About The Studio Journal
The Transformation You Can Expect from Life Reconnection Signature Program — Back to Your Senses
✔ Reconnect with your true self
✔ Gain clarity on what to focus on
✔ Feel empowered to make bold decisions
✔ Take aligned action toward meaningful change
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.
A Threshold Between Years
As we stand between the years, this quiet moment invites us to slow down, listen inward, and return to what truly matters. In this reflective piece, I share the defining moments of 2025 from a life-changing question on a mountain in Bernia to the gentle clarity found in nature, horses, and mindful travel. Welcome the Year of the Fire Horse by turning inward, trusting your path, and walking into 2026 with presence, courage, and a renewed connection to yourself.
We stand at a quiet threshold between the old and the new, with 2025 turning into 2026 in just a couple of days. This moment invites reflection. There are no New Year promises, no quick fixes, no self-help shortcuts that truly carry us forward. No one else can walk your path, pave the way, or take the steps for you.
There are practices: yoga, meditation, breathwork, deep massage that help us arrive in the present moment. There are also walks we can take, forests we can return to, places where we can finally hear our own thoughts again. These are invitations to turn our gaze inward and listen to our bodies, our intuition, ourselves.
Looking Back at 2025
I walked a long path in 2025. As the new year approaches, it feels natural to look back at the highlights that shaped me. During my sabbatical travels I knew I needed to change something, and in January I felt the earth shifting beneath my feet. After journeying far and walking far, I was finally ready; ready to feel, stand on my own and to understand the inner movement taking place within me.
A Defining Moment in Bernia
One of the moments that comes to mind from 2025 is a hike in Bernia and a powerful question asked atop ancient ruins overlooking the Mediterranean valley. A question so simple and yet so profound, one we all wrestle with:
“Will this make me happy?”
That conversation on the mountain stayed with me. It nudged me deeper into presence and into trusting my own senses. In 2025 I finally understood that letting go is an act of courage, and trusting myself is an act of love.
The Healing Potential of Travel
I also think about the power of travel, its quiet ability to heal and reveal who we are. Sometimes we set out without fully understanding why, only to discover the meaning step by step along the way.
My travel coaching, studies of transformation, Finnish heritage, raising two beautiful adults, and years living across continents have all given me a gentle trust in the world. When we slow down and return to presence, we begin to hear again the world around us, and our own inner voice.
Shared Moments
One moment I cherish this year is riding beside my coachee and her horse after a year in a new country. She had been too afraid to take that first hike with her beloved companion. But she stepped up, and so did I. She faced her fear, and something shifted in both of us.
Another beautiful moment this year was welcoming the Aktiv Resor team and a dear friend into a special collaboration, a holiday that will not end. Our Appelsiinipuut kukkivat jo wellness retreat is already taking shape as the orange trees begin to bloom. This meaningful journey will take place in April 2026, and you are warmly welcome to join us.
I trust the moment now. I trust stillness. I trust the process of working with groups, showing vulnerability, and finding our way together.
I believe in imperfection. I believe in us.
I believe in you.
My Path as a Transformative Travel Coach
Today I live as a transformative travel coach and journey designer, on a journey every day. I have taken my originally author family name as my official name. I design meaningful journeys and help you map your own way. Yes, I have my certification but more importantly, I have done my walk, and I continue to walk it.
I am here for you. I walk beside you, as close as you feel comfortable, listening to what you share as the path begins to form in front of your eyes.
Luontopolku: Returning to Nature, Returning to Yourself
I simply take you to Luontopolku, the nature trail. I guide you to nature so you can reconnect with your own inner nature. You don’t need anything special. No specific equipment, no particular practice, no performance. You simply relax and step out.
You are already enough, carrying the answers within you, moving toward harmony.
There is magic in the silence of nature.
Walking unlocks the mind’s potential.
Science has shown how walking brings clarity and creative breakthroughs.
Nature begins to reflect answers back to us in shapes, patterns, and moments only we can interpret.
One walk won’t solve everything. But it offers gentle aha-moments that open the way. When we return intentionally to reflective walks, we continue to process, to understand, to move toward what is calling us next.
The Horses That Returned to My Life
My love of horses has deepened this year as they returned into my life ever more. I hear them, seek to understand them, and myself better. Hipico Oliva, the place I visited on my very first solo day in Spain in November 2024 has become part of my working landscape. And my home stables, Vitsai Village’s Kannuskylä Stables is now a partner in mindful horse holidays beginning in summer 2026.
