, Mellow Habits travelled to the Dolomites to collaborate with Naturhotel Lüsnerhof on a three-day Stillness & Sleep residency. Set high in the mountains, the experience was shaped by winter light, quiet mornings, and the natural rhythm of rest that the landscape invites.

Sessions were held in the hotel’s shala — a dedicated wellness space with expansive views across the Dolomite mountains. From the moment guests entered the space, the pace softened. The mountains set the tone, encouraging less effort, less urgency, and a gradual return to listening.

Across the three days, the residency focused on nervous system regulation through rest, sound, and breath. Guests were guided through gentle breathwork practices designed to calm and steady the nervous system, alongside sound baths created specifically to support deep rest and night-time sleep. Vibrational sound massage was offered on the body, allowing resonance to be felt rather than analysed — a quiet invitation into embodied awareness.

Rather than concentrating all practices into a single session, stillness was woven throughout the day. Daytime experiences introduced moments of pause and down-regulation, supporting the body to settle gradually. Evening sessions were intentionally shaped to prepare the nervous system for sleep, creating a gentle transition from day into night.

The residency worked in harmony with Naturhotel Lüsnerhof’s spa and sauna facilities. Guests moved between sound, breath, heat, and rest — not as a program to complete, but as a rhythm to inhabit. Sauna sessions, periods of deep rest, and time spent simply being in the alpine environment supported the body’s natural capacity to unwind.

Connection was a quiet but essential thread throughout the three days — connection to breath, to the body, to the surrounding landscape, and to the shared experience of slowing down. There was no emphasis on performance or outcome. Instead, the focus remained on presence, softness, and allowing sleep to emerge naturally rather than being pursued.

This collaboration formed part of the Mellow Habits Stillness & Sleep series, an ongoing exploration of how sound, breath, and place can support rest in subtle, sustainable ways. In the Dolomites, the mountains held the pace, the environment did much of the work, and stillness became something felt rather than instructed.