I have had an incredible three weeks of yoga, laughter, tears, anger, sadness, fear, happiness, joy, dance, song, meditation, education, perspiration, sunburb (oops), inspiration and dedication.
I went into this trip with a large degree of trepidation and a small and contained amount of excitement. My yoga teacher training itself was going to be tough. I knew that. It was a 12-day intensive course, ten hours of education each day with few breaks and a lot to learn and apply in a very short space of time.
I chose the 12-day intensive in Bali becuase I had time to sort out the things I needed for the course. It gave me an excuse to get out of Melbourne's now coldest winter in like 10 years, to go somewhere new and it also meant I could train with Australia's best (in my humble opinion) yoga school, in a style that has it's foundations in Iyengar, with a focus on safety and in Purna - integrated and complete yoga, which incudes meditation, asana, pranayama and philosophy.
Oh yeah, we have our own Swami-Ji, for authentic teachings on philosophy from someone who has experience and vast knowledge, plus is a qualified and experienced psychologist. I got to learn all kinds of cool stuff from Swami Pujan, which if I'd gone elsewhere I would not have had this amazing opportunity. I believe I had a truly authentic experience of Purna teachings and Vedic learning.
What was wigging me out was that I had never been to Indonesia before, let alone Bali, which I have actively avoided since the bombings in 2002. Of course, all the news headlines about drunk, drugged and generally stupid bogan ferals who go there to party and f*ck up their lives, just added fuel to the fire of not wanting to go. I've never wanted anything more in my life than to avoid this kind of crazy. I don't drink, I don't smoke and I don't like to party. I rarely go out in Melbourne, unless it is to a Disco Yoga class, for dinner occasionally or to the movies about twice a year.
And then there was the TV show, "What Really Happens in Bali" - which did the place no favours. It should be renamed to "What really happens in Bali if you are stupid, careless, selfish, inconsiderate, too young to travel responsibly, naive, only want to party, have no filters or morals, wish to run around drunk and basically naked, get f*cked up, end up in jail or just carry on like a pork chop".
I hope the parents of the girl on that show who got totally wasted, stripped off and ran around in Kuta by herself in just her bra and undies, completely out of it, are mortified by what she got up to. It was disgraceful. That is asking for trouble - she was lucky she had a semi-responsible friend looking for her! I hope she doesn't behave like that in Australia and I bet she doesn't, so why would she think that behaving like that in another country would be acceptable?
That is NOT the Bali I know.
I spent two weeks in Ubud and two days in Kuta, Legian and Seminyak. Give me Ubud any day. It's safe, relatively clean, nice, quiet (except for the motorbikes), peaceful, wholesome, pretty, cultured and free from the stupidity (mostly) of naive yet feral tourists. Yes, there were still some incredibly arrogant, demanding and rude tourists (mostly from Western Europe). But 98% of people there were responsible, mature, well-mannered and well-behaved. My kind of town!
In Kuta, I spent twenty minutes on Thursday afternoon in a cafe watching Aussie after Aussie schlepp past in their jandals, with a large bottle of Bintang in one hand, a ciggie in the other and a mouth on them that would make their mother blush as they yelled at every other Aussie who went past, who was also wearing a Bintang singlet and boardies (or frequently much less). It was so bad I was proudly telling every Balinese person that I'm a Kiwi and trying to explain that most Aussies don't behave like that. OMG.
Lessons learned - creatures observed in their natural habitats - Kuta visited - Bombing memorial viewed - shocking bogan behaviour witnessed.
Funny that it has taken four years out of NZ and a trip to Bogantown to work out that it's good to be a Kiwi. That's the journey.
I will be going back to Ubud - definitely for my Level 2 yoga teacher cert next July - and maybe for Bali Spirit Festival in March/April. Maybe. Not Kuta. Legian maybe. I didn't get my trip around the island (I have explained that in an earlier post) so I have to come back!
Right now I am sitting at KLIA2 Airport typing this post, mulling over my adventures in yoga town, everything I have seen, heard, touched, eaten, smelt and witnessed over the past three weeks. I feel stronger, lighter, more balanced, smarter, more wise and incredibly grateful that I gave myself this opportunity.
My yoga asana practice has indeed developed, but it is the gift of teaching yoga that I am most appreciative of.
That is the journey which has no destination.
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