The yoga of art 🎨

Hey Hey,

As I write this (on Monday), I'm sitting at my computer desk at home, coflo to the side, ready to type.

I usually have the baby for the whole day, so the writing happens while sitting at the reception at the St Mary's studio in the evening, but baby daddy is home and he has strapped her to his body and taken her for a walk.

Sunday was a big day for us. Well for me and the little ones. I took them both with me to a Teachers Circle and Art Class at the Penrith Studio (hosted by our in-house art teaching superstar Karen Gruber of course).

I had the chance only to spectate the watercolors moving along the paper (thanks over tired baby!), but little Miss 4 years old was happy to take a seat and get amongst it with the other teachers and past graduates of previous Yoga Teacher Trainings.

We also met in circle, hosted by another one of our teachers and graduates, Mihaela Zotta, to do a check-in with how everything was going. Teaching life. Regular life. Juggling it all and them some life.

Regular teachers were there, those who also do substitute classes for us, and even current teachers training students yet to take their final assessment (which we KNOW they will totally rock!)

Lots of different souls, all on this journey known as life..

It was comforting to know that, even though life gets tricky, we are not alone.

The ball is in our court, however, to get the courage to speak our truth.

One of the intentions of the circle hosted by Mihaela was to make a sadhana to ourselves, an activity we plan to engage in regularly to enhance our well-being, to keep for the next 8 weeks before we all meet again.

Suggestions were made, such as simply taking regular baths, or making the time to do another teacher's class.

Mine? To wake up before the kids every day sounded achievable.

Day one and I have kind of kept it? I woke up at 2 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep, so I finished reading this book (it is technically about accounting, I know right, how did I even get here, but also, if you own a business with so many overheads your head spins, I highly recommend it, and would love to have you as an accountability buddy).

During circle, we also had to share what brought us all to yoga in the first place.

The trend? Not one of the reasons was asana (yoga poses).

Sure, those yoga poses rock. They helped with my own back pain problems nearly a decade ago (I once got carried to the physio from work picking up the box the wrong way, that's technically how this fitness journey all started).

My personal reason for why I am in this industry? I think about this all the time, and I am getting more and more sure, that it is to do with creating community.

 A community that looks out for each other. That checks in. That holds space as we sit with the uncomfortable (instead of scrolling, or my favorite, going to the fridge looking for treats, oh the pleasure of working from home).

A community that makes the call when it's time to seek more help, even if it's an awkward conversation.

Even if we don't get to see each other as much as we like to. Welcome to adult life!

Anywho, that's my ramblings for now. We have started to receive enrolments for the next Teacher Training, so if this is giving you the tinglys in the belly, you can learn more here.

It's sunny all week till Sunday. Enjoy! 

Annika xx

P.S You can totally hire out the studio for your own workshop or circle too if you like. Its $60 an hour, and you can learn more and/or apply by clicking here.