Welcoming the Year of the Fire Horse
Happy New Year of the Fire Horse, 2026: a year symbolizing renewal, bold energy, and transformative momentum. A year of unexpected developments, personal growth, and dynamic change.
And yet, while the world may accelerate around us, the most important thing remains the same: Slow down.
Turn inward.
Take yourself into account.
You mean the most.
May 2026 be a year of presence, clarity, courage, and a return to the path that is truly yours.
I am here for you.
Whether you are in Finland seeking a spring reset under blooming orange trees, or anywhere in the world longing to reconnect with yourself through the silence of Finnish nature, your journey has a place here. Let’s find the right path for you.
Read more about Your Journey or join our Appelsiinipuut kukkivat jo wellness retreat.
Seeking Answers
Mirka Kristiina Bruun, travel coach, in nature during a Finnish Happiness reflection walk.
Transformative travel coach and founder of The Journey Studio, smiles warmly while leaning on a wooden railing at dusk. Soft evening light highlights her face as Mediterranean pine trees rise behind her, capturing a moment of calm presence and the ease that nature brings.
I still get lost sometimes and need to return to my nature trails to reconnect. Even in the excitement of building something new, there is a mountain of tasks waiting, not always favourites, yet necessary.
What Is Weighing on Me?
This week, between pitching competitions where I got to speak about my Luontopolku Back to Your Senses® method, the way to Finnish Happiness, to the finals and receive supportive feedback from wellness-tourism leaders, I found myself wondering: What is weighing on me?
There is the pressure of things undone, the constant whisper to do more, the old feeling, shared by so many of us, that we still need to prove something. Even after letting go, the echo returns. In conversations this week, we explored that balance: how to stay engaged without losing ourselves, how to understand what is “enough,” and how to find a renewed sense of meaning and direction.
When I Return to the Trail
Every time I return to a trail intentionally and start listening to the nature around me, something shifts.
The stormy waves inside quiet down.
A pigeon lands and meets my gaze.
A poster on a wall brings back a memory of who I used to be.
When I note down the intuitive thoughts that arise, I begin to see what is missing, why I feel the way I do, and what needs to be released or added to feel whole again.
Nature Shows Us the Way
Nature shows us the way if we choose to listen.
But when we are burned out, overwhelmed or moving through transitions, we often don’t hear anything at all. We operate in a trance, not fully present in our own lives.
We need to break that cycle. Step out.
Travel helps awaken the senses and shift perspective, but we are not always able to travel far. In the end, it wasn’t the height of Machu Picchu that changed me. It was the depth I needed. Myself I sought.
About Luontopolku Back to Your Senses®
The Luontopolku Back to Your Senses® method I developed during my Travel Coach studies doesn’t require distance. It requires listening.
In Finland, we say:
“The forest answers what you shout into it.”
Luontopolku Back to Your Senses® is a nature-based transformational wellbeing and travel method that guides individuals back to clarity and inner balance. Rooted in mindful presence, nature practices and reflective guidance, it offers a structured yet intuitive pathway toward emotional renewal and meaningful change.
Finnish research shows that even 10 minutes in nature calms the heartbeat. Nature walks lower cortisol, support burnout recovery, prevent depression and increase mindfulness.
Luontopolku, nature trail in Finnish, draws from ancestral knowledge, Finnish science and global wellness insights, including the principles of Japanese forest bathing.
Slowing Down to Listen
Meaningful change happens when we slow down, tune in and allow nature to support our inner journey. Through movement, reflective exercises, sensory awareness and meaning-centered travel coaching, Luontopolku becomes a gentle companion toward self-understanding and inner clarity.
By following the steps in the Luontopolku® guide, you begin by asking what you wish clarity on. Then you step into nature, holding the question lightly.
Magic happens: answers appear in leaves, patterns, symbols.
You pause. You listen.
You write down the intuitive thoughts that surface.
The more intentionally we return to nature, the clearer the inner voice becomes.
A Path You Always Walk With Yourself
At 54, I gained the courage to change my life.
And so can you.
You are always journeying with yourself: listen closely to know when to stay on your path, or when it’s time to turn.
Wishing you a wonderfully slow weekend.
Take a mindful walk.
And if you feel called to explore your personal journey through a guided session, online or as a reflective Luontopolku Back to Your Senses® walk, you’re warmly welcome to make a booking.