Last week a Facebook posting by a ‘nephew’ (as he is the son of an older cousin – my mother’s vintage so technically a second cousin but in Bali, he is a ‘nephew’) lamenting over the passing of a seemingly innocuous and quaint tradition in Bali, caught my eye. Just the fuel we need!

It is called ngejot which is the act of giving or sending food to neighbours during ngejot festival-holidays such as Galungan and Kuningan, or during private ceremonies such as a baby’s three month’s, as a way of ‘sharing’ the joys. But the ngejot specifically mentioned here was the reciprocal ngejot as practised between our parents and their non Hindu friends (perhaps in the 50s or 60s – yes of the last century) has connotations outside the traditional ngejot amongst simply us the Hindu Balinese.

To me this seemingly simple gesture conveys quite a number of messages between friends but with one underlying and often overlooked theme – respect. That they respect/value the friendship and that they respect their respective, no pun intended, beliefs. This gesture was made even more profound in the context of the economic hardship in Bali/Indonesia at the time which made the ‘simple’ gesture not so simple (and at times I’m sure it was even felt as a bit of an imposition). It was the days of Zimbabwean like hyper-inflation and high unemployment and parents had to be very creative in making ends meet.

This nephew then made a very perceptive observation and reminisced about how the ngejot tradition made us children rejoice in the celebration of the friends faith, be it Idul Fitri or Christmas or Chinese New Year, and presumably they of ours.

As well as the ngejot practice, I personally recall the excitement at Idul Fitri of visiting a Muslim uncle’s family for a big feast (one of the most genuine, respectful and compassionate person of integrity – yet very modest and humble – I have ever met, the auntie is my mother’s younger sister; and their family is held in very high esteem by our extended family, the fact that they belonged to a different faith seemed to matter little. Though not articulated at the time as such, I always look at our very natural mutual respect of our differences in faith and ethnicity – he was a Sundanese from West Java – as  something to cherish as natural, innocent and touchingly beautiful). As long as I can remember at Christmas time we always received and mother was always busy sending Christmas cards overseas. We weren’t as involved with the Chinese New Year but always knew when it came around with a nice big cake from the mother of my brother’s Chinese classmate (I’m referring to ethnicity, like Balinese, as we were all Indonesians), delivered by him on the back of his Vespa scooter sans licence – hence through the back streets route at night to avoid the police.

We as children were not about practising ‘tolerance’ and in any case it’s a term that has been misused as I’m still having trouble using it without having to qualify it first. Tolerance comes from (to) tolerate or to put up with of something that you otherwise strongly disagree or dislike or think of being inferior (ref. orig. Latin toleratus, past participle of tolerare to endure, put up  with; akin to Old English tholian to bear, Latin tollere to lift up, latus carried – suppletive past participle of ferre, Greek tlēnai to bear First Known Use: 1524 Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary). In fact to tolerate, just as its origins meant, conveys something that one has to bear and endure under sufferance while suppressing one’s dislike or total disbelief of what one tolerates.  While lack of suitable alternative ensures continued grudging use of ‘tolerance’ even by the great man Gandhi himself, perhaps we should really put more emphasis on the respect aspects (of other beliefs, race or simply people) as respect promotes the desire to know,  find out and understand more about the concept or peoples that is ‘unfamiliar’ to us or we ‘have not yet fully understood’, and not simply condemn it as ‘undesirable’ or ‘inferior’ that does not deserve further investigation that one simply needs to ‘tolerate’.

I think what we experienced as children was about embracing the friendship which conveys respect of the friendship, and the diversity that came with it – definitely not dislike or suspicion implied by tolerate. Children do these without intellectualising the action nor weighing the pros and cons of ‘tolerance’ but by simply doing it and living it naturally, or celebrating the underlying intent of the practice (as they often do tend to get the essence of the situation, or in today’s parlance ‘get it’, much faster than us the adults). So the lesson comes from the positive experiences about people and friendship all intertwined with nuances of respect, compassion, generosity, trust and the likes. Knowing them as friends do break down a lot of the barriers and those inane fears and prejudices of the unfamiliar.

Now how else can one engender such goodwill in children, that good feeling about peoples of other faith or ethnicity and race that will always be a positive factor in their attitude and choices later on as adults? One will not get it in the class rooms nor in religious classes and certainly not from any amount of government decrees on ‘tolerance’! The good conducive environment of our childhood certainly left its mark on many of us brothers with our ex school friends coming from varied backgrounds, and a number of us still have them – in my case now also includes their adult children – as very good friends of ours (the varied faiths circle of friends now extended to many agnostic and agnostic/spiritual, or atheist,friends many of whom I met through the Ashram network or, in one instance, through marriage, which I’m obviously quite comfortable with).

Touched by the above sentiments I quickly posted my thoughts on the decline of this ngejot tradition, basically attributing it on the increasing affluence of the now time poor middle class Balinese, or Indonesians in general, that eventually seen the profligacy of supermarket style ready-made ‘instant’ product or the ‘outsourcing’ of the hours of care and labour that used to be invested in producing the culinary delights for the exchanged food parcel, or jotjotan, which reflects one’s respect or value of the friendship.

However, one of the subsequent comments came from a distant relative (I think! and I hope this doesn’t give the readers the impression that all inhabitants of the tiny island are related!) who came out ‘swinging’ suggesting that the decline in the practice was also due to the rise in the religious fanaticism that renders the offered food parcel as no longer  ’halal’ (i.e. not prepared according to the Islamic laws, or ‘kosher’ as the term used in the West, and apologies if some people consider the analogy not appropriate). Quite a bold statement on a delicate matter in a ‘façade-centric’ country but when queried she stood her ground and made her case and citing personal experience that only one ex classmate would continue to accept and consume the ngejot’s food parcel – even then covertly for fear of offending her fellow Muslim friends. This was quite an eye opener and educational for me as I had obviously missed this rather important point altogether earlier (or may be it had crossed my mind but I had subconsciously repressed this possibility knowing about the potential upsets and controversy it may cause, and the mind’s defaulting conveniently to the easier and less problematic – and risk-averse! – option, in this case quickly discounted the possibility? The mind is very clever indeed in convincing or justifying to you to always take the soft option).

A rather sad and awkward issue indeed to stand between (I hope not ex) friends and I think the said fanaticism has a lot to do with the global rise of what I would label as ethnic and religious militancy. To be fair this militancy is not confined to one group and one only has to look at the religious right in the US and Hindu fundamentalists in India, and even in Bali I have detected similar tone of militancy that also exists amongst some Balinese, not unsurprising given that they are exposed to these faith/ethnic issues all the time, where as my own environment is perhaps much more insular or sterile in comparison (I used to tease and playfully describe my mother as a ‘fundamentalist Hindu’ which at the time was so preposterous for a supposedly passive and inclusive faith that it was actually funny, until years later with the rise of the very such Hindu militancy in India when it became quite real and no longer funny ‘ha-ha’).

While it may be factually correct that the change in attitude (on ‘rejecting’ the food parcel) may be attributed to the rise in religious fanaticism, a similarly ‘militant’ response (or by applying pressure, however subtle, to restore the interfaith ngejot tradition) will only inflame the tension and will set us of different faiths, or friends, further apart. My own view now on blunting this militancy/fanaticism, like on many other emotive issues, is to try to stay away from the emotion and ‘them’ and instead to focus on reasoning and ‘self’ and our own individual/personal ownership concerning these issues. In this case through the children-like embrace of individual personal friendships while introducing adult maturity of open discussion, cushioned by the rigours yet gentle philosophy of Gandhian thoughts.

The maturity of any true friendship should be based on the ‘freedom’ for each party to discuss all matters under the sun and, most importantly, about one’s belief.  A good follower of any faith, or Truth seeker, often embarks upon what Gandhi calls a process of evolution and re-interpretation of the religion of our conception (which is an acknowledgement of our imperfections and for us mere mortals life is about striving for that perfection). The discussion should be viewed from the nonviolent ahimsa approach which encompasses love, respect, humility, generosity and yes self-suffering for while we should be critical of our own faith and be active in adopting the good elements of other faiths, one must restrain from criticising elements of other faith that one does not understand for it may become clear in the future and, if not, it may be clear to its followers, and one must respect that. Changes must come from within, and to me continued engagement and individual friendships embracing the above values appears to be the only way to promote such an environment where these changes can flourish.

What attracted me to the teachings of Gandhi was the inherent logic underlying many of his thoughts that sits comfortably with the scientific bent of my left brain and, understandably given Gandhi’s own background, the Hindu philosophy of my upbringing. Also many of his views such as his strong advocacy on interfaith; his insistence that all things – even religious writings and edicts – must stand the test of reason; and his (and the Hindu’s) belief that diversity of thoughts or faiths is not only desirable but essential for our spiritual growth (not unlike to that in nature where the diversity of species is essential to sustain the survival and health of the ecosystem) all resonate very well with me.

Concluding on the upset over the unilateral breaking of our quaint tradition over the halal food, I think the ‘solution’ lies in our acceptance of such choices made by our friends and we shall continue to embrace the friendship as only through the good qualities of maturity and authenticity of these personal friendships that we can continue the engagement and the dialogue and only then we are likely to develop what Gandhi calls equiminded attitude to our respective faiths. In the end a healthy community, nation and ultimately global interfaith/interracial attitudes of mutual respect can only rise on the foundation of these countless individual friendships that break down the otherwise many seemingly insurmountable barriers. Some of us were lucky to have experienced the beauty of the ngejot tradition and may be its very essence inspires me in my small ways to do what I can to support such bodies such as the Gedong Gandhi Ashram in striving to provide such conducive interfaith/interracial environment at the local communities and international levels.

Postscript:

I must mention here that I arrived at the above conclusion only while writing this article, and it was as much a surprise to me as the outcome was rather the opposite to what I had intended to conclude at the start of writing the document! The focus had shifted from what could be done about ‘enlightening’ the fanatics (them) to one of resisting our own emotive reaction through Gandhian nonviolent ahimsa or love (self); from things that one can not control (for others to change their behaviour) to what one can control (to broaden our own thinking, and to keep the dialogue open and accept that changes/outcome would rise naturally - which may be ‘our’ way, their ‘way’, a compromised way or a completely different option that escaped us altogether at the start). Considering all possibilities is what ‘open mind’ is all about and can only be derived through a discourse of mutual respect and continual ‘test of reason’. And ‘magically’ in the process fanaticism will also disappear, naturally, for it feeds on lack of  - or mis – understanding of other views or peoples. Gandhi’s letters and writings certainly have been a great source of logic and wisdom and have helped me understand the subtleties of the concept of Truth and Ahimsa and the close couplings between the two a little bit more. Having to write it down and put it together in a coherent order (hopefully I have!) requires a certain discipline that helped unlock it for me.  Finally, the quotation below that literally popped up on my screen as I was writing the final sentences – talking about immaculate timing! – truly encapsulates my experience while writing this article:

The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.— Gustave Flaubert  

Let me hear your thoughts.

Om Shantih!

For full details please visit http://baliashramyoga.com/

Flyer for Ashram Yoga Retreats 2012

Some Ashram members during a Full Moon Pilgrimage to a temple at the foot of Mount Agung

Happy Christmas everyone and may we are all blessed with good health and peace of mind in 2012.

