Tomorrow is that day.     Its something different for everyone.   Maybe you stay up extra late to wrap presents, or you wake up early to prep for your cousins coming over. Maybe its just a day to get sunburnt and start drinking cruisers at 10am, or to you its just that day where you earn double time and a half and you make bank.   For some of us its our most favourite day of the year x1000. For others, its the most awkward, sometimes even triggering day of the year.              Whatever that vibe is for you, this day will come around at the end of every year till what looks like the end of time.   Growing up with parents who much preferred to not be in the same room, I spent my teens and early adult life not digging Christmas. The movies made me cringed and i thought red and green was the worst...

Hey, it Karen here again, sharing some of my thoughts and experiences from the month that has flown on by! 

Lately, I have been experiencing moments where I feel a glimmer - that little buzz of happiness in my chest - when I reflect on how very blessed I am to have been able to learn from YOU in my teaching practice. 

You might be surprised to hear that, as a yoga teacher, I am not here to ‘teach’ you. I view it more as a role to hold space for you to explore YOUR practice. I am simply a stepping stone. 

To be in the position I am in to hold space and teach, I first had many years of practising as a student. I have spent decades practising meditation, reading, listening, reflecting, asking questions and embodying my learning. 

If my calling had been to be a chef or a singer, I’m sure I would have invested my time into learning those skills, but my passion was inner exploration, ...

Its feels pretty dang marvellous for Karen, Samantha and I to continue to write emails each week literally about how this community can get involved in doing good, sharing the actual goodness and just all around love to serve and work together type of vibes.

This year for me has been the year of business books (my not so secret and a little embarrassing obsession), and I just started a new one this morning (my favourite time to listen to books is while the rest of the house is sleeping in) called "Who Not How".

Putting together 118 bags (we have a few more to pack before Friday so that number wil go up!) was very much a who rather than a how.

The project was lead by Mary who volunteers with Share the Dignity every single year and is a "Shero", someone who knows the drill on collecting the essential seven and can give the bags straight to those who need it most.

It all happened with the assistance...

Hello there! 

I’m Karen Gruber. We may have met at one of the Nin Yoga studios, or perhaps we are simply yet to cross paths.

Either way, I’m excited to start popping into your inbox each month along side Annika and Samantha to share a few thoughts and stories from my own yoga journey.

To start, I thought I’d tell you a little about how yoga led me here, typing away from my home in Western Sydney.

Since I was 16, I’ve practiced yoga and meditation in many forms, always drawn to self-discovery. I believe this is a part of my dharma (otherwise known as "life-calling").

This journey took me all over the world!

As I looked back while I was contemplating what to write in this newsletter, I realised that it often felt like I was on a solo quest for inner truth.

Sure, there were people, friends and even community...

The internet is FULL of inspiring quotes about charity.

You know the kind I’m talking about.

Ones that say the happiest people are the ones that give the most.

That it is through giving that we open ourselves to receiving.

These quotes are beautiful and profound and almost certainly true, but in condensing the words of great writers and spiritual leaders to "instagrammable" quotes, sometimes, the original intention is then lost.

The emphasis shifts.

We start thinking "I will contribute to charity so that I can be happy", or, "I will offer my love and care and attention so that others will do the same for me".

When we do this, we start to think about giving as an exchange, about what it can offer us, rather than how we can just simply serve someone else. 

Just FYI: I do this All. The. Time.

Do you know how many canvas bags I own, just because I wanted to look like a good...