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
Horse Energy
Mirka, the tranformative travel coach on a horseback with Maiju, the Kannuskylä horse stable owner and riding instructor in Vitsai, partner at the Slow Travel Horse Holidays.
There are things that pull us, quietly, yet powerfully, drawing us closer to see, explore, and experience.
For me, that pull has always been horses.
My earliest memory is of holding onto the leg of an old workhorse, hugging him with complete devotion, to the horror of my grandfather, from whom I had escaped. A few years later, I climbed from that same leg onto the back of that great Finnish breed. From there, the path continued naturally: riding school, working at trotting stables, and eventually owning my own mare.
Growing up with a horse
As a teenager, growing up with a horse was an education in responsibility but even more so in relationship.
It meant learning nuance, presence, and trust.
Learning to understand another being beyond words.
My mare became a grounding force in my life. A companion on nature trails, a quiet friend I sometimes even slept beside. We learned to read each other, to respond to the subtle shifts in energy that each day brought.
A thread that follows
Life later took me across the world from studies in the United States to family and work across Asia and Europe.
And still, horses remained.
Sometimes close, sometimes more distant but always there, gently calling me back.
A western saddle, a dressage lesson, a bareback ride by the sea.
Back in Finland, returning to my lakeside summer place in Vitsai, I connected with a neighbour’s horses and began a long relationship with a gentle thoroughbred I rode for fourteen years.
The dream
For years, I had a recurring dream.
A horse in a barn; hungry, thirsty, waiting to be fed.
Each time I woke from it, I felt a quiet urgency. As if something in my life had been left unattended. A responsibility not fully met. A connection not fully seen.
Only later did I understand.
Returning after burnout
After my sabbatical travels following burnout I found myself once again close to horses and their owners. This time, I gave space to riding in a different way.
The more I responded to their presence, the clearer their “voice” became.
I remember guiding a tinker horse who seemed to long for movement beyond the stable. Together with his owner, we returned to the forest trails. It was a quiet triumph for all of us.
Since then, I have continued working with both horses and people supporting courage, presence, and the connection between them.
Horses in the Luontopolku® journey
As my coaching deepened, horses naturally became part of my Luontopolku Back to Your Senses® experiences.
From this, an opportunity emerged to co-create horse holidays with Pegasus.
It felt like a natural progression to bring together:
slow travel
Finnish nature
and the presence of horses
At my lakeside home, Blueberry Villa, built by my father in the 1990s, I now welcome guests to experience this way of being.
Here, on Taipalsaari island by Lake Saimaa, life slows down.
In Finland, horses spend their summers on green pastures. During our 5- and 7-day retreats, we collect our horses from the nearby field, walk together to the stables, and set out onto gently curving trails through birch and pine forests.
There is no rush.
Only presence, rhythm, and connection.
Feeding the inner horse
The dream of the hungry horse no longer returns.
Somewhere along the way, my inner horse was fed.
And perhaps this is what draws people here too.
Not only to ride but to reconnect.
To listen.
To respond to something within that has been waiting.
I hope to meet you there, by the lake, and to gently support you in feeding your own inner horse.
After all, it is a time to trust your energy and follow where it quietly leads.
If something in this story resonated, you don’t need to leave it here.
Each summer, I host Slow Travel Horse Holidays at Lake Saimaa, where you are paired with your own horse and guided through nature-based reflection using the Luontopolku Back to Your Senses® method.
This is not just about riding.
It is about reconnecting with nature, with the horse, and with yourself.
→ Discover upcoming Horse retreats at The Journey Studio
→ Or book a discovery call to explore if this experience is for you
Walk the walk, talk the talk
A place to pause by the water, where thoughts begin to surface and gently find their way forward.
Coming from Finland, I know that talking is not always easy. We may find ways to explain things to others, but being honest with ourselves can be the hardest part.
When I guide reflective walks, there is no pressure to share anything. We simply walk. The trail invites us forward.
And yet, something interesting happens.
After a gentle opening and a moment to set a personal intention, I often suggest a short silence. It doesn’t take long before something begins to surface. A small observation along the path. A thought that follows. A quiet question that leads to another.
As we pause to take in a view or stand in a clearing, we breathe for a moment. Then we continue. One and a half hours passes quickly in nature when the mind is calm and gently engaged. And often, people feel drawn to return again.
Walking opens space
We are naturally drawn to others with whom we share something, even if we cannot immediately name it. There is often a thread somewhere in the fabric of our lives.