The 'Daydream' Outpost with views of Lake, Sea and Temple nestling on the Hill

Prologue

This report is accompanied by a Photo Gallery for September 2011 Yoga Retreat. Any picture that you would like posted for this set, please kindly email baliashramyoga@gmail.com

Firstly, apologies for the extremely delayed reporting of this Retreat. Sometimes I yearn for the romantic/idyllic life many of us ‘perceive’ most of the Balinese peasant farmers have. In tune with nature, free of worries associated with modern living such as record keeping or tax lodgements, Armageddon economic forecasts, diving exchange rates or share prices, technology addiction and consequential upsets it causes when it fails us (and having to spend many hours with the provider’s help desk with their series of ‘tests’ all designed to discourage you from persevering to exit the contract), not to mention our futile attempts at managing – or insuring – to give us the illusion of certainty in a universe where actually nothing is certain (except the irrefutable things, such as death or – as some wags add – taxes), just to mention a few..

A young member performed offerings for our sacred cows

Yup, yearning just for one escapist moment where one can just indulge on things one likes – and if granted then this report would have been posted on time! (of course not, perhaps the mysterious hand of Gandhian non-indulgent karma at work?)

One day this Retreat report will be posted as it happens, perhaps nightly, when I get there without also having to attend some ashram or family issues that seem to await me?

Part of the reason in the delay was the mental block of having to go through the tedious steps of batch resizing then uploading all those pictures as companion to the report. The not so tedious but just as strong obstacle was the ‘feared’ task of selecting what to post and share knowing that some people are a bit reticent to have their photo taken, let alone shared! So I tried to be as mindful to these concerns but should any still slipped through my ‘mindful’ test, then please write me of the offending photos and they will be taken off line.

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others - M.K. Gandhi. 'Local lad' Jackson assisting Pak Jata installing a dish-washing basin and constructing the rack for the utensils

This retreat was also unusual and a first in the sense that my younger son Jackson, after some hasty organisation and soul searching amongst the family, was ‘chilling’ and volunteering at the Ashram since three weeks prior. There were some concerns and worries but Pam and I as parents are very pleased to say that we are extremely happy with his progress and involvement with the Ashram (He is still there but will be back in Melbourne just before Xmas and for those interested in a young teenager’s journey, he’s been writing and sharing his thoughts and experiences in his blog www.tricebali.wordpress.com so check it out, it’s quite insighhtful). So at the time there were some concerns over our interaction at the retreat, mindful of the often confrontational father and son ‘dialogues’ back in Melbourne. But my fear was totally unfounded as when I met up with him at the Ashram three weeks after he left Melbourne, the transformation I saw was nothing short of earth shattering – and gratifying of course! He interacted so well with the members and was so much part of the Ashram (and apparently has progressed even more according to the latest reports from various members, and hopefully I had changed for the better as well to be more accepting of his choices, ultimately it’s his life, whilst still sharing my thoughts). We talked and had real discussions for the first time in a long time – yes we even played guitars and sang off key together, how good was that? In the attended most of the yoga sessions (being a young thing with flexible bones, he was showing up the old man even as a virtual yoga first timer – admittedly not a terribly hard thing to do) and participated in our activities. Yes, we are extremely grateful for the ‘Ashram factor’ with all the members, good friends and guests of the Ashram such as the calming and wise presence of Pak Terry from NZ after I myself left, all have helped him transform, all for the better! I am also especially happy now that my ‘passion’ for the Ashram has been spreading to other members of my family. Yes, as some of our friends have commented that we are very fortunate indeed to have the Ashram connection or option for Jackson, and they were right, or perhaps it was his late ‘Ninik’ or grandmother’s way of calling him to pay his dues there – and to discover himself in the process.

The above notwithstanding we also knew that we were facing some other challenges. We had a couple of late minute cancellations, which was ok, but then Kate (of the good friends Kate and Lauren from Brisbane) turned up at the Ashram with the good news that she found out just before she left Brisbane that she was expecting! Kate is a very fit lady with many hours at the gym and very experienced at yoga which augurs well and Yvonne was keeping an eye on her and asking her to back off if doubtful and offered alternative poses. Kate certainly was more than keeping up with us through the sessions but in latter days was beginning to worry with a caution from Kawi who suggested no yoga altogether during pregnancy or early pregnancy. I do remember that early pregnancy is the more critical phase and people were advised even not to fly during the early months. So there was that real concern especially for a first timer. Jen from Perth had been there a few days prior to the start, Rachel from Melbourne arrived as scheduled and Louise from UK, she was also in the previous retreat, who was held back in Ubud with a bad flu rocked up a couple of days late.

The program

The program started quite well with all of us having varying degree of competency in yoga. Rachel used to go to Yvonne’s class but was a little rusty and Jen has done some yoga teaching course but also a little rusty but both got into the asana and vinyasa without any sign of rustiness. Kate was as expected – fit and competent despite wariness over her early pregnancy. Lauren who is a personal trainer showed us just that – very fit and pushing the boundaries that I could only marvel at! Jackson was picking things up seemingly effortlessly – rat-bag – that made yours truly despair even with almost a year of regular yoga under his belt.. Louise joined us a couple of days late and still nursing the after effect of a very bad cold it seemed, but previous experience and retreat put her in good stead.

Limbering up at the start of the program

The routine quickly developed. 7 am – 8.30 am warm up then Surya Namaskara, followed by Yoga Nidra at the quiet meditation room at the upstairs clinic, away from the prying eyes and commotion of kinder children playing or being dropped off. 8.30 am Breakfast mainly of pancake or different type of local crumpets or boiled yam or cassava(they make tapioca from it) with an assortment of fresh fruits. As I’ve written before the trick was to apply a kind of Gandhian restraint to not overeat else one can be sluggish for the 10 am Asana class. That class invariably goes to 12.30 pm as some if not all of us mill around to quiz Yvonne about some poses or specific areas of interest, not limited to asana, when the wooden bell ‘kulkul’ is gonged to signify lunch. With a relatively long break to the light-ish 3 pm vinyasa session or 4.30 pm on House Yoga days with Kawi, we could all indulge in a little more ‘pig-out’ of the sumptuous lunches. Dinner at 6.30 pm with another sumptuous meals is followed by chanting or yoga philosophy sessions or to join the members night puja at 7.30 pm that lasts about half an hour.

Ashram's youngest member - the grandson of the original, now retired, cook of the Ashram

In between participants have ample time to help or observe in the kitchen to learn some of the secret recipes, though some hard to replicate back in the west for lack of tropical local ingredients (young cassava leaves, or specific young ferns from the forest of Tenganan etc). Or book a session to improve well being during the acupuncture days (alternates with house yoga as, if you hadn’t noticed, Uki the acupuncturist and Kawi the yoga teacher are married to each other and have to care for their young children between them). Or simply book a masseuse, never experienced it myself but was told that she is quite good, with the very pair of hands that used to treat the massage addict herself, Ibu Gedong. Of course also plenty of opportunity to look around Candidasa, or frequent some coffee shops.

Trekking

Wild water lilly

Just like previous retreats, I was finding it hard to ‘extricate’ the participants away from the Ashram for a Tour or a prayer visit to a temple. They seem to always interfere with a cooking lesson/helping at the kitchen, massage or acupuncture appointments or some other activities, or just a desire to enjoy the tranquil of the Ashram. I can empathise esp with the last point, something that is often denied of me as there is always a task awaits me, or someone waiting for my time for a chat. No, not complaining as it reminds me of a story of a long time friend of the Ashram and a regular annual visitor mostly of a couple months duration, a noted Dutch composer (who, as often the case, I haven’t met as we often crossed paths), who was said to have to go elsewhere to do his composing as he always gets too involved with the Ashram activities and life.

The bamboo bridge crossing at the start of the journey

Barely started the trekking but time for Yvonne to

I pushed the trekking strongly as school holidays dictated the time, and we were nowhere even near the new moon. While a temple visit was also planned it was ultimately cancelled as without the moon, perhaps it wouldn’t be as auspicious or majestic. Hence the push for trekking at least.

The 'crew' around the half-way mark - from L to R Standing Kate, Lauren, Rachel, Yvonne, Louise, Billy our great guide and sitting down Jen and Jackson

The trekking was good, if it was taking more out of the ‘crew’ than I thought it would. But it was worth it as we started with a crossing on bamboo bridge, then meandered along the track on the edge of a village plantation with terraced rice fields on the other side. Apart from being the organiser and therefore slightly on edge (that comes with the territory!) to see early signs of fatigue, hunger or disinterest and to push things along as needed to be back in time at the Ashram for lunch, I always enjoy these trekking as it does remind me of my childhood days spent at a primary school in the mountainous area of central Bali for a year where I often walked alone to meet a good, very loyal friend of mine who lived with his widowed mother and brother in a small farm, perhaps the family was squatting, deep in the forest.

Ha, just like in the old Bali, a man proudly bathes his pride and joy!

..and a young boy detachedly amused by the trekkers coming and going

Our guide Billy is one of the better one if not the best one for the area. He knows a lot about the place and also draws his explanation from his childhood experiences such as picking up odd fruits and nuts from the ground while explaining its use and medical benefits. Some of the climb then the descents were quite steep and I was a little concerned over Kate. She’s a skilled camper and mountaineer as part of her environmental scientist job but it was early pregnancy. But I need not be as she tackled the obstacles quite effortlessly (a female tennis player came to mind who was still competing during early pregnancy, was it Kim Clysters? so it must be okay). I assisted Yvonne who, despite her prowess and flexibility in yoga, appeared to be a little unsure with her footings in the descent in the gravelly footpath. She was quite touched by the chivalry and thanked me till I told her that it was merely protecting the investment! (well wouldn’t like to think of Plan B should it be required).

Fortress like temple on the border of Tenganan Village

Approaching Tenganan from the rear is still rather special for me as one can see the military/ defence thinking that went into the planning when the village was constructed, as Pak Sadra explained to us in earlier visits. Also in the Bali’s tradition of ringing the borders with temples (now where did I read that, possibly in Jackson’s blog!) as we could see one of the first building we encountered was the village hall/meeting place for the non Tenganan temporary workers, so well outside the village, then temples with stone wall swhich would serve as a handy defence outposts.

On the inland outskirt of the village, sheltering from the hot sun and a little worse for wear - and planning our assault on Tenganan!

We literally rushed through the village because of time, and the village really requires a visit on its own if one is really interested in its culture and esp for those interested in weaving and double-ikat – apparently Tenganan is one of only three places where they practised double-ikat weaving (from memory one in India and another one in Japan).

(Obligatory) Hiccups – but we rock on!

