Sesandan Kangin

I am currently at a yoga retreat in a remote part of Bali, surrounded by beautiful rice fields and palm trees. It is not quite what I expected as I thought I was staying in a local persons home. In fact I have my own room at the yoga centre, so it's a bit nicer than I expected! There are two other women here at the moment, a 51 year old Aussie and a 34 year American girl. Other people from local resorts come into our yoga classes as well.

I did not sleep on the train to get here overnight so I arrived exhausted and took an early night soon after dinner, but had time for a massage beforehand! There is not a lot to do in the evening anyway.

Next morning I woke up and realised it is my birthday! Obviously I knew it was coming, but when not with friends or family it could easily just pass by without being noticed. However I had told everyone here so I did receive some greetings. We had a yoga class and then went to a lovely waterfall and relaxed there for the morning. After lunch and the afternoon yoga class we were 'Trash Heroes', which is rubbish pickers. I thought it was quite funny I was basically doing community service on my birthday, but it was wholesome and felt good to be helping the locals look after their environment....just a shame they litter the place in the first place! The walk ended at a shop where we could buy beer, so the birthday 'celebrations' began. We had a few more beers with dinner and before dinner the staff blessed me for my birthday. I had to wear local clothes and they used a lotus flower dipped in water to put water on me and then bless me by sticking rice to the water. Meanwhile they were wishing good things for me . They presented me with a basket of blessings, including a boiled egg, some cooked rice, bananas, fruits and many different local made sweets. And they made a local drink which was coconut water with sugar, salt and chilli-surprisinglt good. They told me to eat it all, but considering I was about to have dinner I told them I couldn't. It was nice to see their way of doing things and to have had something special done for me.

One of the men who works here has a 4 year old son, his mother passed away 3 years ago and he has no grandparents. The little boy, Billy is craving love and tries to cuddle us all. His dad is great with him, but he obviously just wants a Mum. Last night I started playing with him and now he has taken a liking to me and sits on my knee and cuddles me all the time, it is very cute, but a little heartbreaking. Last night he fell asleep in my arms as I sang him a lullaby and then when his dad took him to bed he cried hysterically. I had to tell myself all kids cry when they get woken to go to bed.....shortly later when I went to the shop for more beer with his dad he was awake again and wanted to come with me, by my side the whole time. I have asked his dad if it is ok and he says it is fine. I suppose he is used to propel coming and going all the time.

The yoga here is a different style to my usual practice, it is more spiritual and involves some chanting to hindu gods. It is a very calming experience and fascinating to learn the traditional philosophy of it. I cannot say I believe in what it is supposed to do, but it certainly helps to get into a meditative state. The physical part of the classes involves a slightly different variation of the main series of poses that is used in all yoga- sun salutations, and we are also doing moon salutations. As well as that we have been holding poses, some of which are new to me. Although the classes are slower paced than I am used to I can feel in all of my muscles that I have been working hard, especially in my arms. It is a good feeling, especially after having such a lazy time recently. This place is just what I need!Lue lisää