The pics show a little about the month anusara training. There was a cafe that we used to hang out in on our breaks, pic of me receiving my certificate etc etc. Overall i had a wonderful time with such lovely people & teachers. Bridget & Ananada gave so much to the training & although it may not have always been exactly what everyone was expecting or wanting, everybody got alot out of it. The people on the course were from all walks of life, journalists, sports therapists, computer programer, yoga teachers etc etc & considering we spent so much intense time together everybody got on really well. I also admired 2 women who had come on the training both in their 60's, one had her 60 b.day in the first week of the training. Most of the rest of us were in our 30's. One of the girls had a fear of fireworks & thunder & lightening. She had to face her fear from the start as at the start of the course was a special day in Bali, as it was Neppi, the Balinese celebrate NY. They have a festival where they make huge demons & then parade them up & down the streets before burning them. See the pics in my previous post. On the day of Neppi, the whole island is supposed to observe silence, its a day of reflection on the previous year apparently. We were told that you were not allowed out onto the streets & so the island was quite for once without all the cars it seemed peaceful. We had a day off for us to mediate & do our own practice, the owner of my house came down to chat to me! I thought we had to be silent but he said it was a day to be with his family & friends, kind of like our Xmas i guess. The family who own the house are lovely, even though i didnt get much time to chat to them, usually i passed them on a morning as Maddy was putting out the offerings or i saw her in the afternoon when she was making the baskets for the offerings. Its amazing however everywhere you go in Bali you see the offerings, these are put out for all beings, they usually put a little rice & food, then some incense.
After the first week of lovely hot weather, it started to turn & then pretty much every afternoon we had thunder storms! It doesn't usually rain so much at this time of year apparently! This was actually a nice change at first but it pretty much kept raining every afternoon, usually when we were on our lunch break! It was nice swimming in the pool in the rain however!
Bali Spirit Festival
On our w.end off the Bali spirit festival was taking place, as I was not bothered about going off to the beach like some of the guys I asked to assist Bridget as she was teaching at the festi. I got to assist her on the Sat & Sun which was a wonderful experience. Bridget had between 80-100 people in her class & it was great been able to learn from her & assist people. It also meant we didn't have to pay the super expenie ticket price ($50 a day) into the festival! After the class on the sat a guy came upto me who had stayed at Yogagypsys in Goa & he recognised me, small yogic world!! At the festival I also got to go to a acro yoga class which i loved, deffo want to do more of that. The festi vibe was good although it could almost get a bit too yogic, you might almost want to rebel & go out for a glass of wine, haha Only kidding!
Friends, animals that lived in my little house!
During my month in my house, i spent the first few weeks on my own & then i had my friend Sue from the Ashram in India come & stay for a few days. It was then that i realised that something had been eating my underwear! I had wondered why i had found random crackers half eaten in draws & chocolate wrappers which were not mine in other draws & from then on I started to notice alot of sounds of something or things moving around in the bedroom. It must be little mouses, or something bigger! In one of the desk drawers i found some drops that looked alot bigger than mouse droppings but i tried not to think about it for the remainder of my time there!
Saved a toad!
One lunch break i came down to my house just in time to see a massive & i mean massive lizard in my garden with something in its mouth! Whatever it was I couldnt tell as it seemed to be half way down the lizards throat. The lizard or mini croc, obviously sensed that i was around & dropped whatever it was to the ground & scuttled off. It was only after a couple of minutes that the thing started to move & then I could see that it was a toad! It then came back to life & hopped away, it was amazing to watch. I saved a toad from been eaten by the lizard! Woohoo...
Final teaching assessment
To complete the course we were each put into groups of 3 & had to teach to the rest of the class, 20 people. We had a 30min slot each to teach, it was actually a really nice way to do the final assessment & decided that there was no time to worry about it & I would just try & enjoy it. Thankfully it went ok & the teachers liked my teaching, phew! It was so nice to teach again & I realise how much i love teaching & cant wait to teach again!
Visit to an childens home
Ananda one of our teachers, whose name means 'bliss' is just wonderful, such a lovely person with great energy & spirit! Anyway he lives in Bali part of the year & he sponsors a child at a childrens home, he arranged for us to visit the home & the kids put on a performance for us. It was v. funny as they sang & danced & made a story to Abba music! Bless them they were very sweet!
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