Communication

BALI

Inspired

April-May-June 2014

The Communication Issue

inquire

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illuminate

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Sarina Jain at Bali Spirit Festival 2014 - Photograph by Gun Gun Gumilar

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.�

-George Bernard Shaw

Welcome to our sixth edition of Inspired Bali.

What drives us to communicate? Is it to connect to ourselves or feel a part of a community? Is it to learn more about culture, people or ideas? What forms of communication do we select over others? How do we choose our words in conversation? This issue is all about communication.

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As usual, we have compiled a selection of talented writers and artists living or travelling in Bali to share their insights and ideas. Whether or not we are alone at our computer, or sitting down to dinner with friends, family or neighbours, we are always communicating with someone or something. When was the last time you truly listened to your partner? How often do you go a day without checking your email? Ultimately we hope to inspire you to communicate to the best of your ability with yourself, those that live around you, and with us.

Finally, this publication would not exist without the vision, dedication and talent of our contributors. Thank you writers, photographers, and artists. Let these pages continue to be a place for you to express, explore and share your passions, ideas and insights. We hope you enjoy this issue.

Thanks, The Inspired Bali Team , Upcoming issues

Cover photo by Alex Vermeulen

july-2014-food , october-2014-money , january-2015-renewal

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WITCHCRAFT

Sacred Technology by Arron Artikai

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READER`S letters Hi Inspired Bali, I wanted to say what an impact you guys had on my time in Bali. Through your great articles I was introduced to the most amazing places and people. Loved visiting Alchemy and laughing with Wayan from Sedona Spa. Recently my friend said she was coming to Bali, so I gave her my battered copy and said “Read this!” I’m sure she’ll discover just as much as I did.

Thanks again, Cate Hogan

Hi Inspired Bali,

Hi Inspired Bali,

I just discovered your publication and thought I would tell you how much I enjoyed reading the various thoughts about “Love”. I particularly liked the review of the movie Amour. I went out and bought the DVD and watched it attentively. I feel the review helped me to see the movie in a way I would not have before. Pass that on to Uma Anyar.

I look forward to future issues.

I just had the time and the quiet to read your story. Gosh…so intimate and romantic and honest - like you said. It really is a blessing to have the development of your relationship so documented.

So many love stories are intense, physical and short above all. The two of you have an unfolding of your souls. A true spiritual connection that you can experience again by reading. It was lovely to be let in.

Good luck, Daniel Rogers

Jennifer Henrichsen, BC, Canada

Hi Inspired Bali, “Absolutely loved the coffee article by Coffee Snob! Her tips are practical and changed the way I drink my daily dose. Born in Holland I was raised with the incredibly popular Senseo Crema coffee machine, coffee making for me was sticking a pad in the machine and press the button, cost effective- quick and quite oké taste wise. Coffee snobs’ article made me realise why these machines are hardly ever sold in the southern European countries. Today, I find myself sitting in a cafe as a critical consumer, kind of like a coffee snob:) I have send my latte back when it was too watery, I have been bombarding my Barista with lots of questions, and my glass of water on the side became a necessity - - - My palette has truly changed and I can’t wait for coffee snobs’ café to open up it’s doors!”

-Nynke Van Wyk

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Inspired by Gede Parma

Photographed by Jennifer MacNiven

craft witch

Every so often we meet someone who stops us on in our tracks. It could be their work, their passion, or simply because of who they are. Often they’re not the big stars, the famous, the fancy. They are driven by a deep calling to follow their passion, and work hard regardless of public perception or approval. While at times we are all guilty of labeling things we don’t know much about, we are wise to stop and carefully consider those who bravely and courageously transcend culture, spirituality and gender: inspiring change and paving new paths.

Meet Gede Parma.

The son of a Balinese father and Australian mother, Gede was raised primarily in Australia, spending summer holidays here with his father’s side of the family. As a child he became interested in witchcraft, bridging his father’s world of Balinese Hinduism with his own spiritual interests. He has spent over thirteen years formally studying and practising witchcraft and had his first formal initiation in 2007.

In his 20’s he dove deeper into questions of gender and sexuality and now chooses to identify as genderless, referring to himself as both male or female and often goes by the name Fio. He teaches seminars and workshops internationally in witchcraft and shamanism, and works one on one as a healer. Gede is a busy witch but Inspired Bali spoke

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to him during Bali Spirit Festival between the workshop he was leading.

Where did it all begin? My mother came to Bali when she was young and fell in love with my father, and they married. I was born here in Bali, in Singaraja, then we moved to Australia where my sister was born in Queensland. My father is very traditional, very religious and very spiritual, so his whole compass of the universe is situated here in Bali. When he moved to Australia it disrupted everything. My mom actually sent him back to Lovina, on the north coast, to live because she knew he couldn’t live contently in Australia. My parents remain happily married and monogamous to this day, however they continue to live apart for ten months of the year. Recently with the move of both me and my sister to Bali, my mother has also been spending more time here. So I grew up away from my father. For this reason, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually I was really raised by my mother. My father loves and supports what I do. He’s very proud of me. He loves that I’ve written books, that I teach and travel.

Do you feel Balinese? Well, ummm...I’m not culturally Balinese. It’s confusing. I don’t speak Balinese and only speak some Indonesian. I mostly live in the expat world here, whatever that means. But when I go and spend time with my father and his side of the family I do have a deep connection to him and his family. I just had this very interesting revelation the other day when I realized I would probably now say I’m a child of Bali. And

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what that means is that there is a spirit on this island which is unlike any other land in the world. And it’s a part of me. It’s in my blood, heart and spirit.

So how does the exposure to your dad’s world influence you? Well, I was raised with magic as being normal here and I think that had a tremendous effect on my life. Also, my father’s father and mother were all what people call ‘balians’. I was exposed to all sorts of ceremonies and rituals during my holidays here that most kids just don’t see.

Where did you train and study to become a witch?

Well when I was eleven or twelve I heard the word witch and I knew it was my word, without ever understanding what it meant. I quickly embraced myself as Witch and opened to Wild Nature and the Limitless Cosmos and the techniques and material I was learning from books to ‘train’. And you train by going through a crisis - in the shamanic way. It’s excruciating and challenging, and complex to explain. For some it’s like a mental illness or it looks like that anyway, or for others it’s actually a physical illness. Regardless, everything you learn in this process (from the spirits and the human teachers), teaches you about Witchcraft.

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“We’re rebels! When you look at the history of witchcraft you’ll find many examples of when it was a rebellion against institutions, like Catholicism. The Catholic Church feared us so much that they killed hundreds and thousandsof us.”

So, as this issue is on communication, how do you communicate with the spirit world? Okay, well I make a circle, because a circle is a container and a compass, it means you have directions with east, north, west, south, above and below. Directions are important for my tradition. We put lots of emphasis on the direction of things, like the Balinese. In the Craft, like in physics, we have six directions. Once the space is created I induct people or myself into a trance or altered state, by beating on a drum or shaking on a rattle, chanting or something. Then I stop and wait and see what happens. I don’t do guided meditation sceneby-scene, image-by-image. I don’t want to influence

what is happening but prefer to allow people to have their own experience.

Walk me through a typical day with Gede Parma.

I have had to learn to resist looking at my phone first thing in the morning, which took some self discipline.

Now I start my day by going to my altar, or if I am too tired I just stay in bed. Either place, I have a breathing practice which is similar to yoga pranayama. I praise the mother of the earth, I praise the ancestors, and I give thanks to the magical and mysterious world we live in. Then the rest of the day is spent working on various things. I’ll read cards, do a ceremony, write, maybe lead a workshop or do a little spell for people around town. I have many friends who have businesses here and they’ll say something weird is happening and ask if I can come over and lend a magical hand.

I travel a lot to America and Australia to teach in places like Pagan shops, mystic academies and sometimes I teach at universities, for an Anthropology class or something similar. I am invited to Pagan gatherings, often those around High Priestesses or training covens that often take place in peoples homes. I earn a living doing readings and leading workshops.

How does your identity as transgendered intersect with your spiritual practices? I don’t really hold to any gender identity - this can be encompassed by the broader term of ‘transgendered’ which is different to ‘transexual’ in which a chemical and physical change between sexes happens. I am biologically male, but my narrative, my feeling, is that my gender is wild, ever-evolving

or rather that it doesn’t matter; that it doesn’t have bearing on how I live my life. For others gender means a lot, and that is a sacred experience as well. For me being non-gendered, or genderful, means I find it very easy to change my consciousness at will - one classic definition of magic.

“Someone asked me once if I believe in life after death, expecting that I would say something profound, and I said ‘I don’t know’. I mean I talk to the dead, but I don’t know about afterlife.”

You were recently invited to teach at Bali Spirit Festival.

How did that go? Bali Spirit was a delightful experience.

I don’t usually teach magic or shamanic and witchcraft technique to people who aren’t already completely in the flow of their own practice or identify as witches. Everyone was very “in for it”, engaged, and vividly present. I admired this greatly - the willingness, joy and daring - important to journeying with magic! ,

Gede Parma is an initiate of the WildWood and Anderean traditions of contemporary and traditional Witchcraft. He is the author of Ecstatic Witchcraft, By Land, Sky & Sea and Spirited. www.gedeparma.com

Gede Parma teaching at Bali Spirit Festival / Photo by Ulrike Reinhold

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The Roots

of our food

By Simon Jongenotter Just under a year ago I moved from the bustling Australian city of Sydney to Mongan, a quaint village in rural Bali. I spent the 10 years before this moving around the world, cooking my way up the ranks in a number of fine-dining establishment kitchens.

