The 13th Bald man
Story of learning Yoga in Bali
Before I forget all the memories of one of the most beautiful experiences I had to write about it and posting about it on International Yoga Day just gave me the push. So here’s the story of learning Yoga in Bali 🙂. Eat Pray Love, Hari Om Tat Sat!
Making up my mind to learn about Yoga
I had been practising yoga off & on and having a cult fit studio in the same building as my office played such a massive role in my getting better at it. I’d reach the gym early in the morning, do a strength training or a yoga class, take a shower and then head to work. Open the office, be ready and enjoy my work day.
As I got deeper into training my body, my trainer who I had gone to in Kodai(Khushi and Prahlad) told me that I should just go to Bali and spend some time without letting in any further justification. When I decided to take a break from work I thought why not, just act upon it? It instantly made me feel like Julia Roberts from Eat Pray Love and that grand feeling was too good to pass up on!
The thought of becoming a Yoga teacher was joyous and I wanted to deepen my practice at the very least. I wasn’t really sure if I’d make a good teacher or not but I took the leap.
Also, Over time the meaning of travel changed for me. I wanted to spend more and more time at a particular place than just jump places and cover them. So I thought I’d spend ~a month learning Yoga and another month travelling and staying in Bali.
Reaching Bali and choosing a Yoga studio
And I was there in Bali! I had shortlisted a couple of schools that were recommended by my trainers. But upon visiting them I found them extremely commercial, super expensive and unconvincing. There was something icky that I cannot point to.
So, I began looking for schools near my hostel on Google Maps. I found a bunch of schools and messaged everyone asking to come visit. Sandy, the teacher at Soul Yoga replied that there was a course starting in 3 days, but it was full as he only took 12 students. He kindly invited me to a free class the next morning though. And I took up that offer!
It was raining extremely heavily in the morning, and for a brief moment I felt like sleeping in but I somehow managed to get up and booked a grab. Even the Grab taxi showed up in the rain, so I ended up going to Soul Yoga to attend the free class!
It was hard at first to find the studio. There was a very narrow road which just finished and the car could not go any further. I walked around 50m to an amazing, picturesque view of the rice fields with beautiful houses that felt like a dream! I had to walk 5 more minutes to reach the most beautiful yoga studio I had ever seen. I knew I had to be there!
I attended the class, it was pretty intense, and I barely made it through the class! I asked Sandy again if he could accommodate a 13th person. He still said no and again offered to stay for the next class.
The next class was 'Inside Flow'. It is almost like dancing! to a song but in fluid yogic poses and sequences. What a nightmare! I am the suckiest dancer I know, and it was hard for me to follow the sequence anyway, but following the sequence with the beats was just too hard. I tried and kept on trying and failing for the next 1 hour. But still had a lot of fun :)
Before leaving the studio, I asked Sandy again if I could join the course to which he said he'd think about it. And I was like, maybe he has changed his mind 😛
Come evening he texted that he'd be willing to accept me to the course and that I should come for the opening ceremony the next day! Maybe just showing up and having a positive intent helped :) Also, I strongly believe in Serendipity!
Routine and the program structure
The program was beautifully structured and here is how it went.
6:30 am: Morning meditation- The meditation class began, with Sandy teaching breathing techniques and slowly moving to Pranayama. Slowly we began to teach each other what we had learned about it.
7:30 am: A 90-minute Asana practice where other people who had not enrolled in the program also came. It was a packed house and all the more fun! Every day was unique. Some days we practised Hatha, and sometimes we played around with the props.
9:00 am: Breakfast time! Julia, a chirpy, bubbly chef from around the corner used to get us the most amazing mix of Balinese breakfast. Everyone waited for Julia to come! And what a spread it was!
10:30 am: Theory classes where we covered topics around Yoga philosophy or the human body, essential oils, and a lot more interesting topics.
12 pm: Asana lab. This was the most interesting time of the day. We picked 4-5 Asanas and broke it down slowly. I learned how to do it correctly, what the correct posture was and how to scale up or scale down. This was full of learning and demonstration right then and there. Once we were clear, we practised in pairs and helped each other pretending to be students while the other one assumed the role of the teacher. It was super fun! The awkwardness and the goofiness brought all giggles.
2 pm: Lunch. Julia (not Roberts :P) came in once again with another edition of her damn tasty food. I realised that the food was amazing because she loved cooking and then seeing the look of awe on people's faces.
3:30 pm - Another Asana class/ Yoga Nidra. As the course progressed, we started getting deeper into the asana practice and yoga nidra as well
5:00 pm - From day 1 itself the last 90 minutes were dedicated to teaching. It was super scary at first. So, we randomly paired up again and got a sequence to teach each other. At that time, I realized how hard teaching was and the effort it takes to have command over your speech to impart clear-cut instructions!
