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
Off for the Holidays
A woman sits quietly at the end of a sunlit wooden pier, facing the water with her back to the camera. Bathed in warm summer light, she gazes toward the horizon, surrounded by calm and open space. The image evokes a sense of pause, reflection, and the gentle uncertainty that often accompanies travel and new beginnings, reminding us that the journey itself begins long before we arrive at our destination.
Holiday is a loaded word, especially when it comes to travel. Our holiday trips often carry expectations far beyond the journey itself. During the dark months, we dream, plan, compare destinations, make reservations, and wait for that special moment when we can finally close our laptops, lock the front door, and head off toward something we have been longing for.
The Travel Anxiety We Rarely Talk About
Yet when the time finally arrives, beneath the excitement there can also be apprehension.
Will everything work out? What if there is an airline issue? Will we make the connection? Will the weather cooperate? Will the accommodation be what we expected?
Whatever may happen along the way, travel anxiety is often less about the disruption itself and more about the pressure we place on ourselves to keep everything under control. Delays, cancellations, and unexpected changes can trigger stress that was already present before the journey even began.
I have learned that much of our discomfort comes from the belief that a successful holiday depends on everything unfolding exactly as planned.
Taking a Sensory Pause
One practice I use myself is what I call a sensory pause.
Instead of immediately trying to fix the problem or search for solutions, I step outside, take a slow walk, and consciously notice what I can see, hear, smell, and feel. The warmth of the sun on my skin. The sound of distant birds. The scent of rain or pine trees. The feeling of my feet meeting the ground.
More often than not, clarity arrives when I stop fighting the situation.
I also try to focus on what remains within my control rather than what has been lost. This is one of the reasons I love slow travel so deeply. Leaving space between destinations and allowing time for the unexpected creates room not only for practical solutions, but also for experiences that could never have been planned.
What Is Perfect, Anyway?
Many travelers today feel pressure to make every trip perfect. Yet some of the most meaningful experiences emerge from unexpected detours.
Perhaps there is a hidden place you would never have discovered otherwise. Perhaps there is a conversation, a landscape, or a moment of stillness that was quietly waiting for you all along.
Travel is not only a journey across places. It is also an opportunity to notice how we ourselves, and those traveling beside us, respond to uncertainty.
Sometimes the most important question is not:
"Why is this happening?"
But rather:
"What is this moment inviting me to notice?"
These are the real treasures we bring home from our travels. Not the perfect itinerary, but the moments that changed how we saw the world, and ourselves.
If you wish to explore personal travel coaching, read on here.
Returning Home to Yourself
Some paths are not meant to take you elsewhere,
but gently return you to where you already belong.
The Quiet Work Beneath Change
I’m a travel coach who doesn’t simply send people away to travel.
And I’m not a mentor handing you another chart to complete or another version of yourself to perform.
What I offer is something quieter.
A space to simply be.
To leave your roles behind for a moment.
To sit without needing to explain yourself.
Sometimes there is only silence at first.
Sometimes a single sentence surfaces.
Sometimes just one word finds its way onto the page of a small notebook.
And that is enough.
I walk beside people when they are ready to move toward who they truly are beneath the expectations, responsibilities, and identities they have carried for years.
Together, we explore the thresholds they are standing before:
the boundaries they long to set, the space they need to reclaim, and the life that quietly asks to be lived on their own terms.
We Always Carry Ourselves Along
So often, we believe change will come from a new location, another country, a different job, or another relationship.
But wherever we go, we still bring ourselves with us.
The confinements surrounding us are not always external. Many are slowly built within our own lives, layer by layer, until one day we realise we can no longer fully breathe inside them.
And when that moment comes, many of us are already moving.
Searching for a way back home to ourselves.
Back to a place where we can care for our own wellbeing alongside everyone else’s.
The Exhaustion So Many Carry
This week, I have felt sadness seeing how tired so many people are.
Trying to meet expectations.
Trying to hold everything together.
Performing, pushing forward, and quietly falling exhausted underneath it all.