It is surprisingly hard to live a holistic and healthy lifestyle in the hospitality industry. Try asking a sweaty, bloodshot-eyed head chef for a longer lunch break so you can meditate. Perhaps even more risky, try sharing with your vegan yoga classmate your excitement over plucking and de-boning a wild goose. I felt torn between two very different worlds and begged the universe to take me to a place where I could cook and breathe in peace.

Through good old synchronicity and a leap of faith I showed up in Mongan carrying only a backpack and a dream. I came here to manage and cook for the newly opened Bali Silent Retreat, with a vision of creating a kitchen that would source most of our food in Bali.

Farmers’ markets with local produce are now very fashionable and popular in the West. Food labelled ‘organic’ or ‘all natural’ was once enough. The new generation of discerning consumers wants more: they want to know the people who produce their food. As I dined my way around Bali, I was stunned to discover that most of the top restaurants here did not feature much local food. The carbon footprint and the cost was surprisingly high and, although the taste was heavenly, it simply didn’t fit with my values.

Once settled into my new job, located on a stunning four hectare property set amidst the rice fields, I set out to get to know the local farmers and gardens.

Igung, our head gardener, soon became a pillar of light - my personal Google search engine for all things local and delicious. Perhaps more than he realises,

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Igung has supported me in understanding some of the social, spiritual and culinary aspects of Balinese culture. Inspired by his relationship with all things growing and blooming, I was set to have the seasons dictate our modern, healthy menu.

One of the first things I learned was that Igung’s family always mix two types of rice together: nasi merah (red rice) and nasi putih (white rice) to accompany their meals. As a Westerner, I can’t even begin to grasp how important growing and eating rice is to Igung. “If I don’t eat rice today, I will be very sad and hungry, Simon”, he once told me whilst glancing at our extensive buffet of food which did not include rice. It’s safe to assume that rice production is not only geared to meeting hunger demands but is also a practice which may well be a cornerstone of Balinese life. Rice shapes the landscape, is sold at markets and is served at most meals both as a savoury and a sweet food. Most Balinese eat rice three times a day.

The importance of rice in Indonesian culture is demonstrated through the reverence of Dewi Sri, the rice goddess. She is a symbol of fertility - a mother nature. During ceremonies Balinese people wet foreheads or chests and stick grains of rice to their skin in an attempt to soak up Dewi Sri’s powerful life force. No wonder Igung was shocked to see Western people skipping these divine grains.

I was delighted to find an array of vegetables within his family compound but also in the jungle surrounding his home. In many ways this jungle is simply a vegetable garden left to it’s own wild devices. Native trees, plants and wildlife share a space with cultivated cacao, coconut and bamboo

natural palm sugar so readily available here in favour of the nutritionally empty, cheaper and sweeter white sugar. Everything else is sourced within meters from their home. Although their diets are simple and include next to no salad or raw food, the way things grow so naturally gives this food a vital quality unrivalled by supermarket produce.

I asked Igung how his diet has changed over the past 40 years. After a quick discussion with his father, Igung concluded that it is much the same now as it was then. The only difference, he recalls, was that when there wasn’t enough rice the family would bulk it out with taro root, the main staple in Bali before rice was introduced by the Chinese.

Families like Igung’s, who grow or gather almost everything they eat, are becoming increasingly rare. Yet change is the only constant in life and this village is no exception. Igung recently purchased his first fridge, an item that demonstrates a bridging of two very different worlds. Science shows us that although vegetables retain their shape and flavour longer in a fridge, the absence of sunlight causes rapid nutritional loss. When it comes to crunch and vitality, nothing beats a freshly picked vegetable.

Enough reason for us to harvest daily from the retreat gardens.

Agung in his garden. Photograph by Jamie Woodall

in what appears to be a bountiful and balanced forest. Various edible leaves, fruits and roots are used as staple vegetables and flavouring agents. Wild fern tips are popular along with the pandan leaves that bring flavour and bright green colour to a range of dishes. The family can collect most of the food they eat. Sometimes they eat pork as a Hindu ceremony will often call for the slaughter of a large hog. I’ve been visiting Igung’s family regularly over the past year, and their hospitality and the abundance of delicacies they serve never cease to delight me.

From the freshly caught ricefield snails cooked with chili and garlic, to taro root smothered in palm syrup, to creamy durian fruit and rambutans straight off the tree!

With so many wonderful ingredients at their fingertips, I was curious to learn which items Igung’s family choose to buy from the shop. I was surprised to learn it was gula pasir - standard white, refined sugar.

Unfortunately many Balinese have ditched the

My job here is to please an international crowd of discerning and self-aware individuals who are keen to eat and stretch their way to better health. Igung is an integral part of that process. Along with the many other guardians of tradition, we are maintaining a focus on the abundance of natural and locally sourced delicacies. We are continuously expanding our network of ‘local food heroes’ as we recognize the wisdom and sustainability which marks traditional agriculture. At the same time, we hear our local staff asking about our hi-tech solar panels, and our gardeners get excited about foreign permaculture concepts.Their open-minded attitude and willingness to share insight into their culture is heartwarming.

Perhaps this kind of mutual respect is the key to sustainable growth and increased unity on the multicultural and ever changing island of Bali. ,

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BREAKFAST Red rice porridge with white mango and salak (Snakeskin fruit) • • • • • • • •

237 ml (1 cup) of red rice 705 ml (3 cups) of water 470 ml (2 cups) of coconut milk 2 white mangoes, peeled (feel free to use regular mango if in season) 4 salak (snake fruit), peeled 1 cinnamon stick 1 vanilla pod, cut open and seeds scraped out Pinch of salt

Rinse the rice in a fine sieve. Place rice, water, coconut milk, salt and spices in a thick-bottomed pot on a very low heat. Simmer the covered rice until very tender and creamy in consistency. This can take as long as an hour depending on the rice. Towards the end of the cooking time, stir occasionally to make sure the rice won’t burn. In the meantime, finely dice the mango and salak. Stir the fruit into the porridge just before serving and add a last swirl of coconut milk. Sweeten to taste with palm sugar.

LUNCH Raw sprout salad with a rich peanut, coriander and coconut dressing • • • • • • • •

470ml (2 cups) of sprouts of choice. Mungbean sprouts are widely available in Bali 1 red capsicum, diced into matchsticks 1 yellow capsicum (pepper), diced into matchstick shapes 3 spring onions, diced on an angle into fine rings 1 large carrot, grated ¼ small white cabbage, finely diced The leaves of 1 bunch of coriander, chopped A few coriander leaves for garnish

Dressing • • • • • • • • • • •

118 ml (½ cup) peanuts 70 ml (5 tablespoons) fresh lime juice Some grated lime zest 5 ml (1 tablespoon) soy sauce 5 ml (1 tablespoon) sesame oil The stalks of 1 bunch of coriander, chopped 14 ml (1 tablespoon) palm sugar 118 ml (½ cup) coconut milk ½ chili pepper Salt to taste Additional peanuts and coriander for garnish

Place all the dressing ingredients in a blender and blend into a thick and zesty dressing.

Toss all the salad ingredients together in a mixing bowl. At this stage you can place in the fridge for up to a day. Just before serving, gently mix the dressing into the salad and scoop with your hands onto a large serving platter. Garnish with some peanuts and coriander leaves and serve.

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DINNER Potato and taro gnocchi in a chilli, candlenut and lime sauce Although gnocchi are traditionally made with potatoes and wheat flour, I use a mixture of potato and taro which gives it a slightly chewy dumpling-like texture. Taro is a tropical tuber and was a staple in Bali before rice was introduced by the Chinese. It’s available around the world and typically found in Chinese grocery stores.

Feel free to experiment with seasonal starchy vegetables that are abundant in your area. Think sweet potato or pumpkin. Same goes for the flour. You could use tapioca starch, corn flour or coconut flour. This dish is a great gluten free option if you leave out the wheat flour. It’s an authentic fusion dish, bringing together ingredients from two different cultures. If you want to take the cross-cultural boundaries further, try crumbling feta cheese over the top for a rich and exotic touch.

Sauce

Gnocchi • • •

940 ml (4 cups) peeled potatoes 940 ml (4 cups) taro root, chopped into 5 cm (2 inch) cubes 420 grams (2 ½ cups) rice flour

Making the dough Boil or steam the potatoes and taro until tender.

Place on a tray in a hot oven or in a dry frying pan for 7-10 minutes until completely dry (without browning).

Mash together or pass through a colander until smooth. Slowly stir in the rice flour to make a solid dough. Flour quantity will vary according to the moisture level. Create neat rolls of dough about 2 cm (½ inch) thick. Dust your bench with flour, place your roll onto it and chop into bite-size pieces. Press each piece into neat little pillow shapes using a fork.

Cooking the gnocchi Boil the gnocchi in salted water for several minutes.

They are ready when they float to the top.

Gently lift them out of the water into a sieve.

TIP: If you’re not sure about your consistency, boil one piece first. If they are too soft for your liking, add more flour. Go easy on the flour as reversing the process is a lot harder.

