BLOG – Kristina Garla

Journal

Reflections of a writer: in the draft room

Journal

Reflections of a writer: in the draft room

In the wilderness a young girl wanders with feet bare. She is one with the earth and her movements echo nature’s rhythms. Sister wind plays with he...

Journal

Reflections of a writer: the title arrives

As the early morning sun warms the window blinds, I slowly become conscious of my breath. I gather awareness around three words moving inside me wi...

Opening our hearts to the Year of the Horse

We are at the tail end of the Year of the Snake. We are at the very tip, where the tail whips around to give us a sharp surge of snake energy befor...

Beautiful wild creatures

'She is like this beautiful wild animal that is trying to live life as a human.' This is how Juan Oliphant describes Ocean Ramsey in the film Sha...

Meditation

The three tenets of meditation

There are three tenets of meditation: awareness, clarity and equanimity. These are the principles of meditation. They are also the practice of medi...

Make space for the struggle

We tend to seek comfort in life. Many of us avoid the struggle and cling to whatever alleviates our discomfort. We have stopped listening to the wi...

Beautifully belonging

My parents, and their parents, were displaced. Forced from their Lithuanian birthplace and their homeland. A result of Germany and Russia fighting ...

Memoir

The gift of suffering

My legs move up and down, my feet round and round as I pedal on the exercise bike in our little makeshift backyard gym. The sun is licking the floo...

Self care

Surviving and Thriving

A dear friend and I connected recently about sometimes feeling like we are surviving, but not thriving. She asked me to muse and write about this. ...

Meditation

Somatic Meditation

Somatic meditation is a healing and grounding earth connection practice. It is a meditation where we return to our beginning, again and again. Soma...

Self care

Tenderly Tethered

There is a beautiful string which tenderly tethers your awareness to your body. A thin thread, not dissimilar to the strands of a spider's silk. Be...

Self care

Unconditional Joy

There is a joy living deep inside us. It is always there no matter the circumstances. Like unconditional love, this joy requires no set circumstanc...

Grief

The Teachings of Tulips

Last week I ordered a bunch of tulips in honour of the memory of a friend. I remember them being one of her favourite flowers. She bought them for ...