About The Studio Journal
The Studio Journal was born during a sabbatical that became something much deeper, a turning point.
What began as a pause from routine turned into a journey of unlearning, rediscovery, and reconnection. I wandered, I listened, I wrote. I stepped into unfamiliar places, both on the map and within myself.
This journal is a space to share what I’ve gathered along the way. It holds reflections from the road, questions from the quiet moments, and the stories that shape how we travel, live, and grow. You’ll find pieces of my journey here, but also prompts, insights, and encouragement for your own.
Because transformation doesn’t happen all at once. It happens in the in-between. And this is a place for that.
What You May Experience Through Luontopolku — Back to Your Senses® method
✔ A renewed connection to your own nature
✔ Greater clarity about what truly matters now
✔ Deeper trust in your direction and inner guidance
✔ Courage to move forward with alignment and intention
Back to Work
Sunset over Lake Saimaa from the pier at Blueberry Villa, reflecting a quiet moment of pause and transition.
The gentle scent of autumn fills the nostrils on August mornings. While the scent is pleasant, it also carries a message of change ahead.
The days we chose according to our wishes, preplanned or discovered during the free wandering of summer holidays, are now returning to routines, office corridors, online meetings and pending tasks.
When Returning Feels Easy, and When It Doesn’t
We may breathe easily, happy to join our colleagues again, our heads filled with ideas we cannot wait to pursue, showcasing creativity we rediscovered while out on nature trails or foreign lands, exploring new paths.
Or perhaps we are beginning a new post, or an altogether new career.
On the other hand, there may also be a sensation of tightening around the chest as we breathe in the autumn air.
Something may have revealed itself while we were away, when we were better in tune with ourselves: an uneasiness about trying to fit into something that no longer serves us.
Returning to the old.
To the place that is exactly as we left it, offering the same space where we somehow no longer fit.
But we all have to go.
Yes, we do, for the time being.
Take Your Time
Time is of the essence. It is the capital we have.
We only have that, and yet we also need to take our time.
Before anything happens, many steps have usually already been taken, bridges crossed, before we arrive somewhere where we are ready to move forward, whatever that may mean for us.
I myself started something new this morning: writing three pages freehand in a notebook.
I believe in journaling. Short notes or longer texts, reflecting on your feelings, recording dreams belong to mornings for me.
Like morning stretches or simple Pilates movements, they help me stay in tune with myself.
Instead of simply making notes in my Thoughts from the Journey folder on my phone, I actually pulled out a notebook to reflect beyond my normal routine.
A Notebook From 2018
By accident, I came across an old notebook of mine where I had last written in 2018.
Its cover read:
Believe that something magical is about to happen.
It made me smile.
The last thing I had written in it was a note about what sisu, Finnish gutted persistence, means to me.
It read:
At a point there comes a time when something snaps, and in that moment you draw from the sisu, gutted persistence, and make your move forward. Leave the situation, relationship, post that no longer serves you.
I stared at the sentence for a while, looking back at the person I was at that time, understanding that something was already happening.
Change was coming.
The Path We Take Inside
There is no tightness in my chest anymore.
I am at home, wherever I am.
It took me time. A long walk before I arrived here.
Nothing happens overnight.
There may appear to be sudden events, but seldom are they truly sudden. Only the viewpoint is different. The full path we have taken inside ourselves remains invisible to others.
Wherever you are this August, gaily moving ahead or dragging your feet, only you know the weight of your steps.
And as you begin to understand where they are taking you, perhaps they become lighter.
Take a Walk With Me
I’ll be happy to take a walk with you and help you shed some of the load you no longer wish to carry.
Sometimes a pause, a walk and a different environment are enough to hear more clearly what has already been quietly asking for your attention.
Through Luontopolku – Back to Your Senses®, reflective walks and slow travel experiences, I create space for that pause, in nature, through the senses and through meaningful conversation.
You can make message me or book your discovery call online.
Have a lovely August week ahead,
Mirka Kristiina Bruun
The Finnish Happiness Coach
Founder, The Journey Studio
The Circle Closes
Between movement and stillness, I found myself smiling again. This is what transformative travel offers: intentional journeys that restore wellbeing, deepen self-connection, and bring you back home to yourself.
This January 2026, I am returning to Helsinki Matka Nordic Travel Fair an altogether different role: as a fellow traveler.
Once a travel executive and promoter of the Lake Saimaa region, I now stand here to tell how travel can take us to places, but more importantly, how it can bring us back home, within. When we travel intentionally, paying attention to ourselves and our surroundings, connecting with people and places, we also journey deeper into ourselves. Travel shows us how else life could be. It takes us off autopilot, sometimes even out of our comfort zones. In doing so, it resets us, supports our wellbeing, and invites reflection: are these new experiences something we want more of in our lives?
Travel as a Counterbalance
While the world speeds ahead and constantly pushes our boundaries with its demands, travel becomes a counterbalance, a resetting force that allows us to slow down and return to something that calls us. A feeling. A place. A moment where we see ourselves glowing again. As travelers, we are free, at our purest. When nobody knows us, we can shed our masks. We no longer need to play roles. We can simply be.
And we do not need to travel far. Or for long. We only need to turn our ear inward and allow ourselves the moments we truly need.
Nature as the Way Back
For me, nature has always been that place of return. It has echoed my answers back to me, allowed me to be alone in safety, and reminded me of who I am. Solo moments in nature; walking trails, slow rituals, quiet reflection, inner conversations bring us back to our own path. The more often we return to nature with a question in our hearts, seeking clarity, the clearer the picture becomes. Our breath softens. Our direction sharpens.
I believe it can be that simple.
Our nature is calling us all.
Listening Instead of Performing
We do not need yoga or breathing techniques, although I know they are wonderful and do much good. We can simply begin by giving ourselves time. By walking. By listening. By allowing what moves us to guide our choices and, in time, our travels.
A Year of Transformation
Last year marked a profound turning point for me as I founded my own business as a transformative travel coach. It has been a year of change, of reconnecting with wonderful people, both familiar and new, and of building wellbeing-focused travel experiences in Finland and abroad.
Returning to Helsinki Matka Nordic Travel Fair
At Helsinki Travel Mart this year, I am speaking as the founder of The Journey Studio, sharing my story and my Luontopolku Back to Your Senses® method. I am also honored to represent my dear partner Aktiv-Resor, speaking about how travel can bring wellbeing into our lives through experiences such as our “Appelsiinipuut kukkivat jo Valenciassa” retreat.
I will be available to meet from Friday 16 January to Sunday 18 January, and on Saturday 17 January from 13:00 to 14:30 you are warmly invited to join us at the Aktiv-Resor stand 7p128 for a connecting hour with my inspiring friend Saimi Hoyer.
Back Where I Belong
Travel and taking time for myself brought me back to where I belong: happy, present, and on a journey I now build consciously, day by day.
I look forward to meeting you at the fair, later this year, or wherever your path may take you. I would be honored to walk alongside your journey.
Happy travels,
Mirka
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