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½ red capsicum, chopped 1 chopped chilli pepper (2 if you like or 6 if you’re insane) 4 cloves of garlic, crushed 1 knob of ginger, chopped 4 candlenuts or macadamia nuts 120 ml (8 tbsp) coconut cream 30 ml (2 tbsp) coconut oil 1 stalk bashed lemongrass Lime juice and lemon zest Soy sauce Palm sugar

Making the sauce Place all the ingredients together in a blender (or pestle and mortar) and grind into a fine paste. Cook on a gentle heat with 1 stalk of bashed lemongrass for about 15 minutes until thick and rich. Season the sauce to taste. Add a dash of fresh lime juice, lime zest, soy sauce and a tiny amount of palm sugar.

Continue to taste until you reach a fine balance of sweet, sour and salty You’re aiming for a thick sauce that coats the gnocchi without drowning them.

To serve Toss the gnocchi and sauce together. Mix with the remaining coconut cream and thai basil. Garnish with some gently torn thai basil leaves and serve.

Selamat Makan!

Illustrations by Mira Gisler

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� Thanks to Amber Hoffman, Nicole Leonard & Glenn Chickering for submitting your images

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mAKANANFOOD Lawar If you’re adventurous and have a desire to connect with traditional Bali, you may be tempted to try lawar.

Lawar is a traditional Balinese dish prepared for ceremonies and other celebrations. Its main ingredients are meat and vegetables cut into long, thin slivers and mixed with spices such as turmeric, shrimp paste, ginger and coconut. Lawar is often made in large quantities to feed crowds of over a hundred people.

The meat in lawar is traditionally pork or turtle. Lawar babi (made with pork) remains the most popular choice in Bali. Common variations include lawar ayam (made with chicken) to accommodate Muslim palates and even meatless lawar made with jackfruit, melons, mango or coconut.

Vegetarians beware: an important ingredient of traditional lawar is blood which lends it a red hue, hence the name lawar merah (red). Lawar with an abundance of coconut, on the other hand, may appear mostly white (lawar putih).

Sampling the delights of lawar from a street vendor or a simple warung will cost around 15,000 to 20,000 rupiah per portion. A high-end version to tickle your tastebuds is served at Bumbu Bali Restaurant in Nusa Dua (www.balifoods.com).

Visitors can sample their lawar udang - a version made with green papaya and served with shrimp sate - or lawar kuwir with minced duck and duck sate. Both cost about 100,000 rupiah.

Lawar ayam • • •

600 grams (1.5 lb) long beans blanched and cut in ½ cm slices 225 ml (1 cup) grated coconut, roasted 56 grams (4 tbsp) fried chilli dressing

Dressing • • • • • • • • •

250 grams (8 oz) boneless chicken minced 28 grams (2 tbsp) oil 177 ml ( ¾ cup) chicken spice paste 118 ml (½ cup) chicken stock 118 ml (½ cup) coconut cream 28 grams (2 tbsp) lime juice 1 pinch salt 1 pinch black pepper crushed 1 bunch shallots

preparation

To make the dressing, heat the oil in a heavy saucepan and then add chicken spice paste and sauté until fragrant.

Add minced chicken and continue to sauté until the meat browns.

Pour in the chicken stock and coconut cream. Bring to a boil and simmer for one minute.

Season to taste with salt, pepper and lime juice.

Cool to room temperature.

Combine all the ingredients for the salad in a deep bowl and mix in the dressing.

Season to taste and garnish with fried shallots. ,

If you would like to try making your own lawar at home (without the blood), here’s a recipe from Bumbu Bali Restaurant and Cooking School.

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Photos by Tania Gordon

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Idealist Interrupted 20

The Lost Art of Conversation

By Renee Martyna Photo by Heather Bonker

I am a Conversation Curator. This means I make a living by helping people have meaningful conversations about things that really matter to them: resolving conflict, making a big career move or crafting their organization’s vision for the future.

I gave myself that title after a long period of career dissatisfaction. I realised that rather than filing papers and reports, what I love to do most in life is talk. At first that hardly seemed a virtue, or at least not a marketable one. You have to understand, I’ve been blessed with an insatiable curiosity and cursed with an inability to filter. My mom used to call me ‘miss-twenty-questions-who-is-tooimpatient-to-wait -for-the-answers’. I used to blow holes in people’s hearts with my tactless queries on what went wrong with their lovelives or how they ended up with warts on the end of their nose.

At the age of 30, with more than a few feet stuck in my mouth, I decided it was not only time to learn how to speak, but also how to listen.

I learned that meaningful conversation is an age old - but decidedly lost - art. Most people need to be taught how to do it well. In fact, for most of modern history, they actually did.

Historically, people of a certain privilege (not unlike the expats of Bali) knew how to engage each other with words. Before television and computers, Knowmads who schlepped from place to place were forced to keep the

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company of perfect strangers. Conversation was not just a pastime, it was survival. It won friends and stayed enemies, it showed prowess and helped determine strategy. As a matter of course, guests would be called upon to share their family history, tell a funny or tragic tale, and recite at least one repartee from literature. They were happy to oblige lest they be perceived as boring, awkward or heaven forbid - impolite. Travellers would sit for hours, and sometimes days, entertaining each other with words.

Maybe I am the only one who thinks this sounds better than facebook or endless discussions of vampire and gangland thrillers on HBO? Don’t get me wrong. I see no reason to go back to the times of oration and elocution lessons. But surely we could raise the bar a bit on the content and quantity of good conversation? In these internet-crazed days when our syntax is bastardized, our eloquence is sacrificed for economy, when someone can have thousands of followers but few real friends, we seem to be drowning in abbreviations and sound bites. I have to ask: What are we really saying?

I often tell my clients: “What you say, how you say it and who you say it to can change everything.” So best say it well! Here is what I have learned about how to have a conversation that will bring more depth, intrigue and learning to your life:

Start with questions, not convictions. Questions are openings: they invite engagement and connection.

Too many opinions can intimidate others and drive them away, even if they appear to agree with you.

Short and powerful questions are best. Try to not lace them with judgement or what you think the answer should be. Be sincere: ask the question you are truly curious about and give people time to reflect and answer honestly.

Say what you mean, mean what you say and don’t say it mean. Dip-speak, beating around the bush and excessive political correctness are plagues to real conversation, but the desire to be direct does not give you license to be a jerk. Most people can hear very tough things as long as you choose your words carefully. Remember what the Buddhists say: honesty without compassion is cruelty.

Listen with your whole self. Real answers to important questions are often found well beyond the words actually spoken. They are buried in the way your body feels. So pay attention to your visceral reactions: they contain the most rervealing information.

Conversations are not duels. Unless you live your life as if it were a debate club, stop thinking about what clever thing you can say next. Those conversations are more focused on showmanship than results. They benefit nothing but your ego. If you want to get something out of a conversation besides the shortlived high of being right, keep your mind open and really listen. You might actually learn something.

other hand, punitive silence in the form of pouting, shunning or deflecting is as pernicious to conversation (and any relationship for that matter) as verbal abuse.

Watch who you are talking to. Unless you are asked or have a rip-roaringly funny repartee, it’s best to avoid these conversation killers (and I know this is a tough one in Bali, folks): opinions on traffic or the route you took to avoid it; the finer details of your health regimen or your latest bodily ailments; and any unsolicited advice (especially if it relates to someone else’s route/health/relationships). It’s a sad fact but chances are, nobody really cares -except your mother or your therapist-, so consider your audience.

Too much detail or intimacy in the wrong place or at the wrong time can cut a good conversation very short.

I am far from consistent in following these rules, of course. I am human, like you, and think everyone wants to know how my bowels function or just how right I really am. We can all learn a lot from the Balinese in this regard: they rarely seem to let their attention and patience give way to urgency or selfseeking as we Westerners are prone to do. If I take their lead and remember to make my ears bigger than my mouth, I find that I am often deeply moved by what I learn from a good conversation… and that really does change everything. ,

Be rigorously honest. That means admitting when you don’t know something, or worse, that you may be wrong. Otherwise you risk looking like a liar. Be warned: dishonesty is more than telling outright lies.

It’s also not telling the whole truth. So own up to how you feel, not just to what you think.

Sometimes it’s what’s left unsaid that speaks volumes.

Silence has a powerful place in a good conversation because it allows sentience to enter the room in place of words. Listen for it: it often precedes the climax of a transformative conversation. On the

Renee Martyna is a conflict resolution specialist who is also the wife of a serial entrepreneur and a mother of two third culture kids.

Reprinted by permission: www.knowmadsland.com

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Communicating

inourstreets Resist touching or patting anyone on the head, even adorable children.

The Balinese believe the head is the home of soul and spirit and thus a sacred part of the body.

Feet should generally stay on the ground. Don’t prop them up on a table or stool while sitting, nor dangle them from a second floor balcony. Don’t use your feet to point to things on the floor, for example when asking for the price of that floor lamp.

Pillows meant for the head should not be used as seat cushions.

If possible, pass or exchange objects with both hands or with the right hand only.

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Thanks to Anggara Mahendra, Nantatea & Sofia Ruffino for your Inspired pictures.

If walking past someone older or in a position of respect or authority (e.g. priest, reverend or elder), it is polite to nod or bow slightly. You might also say permisi (excuse me) as you walk by.

It’s considered aggressive or disrespectful to stand with your hands on your hips or in your pocket.

Also, don’t cross your arms in front of you.

Don’t yell at the Balinese and expect any positive results.

Beckoning to someone with a crooked, upturned index finger should be replaced with the whole right hand, palm down. If you point at something, use your right thumb rather than the index finger.

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E

Balancing Act

By Cat Kabira

How we communicate defines our entire world. For me, the beauty of Bali is in how many of the Balinese communicate with their hearts - through their word choice, their smiles and easy laughter, and the ease with which they hold themselves. This reminds me to soften, lighten up and connect to everyone from a more playful place as well.

