Bali Abundance

Bali is beautiful. It was blissfully and almost painfully abundant. I arrived completely worked. My partner and I had just finished a 3-week travel expedition to Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet as part of our Away Inward Royal Asia Tour. And when I landed in Bali I was royally fucked, in the best of ways, of course.

My lover and I run a global travel and retreat company ALL BY OURSLEVES. It is a labor of love because we see the results in our clients. It changes people’s lives. So I take the good with the bad. Believe me, after 3 weeks of traveling with anyone tensions will raise and that is where the growth is. So I digest it and chuck it up to experience. Normally our clients remain angels in our eyes. They have their moments as we all do but what really gets me is my interpersonal relationship with my significant other, my lover and partner in business, life and travel.

Of course everyone knows it is not easy to run a business with your lover nor is it easy to travel with your lover but somehow my lover and I choose to do both! And I truly believe I am better for it. I can guarantee that our “stuff” will come up, and after 3 weeks hosting our retreat to South East Asia I was fried. But Bali, Oh Bali, she brought me back to life.

By the time I left I was recharged. It only took 6 days (I am good at recharging). Within the first couple days I was already feeling lighter and freer and ready to take on the world again. I am always humbled by our Away Inward retreats and the magic that happens with our guests. Yet in those moments with them I am really there for them. Yes, I have revelations, experiences and my own work and process but there is nothing like time for oneself, which is what I provide for my clients and what I gave myself in Bali.

When I had 6 days to unwind in BALI I was serious about unwinding, relaxing and enjoying myself. We hired a driver and hit a few tourist spots to include a beautiful lake, a volcano and a magical temple. The temples in Bali are the most ornate I have seen as the architecture itself is quiet elaborate. We made our way to Amed from Ubud and jumped in the ocean for an amazing diving expedition that brought us to an underwater shipwreck from WWII. That was fun, refreshing and took a layer of stress right of our backs. Freedom was beginning to sink in as we dove deeper and deeper under water. We enjoyed a small sandy beach with a fresh coconut and a few amazing dinners at sunset. We know how to work and enjoy life. It is our personal practice to make it all flow in harmony.

Ubud itself is a yogi’s playground. There are people from all over the world being as beautiful and spiritual as they can and doing it in the most authentic way possible; like they mean it. We stayed at our friends new retreat center called Dragonfly village, a beautiful yoga sanctuary in the center of the rice fields 3 years in the making. They hosted a “Sauna Party” and the coolest people on the island showed up without a stitch of marketing or publicity, only word of mouth (which is the best publicity).

The days were too short as we drove around on our scooter meeting friends and doing fun stuff. I met Robin Lim, owner of Bumi Sehat Birthing Center, after years of drooling over how amazing she is and what a gift to society she is and how I would love to study under her tutelage. She extended me a warm welcome with an energy and grace like no other. I immediately fell in love. She invited me to their pre-natal yoga class, which I attended. It was the sweetest thing ever.  

Of course we explored the uber touristy Monkey Forest. It was full of Chinese, Russians and Brits and why not! Those monkeys were the cutest things I’ve seen since my nieces at Christmas. My man had a bundle of bananas and started to feed them. One jumped on his shoulder and ate it. He was cute enough but as soon as Ryan went touch him the monkey BIT HIM. Yep. Don’t touch the wild things.

We also did a whole bunch of nothing. Lazing around enjoying the space and solitude. A dip in the pool here, a yoga video there, a few meetings, casual conversations, lots of yoga and there you have it, a perfect week of restoration in Bali. It touched me so deeply and I feel in love so completely that I have rearranged my plans to return in March when it is high season and the Spirit fest is in full bloom. There are some great opportunities there before I fly to Europe for the Spring.

Thank you Bali for catching me when I needed it, for refueling this travel Shakti machine and reminding me what play time is all about. 

Keep your eye open for an Away Inward Retreat to Bali in 2015. You have to come with me!

(Isn’t she the cutest thing!?)

Nianna BrayComment