Ayurveda and Yoga One World Retreats Bali – day 1 and 2
During my month in Bali I not only attended a 10-day raw vegan and detox course, but then also an Ayurveda and Yoga One World Retreats at the Kumara resort. It was a completely different experience I’d like to tell you more about now.
Here’s my thoughts on our day 1 and day 2 schedule.
Day 1
It was a relaxing afternoon waiting for everyone to check in into our beautiful rooms. Then we could start off the week with saying something about each of us and an opening ceremony all together sitting in a circle at the yoga hall, sharing more about us and our intentions for the upcoming retreat.
To finish it we sang OM three times and then had flower offerings with an incense stick to Ganesha.
The ceremony was very grounding and I really felt like a brand new person afterwards. Very fresh and light.
Dinner: 1 liter of water plus 2 seeds of anise – great for detox. No ice cold water as it dilutes the digestive fluids and according to Ayurveda cold drinks and cold meals are not good.
With every meal during our week retreat we were going to get different detox water.
Coriander, vertiver and fennel detox tea after dinner to digest the toxins and get rid of them.
During the retreat we used different herbs to soften the body, and massages to prepare body for detox day we would have on the fifth day.
I have to say not only food made me happy but also a different saying each day in my very comfy bungalow.
Day 2
They woke us all up ringing a bell in front of our rooms. It was a super nice moment when the bell was further away but not right outside of my bungalow door 🙂
Ritual
We both started and finished the morning ritual with a simple Pranayama technique of alternate nostril breathing guided by our Ayurvedic Dr. Aparna. Then the MahamrityunjayaHoma Mantra ritual to gain victory over death, negative emotions, feelings and sensations for us, friends/family. After each mantra we threw rice into the holy fire as an act of letting go of what we do not need any more. I am such a fan of all these spiritual rituals, you have no idea.
Yoga
Our first day was dedicated to the Earth element so we were asked to be aware of our body movements as the Earth element is what is responsible for our substance, our body flesh.
”Let the breath be married with the movement.” yoga teacher Wayan said wisely.
I have to admit I was a bit worried about yoga classes as I am really not a morning person and I am super slow in the morning. But Wayan started with a slow and easy yoga as it was our first class and some people were beginners (I consider myself a yoga beginner, too, even though I have been practicing yoga since May 2012.)
I was fully present listening to each Wayan’s word and moving peacefully following my breath. We did a couple of Sun salutations, twists and Savasana. Wayan and Iyan were both walking around the class room adjusting us which I always miss when practicing yoga on my own.
Breakfast
Drinks: Bell pepper, celery, coconut water and cucumber smoothie + ginger tea.
Meals: Fruit plate and different kinds of muesli, also gluten-free muesli, soy milk, yoghurt, flax seeds.
Ayurvedic breakfast salad with loads of bell pepper which is full of good antioxidants. Also corn, white sesame seeds, mushrooms, zucchini and carrots (not something I usually have for breakfast but I did taste.)
I also tried gluten-free muesli with soy milk after ages as I usually just eat fruit/smoothies/juices for breakfast. It was good for a change.
Ayurveda lesson
Ayurveda basics:
personalised medicine = we are all special and unique
genomics – 3 Prakriti body mind type (so called doshas – vata, pitta, kapha) = because we all have different combination of genes (we have different genes in us so it’s not really about how we were raised but born)
more than 16 specialities at present (surgery, general, etc. as in modern science for different diseases)
8 branches of Ayurveda
Ayurveda textbooks come from 2 century BC
Sushruta – father of surgery and guru of Ayurveda
first brain surgery was done by Jivaka
Charaka – bible of Ayurveda, well-known physician
Nimi – performed cataract surgery
Aim of Ayurveda:
protection and prevention of health
curing diseases
Listen to my tummy (digestive fire) but not my tongue (taste.) I eat for my belly.
Healthy digestive fire keeps me healthy.
Imbalance in digestive fire leads to disease – you get AMA toxic by products (toxins) which clog the energetic and physical channels and tissues. It also slows down the mind and makes it lethargic.
Stop eating when you are full already.
The more you stop listening to your body, the less instructions it gives you.
put on weight, lethargy, congestion, water retention, slow digestion, allergies, sinus problems, depression, food sensitivity, asthma
Different seasons have different effects on our body (so we should eat different food in each season.)
