Yoga in the West

http://www.findyoga.com.au/2009/03/yoga-in-west.html

Friends in Far Places

In early June Carole and I travelled to Jakarta to do a 2 day workshop. It was a quick trip for me with only 4 days away, so I left late on Sunday evening and flew to Denpasar to meet Carole and Rubiana who is one of our Bali friends.
It was great to see Rubiana again as I haven’t seen her since she was here visiting last year and we had plenty of time to catch up, our flight to Jakarta was delayed so we spent until 2.30am sitting and chatting in the airport. As the time passed we started to become a little anxious though realising our valuable sleep time before the workshop was whittling away. The workshop was due to start somewhere in Jakarta at 9.30am.
In keeping with a good travelling story, we arrived in Jakarta at 3.30am and then to find the hotel. Our driver sent by Riana the lovely teacher hosting the workshop took us to the area but then alas we could not find the hotel. Being my first trip to Jakarta it was interesting for me to see it at this hour. It was quiet with only a few people on the street cleaning, sweeping, taxi drivers chatting and only the occasional other car not at all what I had expected.
After several stops for directions we finally found our hotel and checked in… ughh it was very poor standard and smelt so bad of stale cigarettes and musty carpets. By now it was 5am and after several room changes looking for the elusive better room, well one where the door would close and the toilet worked anyway, we lay down for a few hours sleep.
Around 8am we checked out and headed for the yoga workshop, senior Iyengar teacher Faeq Biria was teaching I was so excited to be able to experience this and so close to home too. We arrived at the workshop with our bags in tow and one of the first people I met was Julia McDonald and her friend Nicole both expats living in Jakarta for many years. Julia when hearing of our story very generously offered to have us stay with her and from then everything changed. Staying with Julia and her family was very special and I felt blessed to be there.
We were embraced by not only Julia and Nicole but all the other students at the workshop. They had come from all over Indonesia for this special event and one of the first I met was Mariana from Sumatra we partnered together over the next few days and though her spoken English was a bit limited her love and dedication to yoga was clear.  I think the second thing she said to me after her name was that she just loved yoga so much. Over the two days the workshop was intense but my overall impression was one of unity and dedication from all these practitioners coming together to share in the practice and to honour Guruji’s teachings. Faeq’s antidotes and stories kept us laughing and as a group we came together regardless of our home country, language or background. The world seemed a much smaller place joined by the strong threads of friendship yoga creates. I met some wonderful people there and made some fabulous new friends. I cant wait to go again.

A Mt Bundy Experience

The day finally arrived after weeks of anticipation. The Mt Bundy retreat! I promised myself that I would finish work and get there early but I ended up running late as usual. The overflowing in-tray full of urgent jobs weighed heavily on my mind as I headed out the door and hit the road to Mt Bundy. I willed myself to let go and partly succeeded. I was eager to have a weekend of calm and contemplation instead of the usual chaos. I had read the program but wasn’t sure what the retreat was REALLY going to be like. My first thought was ‘Only two meals a day! I’ll starve.’ I was also concerned at the idea of trying to still my unquiet mind in regular bouts of meditation. Could I do it or would it be just too hard? There was only one way to find out.

I drove into Mt Bundy on Friday afternoon, excited but with an underlying sense of trepidation. This feeling receded with the warm welcome I received. Hands were willingly offered to help with the unpacking of the car and soon I joined the small group for our own yoga practice on the enclosed veranda overlooking the tranquil pond. This is where the anxiety levels rose again. What were we supposed to do? Carole was leaving us to do our own thing. “I’ll follow you”, said the woman next to me. Right….and I’ll look at the person on the other side of me!

This was the beginning of a journey into developing our own practice, finding out what we already knew and building a deeper understanding about the asanas, as well as delving into mediation and the bigger ‘yoga’ picture. It was also a weekend spent in the company of interesting people, of good food and conversation as well as time out with a book or in the pool for a swim. It was time away from ‘real life’, surrounded by what was supposed to be peace and quiet, but which was often gabbling geese and horses whinnying at the door.

For me the highlights of the weekend included an opportunity to try out some of the yoga props I hadn’t encountered in class as well as building a deeper knowledge of some of the yoga postures. I came away refreshed, calmer and ‘radiant’ (in the words of a colleague the next day), despite the aching muscles from an intensity of yoga practice I hadn’t experienced before. All in all, it was an enjoyable and illuminating few days.