Hi everyone,
It’s been a little while! I hope you are well.
I’m writing to let you know about little retreats I’m holding with Jiwa in the hills of Pemuteran in both May (10-13) and September (19-22) this year.
It’s stripped back and elemental, nothing too fancy, given the state of the world.
If you happened to be planning a trip to Bali around this time, you might like to squeeze it in?
It’s a three-day/three-night affair at Jeda Yoga Retreats Center, owned by Nico, who some of you might know — he has practised at Jiwa for many years.
Jeda comprises three airy villas, each with their own pool and tempting deckchairs, usually fringed by frangipani trees and bougainvillea, sometimes visited by the tiniest of birds who bath on their infinity edge.
At the bottom of the Jeda garden lies a proper hot yoga studio that fits about 24 mats or so, perfect for a morning 60-minute Bikram class (60-minute for May, let’s see about September). Up the hill a little there’s a new open-air shala, stocked with all the props we need for a 75-minute sunset yin class each evening. I’ll teach the classes, Geoff will teach a Bikram or two as well. You can come to all, some, or even none.
The retreat includes three vegetarian meals each day (vegan/gluten-free available on request ahead of time). I spent a week at Jeda in February on retreat here myself, and the food, served buffet-style and themed across Balinese, Italian, Mexican, Japanese and more, was so good. God, it was good.
During the day, depending on what you feel like doing, Jeda can help arrange excursions, for instance snorkelling or diving to Menjangan Island, a waterfall, temples, and so on, at an extra cost. When I went, I spent the days working and reading books, and there was nowhere I’d rather have had my office, breaking up work with dips in the pool and the occasional massage. Oh, I did head down to the beach (the resort can run you down in their golf buggy, otherwise it’s a 15-minute walk away) for coffee at the Taman Sari under the trees with my feet in the sand and a few contented dogs snoozing nearby.
Pemuteran, if you haven’t already been, is about a 3.5 hour drive from Seminyak. It’s about as far as you can go without jumping on a ferry to another island. I hesitate to say it’s like Bali 20 years ago, as that’s an idea that needs to be unpacked a bit, but it’s sleepier than the rest of the island, and the light just seems to fall a little bit differently. A lot of the families here were originally relocated from the slopes of Agung when it erupted in 1963, so they haven’t always had it easy. Much of the trip from the south is scenic and if you like, I can help arrange a few cars to get us there together, or you can do your own thing, of course.
The price is 4.8m rupiah for a twin-share room (we’ll match you up with someone if you’re on your own) or 5.4m for a single. A 50% deposit by bank transfer will secure your spot, and then the balance is due 7 days out from the resort start date. We don’t have a minimum number needed, so we are definitely going ahead even if it’s just a handful of us.
Do you have any questions? Drop me a line. This is a such a welcome opportunity thanks to Nico for some of us to get together and practice in a different spot, and eat, swim, and argue over postures together. I hope you can make it!
Sam X