We always have a choice in how we communicate we choose how we speak, what we say - and whether or not we truly speak our needs and our truth. We have the choice to speak eloquently, we have the choice to spread love, we have the choice to inspire and empower, and we have the choice to ask for what we really want.

We communicate by how we gaze through our eyes, how we walk and hold ourselves, and our very presence speaks volumes without words. And while the old adage “Actions speak louder than words” is wise, “Better the foot slip than the tongue” still holds true. How can we be mindful of how we speak, while speaking our truth, asking for what we really want, and also practice ahimsa (non-harming).

In yoga the part of the body responsible for communi-

cation is called vishuddha, or the throat chakra. There are seven energetic centers in the body called the chakras (‘wheels’ or ‘discs’) starting at the coccyx and rising up the central axis of the body to the seventh chakra located at the crown of the head. According to yoga’s understanding of the subtle body, each chakra is believed to influence emotional and behavioral patterns. The chakras connect to the endocrine and nervous systems with each energy center having a corresponding plexus (nerve center) as well as hormone-producing gland.

Balanced chakras are said to spin in a clockwise direction while imbalanced chakras that are sluggish (nearly immobilized) spin in a counter-clockwise direction.

The throat chakra is connected physically to the throat, jaw, neck and mouth. When our throat chakra is balanced we speak honestly and in an eloquent, loving, grounded way. We are good listeners.

If this chakra is blocked or sluggish we are shy, unable to articulate needs and feelings, insecure, and fear other people’s judgments.

We dominate conversations, are critical, too blunt, or even cunning. We don’t listen well to others. Hyperthyroidism can occur here, as well as TMJ and ear inImage by Annykos

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fections. We may express shyness or feelings of being timid in how we hold ourselves, especially in the neck and shoulders. When scared we instinctively raise our shoulders up towards our ears and contract the back of our neck to protect our jugular vein. Not only does that fear response create tightness in the shoulders over time, it creates tension in the neck and compresses the nerves that run from the brain down through the neck to the body. This can have the effect of shutting down communication in the nervous system - from brain to body - and this can compress the hyoid bone in the front of the throat.

In yoga there are many ways to balance the throat chakra by practicing specific poses that target the upper body and neck. Chanting, sounding and reciting mantras can also be used to release blockages. One of the best ways to unlock and access the throat chakra is through a style of pranayama called ujjayi breathing. By gently restricting the back of the throat, a gentle ocean-like sound is created. In many styles of yoga, like the popular Vinyasa or Ashtanga, ujjayi breath is practiced while doing the yoga poses

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(asanas). This breath affects the lungs, abdomen and heart from the movement of the diaphragm and the stretching of the ribs.

If we combine this mindfulness breathing practice with an awareness of how we inhabit ourselves physically (with asana practice for instance) we can actually transform our physical, mental and emotional bodies.

The breath isn’t just breath. It’s a conduit for energy called prana (life force). The beauty of ujjayi is that it can be practiced off the yoga mat: while walking, on the motorbike, while waiting in line, while spending time with others. An awareness of vishuddha chakra and ujjayi can help us communicate with greater clarity and ease. When we connect to that magic we have the ability to communicate from a place deep inside our hearts. , Cat Kabira is an ERYT-500 yoga instructor, craniosacral therapist and shamanic healer who has been living in Ubud, Bali, since 2006. She teaches at The Yoga Barn and offers teacher trainings throughout the year.

Reprinted by permission: www.catkabira.com

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If your body could talk

By Maureen Gilbert Photo by Heather Bonker

O

ur bodies are amazing communication devices.

If we are willing to listen, our bodies are aligned with the wisdom of our souls to show us what areas of our life need to be cleared and healed. While this may sound too new age to be true, the wisdom of listening to our bodies is the foundation of the world’s oldest healing modalities: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda from India.

thinking sets us apart from the world, the thinking in the belly joins us to it. If the cranial brain believes itself to be surrounded by a knowable world that can be controlled, the brain in our belly is in touch with the world’s mystery.” In other words, listening to our bodies isn’t just a practical exercise but a deep spiritual practice that brings us face to face with the fact that we are more than just biological entities.

According to Ayurvedic medicine there are nine rasas - essential emotions - whose balance in the body will ultimately determine your health and wellbeing. Similarly, one of the basic tenets of TCM is that if you only treat a person’s physical ailments they will return if the underlying mental or emotional state is not addressed.

Louise Hays, a founder of the New Thought selfhelp movement, was one of the first people to systematically present the link between physical ailments and emotional and/or spiritual dis-ease to a Western audience back in 1976.

Western science is at last confirming this ancient knowledge that our bodies have an intelligence that goes beyond rational thought. Dr. Michael Gershon, a professor of cell biology at Columbia University, discovered that there is an actual brain in our gut. In his book “The Second Brain” he explains that listening to your gut is not a metaphor. Scientists now recognize the web of neurons lining the gastrointestinal tract as an independent brain and a new field of medicine, neurogastroenterology, has been created as a result.

Philip Shepherd in his book “New Self, New World” takes Gershon’s research one step further.

According to Shepherd there is good reason why we talk about gut instinct. He explains: “If cranial

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In her book “Heal Your Life” she proposes that certain emotions are connected to physical parts of our bodies. For example: unresolved anger is stored in our liver; anxiety in our lungs; fear in our kidneys. While Hay’s work resulted from her supposed metaphysical abilities, the results correspond directly to the links that TCM makes between our organs and their corresponding emotions.

The Chinese understood the impact of emotions on the body long ago. Our modern language often reflects this ancient wisdom. For example, the English word anxiety comes from the German root angst narrow - referring to the narrowing of the bronchial passages. During times of anxiety breath and Qi are constricted, unable to flow easily in and out of the lungs. The benefit of understanding these links is that we can discover where we need to heal our psyche by listening to where our bodies are out of balance.

The keepers of this healing wisdom in Bali have been the Balians, or traditional healers. While the method of diagnosis and treatment may vary, each of them reads the energy of your body to determine what is out of balance physically. The English word emotion stands for “e=energy in motion” and comes from the latin emovere: “to move out, remove, agitate”. If our emotions are flowing then we remain healthy. When we are out of touch with them they become stuck in the body, causing blockages which can eventually make us sick.

Sadly, many of us prefer to silence our body’s wisdom by using painkillers, mood stabilizers or enhancers, and other drugs that shut down its ability to communicate with us. How would your life change if the next time you are tempted to mask symptoms you instead asked, “What is my body trying to tell me?” “What truth have I been avoiding?” “Where am I out of balance in my life?”

There is a magnificence in accepting this philosophy.

It offers us the opportunity to literally change our minds and change our lives. More profoundly, it invites us to no longer view the body as merely a machine to be maintained and managed, poked and prodded, drugged and silenced. Instead we can see the body as a delicate communication device that offers us the opportunity to treat our aches and pains as whispers of the deepest longings of our souls. Listen! ,

Maureen Gilbert is a bioenergetic practitioner who combines Western technology with Eastern wisdom to discover where the body is energetically out of alignment. She currently lives in Bali but works worldwide with clients via Skype. She can be reached at trueself@me.com

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Creating Sacred Technology

By Arron Artikai A shaman once told me that nothing is sacred, except that which we choose. Sacred is one of those words with multiple meanings. If I can choose something to be sacred, what if I choose my computer or my phone? What kind of difference would that make in my life? After all, I have always loved technology and carry it with me almost everywhere.

Years ago, visionaries marveled at the possibilities of technology. They predicted that much of our work would be replaced by leisure time as machines anything from robots to flying cars - would take care of the hard work. These fantasies were founded on good ideas. A fellow by the name of Mr. Moore correctly predicted in 1965 that the speed of computers would double every two years: a few years later the term ‘Moore’s Law’ was coined. Such rapid growth has given the average human access to countless tools of creation, limitless information and avenues of communication that would have appeared magical to generations past.

Technology today has surpassed the expectations and fantasies of the past. But what has happened to the promised land of leisure? Have we replaced it with distraction and procrastination, the children of the illusory productivity and efficiency? We are all fully aware of the double-edged sword, that technology is both helping and hindering us on many levels. Consider the number of times you’ve found yourself resurfacing from a Google or Facebook dive - hours after intending to do some work - feeling anxiety, shame or remorse.

I could rant on about why we find ourselves in these Google dives. How increasingly sophisticated marketing triggers the neurotransmitter dopamine (a key element in our brain’s reward system) by using powerful principles such as gamification (using game elements to promote desired behaviors in customers).

But I prefer to mention this simply to recognize that there will continue to be external triggers that seek to manipulate our associations with a product or idea. In short, marketing is becoming much more sophisticated.

It’s not just down to marketing of course. It takes two to tango. The Buddhists speak of the ‘hungry ghosts’, often depicted as beings with huge bellies and tiny pinprick mouths. No matter how much they eat they are always hungry and wanting more. They represent addiction, obsession and compulsion three behavioural patterns that are most powerful when their host is unaware of their roots. The hungry ghost archetype is quite fitting for aspects of my personality. When I am not making conscious choices on my technology, I unwittingly choose to let others make them for me and fall into the haze of marketing upgrades that inevitably lead to an insatiable need for more. My technology becomes an anchor for this unconscious void of more: more apps, more media, more research, one more Facebook click, upgrades, updates, another email to check. More. More. More.