I hear often how easy it feels to talk while walking. And how easy it is simply to be.
This is not a formal setting where something is expected of you. There is no performance. Just a gentle walk, following a path at your own pace. You choose what to share. You look ahead, touch what surrounds you, pause when needed.
Walking and talking, like you would with a friend, is a natural and non-confrontational way to explore what is on your mind. Slowly, step by step, clarity begins to form when you set out with an intention.
Nature brings clarity
There is research on what nature, especially forests, and walking outdoors can do for us. It calms the mind, slows the heartbeat, fills the lungs, and clears the head.
There is an American saying, talk the talk and walk the walk, often referring to responsibility. On my walks, there is also a quiet responsibility: to guide your thinking toward greater gentleness with yourself. Many of us carry expectations placed on us by others, or by ourselves.
In Bangladesh, I learned a beautiful expression: eat some wind. A simple way of saying, step outside and refresh your thinking.
In Finland, we have long returned to the forest for calm and wisdom. Sitting on a tree stump, facing nature, and ourselves. Trees share with each other. And when we join them, they share with us too.
Returning to your own nature
I have traveled far and started over many times, yet I always return to my roots, to my own nature. It continues to teach me what becomes clearer with time.
I am happy to invite you to take an intentional walk as well.
You can walk on your own using my reflective guide through The Journey Studio. You can book an online session and take me with you on your walk. Or we can meet in person.
Winter & Spring: Montgó and Benissa Ruta Ecológica, Spain
Summer & Autumn: Lappeenranta, Lake Saimaa, Finland
You can also join a slow travel retreat and immerse yourself in Lakeland life at Blueberry Villa, where time softens and you can simply be as you are.
Take a walk
Sometimes that is where it begins.
Get your Reflective Walk Guide or book Your Reflective Walk in Spain or in Finland.
Learnings from the Finnish Forest
The lake is still holding onto winter.
Ice stretches across the water, slowly giving way under the soft spring light. The sun hangs low behind a quiet veil of clouds, not yet warm, but already changing something.
Standing at the shoreline, between seasons, you feel it—
the pause before movement.
Nature does not rush this moment.
It allows the transition to unfold.
And perhaps we need the same.
How Nature, Sisu, and the Luontopolku® Method Guide Us Back to Ourselves
Finnish forests are more than meets the eye. They protect, restore, and provide, but above all, they reveal.
There is a Finnish saying: what you shout into the forest, the forest answers back.
Yet it is not the forest that has the voice.
In the silence of nature, you begin to hear your own thoughts,
the echo of what has been waiting within you.
The Forest as a Leadership Mirror
This week, beneath tall pines and across frozen ground softened by the first signs of spring, I guided participants through the Luontopolku® Back to Your Senses journey at Lake Saimaa.
In unfamiliar surroundings at the eastern frontier of the EU something shifts.
When we step outside what is known, we are invited to draw not only from experience, but from our connection to nature and ourselves.
Working in teams, we explored leadership not only as guiding others, but as managing ourselves under changing conditions.
Because every organization, every team, is built from people.
And everything begins there.
Understanding Finnish Sisu Through Experience
Through the Luontopolku® five-step reflection process, we explored what Finnish Sisu truly means:
Pause
Sensory awareness
Threshold recognition
Integration
Forward direction
Sisu is not force.
It is not performance.
It is the quiet decision to continue with responsibility when conditions are not ideal.
Nature supported this process in its own way, through the rhythm of the landscape, the stillness of the forest, and the long, winding trails around a slowly melting Lake Saimaa.
Crossing Thresholds – Personal and Shared
As I shared my own story of crossing borders both physically and emotionally, I was reminded again of the power of thresholds.
Stepping into my grandmother’s home in lost Karelia.
Meeting the current owners in her old kitchen.
Bringing my own family to safety in Finland from a military takeover.
In these moments, I recognised something deeper:
Adaptability is not only survival. It is a strength.
And sometimes, what we carry as loss becomes a hidden gift we are only later ready to embrace.
Redefining Leadership in the Forest
After a long day in the terrain, our integration session brought new insights.
We reflected on our need to:
prove ourselves
perform
be the fastest or the strongest
And what happens when we let that go.
Leadership revealed itself differently in the forest:
knowing when to step forward
knowing when to step aside
giving space to others
adapting when conditions change
showing compassion when performance is not possible
This is self-leadership.