The Brisbane duo Kate and Lauren surprised us by deciding to leave a couple of days early. Kate was getting a bit worried about doing anything that may risk her pregnancy which is fair enough and been scaling down her intensity in any case and Lauren, being a very good friend that she is, was providing the great support. Unbeknown to us Lauren was also getting a bit homesick and missing her daughter badly whom she had never parted before. Apparently seeing those kindergarten girls every morning made her pine for her daughter more. I think there was also an element of a very beautiful and caring friendship between the two which was really touching, and with each somehow reduced in their capacity to participate fully, it made sense for them to leave early. Apart from the retreat they have also made very good connections with the members, the people in the kitchen and spent a couple of stints there I think observing the Bali/Ashram way of cooking. Kate has also very generously offered her expertise in the Ashram’s future eco waste management to help us manage it properly, something that the Ashram will definitely take up. She was also talking about coming back to the Ashram with bub and hubby Leigh one day and of course the Ashram will be delighted to host them. Lauren also spoke passionately about her experience at the Ashram and many of its values that she shared, so hopefully we’ll stay in touch Lauren. We certainly missed the pair, their lively presence and their insight from gym/ bikram/ fitness perspectives that they shared readily with us. But as we sadly bid them farewell – as they say in the classics – one has to play with the cards one is dealt with and get on with business.

A group shot before Kate and Lauren cut their stay short. L-R standing Jenny, Yvonne, Wenten, Rachel, Rudi, Kate, Darsa, Lauren, Uki and sitting Jackson and Louise

Though reduced in numbers, we pressed on with the program and from what I could gather, Jen and Rachel especially gained immensely from Yvonne’s final few days.

The now famous 'Kawiasana' pose - or curse as it ain't a stroll in the park!

Asana 1

Asana 2

Yours truly's nano-second of balance exquisitely captured for posterity

The old-hand and the hot-shot rookie!

Rachel and Uki

Resident yoga guru in action

Also it’s worth noting that Jen who continued as a volunteer at the Ashram to make her total stay at the Ashram for the full month, also continued her daily morning practice and gathered a number of guests, Anna from Holland and Tracy from Canada that I know of, who joined in and were all very impressed with her yoga (Tracy went on to write that fantastic ode to the Ashram – I must ask young Jackson to write a rap tune to it, or may be not? – which alludes to Jen’s yoga). So the beauty of the Ashram with its snowball and networking effects. Skills transfer from the retreat resulting in other guests benefiting from the yoga and Jen during her extended stay there has also picked up some guitar playing skills and, according to her last email to me, has the full intention of continuing her guitar journey (not to mention part of her volunteering duty at the Ashram, right down her alley of auditing the library books which she enjoyed immensely, during which time she randomly came across Bede Griffith’s book ‘The Golden String’ which, just reading from the precis on the back cover, she thought would suit Jackson. Serendipity must be at work here because of all the books in the library that book bears the name Halina Nowicka, 1984, a friend of Ibu and us, who must have given it to Ibu when she was in Melbourne for our wedding then. I haven’t read the book but will borrow or get a copy because it made such an impression on Jackson. So all these serendipities and the common element is the Ashram. Perhaps not accidental as the vibrations of the place and its activities are conducive to all these good ‘coincidences’ if one approaches it with an open mind? Jen, you may like to write a piece about your experience for the blog? Think about it!)

Farewell Night

Juwet fruit, from our own tree near Bale Puja. The unriped fruits came down prematurely with the twig courtesy of a windy night. Looks like olives but more like grapes in texture, a tad firmer, and if anyone knows its English name, let us know

The Ashram – and now the Retreat’s – special way of celebrating the end of a period of stay, normally of a group, at the Ashram, or for special occasions like birthdays. It is a tradition started by Ibu to farewell her guests. A ‘pesta’ (or feast or fiesta) with a selection of yummy dishes along with yellow rice that the Balinese serve for ceremonies. That night was no exception.

The Bale Yoga was fully decorated (actually for the Gandhi Jayanthi or Birthday the following day October 2) and the spread was just as magnificent. My only regret was that my plan to duck out to Amlapura to get some special cakes or some special dishes primarily for the members was thwarted as I got held up by yet another ‘unavoidable’ tasks. Life is a little like that for me at the Ashram but, thankfully, that did not dampen the mood for the night.

The meal was, as usual, sumptuous and the good bit was actually sharing the same food with the members. We made a point of letting the Ashram members get theirs first but there was more than enough food for everyone to have generous helpings.

Wecome dance by the young members

Kawi and the Wailers?

Kawi and the members opened the proceeding with their customary beautiful sanskrit song-prayer (I know the tune and hope that Kawi when he reads this will email me its name, and if not I will make a point of taking notes for the next retreat). Followed by some traditional Balinese dance performances by the girls (Nikkie and Luh Ani) and the boys (Sutya and Dharma).

To me the highlight was always the ‘genjek’, a traditional eastern Bali ‘capella’ (thanks Kawi for providing the term) performed by the boys. It started by a rather subdued Savage Garden’s style gentle group singing of wise words of advice to a young man about to go to (high) school about the virtue of study and hard work, and about grabbing the opportunity and not to waste one’s life and falling into the temptations of gambling and drinking, the words are actually quite touching and moving (and sad), before it suddenly broke into a more dynamic phase painting those very dangers. Best to stop at that lest we spoil it too much for future participants as the element of surprise was what really impressed the first time I saw it.

Then of course us the visitors had to do our bits in singing (or other performance, in June there was a poetry reading written at the Ashram which I must get a copy of) as well and Jackson and I played some of the songs we had practised together – and everyone was polite enough not to leave the venue (as Pam would whenever I ‘sing’). I was just thrilled to play together with him and the best part was playing Cat Steven’s ‘Father and Son’- well, a version of but just enough clues for people to recognise the song from the garbled noises! Been a long journey but it has been worth it.

Yvonne played her own composition with the guitar (next time I will take notes of proceedings) which went very well, and Jen played a tune with Jackson. We all had a go, I think Rachel as well with Jackson’s backing and we all had a good time which is the most important thing.

Epilogue – Gandhi Jayanthi and Ibu’s 90th  Birthday

Gedong Gandhi Ashram Kindergarten girls, resplendent in their costumes, performing the welcome dance as part of the celebration of Gandhiji's Birthday. Happy children augurs well for happy latter day lives.

Someone must have got wind of Little Girl Beauty Pageant!

The day after the end of the Retreat we celebrated Gandhi’s Birthday. This year for simplicity and minimal organisation we didn’t have the seminars but as usual the kindergarten was solid in the celebration and attended by Ibu Mas, the Chair of the Ashram. A number of dances by the girls then the boys and the girls especially all came in their own resplendent traditional outfit – make up and all! But it was all in good spirit and prizes were given by the Ashram based on presentation and dances for the day.

The offering for Ibu's Birthday

Grandson Jackson doing the honour cutting Ibu's Birthday cake

The following day was the semi-private affair of quiet celebration of Ibu’s 90th Birthday amongst the members, guests and a handful of family members – the sons being Benky the numero uno, yours truly and a grandson Jackson who also did the honour of blowing out the candles and cutting the cakes. As a treat and to make up for the missed cake during the Retreat’s Farewell we bought some ice cream from the shop across the road, which was enjoyed by the young members. Otherwise it was a quiet dinner and of course some group singing of Ibu’s favourite songs! The Ashram has come a long way indeed and the challenges were even bigger in the 9 years since Ibu, its captain and navigator, passed away. But looking at the faces of the young members, and a grandson who is now fully committed to the values

Group photo to include the lovely Dutch guests Onko and ? who stayed and celebrated the Gandhi and Ibu's Birthday with us

and mission of the Ashram, we can be quietly confident that we will navigate through the many challenges that life will throw at the Ashram. Just like we do on individual level. And hopefully more retreats and other activities to promote the Ashram and also provide the members with the much needed interaction with the outside world.

Om Shantih!

Rudi Oka, December 9, 2011 (well at least this report was written this side of Christmas – so very early Xmas Good Wishes to all our Ashram friends. Hope Santa brings more Retreats and Happy Visits to the Ashram, and Peace and Wellness to us all. Om Shantih Shantih Shantih Om)

PS I urge you to write your comment or feedback as it would help keep me from thinking of going insane talking to myself! (no don’t write if on the affirmative). Writing this blog, however, has been good for me. Just a matter of finding, or should I say making, the time for it. Enjoy!

I am the cat, I am the cows,
I am the fruit upon the bows.

I am ‘Om’ at breakfast, lunch and dinner,
I am Anna trying to get thinner.

I am ants, and mozies, geckos, too,
I am sunsets with an orange hue.

I am sunlight warm upon your face,
I am Louisa’s smile full of grace

I am all the members warm and kind,
Exuding love for all mankind

I am morning yoga that Jen does teach,
Bending our bodies so we may reach.

I am warm ballads at Jackson’s hand,
I am Louise’s sweet voice to fill the land.

I am the Dutch girls journey to sew their oats,
I am cement walls with Gandhi quotes

I am food that made with T L C,
I am so much more than you can see.

I am morning pancakes, tempe, too
I am food that’s too good to be true.

I am Kawi’s lessons out by the sea,
I am peace and love and Harmony.

I am Terry’s example of a gentle soul
His peaceful spirit should be our goal.

So you see my visitor, its simple, its true…
I am nothing that’s not inside of you

Tracy Villeneuve
Candidasa October 10 / 2011

(with thanks to Tracy, our October 2011 guest from Canada, as penned on the Ashram’s guest-book. Posted on her behalf as she’s still ‘Ashram-crawling’ – our ashram was the test run? – now in India. Om Shantih Tracy!)

'Purnama' tide at the breakwater - Ashram Gandhi Candidasa, during June 2011 Ashram Yoga Retreats. Photo by Michele Elliot, reproduced with permission

This is also an invitation to all the participants from this and previous retreats, and to friends of the Ashram, to complete this basic/starter report with their own experiences of the retreats or of the Ashram in general, through the comment section. Some of those comments I may, as I see appropriate, include later in the body of this report (or, if you think it warrants a separate posting altogether, please email me the input directly for uploading and check the email address at www.baliashramyoga.com). Otherwise – enjoy!

Notes: *As we obviously can’t include all photos on the blog, more pictures from the retreat are available in June 2011 Yoga on Flickr **Early feedback from some friends who haven’t been to the Ashram and concerned over the ‘awesome’ photo of the big splash over the breakwater.. That breakwater is the ‘forward wave breaker’ and perhaps 200 odd metres off shore. The zoom camera work from Michele created that awesome picture but it is quite safe even from our outpost bungalows. ***For those missed out on the June retreat (and a bit of a plug), another is scheduled from Sept 25 to Oct 1 and again, details can be viewed at www.baliashramyoga.com

Our Yoga Retreat in a nutshell

One of the participants, Louise, kindly emailed us the following which succinctly describes our yoga retreats..

“..Yvonne Haddelton is a yoga teacher with years of experience and a deep understanding of the wider aspects of yoga. Her predominant force is that of Satyananda – an all encompassing style that includes breathing (pranayama), meditation (Dhyana), postures (Asana) and the wider principles of living such as yamas and Niyamas. However, she draws her teaching from many styles and sources. All of which Yvonne is happy to discuss further during the retreat.

In keeping with Ahimsa (non-violence to self and others & compassion for all living things) Yvonne is an advocate of self love and kindness. This is demonstrated in her practice with her pupils – adapting Asana’s for all abilities and enabling students to identify an intention for each practice (sankalpa) as well as appreciation at the end of each practice. Thereby developing self awareness, gratitude and connectedness.