If marketing through technology is becoming increasingly sophisticated in ‘helping’ us make our choices, then it stands to reason that we must be ever-more vigilant about the choices we make.

www.inspired-bali.com

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Choice is a dance where we lead if we choose but are unconsciously pulled if we choose not to choose. It is only through becoming aware of our psychological tendencies and emotional triggers that we can consciously lead. To do this, we must first observe our relationship with technology.

become centered when I play with technology, this object of my focus will anchor this. I can create a powerful feedback loop as my intention-filled object encourages centeredness and my centeredness further energises this object. Alchemising a powerful, ever deepening and expanding sacred relationship.

Linda Stone, a computer industry heavyweight who has studied human interaction with computers for years, suggests the art of attention management: “Attention is the most powerful tool of the human spirit ” she says. I love this as I’ve heard so much about time management in various guises and it never really meant much to me. Time is something I have no control over, whereas my attention is something I can really learn to work with. Upon further reflection though, I realised that the most powerful kind of attention is fuelled by conscious intention.

Since technology is literally staring us in the face for much of the day, how amazing would it be to anchor conscious intent within it? Of course it will take time to reprogram habits created through years of unconsciousness. But there is no time like the present to start.

I believe that any object can be made sacred through receiving and storing my conscious intention for it to be so. If I set a conscious intention to

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Balinese Hinduism has roots in Indian Hinduism, Buddhism and in animistic traditions. These influences strengthened the belief that the gods and goddesses are present in all things. Every element of nature, therefore, possesses its own power that reflects the power of the gods. Consider that even the most synthetic parts of computers, phones and tablets are sourced from natural elements. One might say that

Photo by Jamie Woodall

we are playing an instrumental role in this relationship, helping Nature to upgrade Herself into technology.

Imagine for a moment that your computer is human.

What kind of relationship do you presently have with it? Does this nourish you or drain you? Does this empower you or overwhelm you? Is this a relationship that you would choose to continue? How could you create something different? How can the way you interact with your computer bring out the best in you personally and professionally? How can the energy with which you sit down to produce or play be imbued with the highest possible intention?

With this shift in perspective, I have the opportunity to change my relationship with technology. The relationship is now infused with consciousness and a freedom to see my potential pull towards the need for more. I have cut in on the dance and no longer follow technology: I have begun to lead. When I am leading, I love the dance so much more!

With this new intention my old reality explodes as

everything becomes possible.

We live in a time of great freedoms and our technology is an evolutionary game changer. The internet is still very much in its infancy and has spurred us into the Age of Information. With so much at our fingertips, we need to be conscious. This is not really about the information or the technology. It is about our actions and our embodiment of chosen intention that will dictate the next step in our personal technological revolution. We have at our fingertips magical doorways of creation - art, music, words and worlds. We have control over these doorways through our intentions. It is up to you which one you step though.

I consciously intend my technology as sacred, beautiful and magical. What intention does your technology hold? , Arron Artikai - teacher, coach and creator of Technology Shaman.

Reprinted by permission: www.technologyshaman.com

Six ways to empower your relationship with technology As you’re going to be using technology for years, it’s worth mastering.

1. Become aware of your distraction trigger points with technology.

Write a list of five things that distract you; for example, email notifications. Write down what you might do about each trigger.

2. Create an intention for your relationship with technology.

Write a page about what you want this relationship to be. Condense it into one or two meaningful sentences.

3. Learn the basics of your computer, phone or tablet.

Do an online course so you can stay focused and in the flow.

Go to www.technologyshaman.com/macclarity for an awesome course on how to really use your Mac. 4. Play your computer like a musical instrument.

Learn shortcuts. Every app has them so give yourself time to develop the muscle memory.

5. Take regular breaks to be sharper and more centered.

Set an alarm every 30 minutes to break for a few moments. Stretch, consciously breathe, remind yourself of your current focus. Free Apps to help you include: Workrave for PC, Time Out Free for Mac. 6. Use paper to-do lists to plan your computer time wisely Set realistic time frames and prioritise. End each activity with some self love; thank yourself. Then set an intention with a time frame for the next task.

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“Is There Anybody Out There?”

Since ancient history humans have tried to communicate with spirits, ancestors and gods. The Chinese read tea leaves; some aboriginal tribes read bones; ancient cultures from China to Greece used Ouija boards; followers of Modern Spiritualism in the 19th century tried table turning or table tipping, gazing into crystals or mirrors, and channeling spirits. Until recently the skill or ability to interpret esoteric information was considered the purview of those with special gifts--Oracles, Shamans, and Psychics.

Since the 60’s however more and more people are exploring a more direct relationship with what might be called divine intelligence.

Whether you aim to communicate with angels, spirit guides, ancestors, your higher power, yourself or even with animals, Bali is rich with possibilities….

Aura Reading Astrological Charts Balian healers Breathwork Chakra Rebalancing Crystal Ball Readings Crystal Healing Hypnosis I Ching Palm Reading Psychic Mediums Reiki Somatic Healing Sound Healing Spiritual Coaching Tarot Cards

For Intuitive Readings and Spiritual Coaching: IB recommends the magical work of Dianne Tharp, www.ayami.ca

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35 Photo by Carol Da Riva

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BODY BODY MIND MINDBODY MIND A Balinese Take On Body Language

By I Made Janur Yasa / Photos by Sally May Mills This article was written in collaboration with Hillary Kane

Communication of the body after death...

In Bali the hereafter is not so closely veiled. Death comes to us all and the journey through death, mourning, burial, disinterment and cremation in Bali is a social process.

Everyone - even visitors to the island - may witness and participate in the ritual. When living in the United States for 15 years I noticed that death was concealed and distanced by comparison. During that time I knew only of five people who passed away and, even though two of those were very close friends/family, I never once saw the body in its state of departure. I would say the experience of death in Bali is a far cry from the way in which I experienced it to be concealed and privatized in the West. It is no wonder that the Balinese concept of what comes next is just as explicitly understood.

The Balinese believe in the unequivocal and imposing figure of Sang Hyang Suratma who stands looming upon the shadowy brink of death. His ledger is open in his hand as he greets the dead and prepares to read them the Last Judgement. And so it is a similar tale to the Christian one of a critical review of all one’s accumulated virtues and vices before a sentence to a purgatory of fittingly dreadful

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or lovely consequences. The Hindu Balinese version of this judgement is told with a very interesting twist. Although your voice might try to deny the accusations of Sang Hyang Suratma - as he prods you to know what it is you have done in your life - it is understood that at the moment of inquisition your eyes, your fingers, your ears, your very skin will belie the truth of your life story to this ultimate arbiter.

In other words, at the end of the day, the language of your body always tells the truth.

Body Language suggests an often subconscious and yet potent expression of the real state of mind, emotion or belief. Though incredibly significant in all of our relationships - in the workplace or classroom, with strangers, partners or our intimate family circle - it is amazing how unaware most of us are of the nonverbal communication our bodies project.

From a cellular level to full-body posture, our physicality is recording and informing how we are shaped and conditioned by every experience.

This understanding forms the backbone of Somatic Therapy.

Somatic derives its name from the Greek root

“soma”, suggesting the body in its living wholeness. It is a holistic understanding that all aspects of mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health are not only integrated, but also indivisible. From a therapeutic standpoint, somatic therapy approaches healing by redirecting awareness from the nonstop chatter of the mind into the world of physical sensation. By focusing on our breath, muscles and posture we may come to recognize certain areas in the body that chronically feel strained, pinched or bothersome.

Your body communicates both outwardly to the rest of the world, as well as inwardly. It effectively convinces you of its plight, hardships and drudgery… or conversely, its confidence, radiance and self worth. From a Somatic perspective, body language

and its infinite wisdom all too quickly become the mere vehicle to transport the Thinker. As we begin to recognize these areas of discomfort or stress in which the body is holding on to something, sometimes our tendency is to deny, minimize or move away from this sensation.

From a Somatic perspective, these points of holding often reflect the body’s stored memory of past trauma or painful emotional experiences. Parts of our body can easily become contorted or blocked, sometimes in a self-protective way and sometimes as an energetic marker of a life event. Although we can often dig into our stories to understand the when and why our body first began holding in an uncomfortable

works just as potently in both directions. The body is language; language is in the body.

“There is no body distinct from the soul” - WIlliam Blake As a Somatic Coach I help people to see their own body language, then to listen to what their body is saying and, subsequently, to take action to improve their present life condition.

Waking up…

Awareness of one’s own body and bodily sensations may seem overly simplistic but how many of us spend the bulk of our lives completely consumed by deliberating on the past or the future-thinking, analyzing, criticizing, comparing, planning? The body

manner, it is often far more important to simply wake up to the sensations at hand.

Struggling to remain present as we confront anything in life is uncomfortable, but these are the moments from which growth and healing stem. Somatic therapy helps us recognize, sit with and approach shifting the physical, as well as the emotional, mental and spiritual. The Somatic learner does not view the body and mind as a duality. Body and mind are inseparable.

Indigenous wisdom…

Having studied Somatic Coaching in the United States it has been fascinating for me to recognize

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the similar wisdom embedded in two of the principal philosophies underpinning Balinese socio-religious culture.

Tri Kaya Parisuda (alignment in thought, speech and action). Similar to the Western notion of “walking the talk”, this Balinese philosophical tenet goes a step further to include walking and talking one’s thought.

From a Somatic standpoint, if there is misalignment between these three aspects of the self, the discord somehow creates a holding within your body. It is back to Sang Hyang Suratma: if you are false or hypocritical in the relationship between your thoughts, speech and action, the language of your body will eventually counter-testify.

