Getting Back To Practicing Yoga In Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Getting Back To Practicing Yoga In Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
We came to Ubud with one intention, to start doing yoga again.
My hope is to develop a daily practice, that we can continue doing everywhere we go.
The biggest hindrance to keeping a good healthy routine for us, has been our constant travels.
In some cities we couldn’t find places to run, in other places we had nothing to eat but fish, rice and coconut milk, and in some cases, like walking all day in a pilgrimage, we barely had time or energy to do much more than take a hot bath or a shower, eat and go to sleep.
While a life full of travels is great for our souls and spiritual growth, it is really hard for us to establish and keep good habits for long.
The first thing we did after we arrived back in Ubud was to check out the yoga studio down our street.
It is a big yoga center called “Radiantly Alive,” and beside the fabulous name, I figured that if it is convenient for us to get to, we will be less likely to chicken out and quit, when we start to feel achy.
We got the daily schedule of the classes that were being offered for the week, and checked out the cafe, books and yoga gear that they had for sale.
Everyone looked so radiantly alive, healthy and fit….. will we look as fit as them after about a thousand hours of training?….. only time will tell….
Then, we walked around the streets of Ubud and looked at the different kinds of yoga mats to buy.
Even though all yoga studios offer free use of their yoga mats for their students, thousands of sweaty bodies with not so clean feet, leave their permanent smell on the spongy yoga mats.
Having our own yoga mats is essential for hygiene and health.
We did realize that buying more yoga mats meant that we will be adding more weight to our exponentially expanding luggage.
We have bought so many irresistible things on this long journey….
The next day we dressed up in our yoga clothes and made our way to the studio.
It was a packed class and everyone looked so strong and flexible, rising up to handstands without any effort and bending backwards like acrobats.
Vinyasa yoga was the most common form of yoga on offer.
Vinyasa is a bit intense for people who are just getting back to practice, or for beginners.
Vinyasa is dynamic and you move from one Asana to the next with a quick flow and without many breaks.
Some teachers make you hold a posture for a long time, in order to develop both flexibility and muscle strength.
Vinyasa is very different from Hatha Yoga, which is the most common form of yoga practiced in India.
Hatha yoga is traditionally a slower-moving class, where you hold each pose for a few inhale and exhale breaths, while maintaining a focus on improving your posture and flexibility.
Some of the yoga classes were not purely physical.
Some involved Tibetan emotional release, breath-work, healing sound and Tibetan singing bowls, as well as chanting and meditation.
We only had a week in Ubud, so I vowed to return and spend more time sampling all the different classes.
After a few days of taking yoga classes daily, and eating healthy vegan food in many of Ubud’s fabulous vegan restaurants, I started to wonder…….
Why am I not consistent in doing all the things that are good for me, the way I am doing it now?
Why do I keep doing things that deplete me or make me unhappy?
And the most important question is:
Can I finally stop doing the things that deplete me and start doing ONLY the things that make me happy, make me feel healthy and vibrantly alive, that enhance my life and invigorate my being?
You might ask what am I doing that depletes me?
Like all people, I keep doing little things like overeating, which leaves me too full and feeling lethargic.
Not prioritizing daily my health routine like swimming, running or doing yoga.
Like skipping my Course In Miracles daily lessons or my daily meditation when I am busy in the mornings, and not picking it up again in the evenings and instead watching Netflix.
And the biggest thing is that I have a tendency to feel sad when my family or friends are hurting or sad, even though I have no reason in my own personal experience, to be sad myself.
Life is such a blessing!
We were given everything, and all powers to experience anything we want.
But instead of celebrating our lives and living in pure bliss, we live in fear of loss, we experience sadness when our loved ones are sad, and we feel discontented.
One of the practices in yoga release is to release all karmic ties that you have with others, so you can truly move towards enlightenment and bliss.
This practice is important, because in reality, ALL beings are your family.
You have been incarnating here many thousands of times, and you have been a mother, sister, father, brother, child, grandmother to tens of thousands of people who walked the earth and whose descendants you are related to.
This is why releasing our emotional dependency and unhealthy karmic connection with others is so important for our growth.
We need to become free of emotional burdens that cause us distress.
A way to do that is to close your eyes, visualize the person with whom you have unhealthy emotional ties, and to quietly say to them:
I see you
I honor you
I forgive you
I Thank you
I take back my power
I got this!
I own it now!
With love and stretching,
Tali