Ashram Gedong Gandhi is the perfect setting for the retreat with the Gandhian principles of Ahimsa and self-sufficiency being primary. The retreat takes place with an ocean view, surrounded by a gentle breeze and bird song. Meditation and pranayama are held in the upstairs meditation room overlooking the lotus filled pond. These are perfect for enhancing inner awareness, satisfying asana practice and focus on the breath whilst promoting positive well being.”

Thank you Louise!

A retreat’s Diary

Despite a full intention of blogging ‘live’ from the Ashram, the numerous group and Ashram activities simply render that impossible. Yes, we’ve had dramas such as with one of the participants Claire hurting her ankle in one of those crab holes and was attended to by a departing guest chiropractor and was ordered to rest for the ligament sprain. After a couple of days of worsening swollen ankle and walking stick (and conflicting advices), she finally heeded the members’ advice to go to a local injury-masseur medicine man. She was given some manipulation (rather painful I believe) to release “the ligament squeezed between the bones” and was walking without the walking stick within a couple of hours (and promptly wrote on her fb “I now believe in Bali’s medicine man!”). Another was our maintenance man Pak Jata who was also rendered immobile courtesy of a motorcycle bingle as a matter of days prior to the retreat and, of course, as per Murphy’s Law, toward the end of the retreat the two far bungalows duly complied in sympathy with blocked toilets! That called for a mini working bee of the famed Gandhian ‘latrine duties’ with some members which, after some to-and-fro-ing that included a visit by an ineffective plumber who made the wrong call on ‘overflowing septic tank’ then promptly left us stranded, we managed to clear the blockage ( to our relief as the bungalows were booked heavily for arriving guests and we were already struggling with the delicate task of synchronising the check-out and check-in of guests for all the bungalows – ah the downside of ‘success’ do I hear you say?). Well just a couple of examples of the multi-tasking and improvisation needed to deal with the unexpected issues that keep bobbing up at the Ashram (not without its ‘collateral’ damage as I’d been seen to have ‘lost’ it a bit when the multi-tasking got too numerous – and ‘contrition’ at the following pranayama and meditation session!)

Well, this retreat has also been very special to me due to the many unforeseen personal challenges that I had to overcome even before I had the good fortune to land in Bali! Call it pre-destiny or sheer luck, everything fell into place in the very last minutes. The good vibes and karma that go with this Yoga initiative and with our Ashram efforts in general, must have something to do with it..

In the end we had five very vibrant ‘UN’ of participants with Louise and Claire hailing from the UK, Chancy from Hawaii, Juan from Argentina and Michele from Australia each bringing their own special qualities that contributed to the very good dynamics, atmosphere and ultimately the exceedingly good outcome of the retreat. I think the Ashram and our yoga somehow attract these discerning and gentle kind of visitors with the curiosity to delve deeper than the veneer Bali is known for to the average holiday makers. They wish to engage the local people, their lives, their social and environmental issues, spiritual pursuits etc. which the yoga retreat and the ‘not a hotel’ Ashram and its ‘flexibility’ of activities on offer in abundance.

Yoga group with Ashram members from L to R: Bawa, Putra, Claire (UK), Juan (Arg), Wenten, Chancy (USA/Hawaii), Cynthia, Louise (UK), Dina, Komang, Yvonne (Aus), Rudi, Luh Ani, Darsa, Michele (Aus)

Claire's two day old swollen ankle was fixed and she was walking without the walking stick within two hours, thanks to this Medicine Man from Bugbug

Yoga at Bale Yoga

Asana sessions at the Ashram Yoga Retreats, Ashram Gandhi Candidasa

Yoga with Yvonne at Gedong Gandhi Ashram

One complements the other to produce what is a magic experience of yoga and a Gandhian Ashram as described by Louise before – but will leave for others from the retreat and workshop to write their own take and experience. Her years of breathing and teaching yoga showed in her sessions whilst the House Yoga with the accomplished Kawi provided the break and the variety, especially the rather rigorous ‘Kawisana’ pose now adopted by Yvonne in her routines! (thank you Kawi)

Pranayama and Meditation Session at the Meditation Room, Ashram Gandhi Candidasa

Michele at Meditation Room

More Asanas at the Bale Yoga

We have ‘fine-tuned’ the sessions slightly with the first 7 to 8.30 am session now split equally between warm-up plus some asanas then sun salutation suryanamaskara with its variations at the open air hall ‘Bale Yoga’, followed by pranayama and meditation at the clinic’s upstairs meditation room with views of the pond, the tree tops and the solemn gazes from the paintings of Ibu Gedong and the great man himself, the Mahatma, to further add to the serenity of the room. This is a change from last year’s retreat and it was a great move that was welcome especially by Yvonne. It is much more peaceful away from the arriving kindergarten pupils and their parents (though they happened to be on holidays this time around) and very conducive to meditation, free of time constraints till we hear the gong for breakfast to bring us back to the present!

Breakfast is always an assortment of surprises from pancakes and steamed bananas in batter with syrupy palm sugar, black rice pudding, ‘kolek’ of stewed sweet potatoes and fresh fruits (bananas or, much preferably, jack fruits) in palm-sugared santan or coconut milk which made it very hard to restrain oneself to ‘breakfast in moderation yet allow for enough calories’ in preparation for the mid morning sessions of often quite taxing asanas from 10 am, mostly till till we are ‘gonged’ again for lunch which is at 12.30 pm.

Typical Lunch Spread

Will those guests hurry up, please?

The three cousins: Happy children project hope and future

The more taxing asana with Yvonne, Michele and Chancy at Bale Yoga

Lunch is the time for a bit of ‘indulgence’ with the array of traditional delicacies, mostly from Ashram’s lands and some, such as the vegetables, from small trees or bananas at the ashram, or specific variety of edible ferns picked from the hills near Tenganan (the ‘early settlers’ Hindu village in Bali) when some members happened to be visiting or returning there, or from young jackfruits. Whatever, our modest cooks simply produced sumptuous lunch and dinner, day in, day out – unbelievable! ( strange if the excitable, heavy French accented voice of Henri Leconte describing some shots at the Australian Open, rings in my ear). I had to abandon (gladly) my reasonably strict diet of salad, fish, nuts and a little rice sans salt and put this temporary aberration to the periodic ‘treats’ and ‘spice of life’ that one should allow oneself periodically, without guilt. Besides, these dishes are simply not available in any restaurant once back in Melbourne..

On house yoga days on Tue, Thurs and Sat 4.30 – 5.45 pm we all joined Kawi’s extraordinary – but always joyful “..if not with a smile it’s not yoga” – classes and on the ‘off’ house yoga days we have our own 3 pm-ish yoga nidra for half hour or so, and some participants opted for afternoon acupuncture or relaxing massages with the lady who used to massage Ibu and also a mother of a couple of former ashram members who still comes to the ashram offering her services (I haven’t had one myself but I believe that she is very good). Night time after dinner the ‘gals’ tended to congregate in one of the bigger bungalows for some yoga discussions and chanting recitals. Somehow Juan never made it and I only made it once as invariably a visitor or two rocked up, or I needed to go for a visit to Budakeling or Amlapura simply to have a bit of ‘time out’ or I simply joined the Ashram members for their night puja.

I joined all the 5 am dawn puja bar one as I find it to be the most moving – perhaps I was still reminded by the romantic presence of a petite, slight but imposing figure of Ibu who used to be there without fail whenever she was at the Ashram. I think I managed to coax Louise, the participant from the UK now temporarily based in Perth, to join me one morning which helped her decide to include some of the English morning puja songs, such as Amazing Grace with all its numerous verses, in her impromptu post lunch English classes for the members, especially to help the younger and newer members (Louise was very busy with Ashram’s voluntary tasks with her ‘down-time’ from the retreat).

Tours.

We managed only about three, as any more I think some participants would feel ‘rushed’ as there are other things to fit in, such as acupuncture or massage or pujas with the members, or stroll around the Candidasa shops or cafe establishments (the variety/’department’ shop across the road was very popular as it stocks daily needs as well as clothings and knick-knacks at fixed but very competitive prices which I didn’t manage to check out this time around – I simply had things to do and kept saying ‘nanti, nanti’ or ‘later’ which of course, like tomorrow as my boys fondly commented, never came!).

All dressed up, ready to tackle the Purnama Puja trip

The temple's three shrines symbolising one's spiritual journey

Members pausing - and shivering - while the temple priest prepared the offerings

The best one was the full moon or Purnama Puja about 45 mins trip to a temple at the foot of Mount Agung which was simply majestic and appropriate for our Ashram chanting and puja. Though foggy (and very cold as I forgot how cold it could be there, so didn’t tell anyone, hence, most without warm clothing) Mount Agung did allow us a quick peek when the fog temporarily lifted for a close view of the seemingly arm-reachable crater. Won’t write too much as will give others their opportunities to write their personal accounts of the trip. But the picnic dinner (‘ngelungsur’ or communal eating of the ‘blessed-leftover’ of offerings to the gods with the Ashram members) was a new experience for the participants and hopefully something to remember this special trip.

Group huddle to keep warm

Note for next time: bring flash lights or lantern as shunning temples with Purnama destroying bright, electric lights is one thing but choosing your dish and eating in the dark is another! A kind of ‘lucky dip’ on what you get from these ‘invisible’ dishes..

The other one was the 2 hour plus trekking from one of the back roads to Tenganan from the hills behind, with mainly fruit plantation and the hills on one side and the irrigated paddy fields on the other with Lombok Strait in the distance to make for idyllic shots, except one can not really capture all these on camera, and best left to the mental picture and the presence of the experience. Again will not elaborate for now as may be we may have some contributors about this trip, suffice to say that our timing was fortuitous as it was in the middle of their annual ceremony and their ancient wooden, Ferris wheels (of life) were out of storage – constructed and displayed for 18 days.

The very following day we made a car trip back to Tenganan as it was the start of the annual Pandan Fights for the bare-breasted men and young men of Tenganan as a symbolic military exercise for the defence of their defence oriented enclave. Not a pretty sight as they tried to rub the spiky edge of the pandan leaves on each other’s backs, but the ‘fights’ did not last long (though would still hurts) and I believe that no long term damage or wounds were inflicted. Had it on video as I hadn’t seen this famous annual event before.

By the way, the weather in Bali in the month of June has been excellent. The cool, dry air of the dry season has been perfect which is something that I hadn’t experienced for a long time in Bali. As this should continue to July and August I think next year’s retreat will include one in July (June is a hard one with end of fin year etc) and another one perhaps in October? Still to be worked out but if you have preference, now is the time to make suggestions before we ‘lock-in’ the dates.

Farewell Night

A participant's restrained serve of that yummy yellow rice and side dishes

A pre Farewell Dinner's trip to the family temple - and Claire and Michele's delight in capturing me on the mobile! I don't use it much in Melbourne!

Farewell Night's warm-up: Juan jamming it up with the members

Claire and me at the family temple

Yvonne auditioning hard for the Farewell Dinner Tango's gig..

...that went to Louise, with that terrific tango with Juan!

