Bali. It's a Yoga World.

artisanforloveandpeace — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 15:46:00 GMT

Morning Yoga, Bali.

This is the view on my first morning in Bali. I’m sweeping the area where I’ll teach yoga for the guests and workers at the Jiwa Damai Retreat Center I’m calling home for the next two months. Mostly I’m sweeping up any little pieces of gecko poop that landed on the ivory tiles; the geckos like to hang out and scamper along the exposed wood beams in the ceiling during the night and, well, bombs away. Even if they are just a little less than a quarter inch bombs, no one will want to roll their yoga mat over them.

It’s 7:00 a.m. In 25 minutes I’ll hit a gong letting everyone in the area know yoga starts in five minutes. You know, I haven’t actually banged that big gong yet so I hope I do it right. It’s wonderfully quiet and peaceful here with just a few workers up and about so my bang is going to change things.

I’m barefoot, just wearing baggy shorts and t-shirt and feeling a bit groggy with the jet lag (it’s exactly 12 hours earlier back where I came from in New Hampshire, which means it’s the night of, bizarrely enough, last night). Sweeping, rehearsing my class, I’m wondering:

How did I get here?

Not in the sense of what airline. It was EVA. Boston-New York-Taipei-Denpasar. It was long but a new experience for me and therefore fascinating…even when I was seated in the “Hello Kitty” promotional section (Hello Kitty pillow, napkins, theme menu, etc. – you won’t get that on a U.S. domestic flight!).

I mean how did I get here in terms of at this point in life? I’ve been the family guy, raising kids and being a marketing worker for over thirty years. My wife passed way from kidney cancer eight years ago. My three children are now out and on their own. After practicing yoga since in my twenties I became an instructor just over two years ago. Last August I left my full-time marketing position to work a Wanderlust Yoga Festival in Canada and then see where yoga could take me around the world. It took me here. First stop – Bali!

Five minutes before 7:30 I inhale deeply and then aiming at the bullseye middle hit that gong three times. Bom! (Perfect, Dave, I tell myself…now wait a second before hitting again). Bom! (same wait, do it right dude). And now, finally, Bom! Later that morning I’m informed by the retreat center director that my effort knocked her out of bed and probably scared the children in the nearby village of Bindu, so will I please back off some next time?

However, my first day of yoga teaching in Bali goes well. Sure, this initial class has only other workers at the center participating, but they are from all over the world and in the coming days will become my good friends. I am happy and grateful!

I will return to this venue every morning while in Bali. Some days no one will show up and I will do my practice alone. But on other days I have participants from South Africa, the Netherlands, France, Singapore, Australia, Spain and other wonderful places. I put on a class for writers from Yoga Times, and on another day over 20 amazing people here for their own yoga teacher training. Everyday different, but everyday I learn more about yoga, about the world, and me.

I will continue to live a yoga inspired life that leads me around the world, and I will write about it regularly in this blog. My focus will be on the following: TRAVEL ART FOOD PEOPLE LOVE PEACE ADVENTURE FUN. Thank you for stopping in.

Welcome to Spain!

artisanforloveandpeace — Mon, 10 Apr 2017 17:57:00 GMT

My flight to Spain went unbelievably quick. Departed in a NYC darkening spring dusk and was walking through a just waking up Barcelona-El Prat Airport before 7:00 a.m. the next morning. Now all I had to do was follow my instructions - bus, train, another bus and then a ten minute walk through vineyards - to get to the Anima Mundi retreat center one hour outside the city.

The first bus speeds past my stop - Plaça d'Espanya - where I wanted to catch Train R5 to Manresa Alta at the underground station. That's okay, because I see we're now on the Gran Via. As fate would have it, last night on the plane I was reading Adam Hochschild's great book, "Spain in Our Hearts" about Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-39. In it Hochschild describes Barcelona including the Gran Via so vividly that I decide quickly to let this bus go about almost a mile down Gran Via before jumping off. I turn around and gratefully enjoy the early morning stroll on this historic street back to Plaça d'Espanya. Just got here and I'm walking the Gran Via already!

I make it back to Plaça d'Espanya, take a street elevator down to the station and find out that the R5 leaves in an hour. Not wanting to waste the time down there, I head back up to the street and walk around in the sunshine. It's still early. People are rushing off to their jobs. School buses drop off throngs of energetic kids. This is also the location of the two Venetian Towers and the National Art Museum of Catalonia (Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya). This is also where Barcelona used to provide public hangings. Used to, I'm happy to report.

The second bus of the day takes me to Canet de Fals. A couple of extremely kind women on the bus show me where to get off. One lady, because this is her stop also, even leads me down the street. We pass her house. How do I know it's her house? Because she throws the bag of dog food she's carrying over the gate without missing a step. We walk together another 50 yards or so during which she talks non-stop and keeps pointing to the right.

"El camino, si?"

"Si," I reply. I used to want to drive an El Camino car when I was younger, so that's how I understand the right way. "Muchas gracias," I tell her with my best smile because I want her to know I really mean it. Relieved, and reasonably sure I now have a fair chance of getting where I need to go, she sighs happily and returns to her dog food.

The houses of Canet de Fals stop and farmland immediately takes over. I'm walking in rural quiet now - only the wind and an occasional bird to hear - and the road turns from asphalt to dusty red dirt and gravel. I love the smell. It reminds me of the agriculture parts of northern Wisconsin. Vineyards commence in perfect rows rolling up against hills.

Soon Anima Mundi comes into view. Above it, in the distance I see the snowcapped Pyrenees, the border between Spain and France.

Anima Mundi is a recently renovated, medieval castle quietly sitting in the middle of nature, now serving as a retreat center with yoga classes and therapies. I walk by some of the local livestock who show me their horns and then go back to grazing, which is a good thing. The castle has its origins somewhere around the year 1200 and has most recently served as a winery. I'm here to lead yoga classes and help in the kitchen for the next few weeks.

Let's have a look around!

I wonder if they left a couple cases of wine down there back in the day? I might have to check.

I have one day on my own until the first retreat guests arrive. In the late afternoon I walk back to Canet de Fals. It's a very quiet time of day. I see almost ten cyclists dressed as if ready for the Tour d'France. There are more guys on road bikes than in cars.

House after house, nothing more, I'm just about ready to turn around and head back to the castle when I see a restaurant. Lunch is over, the place is empty. The woman in charge tells me her kitchen is closed, but finds me a table and cleans it. She puts a beer and a dish of olives down. Maybe I can get you a little snack, too, she says. A few minutes later she returns with this:

My kind of snack. We're vegetarian for yoga retreats at Anima Mundi, but I like getting to know my new neighborhood!