It is not worth losing yourself for.
Every one of us deserves a pause.
A space around us.
A moment to step aside and ask:
Who am I without the roles of parent, director, partner, caretaker, or fixer?
Sometimes the most important journey begins there.
Crossing Thresholds
This week, I guided a horse along trails he is only now brave enough to wholeheartedly explore. Two weeks ago, he resisted crossing the stable boundaries.
Watching him step forward in a new country reminded me how familiar fear can feel before growth.
I also had meaningful conversations with people standing at their own thresholds:
conversations about the courage required to claim space for themselves, and about journeys that are not simply wanted, but deeply necessary.
Not to escape life, but to return home within it.
And perhaps the most beautiful part was hearing people speak aloud how they truly wish to move forward this summer.
Listen In to Yourself
I keep walking.
I keep listening.
And this season, I hope you will listen in to yourself too.
Walk gently. Listen deeply. Return to your own nature.
Back in Time
Mirka Kristiina Bruun at Xaló Saturday Market in Valencia, Spain, reflected in a vintage mirror beneath an olive tree, exploring slow travel treasures during a mindful riverside market day in the Alicante region.
A Saturday at Xaló Market
I return to the Xaló Saturday market every so often.
Sometimes I go searching for something particular. Most often, I go simply to wander along the riverside; to enjoy the music, the hum of mixed European languages, and the possibility of unexpected treasures.
In sunny February, when spring quietly breaks winter’s spell and almond trees begin to bloom, the village feels especially alive. Cyclists move through the narrow streets. Conversations flow in Spanish, Dutch, German, French, English. The market becomes a meeting place of seasons and stories.
A Gift of Time
This week my son is visiting with his friends. I asked him to find a birthday gift during our Xaló day; something I would buy for him, a small reminder of time spent together here.
I wasn’t looking for anything myself. I was simply following the young ones, enjoying their reflections, their laughter, their rhythm.
And yet.
It didn’t take long before I found myself standing before a stack of vinyl records. Ever since restoring the old record player at Blueberry Villa, these records have been quietly calling me.
Recently back in the western saddle with a new quarter gelding as a coachee, I instinctively picked up My Country – Songs, die dir Freiheit geben, with voices like Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers.
Two euros later, “Country roads, take me home” accompanied me along the riverbank.
Treasures That Carry Stories
There is something about touching and even smelling objects from the past.
They carry lives lived.
Dreams pursued.
Time that has passed and yet lingers.
I have never felt lighter than I do now. Owning less. Needing less.
I admire the handbags I once collected. I smile at the Tiffany lamps I once searched for. Letting go has brought me closer to what truly matters.
I bought one more thing: Jules Verne’s Viaje al Centro de la Tierra in Spanish. It feels like a promise. This will be the first full book I read in my chosen language.
And then, a simple green glass jar for the stones I collect during my walks. It has been empty for a long time. Now it waits again.
The Village That Holds Stories
Our final stop was the Xaló vintage store, always worth visiting. Its owner, a photographer, once captured Finnish band Hanoi Rocks in the 1980s. The shop feels like a museum disguised as a boutique.
Whenever I bring people here, we rarely leave empty-handed. This time, my son found a shirt that felt right. Not because it was needed but because it resonated.
What Is Calling You?
During my retreats, I bring guests to this market at the end of their stay.
Before we begin wandering, I ask them to pause.
To listen.
What is calling you here?
What do you want to carry forward, not just in your bag, but into your life?
It is always meaningful to hear why they choose what they choose.
Often, the object is small. The shift behind it is not.
Choosing How We Spend Our Days
We all choose, every day, how we spend our time.
Slow markets.
Shared afternoons.
A record.
A book.
A jar waiting to be filled.
I have become ever more mindful of how I spend mine.
And if you ever feel called to wander these riverbanks, listen to what is asking to be noticed, or experience the rhythm of this valley more deeply, you are welcome to join me.
Sometimes a market is just a market.
Sometimes it is the beginning of something quieter, and more meaningful.
You can explore further here.
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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