Yoga Plus 5! retreat

I kept a diary on one of our Yoga Plus 5! retreats. It's a little long, so you may want to get yourself a nice cup of lemongrass tea to get you to the end.

Monday

It’s 5.30am and I am on my balcony, sitting on my favourite batik clad bamboo lounge looking out over the jungle. I have a glass of lemongrass tea and my laptop for company. This is my writing spot for the week. Not bad.

It’s the start of the rainy season so it’s a little cloudy, the mountains are trying their hardest to push through the mist. Yesterday’s rain seems like it has spring-cleaned this part of the world. Everything looks so lush. The hibiscus seem to be dripping with intense colour and the sharp green of the grasses and trees nearly hurt my eyes.

There are so many sounds. To my left I can hear the morning chatter of birds, the breeze is rustling through the bamboo just in front of the balcony, from below is the gentle sound of the river and from behind me I can hear the distant squawking of the roosters waking up the village.

All of this is interrupted occasionally by what I now call the Cicada Chorus. Full blast, big voices, singing their hearts out for a startling five-minute performance. They must have a conductor out there somewhere, tapping his baton on the bamboo, as they start together and finish together perfectly. Not one stray voice at the end.

I’m looking forward to a Yoga Plus 5! retreat week. Daily yoga with Gabi, a volcano climb, hot springs and spa treatments are ahead. Perfect.

Time to get ready for Yoga. Gabi will be here soon.

Our morning yoga session was strong. Lots of standing asanas that called for strength, focus and balance. Balance is not my strong point, so I really had to work hard as Gabi took us through the variations of the warrior pose. The Bikram Yoga classes I do back in Australia have really taught me that balance is all about focus. I know that if my mind starts to wander away from my breath and my alignment, that I fall out of the pose. It’s that simple. Wayan says I have a monkey mind. He has often told me that he can hear the monkeys gibbering away in my mind when I am sitting in “silence”. I’m working on it.

The second part of the class was floor work. With a little help on my alignment from Gabi, I was able to get much further into a shoulder stand than usual. After 90 minutes we are all refreshed and re-energized. Our backs are straighter, and we have a spring in our step, ready for the day.

After a shower we wandered up to the dining area. Whilst we have been working on our asanas, Gusti, the kitchen goddess, has been working her magic on our breakfast. There is mango and pineapple juice, banana pancakes, fresh fruit and lemongrass tea. Served on a banana leaf, the banana pancakes and fruit look like a work of art. The fruit is a multi-coloured pile of freshness next to the feather light pancake, both sprinkled with freshly grated coconut and palm sugar, and the finishing touch is a red hibiscus.

Breakfast starts to have a whole new meaning in life, and once again I make a silent promise to recreate this for myself when I am working back in Australia. I get home around 6am after my morning exercise and then it seems like a race starts. So, no more dashing out the door, after a hastily gulped down breakfast of muesli, yoghurt and if I am lucky a cup of tea, often consumed whilst checking emails! There may not be time to cook a banana pancake, but I can serve myself fruit in one of my coconut bowls and it would take me just a minute to go out to my garden to pick a hibiscus and sit on my balcony and enjoy my breakfast!

After a rest and some lunch, we drive into Ubud and hand our bodies over to the delightful people at Bodyworks for a couple of hours of indulgence. Our guests enjoyed the traditional Mandi Lulur, which is a massage, followed by an all over body exfoliating scrub, and then into a bath of fragrant petals. Finished off by having cool yoghurt rubbed into the skin as a moisturiser. They came out very relaxed and looking very polished and glowing!

I went for my favourite treatment, an hour-long pedicure complete with leg and foot massage. After the soaking, scrubbing and polishing my feet are now fit to be seen in a pair of sandals.

So feeling very relaxed and refreshed we head back to Ayung Sari Indah for our sunset yoga session. As it is our second session for the day, it is a little softer. It is dark by the time we are finished and we are all feeling pretty pleased with ourselves after day one.

Dinner and sleep is all we need. It’s 10pm…. the end to the day for us. Wayan has returned to his family house for a ceremony. Offerings have been made all day and will continue for the week. Tonight is important, as Wayan must help the priest bury a young coconut with offerings in the ground under his ancestral temples at midnight.


Tuesday

Started the day with a walk around some of the gardens. The most perfect white lilies have bloomed in the front pond and there are several new pink lotuses in the pond next to the rice paddies. They are my most favourite flowers.

By 7.30am we are back on our mats for another yoga session. Our guests are fairly new to yoga, so it’s a lighter session today. Gabi spends time really helping with everyone’s positions, getting to know the injuries and weaknesses being dealt with. As always we finish the session with Gabi leading us in some beautiful chanting.