Tri Hita Karana (alignment in relationships: humanto-god, human-to-human, human-to-nature). This tri-partite understanding of one’s spiritual, social and ambient relationships is akin to the Somatic process of ‘centering’. A method by which to access awareness of your body’s language, centering focuses on the physical alignment of your posture. The vertical axis represents your relationship to God; the horizontal axis represents your relationship to other humans; the alignment of front and back represents your relationship to nature.

internal narrative related to that holding?

This practice is a tool with which to continually realign your physical self with everything else, internal and external. Somatic therapy recognizes that being centered is not a static position. In fact it recognizes that nothing in life is static and that life will always have moments that throw you.

With awareness, we are each on the brink of transformation. In the words of one wise yogi, it is as simple as this: Change your shape to change your state. ,

BODY MIND BODY MINDMIND BODY Janur Yasa utilizes his Somatic Therapy knowledge daily in his work as a Wellness Liaison at Five Elements (www.fivelements.org), guiding retreat participants through their individual healing journeys.

References: www.strozziinstitute.com and www.inner-healing.com

From both a Balinese and a Somatic perspective, the body is understood as the microcosm. By process of alignment, you are actually aligning your small self with the macrocosm of the universe. This literal sensation of re-balancing oneself translates inherently to mental, emotional and spiritual stability.

Rebalancing….

The good news is that, while your whole life story is recorded in your body, the rest of your life is still before you. If your current shape no longer serves you, you can deliberately change it.

How It Works: Somatic therapy begins with a body scan. You can do it yourself at this very moment. Simply freeze in your shape right now and take a moment to observe any tensions, cramping, straining, clenching or other holding currently active in your body. Are you gritting your teeth or holding your breath, favouring one hip, collapsing your shoulders or jutting your jaw forward?

What is this body language telling you? What is the Janur Yasa at Five Elements

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Photos by Tania Gordon

Ayu, Student Penestanan Kaja

Beny, Hairdresser Ubud

Which is my phone?

Desy, Receptionist Tegallalang

Tari, Student Penestanan Kelod

Max, Teacher Penestanan Kelod

Parman, Vendor Dalung

Yudi, Mother Tabanan

Yoko, Web Designer Penestanan Kaja

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Iphone 5

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Nokia 6085

Samsung Galaxy 43

MARRIAGE COMMUNICATION

By Josh Wise My mind wanders. Truth be told, sometimes I have no idea how my mind could possibly stray so far from my body. My thoughts wander off in many directions: wondering, thinking, daydreaming, pondering, analyzing or worrying. It happens a lot. I hate to admit it but sometimes it even happens when I’m talking with my wife. There I am, talking with the love of my life, and somehow my mind wanders. I know that every word she says is important but there is this chatter in my mind that steals away my attention.

Sometimes I think about what I want for lunch. Other times I think about checking my email. Occasionally I wonder if I’m really from Mars and she’s really from Venus. I catch myself wondering what we’ll both look like when we’re 70. During those times, I find myself amazed at how good she looks when she’s 70.

Sometimes I play out our future conversations word for word. Once in a while I think about how to write an article on effective communication.

Even if my mind wanders, I still look her in the eyes.

I give appropriate verbal cues to express interest in what she’s saying. Have you ever said “Uh huh” when you weren’t really listening? You know what I’m talking about. Isn’t this adequate communication?

Does she feel heard when I repeat the last four words she said?

The short answer is no.

If you’ve spent a little time in Ubud, you’ve probably heard the word presence enough times to begin to lose track of what it really means. We hear about presence in yoga classes, see it advertised on flyers and talk about it in most workshops we attend in Ubud. I know this because I’m one of those people who teaches workshops on presence. By sheer repetition the word begins to feel like a buzzword for some New Age, self-help panacea.

So what does presence mean? Simply put, presence is the state of being all here, right now. It’s being awake in the moment: fully attentive to thoughts, feelings and emotions. That sounds simple enough,

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right? Just be right here, completely feeling what I feel in this moment. I should be able to do that.

Especially if I’m communicating with the person I love. But why is it so hard to do?

The experience of presence involves your body, mind and spirit - and your brain. Often when I talk about presence, I leave the brain out of the conversation.

I love to talk about opening heart chakras and connecting energies at a subtle level. But today I’d like to consider what neuroscience can teach us about presence and communication. The brain’s neural circuitry may help us better understand how we really communicate with those we love.

The Brain - Back in the Conversation Let’s take a look at a simplified brain. If you place your thumb in your palm and curl your four fingers over it, you create a rough model of your brain. Your wrist represents the brain stem which connects your brain to the neural networks of your body.

Deep within your brain - just about where your thumb is in your hand - is the limbic system. The limbic system governs your emotions. Emotions motivate you to act, that’s why they’re called e-motions.

Now take a look at the fingertips that fold over your thumb. These represent the prefrontal cortex.

The prefrontal cortex is located right behind your forehead. This is what you use when you focus and concentrate. It’s also the part of the brain that regulates brain stem activity (managing sensory information from your body) and enables you to have insight and empathy.

When there’s activity in a certain part of your brain, neurons in that area fire electrical currents through different pathways that link various parts of the brain.

Your prefrontal cortex has the job of regulating the connection between awareness, emotions and sensory input from the body. But you aren’t just getting sensory input from your body.

Resonance Circuitry - The Key to Connection Researchers in Italy in the 1990s connected a monkey’s brain to electrodes. They fed the monkey a peanut and observed which neuron fired in the monkey. Later on, when the monkey saw the researcher eat a peanut, the same neuron fired. This began to give scientists insight into what is known as mirror neurons. Your brain is wired to feel what others are experiencing.

Mirror neurons are connected to your limbic system (your emotional centers) and to your body through a series of nerves. When someone yawns, you yawn.

When someone takes a drink, you get thirsty. When someone is sad, you might feel sad as well. Have you ever noticed that when you’re with someone who’s depressed, you begin to feel down?

If I’m feeling angry while talking to you - even if I’m not showing any obvious signs of anger - you might begin to feel angry too. Your resonance circuitry will pick up on my anger and send a signal from your brain down into your body where, if you’re paying attention, you’ll begin to feel the physical sensations of anger.

This is also true with joy, excitement and sadness.

From an evolutionary standpoint, we’ve evolved in ways that help us connect on an emotional level

Photo by Rachel Thurston

with those around us. People can feel when you are present and, in return, they feel seen, heard and felt. They feel that you are resonating with them. This resonance takes place in the body and is mediated through the brain.

So what does this say about my conversations with my wife? What if I’m talking to her without really being there? Well, she can feel that. Her resonance circuitry picks up on the fact that I’m not resonating with her.

This doesn’t come as a big shock. You know when someone is really resonating with you. You can feel it.

The real question is, how can we train ourselves to be present? Is it even possible?

Neuroplasticity and Meditation - The Coolest Part Scientists used to believe that the brain was static, that brain cells could never be regenerated. They’ve since discovered this is not the case. The brain continues generating new neurons throughout life while strengthening neural connections. This constant reshaping of the brain is called neuroplasticity. New neurons are created where focused attention is being placed.

Mindfulness meditation has been shown to increase activity in the prefrontal cortex of your brain. This activity generates growth in the region, increasing

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your insight, focus and empathy. It also strengthens your connection to your emotions and to the physical sensations in your body.

Meditation literally changes the structure of your brain and increases your ability to be present to your bodily sensations and emotions. As you’re more present to what’s going on inside you, you also become more present to what’s going on inside of others.

Meditation is the key to communicating and resonating with people you love. It isn’t just about opening heart chakras. It’s about how the brain works.

Presence - This moment as an offering As I look back on four years of living in Bali, the wisdom that stays with me is the Balinese outlook on life. Life is an offering. Each moment is an offering.

Each moment is an opportunity to offer your gift, your presence. My wife will read this article and know that sometimes I’m thinking about far away planets when I’m half-listening to her. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb to suggest that I’m not the only one who sometimes treats communication in this way.

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So here’s my approach to it. I accept that I’m human and I’m practicing. I set aside a little time every day to sit in stillness and watch what arises in my experience. When I catch my mind wandering when I’m talking with her, I soften my belly and notice my breath. This brings me back to the moment, back to the conversation and back to opening up fully.

“As you’re more present to what’s going on inside you, you also become more present to what’s going on inside of others” This is the key to communicating. Truly connecting with anyone - from your intimate partner to the people you meet on the street - requires showing up fully. It means using your body, your mind and your brain. ,

Reprinted by permission www.mindfulcouples.com

Breaking Old Patterns, Forging New...

by Janet Nicol

“Since in order to speak, one must first listen, learn to speak by listening.” -Rumi

Susan: I’ve been waiting for over fifteen minutes. Where have you been?

Matt: I was working on a new sequence of backbends. I didn’t notice the time and my phone was off.

Susan: Well you’re late and you’re always working on some bloody yoga thing that takes forever, and then you lose track of the time.

Matt: You’re so uptight. It was only fifteen minutes. Take it easy. This is Bali. There’s no rush. What’s your problem?

Susan: Only fifteen minutes? Well Mr. Perfect, you’re the one who gets uptight when students are late for YOUR class. What makes you think your time is more important than mine? I’m leaving!