6:30 pm- The Day ended and I took my beautiful yellow scooter, the Yamaha Nmax for a spin around the city, had dinner and headed back to my Airbnb
The Food
This deserves a separate section just because of the sheer variety, the way it looked and the amount of love with which it was cooked. Pictures below!
The teachers
The most important aspect of learning Yoga or anything for that matter is the teacher who you learn it from. One of the questions I repeatedly get asked is why I, being an Indian, go to Bali to learn Yoga. It does not matter if it is India or Bali or any place else, my gut told me that this was a genuine guy who I was about to learn from. (And of course Julia Roberts effect)
Sandy and Sera made a beautiful team. Sandy is a humble Indonesian man and instantly you gather that he has so much humility and is doing this because he actually loves teaching! Opening up their home to people (the studio and the home are the same) and creating such a beautiful thing seems inspiring but the struggle is real as well. He had been teaching at multiple yoga studios, playing the DJ around the town, and generally hustling a lot. It took a lot of years to finally open their studio.
I think it was Sera who made him take the leap. She had a lovely energy about her and a unique style, especially when she took the inside flow classes and felt like she was in a flow state. Over the course, she'd share her journey how she had become a yoga teacher and how she had overcome the underconfidence of speaking English and how hard the journey had been.
The 13th and the 12 gorgeous girls
Sharing the studio, and the space for 21 days with 12 gorgeous girls was a first of course for me. It took some time to get comfortable with everyone but soon there was familiarity, getting to know each other slightly better, partnering up and sharing the awkward goofy moments while teaching and learning the Sanskrit names of the asanas.
Being in the vicinity of feminine energy was new and I actually enjoyed seeing the days unfold and forming bonds with each one of them. It was so strange to imagine what a coincidence it had been that I was meeting these fellow ladies, each one with their own fascinating personalities from a totally different part of the world.
Fear and Teaching
It is hard to teach! To build that confidence and train yourself to speak the correct thing at the correct moment, improvise and decide which asana to teach next. Sometimes I’d be goofing up b/w left and right and forgetting what to say next and just letting everyone stuck in an asana.
Deciding the sequence of asanas takes ample creativity which I had no idea about. It involves caring for your students and helping them out, gauging the energy of the class, being gentle and then sometimes pushing them all at once!
But from day 1 itself, Sandy had focused on teaching. You had to start teaching from day 1! Verbalising and getting familiar with the vocabulary and believing that you are the teacher. And of course, there was a drastic improvement over the three weeks 🙂
Fun Stories
The cats
The studio was also home to 5 cats! Mocha, Choco, Latte, and 2 other names which I am forgetting. They’d show up while you were doing some really bendy poses and stick around to get some attention.
Casava chips
It must be some evil mastermind who has crafted these Casava chips! One of the munchiest and the most addictive snacks I have ever had. Sera got a huge stock of these chips from Korea and they would just vanish when we would be in a theory class.
The Yamaha Nmax!
It sent me back to the Dhoom days and the school days when the Yellow Karizma had just come out. Oh, what a rage it was! There is something about riding a two-wheeler for me that I find it extremely liberating. To have the fresh wind in your bald head at times and ride it through the fields is something I can go back to if I close my eyes and imagine.
The Most Beautiful Rainbow
Deep into an Asana Lab, One fine day I saw the complete Rainbow. Not a sliver but a complete arch that we’d draw as kids in our drawing books. A complete arch!
Nuggets of happiness
There are so many more short and sweet memories - the pole dancing, the water ceremonies at the temple, random conversations, and goofing up while teaching. Terribly fun memories :)
Closing thoughts
Writing about the experience and experiencing it again put a smile on my face!
I got to understand that Yoga is beyond the Asanas that we do. It is more of a lifestyle that you choose to adopt and not a stretching exercise that you do.
Something happens as you continuously practice it. There is a change in the relationship with pain. There is a sweet pain that you accept and just go a little deeper into your pose while relaxing into it. It’s one of the most amazing feelings.
Experiencing all that has made me realise what a hard thing teaching Yoga is and there is so much respect for people who teach. Although I haven’t been able to dive into teaching myself but certainly expanded my understanding of it. Right now it’s the fittest I have been, the most flexible, and ventured deeper into Yoga Nidra which is so relaxing in itself!
Thank you for reading and you can see me jumping with joy at my graduation ceremony. (A lot of people cried when it finished!)
What a beautiful story ❤️🤗
I smiled while reading your writing piyush,. Such a beautiful memory for me too 🥰🥰