My free day

I had a lovely day of rest from yoga training on Saturday. Wendy and I went to the organic farmer's market and picked up some wonderful food. We had lunch at my friend Ketut's small cafe and then went for a swim at a local hotel. In the afternoon we went with my friend, the wonderful artist Ketut Budiana to a yoga class in Seminyak, about 45 minutes away from Ubud. The class was taught in Indonesian and was wonderful. We practiced in a local park, in front of a gorgeous museum. The large park was full of Indonesians playing with their children and getting wonderful fresh air and exercise. It was so very nice.

I have been teaching Mr. Budiana some English and he teaches me Indonesian. He is a delightful and incredibly talented man. He has been an art teacher at a local university for 30 years and has recently retired. He still has art exhibitions here in Indonesia as well as in Japan and Australia. He is a wonderfully creative soul with a great sense of humor. He was very shy with his English at first but is quickly getting some confidence and loves to play tricks on people. I adore the time I spend with him.

Each day in yoga training seems to get better and better. I look forward to it each morning and have no trouble getting up when the alarm goes off at 4:45. I love having 3 hours of yoga in the morning and more in the afternoon. I am learning so much that I will take with me in my life. I feel as if I am only now getting started. Yoga is the best medicine for me.

Yoga training day 12

I had a very hard time getting out of bed today. I didn't want to go to yoga this morning, but when I got up and got moving at my usual 5 am, things got better and I started to look forward to it as I do most mornings now.

Yesterday was hard. During our morning practice my bag got knocked into the water trough/moat that surrounds our open air yoga space. Everything was soaked. My favorite red leather purse, money, passport, cell phone, iPhone, vitamins, business cards, credit cards. It really rocked my world and made me feel so unsettled. I fished everything out of the water and spread it all out on the floor to dry. I had all the cash to pay my rent, so there were many bills on the floor along with everything of importance that I have with me. It was a very strange thing to see it all in front of me.

I realize there are much more important things happening in our world but this seemed like a major catastrophe for me personally. Perhaps the lesson is to not put so much importance on material things. But I have certainly been practicing this for the last 1.5 years as I have lived out of one suitcase and not had a home of my own in all that time......

We have been learning about Ayurveda medicine the last few days in class. It's fascinating. We have everything we need to know to heal our bodies through this practice. Bali is full of herbs and plants for every ailment. It would be so great if the western world could get back to this way of thinking instead of pouring the billions that we do into the drug companies. I did it myself for a very long time. I had good insurance and happily took everything that my doctor prescribed until I had a cabinet full of pills for anything I might come down with. I'm grateful to learn new ways of taking care of myself and others.

Kiyo and Sky

Sky, my yoga guru

Me at Tamapksering, the water temple

Our yoga group at the Water Temple

Harriett and Me

Yoga training day nine

I am loving this practice and feel so much better each day. Physically and emotionally. My head feels clear and I am an open vessel receiving the most amazing blessings. I am learning many new things about myself and the way I see the world. I feel like this is a very intense time of transformation as I continue on my life's journey.

Chanting in the morning is a beautiful way to get centered and grounded and clean things out. And it sounds so lovely. Each time we practice yoga, it gets deeper and deeper into my soul. This is not the yoga that I have been doing in California and Utah for the last 15 years at all. This is ancient, original practice that was started many thousands of years ago in India. The yogis knew all of these things about our bodies back then. I have come to understand more that real yoga is 95% lifestyle and 5% physical practice. And it is so much about the breath. I am learning new ways to breathe and use the breath inside my body.

As my body gets more conditioned, I find that I don't need as much food as I thought I did. And I crave healthy, natural foods. Well most of the time. As I sit here in the cafe with my computer I am enjoying a delicious chocolate chip cookie with my tea.  Some things may never change.

I am getting used to getting up at 5 am each day. Most days I look forward to my meditative motorbike ride to the studio in the dark. Except when it rains.