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egardless of the situation or the details, many of us can relate to some aspect of the above interaction. This exchange includes some of the least successful ways to connect and communicate: criticism, raising one’s voice, being an expert on someone else’s faults, over-reacting, impatience, name-calling, insensitivity….the list goes on. We all know that sinking feeling when our conversation takes a turn for the worse. Words are said without thinking, empathy is lost and the fabric of your relationship is torn apart.

In the above example, Matt could be a respected yoga instructor who teaches the importance of ahimsa (non-harming) and satya (truth) in many of his classes. Susan could be a highly educated, welltravelled poet who writes eloquently about love and peace. And yet when awareness and consciousness

aren’t there, the deep dangerous grooves of unsafe, unkind and even violent communication can take over anyone. After all, we’re only human. Even the yogis, artists and the spiritual-seekers among us aren’t immune to this downward spiral. Although we all desire to connect to others, our discomfort with vulnerability can sabotage us. The irony is that vulnerability is exactly what we need to develop strong, healthy relationships. This takes tremendous courage, and for many of us courage is in short supply. Our habits are strong, our triggers are sensitive and it seems easier to just lash out, to judge and to protect ourselves.

Marshal Rosenberg, an American psychologist, pioneered a way to negotiate this minefield of interpersonal communication. Developed in the 1960’s, Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is a structure to help resolve conflict peacefully. His hope was to

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offer some practical skills we can all use to address the negative talk and over-reaction that often leads to arguments. Rosenberg uses the term ‘nonviolent’ to refer to our natural state of compassion when violence has subsided from the heart. Nonviolent Communication begins with the premise that all human beings are compassionate by nature, but we have learned harmful verbal and physical forms of communicating that are perpetuated in mainstream culture (see Modern Family) In Rosenberg’s opinion, everyone’s needs can be met but we must first connect with ourselves. This means that every attempt at resolving conflict begins with identifying our own wants and feelings and taking responsibility for them first. Understanding that we can’t force people to feel, act or think in any particular way, NVC encourages letting go of responsibility for how others feel or behave, as well as avoiding judgmental dialogue. If we do share our judgments or opinions about what they are doing (or not doing) it assumes that someone knows more than someone else, which is generally untrue and almost always inflammatory.

Rosenberg’s strategy emphasizes slowing down, staying in the present moment, remaining in the body and speaking clearly and mindfully to others. If we don’t do these things we run a high risk of contentious communication because we verbalize from a place of fear and habit.

Rosenberg divided NVC into a four-step technique that makes it easy to remember and integrate into our daily interactions.

1. Observation/Listening: Learn to listen to what people are saying to you. Consider what the person has said or done, or a thought you may be having. Articulate this observation without opinion or evaluation. Be the witness, not the judge.

2. Feeling: Recognize the feeling and emotion you (or your partner) experiences. Consider how you want the person to feel after they have heard your words.

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Describe what you’re feeling: afraid, ashamed, hurt, irritated….Learn to separate thoughts from feelings.

3. Need: Articulate a need of yours (not anyone else’s) that is being met or not met. Take the time to study yourself. Connect this to the feeling identified above.

4. Request: Consider your words carefully and kindly and state a clear request, one that can be met in the moment. Be sure to distinguish it from a demand or an ultimatum.

Susan’s needs may have been for greater trust and honesty. Matt’s for autonomy and exploration. In an NVC structure, Susan would have expressed herself quite differently.

Susan: I feel abandoned when you arrive late because I need to feel our agreements are respected.

Would you be willing come on time the next in the future?

In what might at first sound unkind, NVP is against giving praise, instead favouring gratitude. Rosenberg considers compliments as a violent form of communication, as one person is passing judgment on another and that involves using dominant and oppressive language. He goes on to say, “What makes this more complex is that people are trained to use praise as reward, as a manipulation to get people to do what they want…. To me, this is a violent form of communication because it is using language as a manipulation that destroys the beauty of sincere gratitude. So in NVC we show people to make sure that before you open your mouth to get clear that the purpose is not to manipulate a person by rewarding them.”

To truly embrace NVC one needs to be clear on the difference between praise and gratitude. When we express gratitude to another person we are giving thanks to who they are, without any value placed on their behaviour. When expressing gratitude we are also called upon to share our feelings directly and to let that person know how they make us feel.

Photo by Tania Gordon

As Rosenberg points out, “I have been called a lot of names in my life, some positive and some far from positive and I could never recall learning anything of value from someone telling me what I am.”

Asian cultures generally have a more peaceful manner of speaking with each other. Anyone who has lived, travelled or worked in Bali knows that resorting to blame or raised voices is counterproductive here.

Most Balinese people seize up if you speak sharply or critically, giving us a wonderful opportunity to consider our words carefully in challenging situations. Different cultural expectations and language barriers mean that flare ups are often inevitable, but positive growth can come of them if they encourage us to study our expectations, emotions and judgments.

Conscious communication is in many ways similar to spiritual practice and, in fact, many of these theories have been informed by Buddhist teachings. People who put into practice this technique claim that the relationships in their lives improve dramatically.

NVC is about slowing down and checking in. It’s about self-awareness and cultivating empathy. It’s about understanding, listening and not over-reacting.

Challenge yourself to go beyond your habitual patterns of communication and see what unfolds. A world of possibility awaits, and by forging an openness with others, you may just discover unchartered terrain deep inside yourself. ,

Ask yourself: Is what I’m saying separating me from this person or bringing me closer to them?

If the answer is separation, exploring Rosenberg’s techniques might help.

Read Rosenberg’s interview with William Stierle at: www.YogiTimes.com Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life

by Marshall B. Rosenberg www.cnvc.org What We Say Matters: Practicing Nonviolent Communication

by P.T. Judith Hanson Lasater Ph.D. and Ike K. Lasater Reprinted by permission: www.janetnicol.com

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50Years in Indonesia Indonesians love to chat… perhaps this is why this country is one of the world’s fastest growing telecommunication centres. Citizens here are connecting with each other via the internet, mobile phones, television, radio and printed publications. A staggering 60 million mobile phones were purchased in the country in 2013 alone. For smart phones, sixty percent of the market uses Android (80% dominated by Samsung), followed by Blackberry (30%), Apple (14%), and the rest, Windows.

Jakarta residents love their Facebook, with over 11 million of them on the social network. But they especially love Twitter, making Jakarta the number one twitter city in the world, surpassing Tokyo, London, and New York. With nearby Badung at number 6, Jakarta could be knocked off its perch.

In Bali, clear mobile phone conversations and reliable WiFi are temperamental at best; talking on cell phones here often requires knee bending, head bobbing and pacing back and forth to get a decent signal. Texting is a much more reliable way to communicate. Many locals have more than one mobile phone with different numbers as a cost saving strategy, because it’s cheaper to call to a number within the same network. It is estimated that there are 3 million cell phone users in Bali, texting, calling and Facebooking each other - often while driving a scooter.

Television, radio, newspapers and magazines still have their place in Bali, even in the era of internet and mobile phones. With about 950,000 televisions in island homes, they’re on for an average of 5 hours daily.

The 20 radio stations in Bali broadcast in Balinese, Indonesian and even English. Same goes with the local newspapers, with the Bali Post leading the way in daily circulation. Up to 20 magazines are printed here each month, with Inspired Bali standing out as the most authentic and dynamic, of course. Indonesia publishes about 18,000 books annually, both in Indonesian and in English, a figure that’s much lower compared to other countries with similar populations.

SPOKEN WORD Balinese generally address each other in Bahasa Indonesia. Once they get to know someone, they will switch to Balinese. Often, if a Balinese doesn’t know the caste of the person they’re speaking to, they use the highest or most formal version of Bahasa Balinese called basa madya, or the “Language of Courtesy”. Older Balinese will determine the caste of another early in a conversation, by asking them where they are ‘placed’, a polite way of determining their position in society. Although the caste system is not as strong as it once was, with many members of the ‘lower castes’ entering politics, becoming educated and attaining wealth, formalities are still widely practiced. ,

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by Heather Bonker

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THE EPIC Photographs by

Alex Vermeulen and Costume design by

Rien Bekkers

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SOH29: The Epic is a collaborative project by costume designer Rien Bekkers and artist Alex Vermeulen.

The narrative takes place in 2088 in an imaginary Asian metropolis. Starring young Balinese children in a futuristic landscape, the story brings together gods, demons and avatars from the “Ramayana” with characters of Shakespeare’s “Othello”. Love, hate, betrayal, jealousy and murder are the keywords in the newly written tale.

Bekkers and Vermeulen will be releasing their multi-platform project in 2015 in Indonesia, Europe and the United States.

The 15 photographs will be 2.5X1.5 metres printed directly on glossy acrylic plates and will be suspended in space. The artists will also be launching an interactive iBook supported by an original soundtrack., www.syndicaat.org / www.alexvermeulencom

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KNOWMADS KNOWMADS YOU SHOULD KNOW

By Renee Martyna

Marianne Elliott: Storytelling under Fire When Marianne Elliott published her revealing tale ‘Zen Under Fire: How I Found Peace in the Midst of War in Afghanistan’, she feared that people might think she was self-indulgent. Knowmads like Marianne-who want to change the world but are also deeply changed by it-are generally wary of the criticism that self-reflection like that can invite. She fell prey to the assumption that so many caregivers are prone to make: that self-care is somehow unscrupulous when there are others who suffer so much more.

After getting to know Marianne and reading her candid accounts of the pressure, isolation and uncertainty facing aid workers on the front lines, selfish is the last word that comes to mind. But l tell you what does: grace, grit, honesty and humility. Marianne is a remarkable woman, not least because she is willing to tell the truth about something that many aid workers, military personnel and political operatives might worry is professional suicide.

