Whoo hoo good moooorning!!! ☀️ Although I woke up at 1:30am and didn’t fall back asleep until 5:30am and then got up at 6:30am, the sleep I did get was lovely and it’s been a great morning so far!
I started the day with a warm lime water, then hopped on Karen’s bike with her and her dog Violet for a morning beach walk. It’s so cute that the dogs ride on the motorbikes here. The beach was super pretty in the morning light.
Back to the villa for a morning dragonfruit smoothie and coffee in the meditation cabana by the pool. It was delicious and very pretty
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I met Varney, the female Australian owner of the Retreats, then we all headed over to Desa Seni. She feeds the strays around, and one of the dogs hopped on the back of her bike just for a ride.
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Today’s yoga was 90 minutes of Mindful Vinyasa and a little more challenging. We started with a series of fire breaths, which can best be described as hyperventilating with your mouth closed into your stomach by flexing with every breath. It’s meant to warm you up and create power within you to fuel you through practice. We repeated it throughout the practice in different positions. I will feel my abs tomorrow for sure!
A breakfast of thick cold porridge with fresh fruit and a glass of turmeric, ginger, lime, honey and water was waiting for us when we got back.
Today’s spa treatment was a “cream bath” aka a hair mask with a head massage 🧖🏻♀️💆🏼♀️. It was at a spa called Think Pink that is very Western and pretty big. The woman used Macadamia which is a brand that I love but never buy because it’s expensive haha, but I guess it’s actually Balinese! She gave me the absolute best head massage I’ve ever gotten, and did my shoulders and arms too. The massages here are so good.
When she went to rinse my hair she gave it a thorough ass rinse and I was thinking oh boy it’s gonna be so tangy! (Curly hair needs moisture so I generally lighten rinse conditioner so there’s plenty left in my hair). Then she towel dried it (uh oh) and grabbed a pick and tried to brush it out from the top 😂 I could hear my hair ripping and I was like nope I’ll take it from here haha.
Back at the villa lunch was ready!
Salad with boiled quail eggs and protein balls made of quinoa spinach and feta. The dressing was ginger, olive oil, sesame oil, and some other stuff. It was amazing of course.
After lunch I lounged out aka sweat profusely for a bit and colored in my meditation coloring book ☺️
We were planning on going paddle boarding, but the heat and time got away from me and I assume Karen as well, because neither of us mentioned it! I got a nice leg and foot massage at the villa, then took in some air conditioning before meditation session with Karen in the cabana.
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Meditation Session (25 minutes) 🧘🏼♀️
Karen led me through Yoga Nidra, a “deep relaxation technique”. The intention is to tune in with your body. She had me lay down flat on my back, and walked me through being very aware of the sensations in my body. She told me many people fall asleep, but that the goal was to stay awake. Surprisingly, I had a VERY difficult time!
She first had me take in all the noises around me, and let my attention drift to whichever one came into focus without concentrating on one. There were a lot of sounds: cars, birds, wind in the trees, Karen’s voice, etc. All pleasant! Next she walked me through paying attention to the sensation of the cushion beneath me while calling out all my body parts from head to toe so I could be aware of them. The she told me to feel the wind, imagine cold, heat, pain, pleasure, weight and lightness.
I was fidgeting the whole time which I think annoyed her haha but my knee was feeling tight an painful, I was very sore from yoga and possibly dehydrated, I could feel little ants and mosquitos were on my skin, and the heat was making me a little sweaty. All of that plus the wind just made me so aware of all the discomfort in my body so I was trying hard to embrace it but I also just wanted it to end!
I also had a difficult time connecting my imagination to the present moment. For instance, when she was guiding me to feel cold, she would say “imagine you’re walking on a cold floor in winter without clothes on”, so my imagination would bring me to like standing outside in the snow and feeling the wind, but I wasn’t able to be present at the same time if that makes sense. I was getting frustrated but I kept trying.
I had maybe 3 moments where I actually did feel really great and peaceful, but once I noticed that I was feeling that way it would leave and I would be aware of all my discomfort again. Karen told me that all illnesses are a result from stress in the body, so practicing awareness and becoming in tune with yourself this way is a great stress reliever and also aids in sleep.
She did go as far as to say practices like this cure cancer and other serious illnesses which I’m not willing to fully take on board, but I definitely am willing to believe that it helps. It’s a fact that of people who are sick in the hospital or in a coma, those with frequent visitors and human contact heal and recover much more quickly than those without. I believe that meditation is an important and measurably effective tool for mental and physical health, so I’m happy to have a new technique, as frustrating and challenging as it was!
After meditation we had a yummy (of course) dinner with the owner Varney and her son. Kimchi tofu soup, coconut chicken salad with green dressing, and coconut meat filled dessert.
After dinner I hopped in a cab to Potato Head, a fancy beach/pool/dinner/bar club to meet Emir and his wife. We each had 3 drinks and just talked about life for about three hours before I started getting sleepy eyed and headed back to the villa to pass out!
Expenses:
- Hair Mask tip 20,000 rupiah ($1.41 USD)
- Massage 10,000 rupiah ($0.70 USD)
- Cab cost and tip 45,000 rupiah ($3.17 USD)
- Cab cost and tip 80,000 rupiah ($5.64 USD)
Emir was kind enough to insist on covering drinks and my chocolate dessert 😊🍮
I exchanged $100 USD to Indonesian Rupiah today. Apparently the exchange rate was quite poor, but also apparently typical on a Saturday. I think I remember spending the above amount correctly, and I already had 50,000 from USD change from something. I have 1,28,7000 Rupiah left which google conversion says is $90.72 USD so that makes sense 😁