I haven't really seen anyone outside of my yoga group and my room mate for the last 10 days, which is different for me. I usually enjoy a pretty active social life, but all that has changed for now. And that feels alright. 

Our days are spent doing about three hours of practice in the morning that includes chanting, meditation, prayers, puja and yoga. In the afternoon we have another class on yoga poses, or dance or voice lessons. It's really wonderful and diverse. I feel like I'm getting such a well rounded experience. 

It's about 8 pm now. Just enough time to go home, have a shower and go to bed. Such is the life of a yogi in training.

Namaste

sama yoga and me

The word Sama means balance. 

In Bali, you say Sama Sama, which means “everything is ok. All is well. All is in balance.”

For the last 8 days I have been deeply (and I mean deeply) embroiled in a yoga certification course here in Bali. It is something I have wanted to do for many years and this wonderful opportunity came for me to train with a man who I highly respect. It seemed like the perfect time to do it. I was feeling nervous to start. It would mean a big commitment and more importantly it seemed, was the fact that I would have to get up at 5 am six days a week for one month.

I get up each morning when my alarm rings at 5 am. I pull on some clothes, grab my bag and start my motorbike in the dark. I say a little prayer, place some fresh flowers on my handlebars and start off.

I make my way down the road, past the rice fields and see women walking with loads of vegetables on their heads, going to the market to sell their wares. There are other women cleaning the streets with small brooms. When I get to the center of Ubud, the scene explodes in the pre dawn morning. So many people getting ready to set up the morning market. Cars and trucks and motorbikes everywhere, filled with fruits, vegetables, fish, eggs, cloth and toys. It’s amazing to me how much activity is packed in the day of a Balinese person. They are incredible, hard working people. 

I get through the morning traffic and make my way up the hill to the village of Pennastanan. There are very dark, narrow parts of the road with many potholes that I must watch out for. After eight days I’m getting to know the road pretty well. As I drive through the village, many men sit in the corner Banjar watching the morning’s happenings. I smile and give a nod of the head. They smile back. Later on, they will be getting their cocks ready for the daily cock fights. I saw my first one about a week ago and it was fascinating. It’s a deep tradition here and is part of the prayers and ceremony, although some men get addicted and end up loosing their rice fields in the process of betting on the fights.

I get to the very end of the lane, park my bike, take out my flashlight and make my way down a steep set of stairs, across a bridge, past a huge banyan tree, up some muddy steps and end up in a place where I must balance carefully for about 10 feet. One side is a rice field full of water, the other side is the deep jungle canyon, and in the middle there is a 12 inch wide path that I must walk in the dark. Then the last set of uneven stairs leads me to Sky’s house. We meet in the open air pavilion, sit quietly and begin our morning chanting. We chant 108 times, the same number of beads on a set of prayer beads, or mala. My prayer beads have come with me from Tibet and I use them each morning.We begin our chanting in the dark of the morning and I listen as the dawn envelopes me.

After chanting and meditation, we do our morning Surya Namaskar, or Sun Salutations as the sun is rising. It’s a very beautiful practice and an amazing way to start the day. After this we usually do a 2 hour yoga class before breaking for tea and breakfast. Then we are finished until 3:00 when we come back for class that is more focused on teaching and breaking down the poses. At 5:00 there is a discussion with Swami Gi, the man who taught Sky all he knows. He is a wealth of knowledge and teaches us about Sanskrit, chanting and ancient rituals from India. These are things I have been interested in for a very long time and I am honored to learn from these two men.

There are 9 women in the class and two men. We will all know each other very, very well before the month is out. The people are from all over the world; Latin America, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Denmark and Japan. It’s a wonderful, diverse group of people.

During the month we will have voice lessons that will help us teach, music lessons, chanting and puja lessons and field trips to local temples to pray with the Balinese people.

I am in awe. And I am tired. And I am already deeply moved by this experience.