Quite a generous spread of food and the Bale Yoga was elaborately decorated. We decided to do the role reversal and served the members first before we helped ourselves to generous servings of the numerous dishes. I had earlier went to Amlapura to do some errands but ran out of time to get cakes for the members and was relieved that they were not needed what with the great amount of food yummy food served that night.

Afterwards (again) the Ashram members performed their great repertoire of songs accompanied by Kawi on guitar, the old ‘genjek’ of Eastern Bali which showed the normally quiet and obliging members in the rather contrasting performance role of an unruly group of men, presumably in drinking session and at the end ‘letting their hair go’, lamenting over the need for education and study for their young ones about to enter (high) school, and to stay away – ironically – from the very same activities the men were indulging on. Perhaps a kind of pressure relief from conforming to the many delicate social constraints demanded on the traditional Balinese – well, they surely ‘let it rip’ on the show! Also the boys and girls performed the more sedate and traditional dances such as the welcome dance etc. I think us the visitors were saved from a complete whitewash by the tango (thanks Juan and Louise) and again Juan with his terrific guitar and singing of Quantanamera and La Bamba in his native Spanish that got all of us dancing! (thank God no one took video of me!). Chancy had us in a spell during the reading of her very moving poem that she wrote at the Ashram which I had asked her for a copy to include here, or the Ashram’s website. I would try to follow up with an email as it really was a good poem, and the reading was sublime. Thank you Chancy. Yvonne played her own song, so most of us had a go of sorts. I belonged to the ‘of sorts’.

Despite the joyous night, there was a touch of the unspoken message of ‘all good things must come to an end’ as the following day participants will start leaving with myself flying in the late afternoon to Jakarta for a two nights’ stay there for the nephew’s wedding reception.

Postscript:

Ashram's guests post June Yoga Retreat. From L to R: Sitska, Mayka, Jane, Louise, Rudi, Ed, Robbie, Haneka and Helmi

Returning from Jkt I spent another four nights at the Ashram in the company of new guests: a family from Holland Ed, Haneka and daughters Mayka and Sitska (a pure stab at the spellng – slap me on the wrist for mis-spelling and, more importantly, tell me!), and Helmi a young man from Malaysia who were all charmed by the life (and the food!) at the Ashram. Robbie, a yogi student from Satyananda Ashram in NSW, Australia and Jane Sloane, an old friend of the Ashram from Australia, both late arrivals during the retreat week, and Louise who had decided to spend the rest her time in Bali at the Ashram. It was a nice way of cushioning the departure of the core yoga group as we chatted over a number of meals. Louise and I (ok mainly Louise the dynamo organiser) resumed our morning yoga and taking in the class with a number of older and the younger members of the Ashram, which was quite beneficial for everyone I think. Our attempts at leading forced us to try to remember and practise the poses we had with Yvonne which was the best way to practise which was greatly helped by Louise’s very organised and structured notes! On my last morning, however, as Louise missed the session with a stubbed toe and thankfully Rob offered to take the class which definitely saved me from ‘mis-leading’ the class. And Rob was also a good teacher (well, it is his craft!) and the members and me personally picked up a few hints that helped me with some poses (well Yvonne always encourages about trialling different teachers – and she was right). Thank you Rob and I suggested to him to perhaps run the morning classes to complement that of Kawi’s afternoons, esp as the younger members were still on holidays. I intend to stay in touch with Rob.

In closing..

I will try to include some more pics in this blog and on Flickr and will alert first the participants and previous participants of the retreats for their comments/inputs. However, as some of the participants are still travelling and may not have easy access to the internet, I will keep re-editing this posting with additional material. So keep checking this posting for updates!

Finally, sincere thanks to all the participants, Kawi and all members of the Ashram, Pak Sadra for squeezing us in his super busy schedule, and a host of others who supported our programs right from the start. Without all these goodwills our retreat will not be as meaningful as we had. As we say in Bali – Matur Suksma or Suksma for short.

This retreat builds on the foundation set in September last year and this June 2011 retreat in turn triggers a few ideas which only augur well for our next one in September 25 this year, with the bookings already moving along nicely.

Om Shantih,

Rudi

Hard to put into words the euphoria and the pent-up excitement just by being at the Ashram. Landed at Ngurah Rai Denpasar airport pretty much on time 21.50 JQ35 on Tue Oct 19 and been on the go since – as you do once you hit the fable island – sleeping seems like precious time wasted that one can do and catch up back in Melbourne.

First couple of days were busy, busy running around making sure that things are in order. Nicole, the first participant who rocked up first (Oct 16) appeared to be enjoying it and had already getting to know Sitep and the kitchen staff well. Good start, and this afternoon I will be heading to the ancestral home in Amlapura for the annual family temple ceremony. But my mind’s still very much active about arrivals and last minute deliveries of equipments needed for the bungalows and workshop. Ren would be the last of the full program participants due to arrive at midnight. Mary the 5-dayer is due on Sunday. So far so good!

The workshop group minus Veronica

Tuesday, October 26

Well, as you can see the above was interrupted with ‘duties’ calling. Between the roles of ‘tour leader’, workshop participant, ashram’s ‘resource’, family temple’s ceremony, catching up with siblings and rellies and the odd ‘issues’ that seemingly crop up in such a gathering.. well you get the drift of the myriad of things that derailed me even with my best plan and intention to blog (Of course having to share the single broadband line did not help so a wifi router has been ordered and anxiously waiting for its delivery. If this sounds light years away to when in the 1970s my late mother, Ibu Gedong, agonised over the dilemma of introducing electricity to the Ashram or not, well, not having wifi has inconvenienced our guests who have to go to internet cafe or buy drinks at the cafes with one and, most importantly, impedes our efforts to run the ashram better).

Ok, the yoga workshop. By the grace of the kind soul above, it has been going exceedingly well.

The group ranges from beginners – including yours truly – to the longer term practitioners and yoga teachers. The first day sessions were rather hard as we soon found out that even in the relatively cool morning breeze our surya namaskara, esp. the faster versions, turned into a natural Bikram yoga session with us sweating like a pig (or was it the payback that Yvonne, our yoga teacher, is renown for – to dish out to students who inadvertently interrupted her much valued, early morning sleep in? Yours truly again had the unenviable duty of having to wake her up with a combination of throwing tiny pebbles at the windows of the attic where she sleeps and also yelling out her name (and possibly disturbing Ren who tried to squeeze the extra nano-minutes having arrived at the Ashram well past midnight after a long flight and drive from Melbourne only hours earlier).

Despite our grumblings at the Bikram yoga that we didn’t bargain for, we all enjoyed the value and unique skills of Yvonne, and the dynamic and the rapport that quickly developed amongst the group.The yoga sessions have been going well with Yvonne wisely pulling back at critical moments to not break the resolve of the participants. I for my part have been having a ball and must have improved my strength and fitness, even though I haven’t been doing my jogging since I’ve arrived here – no time and the numerous yoga sessions and the humidity do take a lot out of you, and the whole thing can’t be bad for me. Whether I’m making progress with my yoga, well you have to ask the yoga guru. But the others, whether the more advanced yoga teacher or the occasional practitioner or beginner all seem to be getting something out of the sessions.

That first day we were also joined by Tiki, a very fit looking with a plasticine body yoga teacher from Thailand. We weren’t going to take any short term participants but she made her case quite convincingly to Yvonne so she was in, supposedly for two days as she was returning to Thailand on Monday but ended up only for a day as she failed to convince her diver husband to take another day to care for their young son. She intimidated me a bit as I looked in awe at all these seasoned and instructor yoga ladies, but took it as a challenge to try to get up to speed quickly. Tiki fitted in quite well and I think also contributed to the setting of high standards from day one – yet it was still fun. She was more on the search of the philosophy, meditation and pranayama side of yoga to complement her strength in its physical aspects and I think she left with a lot from even the one day she attended, no doubt helped by her high-intensity approach knowing that she was going to be there only for one day (which helped us to also quickly ‘get on’ with the workshop). So it was a great start and I think we all kind of sad to see her go even after just one day in the group.

As for the Ashram and the site – even if you were to factor in the writer’s natural bias! – it was a hit as everyone discovers its unique beauty,  tranquility and conducive ambiance. Everyone really got into the spirit of the Ashram experience, which is great, though not one yet, with the exception of Rabina, who has managed the simply rejuvenating 5 am Morning Puja (Rabina is the Sumbawa based yoga teacher with crab like limbs with her asana but who is also of Dutch origin which boosted the already strong Dutch representation – with Nicole and Charlotte being the others,  matching the Australian contingent of Renata, Mary and Suma if you exclude Yvonne the teacher).

Simply sumptious spread - for lunch

And the food! We’ve all been ‘spoiled rotten’ as some of us light eaters – or would like to be -, or those who don’t normally have lunch altogether such as Charlotte, simply couldn’t help ourselves and pig out, making post meal yoga well, a little sluggish to start with! Meal time is always accompanied with a little banter and sharing of stories and impressions. Rabina at Bale Dangin recalled her horror at surprising a huge crab sitting in her toilet bowl which disappeared quickly the moment you switched the light on (it’s the root/vegetable eating crab, apparently making the growing of some plants impossible at the ashram. That one must somehow got into the underground tank)

Tours.

The ‘early settlers’ Balinese Tenganan village visit was put forward to Sunday morning after breakfast due to Pak Sadra’s changed commitment. The visit was informative and his local insight was of great value, though I sensed some disappointment at the presence of other tourists. Perhaps my fault for not making it clear that Tenganan is now quite a well known tourist destination. Thankfully that was followed with a 4.30pm-ish departure for our ‘Purnama’ Puja at Pura Pucaksari at the foot of Mount Agung, which was a less known and visited temple. We traveled in three cars to accommodate all of us participants, a number of Ashram members and we were also joined by my eldest brother Benky and his wife Meike. We purposely left early to allow for a bit of daylight to appreciate the majestic view of the revered mountain and the valleys and terraced rice paddies below.

Weather wise the temple visit was purely exquisite. It has been unseasonally wet here and it’s been raining and thundering since we arrived and we still had light showers during the Tenganan tour that very morning. The indications weren’t good and there were grave concerns that some of the steep, dirt road climbs might not succeed in the wet. And I was pessimistic. But we must have been simply blessed with our good intention that from late afternoon the sky magically cleared and we simply had a great view of the majestic Mount Agung on the way up.

The prayer started with the ashram members leading the chanting of the dusk puja followed by the gayatri mantram by all which was quite a moving experience for me personally, even if the moon had not appeared as yet. It brought back many such a moment as a kid with my parents and – the best part of all in those days – the devouring afterward all those nice goodies of left over food that we offered to the gods. The younger ashram members seem to be enjoying just that – and good for them!

