Expanding Expectations

The last time I came to Ubud I stayed a little outside the center in the most wonderful hotel. This time I wanted to be close to the yoga studio, so I’m in a guest house very close to Ubud market. I was nervous about staying so close to the main street—because it’s really busy and crowded with foot and road traffic—but the house is actually tucked away from the craziness of the center. I’ve been waking up each morning to the sounds of roosters crowing down the street. Then I step out onto the patio to enjoy a breakfast of what has been pancakes every day so far and might continue to be pancakes every day that I’m here.

There is a lot more to Ubud than meets the eye. The obvious place to start is the main road where you can find the market, Ubud Palace, and the Saraswati temple. But if those are your only tastes of the city, you might leave underwhelmed. The magic is out in the rice fields with views of volcanoes and banana trees. And in the little side streets with local people living their regular lives, nearby waterfalls, Indonesian warungs (restaurants), and healthy new-age healing spots.

Simply being in Bali is healing on its own. However, during this visit I’m also opening up to trying some “out-there” healing methods. After the workshop on day one, I stayed for the next class on “Deep Psoas Release Exercises” and spent the hour and a half fatiguing my hip flexors to then allow them to shake uncontrollably in order to release whatever needed to be released in there. It was astonishing to feel how much they would shake and how the shaking would travel through my body—into the back of the legs and all the way up into the abdomen. The teacher was a mystical woman who had a safe and calming energy. When I saw that she was leading a “Breath Work Trauma Release” class the next day, I decided to return… to be continued…