There’s 3 types of psychic/spiritual energies (tri gunas) in our body:
– 60% sattva (positive energy is predominant, fresh, wise, joy, calm, happy, good clarity of mind, pure light around people)
– 30% rajas (activity, ambitious, egoistic, aggressive, proud, creative, effective solutions, competitive, tendency to control others, work hard, perfectionist, suffer from a fear of failure, angry, jealous, hyper-active in the level of mind)
We need all the three energies to have a good existence. You need sattva to get solutions, to implement them we need rajas and then tamas to bring the activities to an end when the problem has been solved.
How to balance the three energies? From:
food
exercise
Dr. Aparna advised us that during the retreat we were having mostly sattvic food, some rajastic food and less tamas food.
Daily rituals – Dinacharya
= celebrate my life every day
Ayurveda says that everything in life has rhythm.
food habits, wrong body posture, disturbed biological clock (behind the 6th chakra – pineal gland) and physical inactivity cause imbalance and illness
Vata: 2am – 6am (spiritual exercise, meditation, going to toilet at night, more hormones, also heart attack and stroke when someone even dies when sleeping; 4am many babies are born as the motion principle is active because of vata)
Kapha: 6am – 10am (lethargic, sleepy, lazy) do exercise to balance the kapha, to burn calories, to lose weight; 8am best time for love)
Pitta: 10am – 2pm (digestion, lunch, the heaviest meal of the day, follow plans and tasks, strategies, marketing, meetings)
Vata: 2pm – 6pm (active mind, creative ideas, advertising, write something; e.g. 2pm good for dentists or surgery as body feels less pain)
Kapha: 6pm – 10pm (highest blood pressure is at 6pm, highest body temperature is at 7pm, = family and friends time, more loving and caring)
Pitta: 10pm – 2am (process food and thoughts, sleep is important, liver slows down at this time so no work; the Moon is active so I assimilate my thoughts and food)
Night rituals –Ratricharya
Seasonal rituals –Ritucharya
My body experiences all seasons every day:
spring 6am – 10am muscles get stronger
summer 10am – 2pm digestion is stronger
winter 2pm – 6pm nervous system activates
spring 6pm – 10pm metabolism lowers for sleep
summer 10pm – 2am liver is activated for cleansing so we need to leep
winter 2am – 6am stress hormone cortisol increases so we need to meditate to calm it down
According to Ayurveda, raw vegan is good for kapha people, but not for vata people as they cannot digest it properly.
Pitta should avoid spicy food, garlic, chilli and everything that makes me even more hot.
Free time
After the Ayurvedic lesson, we had some free time to relax.
I felt very calm and peaceful and most of all grounded, not being able to think much, not wanting to move much but just enjoy the present moment. So I walked around looking at the plants and flowers, and chasing a butterfly. Also took some photos and did a daily 20-minute meditation.
I decided to listen to my energy levels and take it easy if that’s what body was asking for. Then I had a young coconut (so using my last days in the tropics before going back to Europe.)
Restorative yoga
After lunch when I just said I don’t like to have a boss and Dr. Aparna laughed “oh, you are very pitta”, we had a restorative yoga class.
So perfect for me! To be honest, it’s my favorite kind of yoga. What is better than listening to the sounds of nature and animals with the Sun setting down behind the forest? We used chairs a lot to relax the legs and feet and to do twists.
We finished the class with a Savasana – focus first on your right side of the body from toes to shoulder, then left, then bottom back, then front, then head. Wayan sang to us a slow song and hit the gong. Then we did seated meditation Japa repeating SO HAM mantra which means “I am here. I am.”
The more yoga you do, the better you understand yourself. The same goes with Ayurveda.
I am eternally grateful for being able to participate at one of the One World Retreats at Kumara resort, the first one about Ayurveda. Everyone there was super nice and I had an incredible time. You can also check their new resort outside of Ubud and new website Oneworldayurveda.
Alex is a crazy Slovak girl who made traveling the reason of her life. In March 2011 she quit her stewardess job and hasn't stopped ever since. Her motto is ''I live to travel, I travel to live.'' She writes about crazy travel, fun adventures and sexy photos.
After years on the road and health courses around the world, as a certified Fitness Nutrition Coach I finally found out how to be fit (not only) when traveling.
I tried almost anything out there to get rid of some diseases that seem to be normal in our society but definitely are not ok when you lead a healthy life.
Plus, more than 60 world travelers share their best secrets about how they stay fit when traveling.
Alex is a crazy Slovak girl who made traveling the reason of her life. In 2010 she quit her stewardess job and hasn't stopped traveling ever since. Her motto is ''I live to travel, I travel to live.'' She writes about crazy travel, fun adventures and sexy photos. Alex is also a raw vegan specialist, fitness health coach and yoga teacher.
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