Our guests are off to the Elephant Safari Park for the day, so it leaves Wayan and I free to catch up on jobs. I spent most of the day on the computer, sending emails. Wayan dashed between government offices in Gianyar updating paperwork. Our patch of paradise is not exempt from the trials of bureaucracy. We make it home just after our guests.

Dance is a way of life for many Balinese as they start to learn to dance at the age of four or five. The girls learn to carry anything and everything on their heads on a daily basis from the age of around three, giving them wonderful posture and balance. Many times I have tried to learn to dance with Gusti and the girls. Just the basic steps are beyond me. You need so much core strength and excellent posture to hold the poses in the correct position. After just a few minutes my thighs and my upper arms are giving me so much grief. I have survived Boot Camp sessions and trekked through jungles for hours, but nothing reduces my muscles to quivering jelly as fast as a Balinese dance class! Whilst Gusti and the girls dance like graceful butterflies, I feel about as lithe and graceful as an elephant by comparison. But it is all good fun, and I live in hope of one day moving with just an ounce of their grace and strength!

After an early dinner, we head into Pura Dalem to see a dance troupe. I have been lucky enough over many years to see some wonderful performances as part of temple ceremonies. The temples come alive with everyone dressed in their finest, carrying exquisite offerings. The air is vibrant, the colours are intense, a sea of batik, gold and white. The gamelan orchestra and the dancing go on for hours, as this is entertainment for the gods. The sweet smell of cloves from the men’s cigarettes mingles with the fragrance of the frangipani and cempaka flowers in the offerings. It’s a heady experience.

It’s not quite the same, going to see the performance in Pura Dalem, as it is a performance mainly seen by tourists. The funds raised goes to the upkeep of the temples and it is also very good practise for the dance troupes. As visitors we seem to impose formality. We sit politely and clap at the end of each session, not something the Balinese do. At a Balinese temple ceremony, the surrounding noise is constant, everybody chatters through the performances, coming and going as they please. Sometimes there are dances by children and they often forget their steps or part of their costume comes astray, and the audience breaks up into laughter.

But nothing takes away the magic of the dance performance itself. The girls dancing the joyful Gabor, or welcome dance, are beautiful and elegant. The Baris dancer brings to life the dance of the warrior. And of course, the Barong dance is dramatic. You soon forget that the face of this mythical animal is a mask as it comes to life during the dance. The graceful athleticism of the dancers is astounding.

Soon we are back in the car heading towards Ayung Sari Indah.
Everyone is straight to bed. We are leaving at 3.30am to drive to Mt Batur.

Wednesday

We arrive around 4.15am at Gede’s house next to the lake. It’s pitch dark, a little cloudy, but no rain thank goodness. Time for a last minute check of our packs – water, torches, food, cameras, walking sticks. All ready to go, just need our guide. A motorbike hurtles down the drive, the rider bounces towards us and we get to meet Putu, our delightful and as we soon discover, very energetic guide. Gede loads him up with some extra water, eggs and bread and we are ready to go.

The first 30 minutes is a fairly easy, steady gradient going through the tree-lined area. The path is covered with fallen leaves and the ground is soft underfoot from the recent rain. It is quiet and dark, new moon just 2 nights away. We get into an easy rhythm, step by step, our torches lighting up the footpath just ahead.

As we leave the tree line, we hit the rockier and steeper stuff. Time for the legs to kick in. The group soon splits into those who power to the front and those who are happier at a slower pace down the back. Putu practically dances his way along, never raising a sweat. We stop for rests and as the sun appears we stop to admire the mountains and the lake below. We can also now see what lies ahead and it’s looking very steep.

The last kilometre to the top feels like it is straight up. The pace slows and we use our walking sticks to help us take big steps up. Someone comments that a little more time on the stairmaster back home may have been a good idea. Everyone is feeling good about themselves as we finally make it to the top in reasonable shape.

A few other groups are already at the top sitting in the little huts, drinking hot tea, rugged up, relaxing. We unload our packs and join them. Putu heads off to cook us some eggs in the steam rising out of the rocks.

We are on the edge of a caldera and have a dramatic 360-degree view. To the east is Mt Agung, down below is the lake. It is a perfectly still morning, so the water is like glass, the dark mountains reflected in the natural mirror. I love it, it is a magical feeling to be standing on the top of a volcano early in the morning.