Then the uncertain wait for the appearance of the moon. Ok a little technology helped our little anxieties. I tried to check wolfram using Benky’s Blackberry to find out the exact expected time of appearance of the reluctant guest of honour, but no luck with ‘not enough network coverage’ message. Perhaps moments of surrender and that we simply had to rely on the locals’ guess that the moon would be coming out ‘sebentar lagi‘ (‘just a moment’ but could also mean that we could be there till 9 pm if our bad experiences with Garuda’s – long past I hope - sebentar lagi was any guide, and we haven’t had dinner yet and the troop was restless!) but still no sign of brightness from behind Mount Bisbis or Lempuyang to the east. Then in a true moment of epiphany I thought of older son Matt back in Melbourne who could be sitting in front of his laptop, so a quick sms. A quick reply shot back “.. in 19 mins and 17 secs in the future if that makes sense” followed by another “7.16 pm Bali time”. So there we were in the ‘middle of nowhere’ and traveling back in time (perhaps the temple goes back as far as the 13th century?) yet technology made it possible to get the info from another continent across the ocean, and God knows which galactica the web-server resides! Well it took another 10 odd minutes for the moon to scale the adjoining little mountain and it was well worth the wait to see the moon raising from behind it. Yes we were blessed with the momentary clear sky, just for us I’m sure.

A  little drama.

All the above would be just too good – or boring – without one. So it was with Veronica, our young participant from Italy who fell ill on the second night  and got a little worse the next night complaining of being cold. The fear of malaria or dengue crossed our minds yesterday morning as she had spent the previous week at Gili Air in Lombok. Mary who was a nurse in her previous incarnation checked her out in her bungalow and came back with the stern no-nonsense message – “She needs a doctor!” So a flurry of phone calls as dengue is mighty difficult to diagnose and soon we were inundated with conflicting advices from calling a local doctor – from a participant but without the blood test is also close to useless for dengue with flu like symptoms – to numerous suggestions of natural or emergency remedies. Time for executive decision and with time ticking by I rang the head honcho of the infectious diseases in Bali who also happened to be a former classmate (yes it helps) who strongly recommended for the ‘labtest’ at the Amlapura Hospital not only for malaria and dengue, but also for typhoid as Veronica has had some stomach upsets for a few days at the Gili in Lombok. Charlotte generously offered to accompany the trip to the hospital as she speaks good bahasa (plus a dictionary) and also Spanish to help communication with the patient with little English. Perfecto! After some rather subdued mid-morning yoga they came back just in time for lunch with the good news that Veronica was cleared of malaria, dengue or typhoid and that she just needed to drink lots of water and rest. Since then she had recovered and busy making her phone calls etc (she has an amazing story on how she came to Bali in the first place, but that’s for another time). A sigh of relief and Ren told me of her outback tour leader friend who mentioned about someone always falling ill from such a group. Ours was a good wake up call to be on the alert, and thankful that it was nothing serious.

Reminiscing from Melbourne (Sunday November 7, 2010)

Apologies for the big gap in the number of days in between the post-event reports. I did write intermittently in the following couple of days at Candidasa and been saving it in ‘draft’ before publishing it in a coherent format. However, as I was saving it over a few days on a single session of editing – well it seems to be responding to my progressive saves – but when I did close it one night as I was testing the new wifi router, I had that sick feeling when the draft didn’t come up the next time I logged in to edit the blog. Then a ‘stubborn’ battle to get the wifi working which in the end was solved with the help of the local techo on my very day of my departure on Nov 2 (yes tried hard so that Nicole could use the wifi with her iPhone – not all altruistic as would have been nice to check the email from the N97 Nokia without having to duck into the Ashram’s office – but not to be) had me losing focus of the blog effort a little. And the days at the workshop and ashram just ‘flew’ for me what with helping with the organisation, as well as facilitating ‘simple’ tasks like withdrawing money from Western Union for Veronica (it became a two day affair as the banks either didn’t have photocopier for a copy of the passport or a seal stamp and it was another ceremony day in Bali and all the photocopying places at Candidasa were closed, hence, the wait for the following day) or the banks (different companies, both at Candidasa and in town, Amlapura, a major bank, and this was the following day) had their networks down! In the end we had ‘success’ at a pawnbroking office at Amlapura – at that stage we were so desperate that we’d go to a house of ill repute! Poor Veronica was soo ‘over the moon’ with a huge grin after worrying about making me missed the yoga (I believe it was a hard session so perhaps she did me a favour. I woke Yvonne up that morning and the rest of the group paid the price? The truth is that it was quite a good session). Yup, it reminded me very much of our American ‘brother’ Tom Spooner in the days before I left for Australia – “Why everything has to be so difficult?” as the many ‘problems’ had often reduced us to inertia. So I told her that Rule #1 is nothing is ever simple over there. To my surprise she replied “In Italy same” which I hope may be due to the loss in the translation – for Italy’s sake..

More Yoga.

Morning Yoga – Surya Namaskara. This one was always a struggle for many and perhaps it has a lot to do with the 6.30 am start, which surreptitiously crept to a later or even 7 am start. It was more a repetitive Surya Namaskara with slight variation for the slow and faster tempo according to the chanting from the cd, and a test of one’s stamina – and dedication – rather than technique and flexibility which I never mastered in any case, hence this suits me just fine. As the week wore on and the odd one or two stragglers decided to stay in bed, while it was hard and at times very hard, it was good for me to have someone to push me harder as I was never good at pushing myself with the solo jog. What with the humidity and I had sweats pouring out by the buckets (yet Yvonne was always somewhat disappointed that the cd had finished whereas it was a ‘thank god!’ for us as we slumped onto the floor for our relaxation). I think I surprised her for staying the distance but little did she know that it was purely on pride – and only just – being the token male in the group. Yes a very hard grind but always enjoyed the relaxation and relishing the moments of ‘having done’ it.

Mid-morning asana. Always a challenge with the poses but I simply love the yoga and more yoga. May be a desire to ‘fast track’ my (lack of) yoga education. Here the more pros amongst us – Rabina, Ren and Nicole – excelled with their crab like limbs yet the strength that easily surpassed my gender advantage! But the love of simply doing they yoga, and at the Ashram! was just too much of an opportunity to not do or push one self. Just looking at the sea – and the odd welcome distraction of a couple of large lizards perhaps a metre and a bit in length moving komodo dragon like on the distant sea walls was a welcome distraction and a break from the hard yoga routine, sometimes to the exasperation of Yvonne (I know they attack and eat chickens but their primary diet must have been those crabs that are in abundance). I haven’t got a still photo of the beasts so if anyone with the picture, let me know.

Afternoon Guided Relaxation. The relatively relaxing and short session especially if we were to join Kawi’s House Yoga that was to follow which was also very highly popular amongst the group. On the Tuesday and Thursday though it was replaced with the extended two-hour Yoga Workshop’s workshop where Yvonne shared with us her collection of readings on the philosophy of yoga and meditation, plus some group exercises followed by some discussions on our respective experiences. Interesting to learn about the philosophy which is very much like the Hindu’s but with slightly different emphasis to the ones I was familiar with, and perhaps making me resisting it a bit initially before I talked myself to experience it to the full.

House Hatha Yoga with Kawi (late afternoon, Tue, Thu, Sat). This was mixing with the local regulars and was highly popular with the group and Yvonne (perhaps a rare chance at being in the back of the class and simply doing it). Going through different asana or poses but with Kawi’s own style of instruction and commentary – relaxing and soothing, yet rigorous never the less. I loved it and not just for having another male there for support!

Acupuncture

The popularity of this service amongst the group surprised me and it was that popular that it affected the afternoon tours that could have been slotted if required. The mornings were out due to yoga commitments, which, after all what we were there for, as well as due to the number of patients normally waiting in the morning. As some time also needs to be allowed after lunch the first treatment was around 2 pm and between a number of us (and in between the regular patients) it virtually spread over most of the afternoon which ruled out any tours. The water palace tour scheduled for Wed pm was left to the very day before it was finally canceled, partly because some in the group have been somewhat ‘spoilt’ by the oasis from the normal touristy things that the walls of the ashram have sheltered us from and the Purnama Pujas was a hit with its little known and off the beaten track temple. But some in the group did go for an afternoon swim and surf at Pasir Putih, a very good experience from all accounts – and the girls were even approached and asked to dinner by three Russians proudly showing tattoos of their nation’s flag on their upper arms! (a new and novel opening line indeed, but to no avail I was told and I had to remind the girls that they could have been oil tycoons – which we’ll never find out now)

Farewell Dinner (Thursday, Oct 28)

Yes, before long it was approaching the end of our workshop. Rabina had to check out early after lunch Friday due to some appointment in Denpasar, then Nicole decided to tag along to spend more time with her friends in Seminyak before returning to Holland and eventually Veronica got dragged by the ensuing slipstream and would tag along too! Just as well we’ve been drumming in flexibility as we quickly changed the farewell dinner to Thursday night. And what a night.

The kitchen and members must have worked overtime as Bale Puja was nicely decorated and the banquet spread was eye popping. It was not without its share of drama as Kawi was called to represent the Ashram for early morning meeting in Denpasar (something to do with Ibu’s nomination for Bali’s Prominent Woman for 2010) which turned out to be a 4 pm meeting. As it was he just made it back to CD in the middle of our dinner, but in time for the performances which was just as well as he was the key player.

The food was simply awesome and what’s more we truly enjoyed sharing the same dishes with the members. It was a special treat for the members especially the younger ones and a big change from their normally more austere menu, and was great to see (again I could see of my own childhood at both Singaraja and Denpasar when money was tight as the country was experiencing Zimbabwe like hyper inflation and not dissimilar austere menu, though not an ashram, but somehow extra food was on the table when we had the odd ‘overseas distinguished guests’ over for dinner and the big ‘treat’ for us kids).

Then the performances from the members which truly rocked our shoes off!

Kawi with his guitar and his young male charges opened up with some Sanksrit/mantram songs – serene yet ‘boppy’ – then some familiar English tunes (but for the life of me I can’t remember any of them hence the titles still escape me) before the eye popping ‘cekepung‘ performance by the boys. It’s a characteristically eastern Bali’s Capella that began as rather subdued and – listening to the words – even solemn and touching with wise words to the young about the need of education, going to (senior) high school/sma and to stay away from tuak (beer like fermented palm juice) as it builds itself into a crescendo of – yes! – drunken like men ‘jamming’ unintelligible words as the boys let themselves go and really ‘let it rip’ with a trance like of a good time!  It really needs to be seen to be believed and it is even more amazing in the context of the otherwise very polite, controlled and excessively proper young boys.

A number in the group have been commenting on the exceedingly good behaviour of the young members, simply unheard of when comparing with teenagers in the West. May be it is an Ashram’s things about self control and discipline but also it’s in the culture that praises the importance of a good outward appearance and behaviour. Perhaps such performance, along with the much better known kecak monkey dance, that they find the occasional pressure valve release to let themselves go. I have taken some video of it which I hadn’t transferred or seen but if it’s any good I will certainly youtube it for all to share.

Then we had a short intermission with biscuits and punch like palm-sugary ginger drink and some packets of Australian red tulips for the young members to share. I also used the opportunity to distribute to each workshop participant a ladies hessian and batik handbag and a piece of batik cloth that was designed and generously donated by a Bandung based old friend of mine, Muntas, who is exporting it as a community service project (we have only resumed our contact last year – yes you guessed it through the Ashram – after we lost contact for about 37 years. He donated the gifts in memory of Ibu Gedong, whom he met on his first visit to Bali in 1968/69 – yup that makes us a couple of old fossils. Seems to be the theme with the Ashram. I met Charlotte for the first time at the workshop after corresponding and working together on ashram’s fund raising for 6 odd years and 34 odd years after she first stayed with my parents and met all the brothers. Needless to say I met many good and dear friends through the Ashram). Everyone seems to like it and I just hope that no one has any problem at the customs over the plant based hessian.