Returning to Ourselves Through Nature
In today’s world, we have in many ways become disconnected, from nature and from ourselves.
But when we pause, when we step intentionally into nature, something begins to shift.
We begin to hear ourselves again.
Through walking.
Through silence.
Through presence.
And sometimes, through the shared quiet of a sauna at the end of the day, we let go of what we no longer need to carry.
We rest.
And in that rest, clarity begins to emerge.
Why Finnish Nature Is the Source of Happiness
Finland has been named the happiest country in the world multiple times.
One of the reasons lies here:
In the forest.
In the relationship with nature.
In the ability to pause and return to oneself.
Luontopolku® – A Path Back to Your Senses
Through my Luontopolku® Back to Your Senses method, I guide individuals and teams to reconnect with themselves through:
reflective nature walks
coaching
slow travel experiences
retreats in Finland and Spain
This is not about escaping life.
It is about meeting it more clearly.
A Final Thought
The forest does not give you answers.
It gives you space to hear your own.
And often, that is where everything begins.
I can guide you there.
From Alone to Aligned: How a Lakeside Cabin Taught Me to Listen
Spending time alone in a Finnish lakeside cabin, I didn’t find silence—I found alignment. This post reflects on how stillness, space, and nature revealed what burnout had hidden, and how solitude can guide us gently back to ourselves.
Not long ago, the thought of solo travel—or even a weekend cottage trip—made me pause. I was used to being surrounded: by people, work, responsibilities, the constant motion of a busy life. But before I even realized burnout was knocking, I sought space and solitude. Not just physical distance, but emotional space. Space to hear my own thoughts again.
I returned to something deeply familiar: the Finnish lakeside. A simple Blueberry Villa my father built in the 1990s. A silent forest—or so it seemed. I used to hate driving there alone, getting busy with the garden, treating the terraces and pier, or clearing the forest. We’re self-sufficient there: wood-burning oven, fireplace, and a lakeside sauna tucked into our own woods.
At first, I brought all my thoughts with me—the mental noise, the pressure to produce, the urge to fill the silence. But over time, the quiet worked its way in. While exhausting myself outdoors, I noticed the gentle fall of a pinecone, the texture of birch bark, the whisper of the lake, the humming of the tall pines on our land, a place we call the Pineman. The forest was not so silent after all.
I began to relax during my weekend getaways, becoming mindful of the path with its exposed roots leading from the villa to the lakeside, listening to the waves while sitting on the pier, simply enjoying the stillness. The traditional sauna ritual—throwing water on the hot stove, listening to the fire crackling beneath it, and dipping into the cold lake between steam baths—was profoundly calming. I swam in icy water, and something in me softened. I didn’t need to speak to belong. Nature welcomed me without needing me to be anything more than I was.
I realized I was alone, but I wasn’t lonely. I was part of nature—something bigger. I was beginning to feel again. I started journaling—not because I had to, but because my hands wanted to remember what my heart was trying to say.
Though the awakening during my sabbatical journey changed me, I realized I had already taken the first steps earlier. Transformation isn’t a single event; it’s a series of quiet, essential shifts. The times spent at our lakeside cottage reawakened my senses and kept me going. They gave me clarity—then and now. They reminded me of something vital: the journey back to ourselves often begins with the simplest acts of presence. Since I managed alone there, I could manage journeying anywhere. Everything beyond that only added to my contentment.
This experience became the foundation for my signature program at The Journey Studio: Back to Your Senses.
It’s a guided path to reconnect with what you may have lost touch with—your body, your emotions, your sense of wonder, and the clarity that comes from being truly present once you start to listen.
The program is built around five natural elements:
Earth for grounding and physical awareness
Water for emotional flow and softness
Fire for courage and personal ignition
Air for mental clarity and breath
Space for stillness, intuition, and trust
You can begin with 1:1 coaching from anywhere in the world. Or, you can join me in Finland at a peaceful lakeside villa, embracing the roots of Finnish happiness—or in Spain, where we walk and reflect among mountain paths, citrus groves, and ancient watchtowers. Each experience is curated not just to inspire—but to help you listen.
Because when you start to listen, you start to return to yourself.
If you're navigating a life transition, healing from burnout, or simply feeling called to explore your next chapter more consciously, this program is for you.
Learn more about the Back to Your Senses Life Reconnection Signature Program or schedule a free clarity call at www.thejourneystudio.co