Your yoga teacher is right…

“Your yoga teacher is right… We can’t be fulfilled if we don’t grow and we can’t grow if we don’t step outside of our comfort zone”. Pia’s thoughts on adjusting to life in Bali 🙂

This week Marcus’ class went to Green School’s Mepantigan for the first time. The Mepantingan is a mud pit that provides a traditional Balinese environment for the practice of marital arts.  Jeff and I tagged along to see what it was all about. We thought that the kids were just going to roll in the mud and throw mud at each other but how little did we know… We were instead delighted with yet another incredible learning experience unfolding in front of us. The kids were first welcomed in the Yoga Studio by two Balinese young men who introduced them to traditional Balinese Martial Arts. After an initial warm up, the kids learned salutation, basic steps for defense and offense, sportsmanship and etiquette with great focus, enthusiasm and fantastic sense of humor. Once the ideas were more clear, the kids were ready to move to the mud pit to practice all the things they had learned. The emotions were intense: half excited, half scared, they all went in to practice and support each other in this very unusual and foreign experience. They jumped, they balanced, they wrestled, they fell and stood back up, they yelled, they listened, they felt empowered and they were happily cover in mud!

Meanwhile, we have been enjoying our temporary beach neighborhood in Pererenan. We went for a walk around our house in hopes that we would find our local farmer’s market, and we did! On our way we walked beside the rice fields outside our door, that are already turning a pretty yellow as the rice “ripens” while approaching the end of its cycle. We cut across the cow pasture, said hello to the cows and enjoyed watching the calves feeding from their mom. We balanced on the rickety “bridge” (for lack of a better word) to cross the river. We meandered past the temple and made friends with the farmer harvesting the rice who gave us a quick lesson on how to use the sickle. We practiced our Bahasa Indonesia (primary language spoken in Indonesia) and wished a nice day to the villagers that crossed our path. We bought beautiful local produce with very few words and very big smiles. We made fans out of giant leafs (it is getting hotter as rainy season approaches!) and we enjoyed an unrehearsed blessing ceremony from our kids. We relished on Nasi Campur and Mie Goreng (delicious traditional Balinese dishes) at a simple family warung and were gifted with permission to pick mangoes from their tree…

It has been a fulfilling week with many challenging moments for all of us. I write these words while I seat in front of the ocean, on a beautiful Sunday evening, and I reflect on the week we had. I feel serene and at peace, calmly proud of our kids and our family, and appreciative for the present. Life is good because every day we grow some and everything else is a huge extra bonus.