Then it was more dances this time by the girls performing the more sedate Balinese dances as everyone was marvelling at these multi-skilled members. Yvonne stood tall for our workshop group with her guitar and belting out a couple renditions of  – self composed? – songs. I think everyone really had a good night and for the guests it was a revelation about the hidden talents of the members and that yes, they can have a good time!

There was a bit of a lull as though the night was still young from western standard, Kawi has had a long day with early start to Denpasar and was keen to go back to his family and excused himself. I grabbed the free guitar and started playing a couple of tunes in bahasa and English and – understandably and as if on cue – the members started disappearing to return to their quarters! (should get a gig and play whenever the owner would like to clear the place and for patrons to leave. But the members were more polite, “.. early start in the morning” was the story).

So us the workshoppers were left there playing old tunes with words we could barely remember before Charlotte sang a couple of real songs. It wasn’t bad just relaxing a little there humming a few tunes.

But the girls were still restless and some headed for ‘Vincent?’ to properly chill out with a night cap? I was reluctant to go to such venue but not wanting to be a spoil sport and a ‘stick in the mud’ I relented and joined them. However my doubt was soon confirmed as in there were a couple of inebriated patrons that were a little too confronting after a week of bliss at the Ashram (one had a dramatic fall when leaving, a bit hard to ignore as they were no spring chickens who ought to know better or was it the onset of second childhood?) so I matched Yvonne’s standard cup of herbal tea with a glass of lassie as we shared a table with Charlotte and Ren (who was running a very witty commentary on the inebriated patrons – that alone was worth the brief visit). It was actually a nice way to finish the workshop although there was the morning sessions to come before people start departing. Most of us didn’t stay there long before we retreated back to our refuge and safety inside the walls of the Ashram.

The following day (Fri oct 29) we managed to have a small group for our surya namaskara then a mid morning final session of asana and meditation attended by all. A very nice finish for the full group.

After lunch we waved good bye to Rabina, Nicole and Veronica and it was a sight to see how the three of them, plus luggage, plus a driver fit into the tiny Suzuki Jimny originally intended for Rabina only. My suggestion for Rabina to drive and let the driver catch the bus to Denpasar was ignored as she convinced us that she and Veronica next to the luggage in the back seat would be just fine. Well, the yoga flexibility would come handy indeed!

At night it was Mary’s turn to be driven to the airport but not before an early dinner at the kitchen (just like Charlotte who was ‘sprung’ having this special treatment before catching the boat to Lombok on Wed morning, so Mary would like that too!). I think she has had a good time at the Ashram with the yoga and was quite happy with the experience.

Post workshop.

On Saturday Oct 30 Yvonne, Ren and myself decided to drive Charlotte to Ubud to stay at the amazing house of her friend there. Charlotte soon came up with the idea of a walk around the rice field in the back of Tjampuan (behind Hotel Iba and across the river from the old Puri Tjampuan Hotel that as a kid and young teenager our family spent many good school holidays there and spent many a hot day cooling down in the then pristine and refreshing water of the fast flowing creek). A good 1 to 1.5 hours of great walk along paddy fields, deep ravines and nice cliff top houses and villas, then through the villages coming out in Pagojan in Kedewatan. The only hiccup was to meet up with Komang with the car which stressed us a bit as we were very keen to be back in time for the already rescheduled (just for us!) Kawi’s House Yoga at 6 pm. We made to his last class we could possibly attenbd by 6.15 pm and the twilight session in a rather still and humid night came complete with squadrons of hungry mossies. Only a quick trip to the room for Rid to share around saved us from further mauling.

Sunday Oct 31, about 11 am-ish was obligatory visit to a newly ordained priest, a former ashram member, whose ordination the day before I missed as I had my day and dates completely mixed up! Went there with Kawi and Sitep and it turned out to be the better day anyway as we got to talk to him at length which would not be possible on the ordination day.  But not before a last surya namaskara session with Yvonne (finally coaxed her to start at 7 am – our teacher is no longer compelled by time and ritual of the work-shop!) and a newly arrived guest, Estelle, from France, a first timer, who dropped out half way for a relaxation and and I had a fantastic personal-trainer like session with ‘Von’. She basically ‘tricked’ me into doing 61 surya namaskara which just about killed me (spurred by what a student of her in Melbourne, a lady of Dutch extraction who knew ‘Mama’ and had stayed at the ashram in the late 1980s who said that Ibu used to say that she would do as many surya namaskara as her age – and Von thought that would be appropriate for me too! Ibu Gedong would have been proud of her!). Ren wisely stayed in bed with her last chance sleep in as that night she would be on that punishing ‘graveyard’ midnight flight with about four hours stopover in Darwin. I gave Ren a lift to the airport and I stayed the night at the Denpasar Ashram so that I could do the absolute last minute shopping for younger son Jackson who emailed me his order. Yes sir!

Monday Nov 1. Some family visits and shopping for Jackson then off to CD and just in time for a last dinner there. Yup the numbers are dwindling as there was only Yvonne and Suma there, along with the new guest Estelle. Following day Tuesday Nov 2 made a quick trip to the ancestral home at Puri Kawan, Amlapura, to pray at the family temple and accompanied by Von who just came for the ride and to look around.  By this time she had already put forward her Garuda flight from Nov 8 to Thu Nov 4 – she was worrying about her tasks back in Melbourne and perhaps missing the support, company and ‘security blanket?’ of the whole group there.  We then dropped in to see the ailing younger brother of Mama, Oom Later, and his wife Jero Tapakan. Nice people and Yvonne was greatly impressed by the immaculate garden design and work of their talented muso son, who is unmarried but wasn’t there..

Rush, rush, rush then off to Denpasar about 4 pm, repacked at the Ashram there then was dropped at the airport by Gusde who proceeded to pick up an Ashram guest from Melbourne. In the plane I finally caught up with John Barnard from Melbourne, an old friend of Interfidei and its director Elga, who’d been to Yogya and who’d contacted me earlier once he found out that we may well be on the same flight. He came up to me just as we prepared to take off so apart from a few words of greetings he was quickly sent back to his seat perhaps to chat later. But soon as the plane took off, perhaps even before as I don’t recall the ascent nor the switching off the seat belt lights, I fell into a deep coma – I was that tired!

I woke up early morning as we approached the Melbourne airport, so the Melbourne sleep replenishment mode had merely begun! One of the reasons I love the Jetstar return flight, if no meals ordered they just leave you alone as all the sustenance I needed then was sleep. I looked around for John but he was lost in the sea of white faces of returning passengers from their Bali holidays. Well there will be time to catch up with him in Melbourne, just like the sleep!

Postscript – ‘Regrets?’

While on the Tenganan visit I got wind of a slight dilemma – the peanuts from one of the Ashram’s farmlands tilled by tenant farmers were ready for harvesting. As usual it’s very short lead time and basically the members need to be mobilised quickly to do the harvest before the peanuts go bad. However, some members are away and others are on critical duty at the ashram and they simply didn’t have the numbers to do the quick, mass harvesting. A thought crossed my mind about deploying the group for this very unique ‘roll up your sleeve’ opportunity. But it was only our second day with light rains falling and one of the participants would have just arrived and we have the well planned Purnama Puja temple major visit coming up that very late afternoon. If it was the next day it would’ve been quite an experience but it had to be done that very day so we had to let it pass and they had to outsource the harvesting. Just shows the unique opportunities that may present themselves at any time, hence the need for flexibility that we’ve been advocating all along.

14/10/10      Sections 2, 3 and 4 with firmer dates and advice on cash/TC/currency mix and travel insurance from Australia. Also posted in abhayamyoga.com the latest workshop schedule and (for those wondering how they can squeeze a swim in between programs, or tempted to consider what to miss in lieu of a full high tide – yay!) the detailed tide chart for the whole week.

Workshop planning was no free lunch! Yvonne was unusually worried and me, after a punishing yoga class, was beyond worrying. What problem?

The purpose of the document is to inform participants who have already booked (if you haven’t and feel tempted after reading this blog, at the time of writing there’s still a couple of spots for ‘last minutes’ – please check abhayamyoga.com or through the Ashram’s website ashramgandhi.com) and also for those who are interested or ‘curious’ what this coming October program contains. Understandably this will be a continually evolving document as more information is obtained and dates are confirmed. Also bear in mind that, in order to get the best out of the week, we need to be flexible to grab opportunities as they arise.

Feel free to write down your thoughts/comments/suggestions as this will help our program – and the yoga workshop participants or even general travelers to Bali. For participants especially, please write should you wish anything change to make your program better.  I am also looking forward to ‘blog from the spot’ regularly once I hit Bali/Candidasa to share with our Ashram community and naturally participants will be encouraged also to comment and share. So watch this space.

This document consists of 4 (four) sections:

1. Section 1 – Available tours/activities from/at the Ashram
2. Section 2 – Schedule for our Yoga/workshop Week
3. Section 3 – Daily Yoga Workshop Routine
4. Section 4 – General Tips for Ashram stay and travel in Indonesia

(with acknowledgment and appreciation to Terry Cox, our tireless and very dear friend of the Ashram from NZ, who wrote the initial draft of this short tours from Candidasa while spending his regular two month stint – and was ‘drafted’ to help around the place esp. as a ‘host’ for the first time guests – at the Ashram till last week)

Listed here is only the short list lest we dazzle people with choices. There are some options that may only be feasible once we get to the ashram, if so these will be discussed with the group for consideration.

1. Amlapura Market Visit. This is the biggest daily market in the region, best visited in the early morning when all the action is happening, also cooler. About half an hour to the east by car. Also can include a visit to the ATM (there are no others near Candidasa).

Apart from all the foodstuffs, the markets (above) sell many types of practical craft work, woven containers, temple accessories, etc. The Ashram car departs between 7 and 8 am to go to the Amlapura market to purchase daily supplies. Those interested in experiencing this shopping, with some minor adjustment to our group’s morning schedule, can tag along and you would still be back well before the 10 am start of the asana class.

For the more adventurous ones, this is also a nice trip by public bus when you can be close to the locals, squashed in with school kids and market goers (and all their purchases). But allow flexible time for free-lance trips (two to three hours round trip) so this may mean sacrificing some of your yoga sessions, or to do it in the afternoon when there is less yoga session ia scheduled although the food section may not be operating as fully as in the morning.

2.  A visit to Tenganan About 5km from Candidasa is the famous ancient indigenous balinese village of Tenganan. A visit to see traditional village life including exquisite double ikat weaving and inscribed lettering on lontar palm leaf books is well worthwhile.

Latest news (28/09) is that last night I spoke to Pak Sadra, Vice Chair himself, now the extremely busy MP yet still performing the acupuncture and overseeing some of the running of the Ashram, who has given his commitment to be our group guide! This is a real coup and a great honour for us, as he is a native Tenganan and a former village chief, so absolutely no better person on the planet to take us there. His NGO involvement with some aid projects will also provide insights into some of the eco projects. We will slot this visit whatever time is deemed best by Pak Sadra.