But back to face reality, the trek back down to the lake. Doesn’t matter how many times I do this, I still have to gulp back the fear as I think of the steep descent. I’ve done it again, I’ve powered through a climb, arrived at the top feeling charged and then my next thought is “I wonder how much it would be for a helicopter ride out of here?” I soon discover that I am not alone in these thoughts. In fact, those of us who relished the upward climb are now at the back, with locked knees and thighs, hanging on to our walking sticks as we descend. At times it is loose, slippery gravel and dirt. Putu approaches parts of the track as a snowboarder would, slipping and sliding his way down and letting out a whoop at the end. Oh, to have that carefree approach!

We all make it back down with dignity intact, just a couple of harmless falls along the way. Putu has taken an easier path for this group and we make the round trip in 5 hours. Wayan has had a few hours sleep and is waiting for us at Gede’s house.

A couple of hours in the hot springs soon ease the tightness in everyone’s muscles. A few leisurely laps in the pool are relaxing. Getting out of bed at 3am turns into a distant memory.

We head back to Gede’s place for a lunch of fresh fish from the lake, grilled with lots of local onions. Everyone is hungry and the food is delicious.

It’s very quiet on the drive home. Everyone is tired and sleepy. Nothing else to do but have a well deserved afternoon nap!

Thursday

We’re back on our yoga mats by 8am, comparing aches and pains from yesterday’s walk. Tight quads, stiff knees and a couple of blisters are the most common. Gabi arrives and assures us that she will help stretch us out by the end of the class. My first sun salutation series was not exactly fluid, but after a little while, my body warmed up and found a way to follow Gabi’s flowing asanas. We work on some cleansing twisting poses today, squeezing out toxins.

After yoga, some of the guests drop into the kitchen to learn some of Gusti’s cooking secrets. Recipes and techniques are memorised.

We head into Ubud around 10am as everyone is keen to do some shopping. Legs are too sore for the planned jungle walks. We drop off at the market and agree to meet at Bodyworks later in the afternoon for some more spa treatments. It’s hot and steamy in Ubud after the coolness of Ayung Sari Indah.

Refreshed from pedicures and foot reflexology treatments, we head home. Gusti has fruit juices ready when we arrive. Time to kick back and catch up on some reading before getting ready for our final dinner together.

Wayan has been busy organising treats. He goes to the old man in his village to pick up duck cooked in the traditional Balinese way, slowly smoked over a fire built from rice husks. Gusti and her helpers have been making chicken sate sticks, jackfruit curry, jungle fern with spicy peanut sauce, and several different spicy sambals.

Kerosene torches light the garden and Wayan’s friends make up a small gamelan orchestra. Everyone is dressed in sarongs, including our guests, their skins glowing from their healthy week of work. We do our best to dance Balinese style on the grass to the amusement of the locals. Not exactly graceful, but good fun.

Friday

We start the day with Gabi for our last yoga session. Gabi helps everyone through their sun salutations, keen for everyone to go home knowing that they can at least do this series by themselves every morning. We work hard, our bodies recalling our daily practises. We finish, listening to Gabi’s chanting for the last time. The last namastes are said, whilst looking out over the rice paddies and the mountains for the final time.

Time for the one more banana pancake and lemongrass tea. The guests are tossing up whether they are inspired to go home and cook for themselves and their families or whether they will be going to into shock when they realise that there will be no-one to bring them their meals served on a banana leaf three times a day. They have one last request, “can we take Gusti home with us?”

When we get back from getting our guests off to the airport, there is a quietness in Ayung Sari Indah. Rain has settled in so I read a book on the outdoor bed for a few hours whilst Wayan sleeps. Everyone relaxes, no more sweeping or cleaning. Even Putu, Gusti’s little girl sits quietly, playing in the garden.

Saturday and Sunday

Saturday rolls along quietly. Bungalows are cleaned, gardens are swept. The boys play backgammon at night.

On Sunday we are awoken at 6am by the sound of kulkul being drummed. The kulkul is a drum in the centre of the village that is used to call meetings, or to announce it’s time to proceed to ceremonies, or on rare occasions for help in emergencies. This morning it is just a persistent soft drumming, letting all the men know that they are expected to meet in the village for a working session. Trees and gardens on the roadside need to be trimmed, irrigation channels need cleaning up. Wayan stumbles out of bed, grabbing his machete and straw broom and makes his way to the village to join the other 50 or so men for a couple of hours.

(I’m not sure there would be the same reaction at 6am on a Sunday morning back in my suburban street in Australia??!!)

I head for my yoga mat.

Later in the day Wayan and I head out to have lunch at a new organic restaurant near Ubud. It’s a nice place surrounded by rice paddies.

We have just an hour or so to relax on the balcony, before I pack my bags, say goodbye to everyone and head back to the airport. Time to go back to the other life for a while.