For someone who looks after yoga studios, I didn't do so crash hot in my actual yoga teacher training.

I used to sit in the back of the classroom during philosophy lectures and hide behind my textbook to sneak in a cheeky nap.

At one point, I put all the teacher training books over my face and laid on the ground and told my classmates that was the only way I was going to absorb this knowledge.

Promising right?

I was in my twenties and in India, the birthplace of yoga. It was a total honour to be there, but with the 200-hour and 300-hour courses condensed in 30 days, so much of the training was completely over my head because of how new I was to yoga at the time, how distracted I was by all the pretty things surrounding me and just the exhaustion from 12-hour days.

I had already taught some yoga in the past, but not traditional yoga. It was aerial yoga, and I specifically remember telling my teacher trainers in India that when I...

Can I offer you unlimited classes for just one payment of $10?

Considering it is the middle of winter (apparently, its going to snow up in the mountains this week!), I wanted to find a way to encourage all of our one-class and two-class-per-week members to join us in the studio a little bit more!

So, what better way than bumping you all up to an unlimited membership for the rest of winter?

What do I mean?

Well, for a one-time payment of $10, I will go into the backend of your account and give you unlimited access to all of our classes for the rest of Winter (that's until August 31st, by the way!).

Just reply to this email, and I'll get it set up for you.

No pressure and I'll send a few reminders, as we will keep this promo offer for the rest of winter just for our one and two-class per-week members.

Annika xx

I'll admit it: I initially thought yoga was sooooooooo boringggggggg.

My first impression was 16 years ago in a gym at Rooty Hill.

All I remember is the yoga teacher reading from a book and telling me to relax certain body parts, weaving in many philosophical ideas I couldn't even fathom.

I pretended my eyes were closed to hide from the awkwardness of only three of us in a vast room, but I would have much preferred keeping them open.

After 60 minutes, I dismissed it as yoga was not for me and continued with my life. (unaware that a traditional yoga practice would eventually sweep me off my feet ).

Before that was all to happen, however, I adored circus, and a local school sought a new teacher to teach Aerial Yoga. I still knew nothing of the "yoga" aspect but thought I could wing it.

One student in my class had a background in gymnastics and was always ready to experiment with funky shapes in the sling.

Her exceptional...

We love yoga. Our main thang will always be yoga (hence the name "Nin Yoga").

But also, it's not the be-all and end-all.

Unlike the infamous "yoga" documentaries on Netflix (the Bikram one was exceptionally hard for me to watch because I started in Bikram yoga, but I thoroughly enjoyed Wild Wild Country because the 1970s have always been so fascinating to me), there are more layers to life than just having a hardcore and inflexible yoga only practice.

Yoga is an exceptional foundation, a home to return to within ourselves. It's been that way for me personally for nearly a decade. But what if we have a sore lower back from a weak core or our pelvic floor needs some attention from pushing out those huge things known as babies (fun fact: 50% of women have a weak pelvic floor).

Some exercises complement our foundational yoga practice, and one of them is Pilates.

So, how Pilates...

Slow Dance

"Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?

Or listened to the rain
Slapping the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down
Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?

When you ask: How are you?
Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done,
Do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?

You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Ever told your child,
We’ll do it tomorrow?

And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die

Cause you never had time
To call and say, “Hi”?

You’d better slow down
Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through the day,
It is like an unopened...

Trigger warning: the following email speaks about domestic and family violence, and also a little bit about having a 5-year-old.

To listen to this newsletter instead, click here.

We snuck into your inbox each week for the month of May to talk about domestic violence in Western Sydney and how local women and children's shelter The Haven needed your help.

And because of exceptionally generous humans in our community, we raised this much...

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 1 in 6 women experience physical violence, 1 in 4 women experience emotional abuse, 1 in 6 women experience economic abuse, and 1 in 5 women experience sexual violence.

Looking up and then rewriting these statistics puts my heartbeat in my throat. I am not ready to share my own personal experience in this area (as I was planning to do initially), but I do feel ok to at least continue to bring it to light.

So,...

Trigger warning, the following email speaks about domestic and family violence.

Over the weekend we hosted workshop number two to raise money for domestic and family violence prevention appeal month.

We are also thrilled to thank you for your generosity and support; we have raised $1286.90 so far!

If you have already donated or attended one of the workshops, your contribution has made a meaningful impact on the survivors of domestic and family violence in our community. Together, we have helped to provide vital resources and support to women and children in need within our community, giving them the possibility for a future without abuse.

Being a victim of this kind of stuff is just straight-up awful and horrible and never ok. I have seen some of my closest friends and family be victims for what is, more often than not, YEARS.

This is not to say these women are not resilient and brave, but it is to say that...

Last Friday, we had the first out of the four workshops we have set up at the studio to raise much-needed funds for The Haven.

Kai showed up for the community and hosted meridian-based yoga, followed by a dreamy yoga nidra (yogic sleep), all supported by heaters, blankets, and candlelight.

Thankful for all the yoga teachers who used their time and creativity to put something together at our studios for this exceptionally worthy cause.

As we continue to support The Haven (Nepean Woman Shelter) for May, I want to take a moment to explain why your support is so crucial.

Domestic and family violence remains a pervasive issue in our community and as a society as a whole, affecting individuals and whole families from all different walks of life. The Haven provides a lifeline for women and children, offering shelter, casework, advocacy, and resources to help them rebuild their lives.

Your donation, no...

"The world is wild I know 

Women are dying every week, and others put on a show 

My heart breaks

My voice shakes 

The only thing I can control 

is creating safety within my soul 

So I pause 

I breathe

Trying to remember the practices to help 

That I believe 

In moments of unbearable tension

I cannot remember those lessons 

So I yell 

I stomp 

I scream 

Releasing the emotion 

I do not care if I'm seen

The world is fucked I know 

Over 30 Australian women died this year alone 

Many of them by men they knew, and others in senseless hatred of women they didn't even know

1 in 4 women, that's how many of us experience domestic violence in our lifetime 

As you can see, this is so much more than a rhyme 

This is real life; it was my life 

Climbing out of the deep dark hole of domestic violence and depression that...

Its crucial that the woman in our community know that there are options if they are in an relationship that is psychologically, financially, verbally, emotionally, and/or physically abusive.

Domestic and family violence still remains a hidden secret to many. Its a silent epidemic that often goes noticed until it is way too late, with one woman killed every single week.

Behind every single nightmare of a headline, there are thousand of incidents of domestic and family violence that still goes unreported, which in turn impacts lives in way we often can not even imagine.

This is why we are reaching out to the community today, as this month is Domestic & Family Violence awareness month.

We have partnered with our beautiful friends at The Haven, a woman's and children's shelter in Penrith, to raise funds for all those who are impacted and seek refuge there.

It provides crisis accommodation and support for women and children escaping domestic and...