3. A talk on Gandhian Ashram and meditation. Again by Pak Sadra who is going to ‘make time’ for our group. He has been with the Ashram since its inception, spent an extended stay in India to experience the various Gandhi Ashrams in India, and has recently returned from a meditation retreat of total ‘silence’ with Pak I Gede Perama, a spiritualist who is also an economist and motivational speakers of national standing. He will share his knowledge and I’m sure it would be of great value to us all which I for one am really looking forward to. Due to a sudden requirement on his time elsewhere later on in the week, he will combine this talk with his ‘welcome and introduction to the ashram’ speech in our Welcome Dinner at the end of the first day (Saturday, Oct 23).

4. A purnama (full moon – well, almost) Puja at the foot of Mount Agung temple

As in most early societies, purnama holds a special magic to the Balinese hence their combining of purnama with the Hindu festivities. There are many good temples to do our night puja but unfortunately (this is my old-fashioned personal opinion borne out of those years doing late night purnama puja after everyone had gone with my parents) many of them have now adopted the modern flood lit lighting which absolutely destroys the atmosphere and magic of purnama! We have a couple of lesser known temples (and hopefully will remain so, hence, nameless here), inland from our Ashram at Candidasa. These temples are both less well known and well ‘hidden’ at the foot of Mount Agung and, most importantly, not yet corrupted by the indiscriminate embrace of electricity for temples and shrines.

Unfortunately purnama is on Friday Oct 22, which is just prior to our group’s workshop and participants would still be arriving. The following night Saturday Oct 23 we plan a ‘welcome’ night for the group where we plan to have briefings on the history and background of the Ashram from one of the senior members of the Ashram, or Pak Sadra himself if available. So the earliest one to schedule is Sunday night of Oct 24, two days out from purnama but would still be close to full moon, yet away from the proper full moon worshippers.

It’s about an hour drive inland from the Ashram with a stretch of steep narrow roads. We’ll make the call as we approach the area as one is perhaps less prone to fogs and rains than the other and perhaps it is also more accessible in the wet. Flexibility and preparedness to grab whatever is on offer!

5. Water and City Palaces The last rajah of the region built three water palaces. The well-known one is Tirtagangga, a beautiful, cool place of large ponds, fountains, flowers and ornamental fish. You can also swim here in a spring-fed bathing pool. About 40 minutes by car via  Amlapura.

Nearer to Amlapura is Ujung which is more exposed and nearer the sea. It has been rebuilt with some aid from the World Bank since almost total destruction after the eruption of Gunung Agung in 1963 and is worth a visit.

Probably can fit both of the above (or perhaps just one of them) and a palace visit at Amlapura in about 3 hours (unless the group decides to have a dip at the Tirtagangga pool, its rather chilly water which must be coming from a deep natural artesian well but simply heavenly! in the noon or or mid afternoon heat, in which case the second water palace in Ujung may have to be dropped or rescheduled)

6.  Other visits  – Klungkung is the first large town going back westwards towards Denpasar about 40 minutes from Candidasa. It has a wealth of important regional history (see guide books) and is well worth a visit. The fabrics and clothing market is also interesting to explore.  Before Klungkung is Goa Lawa, (bat cave temple) a well-known tourist destination. By car the total round trip would probably take three hours.

7. Snorkeling on the ‘Blue Lagoon’ off Candidasa Shore

One of our former member is a fisherman who takes guests for fishing/snorkelling trips in a motorised perahu with outriggers (and only weather permitting). I haven’t been on one myself but it leaves even before morning puja time (about 4.30 am) and return around 9, but guests have all enjoyed the swim and feeding the fish. Must wear good hats and sun-screen as it’s an open boat. This may incur individual fees that you pay directly to the provider.

Bear in mind that market visit can be slotted at any day with minimal time shifting of morning programs. This schedule is to be read in conjunction with Section 3 on Daily Routine.

A summarised version of this is available here.

Fri Oct 22. Participants, if not already at the Ashram, will be arriving and checking-in.

Sat Oct 23. Full daily program followed by  a ‘welcome night’ dinner. Intro to Ashram and on Ashram Gandhi and meditation by Pak Sadra himself  (now confirmed)

Sun Oct 24. Full daily program with a night time Purnama Puja at Nangka or Puncaksari temple

Mon Oct 25. Full daily program with afternoon visit to indigenous Bali village of Tenganan now confirmed with Pak Sadra (moved forward from Tuesday due to his other commitment later in the week)

Tue Oct 26. Full daily program with afternoon a Yoga Workshop, 2 – 4 pm which Yvonne inserted followed immediately by the already scheduled Housed Yoga 4 – 5 pm with Kawidana.

Wed Oct 27. Full daily program with afternoon Water and City Palaces tour* (or stay behind and attend house yoga option)

Thurs Oct 28. Full daily program

Fri Oct 29. Full daily program with a Yoga Workshop with Yvonne 2.30 – 4.30 pm and a ‘farewell night’ dinner and performances by members (and from the workshop group – so get ready! Yvonne was being ‘set-up’ to sing but appears to be relishing the challenge and will be contributing with her voice and guitar. Program concludes – hopefully one of those ‘all good things must come to an end!’

Sat Oct 30. Check-out for those participants not extending their stay

This is reproduced from the Workshop Info Sheet for completeness as it is nice to see everything in the one document.

Below is the schedule with the group’s specific program written in italics and the normal font denoting shared program with the Ashram members, such as the meals, or part of the Ashram’s routine where where our workshop participants are welcome to join. Breakfast may be put forward say half an hour to allow more time before the Asana class (or conversely the class half an hour later – remember flexibility with our schedule).

• 5 – 6 am                      Morning Puja (optional for workshop participants)
• 6 – 6.30 am                 Free period
• 6.30 – 7.30 am           Yoga with Yvonne – Sun Salutation and Meditation
• 7.30 – 8.30 am           Free period
• 8.30 – 9.30 am           Breakfast with Ashram members
• 9.30 – 10 am               Free period
• 10.00 – 11.30 am       Yoga with Yvonne – Asana Class & Guided Relaxation
• 12noon – 12.30pm     Midday Puja (optional for workshop participants)
• 12.30 noon – 1.30 pm Lunch with Ashram members
• 1.30 – 3 pm                 Free period
• 3 – 3.30 pm                 Yoga with Yvonne – Guided Relaxation
• 3.30 – 4 pm                 Free period
• 4 – 5 pm                      House Yoga with Kawidana (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday only)
• 5 – 6 pm                      Evening Puja (optional for workshop participants)
• 6 – 6.30 pm                 Free period
• 6.30 – 7.30 pm           Dinner with Ashram members
• 7.30 – 8 pm                 Night Puja
• 8 – 9 pm                       Reflection time, either individually or communally
• 9 pm – morning          Early to bed, early to rise!

Night reflection time is an opportunity to reflect and also to assess the yoga, tour or free time mix for the following day (no we don’t want to ‘OD’ ourselves or make it a grind rather than something that is fun and rewarding!). A couple of trekking/village/community project/local event of interest visits will be organised in place of the morning or afternoon program, or more yoga sessions added depending on how the group feels. A split group activity is also an option so there’d be flexibility and a scope to cater better for individual’s needs which will be discussed on site.

Morning and afternoon teas will be served at the bungalows.

• (just added 5/10/2010)anyone still trying to book from Australia – if you are comparing prices, direct flights and availability etc., don’t just compare jetstar and virgin, include garuda-indonesia.com online booking and ‘mix-n-match’ between the three. Just found out Garuda’s Dps – Mel flight is much cheaper – and more flexible cancellation and meal’s included as default – and direct flight
• yoga mats are provided but if you have favourites or other paraphernalia, please take them along. beach towels may be handy as a cushion for joints or makeshift pillow
• electric plugs: I always travel with a small power board for all my appliances (shaver, mobile phones, pc etc) as it requires only one power socket point and one adaptor from local to your own country’s plug. Bali/Indonesia uses the unearthed  two round prongs plug system 220V
• insect repellant: all beds are provided with mosquito nets and most of the time the sea breeze would deter the mossies from the sea fronted bale (pronounced bah-leh meaning building) yoga. However, there are times such as meal times (normally at bale puja) when there is very little breeze and a personal insect repellant comes handy. Or do what a young Danish volunteer backpacker taught me at the Ashram, she goes to the kitchen and asks for garlic clove that she swallows in whole as insect repellant. Makes good sense to me as that’s what we feed our pets to rid them off fleas. Light coloured, long sleeve clothing also helps.
• Return/Departing flight: this maybe more for Australians, but also applicable to those on the ‘graveyard’ midnight flights out of Bali and it’s my good wife’s good advice. Once you are through immigration etc you’ll find these airlines crew hawking VIP lounge for IDR 100,000.00 (approx AUD 13.00). You can compare what’s on offer (ask for facilities – shower, internet if important to you; I think buffet style food and drinks are standard) but if you have time to fill – it’s well worth it. You can feed and drink – non alcoholic – yourself silly (as I fly budget flights I don’t have to order and pay for meals/breakfast and, more importantly, you don’t get your sleep interrupted and woken up when a meal is being served at some ungodly hours when all you want to do is sleep), you can browse internet and can even freshen up with a shower. It beats shopping around for a bite to eat at the limited range and overpriced international airport eating places and chances are you’d end up paying more anyway. Also this way you can budget on how much rupiah you need in addition to the departure tax of IDR 150,000.00
• Speaking of taxes, non Indonesian passport holder can apply for 30 day or 7 day visa at the airport for USD 25 and USD 10 respectively. Payment in cash is only in USD, IDR or credit cards in Visa/Mastercard. Carrying the right amount in USD is fastest and also safest just in case there is any problem with the credit card payment if you have no USD or IDR.
• I have also been asked about what cash or currency to bring. Any major currency is fairly easy to exchange at the money changer so there is little reason to ‘arm’ yourself with USD apart for paying for your visa at the airport. Cash attracts slightly higher rates than travellers cheque (also slightly easier to exchange) and then of course there is the ATM (there is a fee of about AUD 9.00 in my case so it’s prudent to ‘plan’ your cash needs and limit the withdrawals). There are plenty of money changers around Candidasa and the ATM whilst its half an hour away at Amlapura the Ashram car goes there every morning to purchase the supplies (also I thought I saw the sign in a service station on the edge of Candidasa on the road back to Denpasar – will try to verify).
• Travel Insurance. I consider this a must esp. if you are traveling on budget/fixed date flights and the horrendous implications of emergency medical needs (from Australia I found that AAMI is offering very, very competitive rates and at AUD 60 for two weeks trip – to Bali and South Pacifics – which makes it simply that we can not go without one). Personally I found the shareholder (500 shares min) annual fee waived NAB Gold Card Visa quite attractive as it comes with free automatic international travel insurance (so if you need to invest some funds anyway, keep an eye for the next low in their share price).

Well, down to day -9 before the yoga workshop or day -6 for yours truly to depart and counting! (yet dread all the must-do’s before hand and as per usual, packing is the worst part of travelling)

Namaste and Shantih,

Rudi Oka