Nook Newsletters & Blog
Nooks March Newsletter
Dear Nook Community,
I hope you are all well and finding little pockets of space in your week.
Before we settle into our autumn rhythms here at the studio, I wanted to share a gentle reminder that we are now entering the final few weeks to apply for our New Zealand Women’s Restorative Retreat.
The Women’s Restorative Retreat, 22–24 May Kula Homestead, Muriwai. Applications for this retreat close March 31st, and we are now moving into the final couple of weeks. This retreat has been created as a deeply nourishing autumn offering for women, a space to pause, reconnect, and be supported through restorative practices, beautiful food, and meaningful conversation. This year the retreat has been so beautifully put together, its lovingly been prepared and full of gentle supporting yoga practices, guest speakers and nourishing meals influenced by Ayurvedic techniques.
A quiet note to share is that this retreat is offered when the season and timing allow it, and due to next year already presenting a few unexpected new avenues and opportunities, it may not return again for a while. If it has been sitting quietly in the back of your mind, this may be the moment to explore it.
More details on New Zealand Women's Restorative Retreat here. Please email hello@nookstudios.co.nz for your interest to join us on this beautiful experience this year.
A Gentle Shift into Autumn
As we move through March, there’s a shift beginning to happen in the studio. The mornings are feeling a little cooler, the light is softening, and we can sense the quiet arrival of autumn beginning to move in. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, this seasonal change guides us toward the Metal Element, connected to the Lung and Large Intestine meridians, which is the energy of breath, clarity, and gently letting go (just like the trees and the leaves) of what we no longer need.
You may begin to notice this reflected in our practices over the coming weeks. Classes may soften slightly, with a little more attention on breath, stillness, and creating space in the body as we transition seasons together. An autumn timetable will come into place mid April, adding a few more great classes to the Nook schedule.
A Warm Welcome
We’ve had a number of new members join the Nook community recently, and I just want to extend a heartfelt welcome to you all. We’re so happy you’ve found your way here. Nook has always been about more than just the practice itself, it’s about connection, community, and creating a place where you can arrive exactly as you are. If you are thinking about visiting, please make use of our 7 day weekly trial, this allows you to join as many classes as you wish over a week. and a chance to explore our great teachers at Nook.
If you’re new, you may not yet know about one of our small Nook traditions… Nook banana bread. We haven’t done this in a while, but with so many new faces in the studio lately, it felt like the perfect time to bring it back. So next Friday (20th March) for the 9:30am Yin class, we’ll be sharing our Nook banana bread along with herbal teas. We’ll also close the class with a gentle sound bowl relaxation to ease us into the rest of the day. You are warmly invited to stay afterwards for a few minutes of connection, chats, and catch-ups. I’d like to Book a Space!
Nook Autumn Rituals
As the air begins too cool and dry, it can be helpful to gently support the lungs, digestion, nervous system and immune system.
Try adding one of these to your morning water:
• Fresh lemon slices: naturally cleansing and supportive for digestion while helping the body stay gently hydrated.
• Fresh ginger: warming and stimulating for circulation, supporting the immune system as the seasons change.
• A pinch of cinnamon: Adding a pinch of cinnamon to warm water is a simple Ayurvedic-ritual that gently warms and supports the body, supporting circulation, digestion and helps balance blood sugar.
Even something small like this can become a beautiful daily ritual.
Pose of the Month
Supported Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall- image below)
The metal element is all about making sure we rest and build reserves as we move into cooler months, so this gem of a gentle restorative pose is one of the most nourishing ways to reset the body after a busy day.
Benefits include:
• calming the nervous system
• relieving fatigue and tired legs
• gently supporting circulation and deep rest
Try spending 5–10 minutes here in the evening and allow the body to soften.
A Quiet Whisper for Bali
Early next week we’ll also begin sharing more information about our Bali Retreat coming up this August, I am truly excited for this and cant wait to share more.
If our New Zealand retreat reflects the quiet nourishment of autumn here at home, our Bali retreat offers something quite different, the warmth, vibrancy, and spaciousness of practising together in the tropics and building an amazing daily routine over seven days, you will leave feeling revitalised and with new energy to move through the last months of the year.
Keep an eye on your inbox later in the week as we begin to share more, but here is a snippet of the Bali Retreat 2026
Warmly,
Kristin
Nook Studios
The Power of Pause
Lately, I’ve been really enjoying the ritual of sitting down and brewing a simple herbal tea, a wintering blend of ginger, thyme, and honey from our own hive. Just the act of gathering the ingredients, pouring hot water, and holding the warmth of the cup becomes a grounding practice in itself. Without these pauses, it’s so easy to fall under the constant push to extend, to do, to achieve. And yet, ten minutes of sitting with a cup of tea can be profoundly shifting, transforming the entire trajectory of a day. Instead of a restless mind racing toward the next task, we find a moment to soften, to settle, to simply pause.
This is what yoga continually invites us to remember: that what is unfolding in nature is also unfolding within us. Winter asks us to slow down, to conserve energy, to rebuild. Spring calls us to expand and create. These same cycles live in our own bodies, in our breath, and even in the rhythms of our days. When we attune our practice to the seasons and to the season we’re in personally, we begin to experience harmony instead of friction.
Neuroscience now confirms what yogis have long known: that the nervous system cannot thrive under constant stimulation. The “always-on” mode of sympathetic activation, the fight, flight, or push state may carry us through deadlines and challenges, but when it becomes our default, the cost is burnout, anxiety, and physical depletion. As Dr. Stephen Porges’ polyvagal theory reminds us, the body heals in the parasympathetic state, the state of rest, digest, and restore. It is only here, in stillness and slower practices, that the immune system strengthens, the mind clears, and the body rebuilds. We lean into these very practices in all yoga, however hold deepr focus for “polyvagal theory” or vagal nerve stimulation and toning specifically in our Nook Yin practices.
World-renowned yoga teacher Donna Farhi and one of my very first teachers I studied my first advanced teacher training with (little did I know at the time, just how much this experience was to go on and shape my life), said, “Yoga is not about touching your toes; it’s about what you learn on the way down.” Those words continue to ring true in my own practice and teaching. Rest is not a luxury, it is a necessity for the human spirit, these teachings echo what modern science now tells us is that stillness is not wasted time, but an essential medicine.
So when you arrive at the studio and consider your practice, let this be your compass, if you’re already exhausted, the last thing your body needs is more push. Instead, allow yourself to fold into the slower rhythms, restorative yoga, yin, breath practices, the spaces that down-regulate your nervous system and give you back to yourself. In honouring these cycles, we begin to live more seasonally, more sustainably, and more in tune with the natural intelligence already within us.
~August 2025
