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.