unexpected kind and not-so-kind 🌸

This morning, I was FB messaging one of the instructors from Body Barre Air (which is rebranding as Nin Yoga Castle Hill literally next week, ekkkkkkk), and we were sharing stories on navigating this thing called life. We are similar ages, and she also has two daughters, just a tiny bit older than mine. 

We talked about running a business, unexpected kind, and not-so-kind surprises that are out of our control, and just general mum life things.

She also talked about how she is always here to help us navigate these new waters for Nin Yoga as we open up in the Hills area. She has been the face and the go-to teacher for this Castle Hill community for nearly a decade and is loved and trusted by all of her regular students.

I then sat with this feeling of her offering to help, and I thought about why I found it so hard to accept help myself.

I thought about my father and how he really needs help right now and seems to want anything but.

I thought about how, over the past two weekends, I've had friends, family, and even studio members visit Aaron and me in Castle Hill, literally inserting themselves into the renovation and saying, "TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

I then thought about how I continue to walk into the St Mary's and Penrith Studios and find the place not only clean but unconditionally loved, with plants watered, bins emptied, and blankets folded in a way that all the stripes match when stacked.

So, dear readers, this is me doing that thing I hate: asking for help.

If you have the space to give the studios some extra TLC between classes, we would love to offer you a membership in exchange for 90 minutes-ish of your time a week to give some attention to, particularly our Penrith and our Castle Hill studios.

Jobs include things such as:

 Cleaning

 Looking after the garden and indoor plants

 Handing out flyers to local hangout spots and communities

 Social media engagament

 Any skills you are terrific at that you think would benefit our community (for example, if you know how to install double doors or set up a sound system, we will forever be in your debt! Who knew doors are so difficult? Everyone but Mr Aaron!)

Just reply to this email with what days work for you for either Castle Hill or Penrith and we will figure it out there 

Want to learn about other ways you can help the community?

Google reviews are free and help us rise to the top of the search list. The higher we are, the more students we can serve, which means more classes to choose from. St Marys and Penrith are ready to take them, and I think Castle Hill will start officially accepting reviews once we open on September 2nd.

Also, in case you didn't know, we have been collecting period products for all of August, and we are nearly at the end of the month!

Share the Dignity also just reached out to everyone collecting bits and bobs and mentioned that they speicifically need more tampons!

So, if you have yet to donate or want to donate even more, please grab some tampons and put them in our full baskets and boxes and either our St Marys or Penrith Studio. They will be picked up and taken to those in need very soon 

Fun fact: Nin Yoga would not be a thing without its community; we could not host classes, teacher training, charity events, and collect period products for those who can not afford them otherwise without you Annika.   If yoga taught us anything, it's practicing gratitude, and I am thankful every single freaking day to be able to spend it right here in Western Sydney with you.   Appreciate your time and trust,   Annika xx   P.S. For those curious about the Castle Hill schedule, you can view that here, just be sure to select next week as the start date!   P.P.S. We are already half-full for our Part Time Yoga Teacher Training at the Penrith Studio, which starts November 5th! This is so exciting and special.   P.P.P.S. We had to make the tough decision of pulling out of the St Mary's Spring Fair (I know, right? I literally just announced I was doing it in the last newsletter!). As humans, it's just not possible to do all the things, and you will instead catch me there as a punter rather than a vendor with Aaron, my two girls, and my beautiful dad. A reminder that it is ok to say no, even if you already said yes.