honk if you love yoga 🚗

Hey 

It’s my first time writing this newsletter so I’ll start with a quick introduction (which, I’ve just realised, is awkward to write but hopefully less awkward to read! )

My name is Samantha and I’ve been coming to Nin Yoga since 2018. It’s the first space I ever practiced yoga in; where I did my first downward dog (with difficulty), my first child’s pose (with relief), my first savasana (with resistance – who knew lying still could be so challenging?). It’s where I completed my teacher training, and in one of those beautiful circle of life moments, it’s where I first held space for other students to flow through this practice.

I’m sure I’ve met and shared tea with many of you over the years, and if not – hello! It is lovely to meet you.

Once a month, I’ll be showing up in your inbox, sharing stories and journaling prompts and maybe even some poems or playlists or yogic philosophy down the track.

Basically, this is a love letter to the community, for the community, from someone who absolutely adores being a part of this community 

And it was thinking about the idea of communities that inspired this first letter.

I was at the Penrith studio on Sunday with a group of teachers, learning about mudras from the lovely Emma Wertheim. Throughout this workshop, as we meditated and mused on the significance of hand gestures and the power they contain, (you know, usual yoga teacher things), we had a pretty… unique… soundtrack.

The constant, relentless noise of cars beeping.

It was a convoy of cars, actually, decked out in Panthers flags and streamers and banners, driving past the hundreds of fans also adorned with flags and streamers and banners, wearing their jerseys and celebrating the team just minutes from their home ground.

The excitement was palpable. Fans, cheering and waving and parading and beeping. Penrith locals, celebrating pride in their home team – and with that, pride in their home town.

All while us yoga teachers sat in circle, in own our community, excited about the topics we were learning and the ways they can be integrated for our own and our students’ practices.

It all made me so happy. The beeping, the interruptions, the fans and jerseys and yoga mats and mudras.

People united by a common interest.

People who come together to celebrate, or to learn, or to otherwise do the thing they love alongside people who also love it.

Community. Connection. Belonging.

Isn’t that a beautiful, heart-warming, soul affirming thing?

Group pic after Sunday's mudra workshop (hello that's me on the right )

And with that, dear Jenny, let me leave you with a few journalling prompts.

What are the things that bring you joy? (Maybe it’s the kind of joy that makes you deck out your car and blare your horn through the streets… or maybe it’s a more subtle kind. A love of reading, or bushwalking, or seeking sunsets.)

What communities are you grateful to be part of?

How can you connect with other people who love the things you love?

With love,

Samantha

P.S. THANK YOU for reading! This is the community I am grateful for, and if you feel like sharing any of your thoughts and reflections, I would so love to hear it in your replies to this email or on social media