You might wonder why Marianne, a bright and beautiful woman in her early forties who left behind a lovely life in New Zealand, chose to work in a war zone in the first place. The answer is familiar to Knowmads: it was in her blood.

There is a long history of existential migration in her family with at least a dozen relatives who were missionaries in Africa, Latin America and the Pacific. By the time she accepted a job with the UN mission in Afghanistan she had already lived and worked in East Timor, Papua and the Gaza Strip.

Her Brethren upbringing empha-

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sized hard work, community, humility and what she calls “ordinary everyday service”. Her human rights career, she believes, was merely a secular re-imagining of the same ideal. She wanted “to have an adventure, to explore the world and to learn but, at the same time, to do something good and useful”.

She may have got more than she bargained for.

Being selfless is how Marianne got into hot water, as do many people in the helping professions.

Sacrificing their personal well-being for the service of others, many caregivers suddenly find themselves unable to do their job effectively. Or worse, they completely collapse under the weight of vicarious trauma.

The signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which the World Health organization estimates may be affecting as much as 4% of the global population, were subtle at first: “I had trouble sleeping and had strong emotional responses in unusual situations… a constant sense of elevated anxi-

Photo by Vincent Jalabert

ety. Your hearing, your eyes and your nervous system are always on alert.” Months of hyper-vigilance eventually led to complete burnout.

The mostly troubling aspect of the disorder was simply not feeling like herself. “I was worried I was going crazy. I did not recognize myself anymore.” But with the benefit of time, wise counsel, and a healthy dose of self-compassion, she realized that her body was merely sending her a message: It’s not you, it said. It’s the situation you’re in.

She fell prey to the assumption that so many caregivers are prone to make: that self-care is somehow unscrupulous when there are others who suffer so much more.

The sobering lesson in Marianne’s story is that, for most of us, the resilience required to shoulder trauma is not innate. It has to be learned. That’s why she joined with others to introduce a “more systematic approach” to

aid worker wellness which emphasizes “not just technical, but also psychological preparedness”. She leads an online 30 Days of Yoga For Aid workers to help people on the ground cope with the “relentless exposure to suffering, violence and injustice” without sacrificing the sensitivity that attracted them to aid-work in the first place.

Her advice is simple and age-old: Physical self-care - good food, adequate sleep, moving your body every day Contemplation - time to reflect, process and release what you have seen or experienced Human connection - regular and healthy social interactions Creativity - expression through the arts None of this is especially easy to achieve on the front lines but Marianne hopes to make it easier for others through her mentoring.

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writing process in one of her online courses - has been an effort to convey the value of human dignity. To help people a voice they might not otherwise have.

Despite all the turmoil she has endured she still seems grateful for her time in a war zone, especially for the kindness she was shown.

“Being a Knowmad is a privilege because you get to become a part of someone else’s community. You may not share a language, religion or culture with them and yet they look at you, in all your strangeness, and open their doors to you… into their home, their family, and their professional life. I have been to weddings and family celebrations all over the world, and I often wonder, do we do that in New Zealand?

Do we open our doors to people who don’t speak our language or know our customs and say ‘come to Christmas, or my sister’s wedding?’ It’s incredibly generous.”

Photo by Marianne Elliott

“…I often wonder, do we do that in New Zealand?

Do we open our doors to people who don’t speak our language or know our customs and say ‘come to Christmas, or my sister’s wedding?’

It’s incredibly generous.”

Since this issue of Inspired Bali is on the theme of communication, I asked her to ‘tell the story behind telling her story’. It was hard, she said plainly, but it helped her heal. Writing is the practice that calls her to be fully present with her pain, though she admits that it is emotionally exhausting to drop the make-believe so that you can truly see yourself.

“Sometimes you see what you don’t really want to see but you peel off the various versions of the story until you get to the truth.” The word Zen is in the title of her book because “It’s about being awake and clear-seeing. To see yourself as you really are.”

Marianne is fully aware that her writing is also a medium for communicating her agenda. Helping other people tell their stories - whether it be through a UN human rights report or coaching them through the

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When asked to describe what being a Knowmad has meant to her, she replies: “It has changed how I see myself. It’s given me a new perspective, a chance to question my own assumptions and to re-examine the things that I think are normal or I take for granted.” Does one need to leave one’s culture and country to achieve this? “The same shift might be possible through reading and watching documentaries”, she argues, “but there is something so dramatic and direct about the lived experience.”

There are trade-offs, however, to leaving her land of birth. We conducted the interview from her sister’s house in Auckland where photos of every major milestone - graduations, birthdays, weddings, babies being born - were displayed on the walls.

The photos told the story of a close circle of friends: “They have been together since they were 15 and have incredible friendships. Every once in a while I look at that and get a pang because I don’t have that. I graduated university and took off to Gaza.

I made incredible friendships there too but then we all scattered in different directions. I did the same in Timor and then in Afghanistan. I loved those friendships but I’ve missed the consistency of having friends who have seen me through all the different phases of my life and who know all those different parts of me.”

Like many Knowmads, Marianne has had to find her sense of home within herself. After the challenge of recovering from PSTD and discovering her inner resilience, she may well know herself than most. For a knomad on the front lines, that’s not indulgence: that’s survival. ,

Marianne’s memoir about her experiences in Afghanistan, “Zen Under Fire”, is available through most online bookstores now. She and fellow Knowmad Amanda Scothern created 30 Days of Yoga for Aid Workers, a program to help people establish and then maintain their own home yoga and meditation practice, wherever they are. It’s designed specifically for aid workers but would suit anyone whose work or life keeps them on the move, or who finds it easier to take care of others than themselves. In other words, it’s perfect for Knowmads!

KNOWMAD: a knowledge trader who lives, works and learns between worlds/ feels at home everywhere and nowhere/ a life long learner who seeks to know Truth/ thrives on change & growth/ intends to make meaning of the world’s madness/

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Branding • Web design • Image • Space 63

ORANG

“The choice to live in a country while not speaking the language is an interesting one. Maybe more lazy than interesting, really.”

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

It would probably smell spectacular. But nobody would know what you were talking about if you called it by any other name. It would just be super confusing.

I moved to Bali over six years ago with my then four year old son. I thought it would be a matter of months before I was speaking Bahasa Indonesia like a local. Six years later I no longer speak English properly, nor do I speak Bahasa. At all. Perhaps a few building construction words, but those have limited applications. My son, whom I also thought would be instantly fluent, took years to gain enough confidence to roll his r’s and be petulant in a second language.

I have learned more Sanskrit than Bahasa Indonesia in the last six years. Go figure. I can talk building materials with Balinese and bandhas with Western yogis but, I can’t order a meal or pronounce the President’s name. Om Shanti.

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When most of us say bahasa we are referring to the Indonesian language. Bahasa literally means language and is used in conjunction with other words - Bahasa Balinese, Bahasa Malay, Bahasa English. You probably know this if you’ve been here a few weeks.

It took me three years to figure this one out.

Indonesia has 23 million native Bahasa Indonesia speakers and 140 million people who speak it as a second language. Regional languages are spoken in most parts of Indonesia: there are over 300 native languages used across the archipelago.

Indonesian as a first language is mainly spoken in Jakarta and other large cities such as Medan and Balikpapan. It is estimated that over 200 million people use the language with varying degrees of proficiency. Bahasa Indonesia has been the unifying language since 1945 in a country that spans a wide geographical area and is culturally diverse. Media, government bodies, schools and workplaces operate in Bahasa Indonesia. It’s the talk to talk if you want to get anything done on a national level.

The choice to live in a country while not speaking the language is an interesting one. Maybe more lazy

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than interesting, really. My verbal communication is restricted to pleasantries, with the odd reference to cement and crossbeams. I have not actually had a real conversation with any Balinese person who is not proficient in English. The only locals I speak with are locals who are already living and working in the tamu (tourist) industry. Even these exchanges are limited in depth and substance. I can’t ask the women I see every day in my village anything about their lives. I do what most of us do when we can’t talk: I smile, nod and walk away feeling frustrated. I feel that the chasm between our cultures is too big to cross. But it’s not. Nor is the dictionary too big to crack.

I’ve been told if I were to get 800 words under my belt I could pretty much read a newspaper a chat with a farmer. Bahasa Indonesia is also considered to be the easiest language in the world to learn as it has no gender or tenses. That doesn’t help me though. I just don’t get it.

I feel enabled in my ignorance as the Balinese are fabulous at smiling back and making me feel like my ineptitudes are somehow their fault. Most grin and shake a hand and say “no inggris” like it is somehow their fault that we can’t have a good gossip in the local banjar. I graciously forgive these farmers for their lack of English and retreat to my house.

The women in my village often try to teach me the odd word with laughing gestures and cackling giggles. They point and repeat until I self-consciously repeat the words they are chanting at me. Then they howl with what I am not sure is delight or derision.

I extract myself from the mysterious exchange, wondering what I have been made to say. Then I forget the word and think, “what nice ladies.” But I always assume niceness and this one dimensional perception of our exchanges is perpetuated time and time again. My guilt and shame automatically make me attribute qualities of geniality to all those around me. All Balinese are swept with a brush of “they’re sweet” because, unless they are kicking me in the shins, I just assume that everything they are saying are poetic pleasantries.

Not being able to use spoken language to communicate means I rely on other means of getting my point across. When we communicate emotions without language, the emotions tend to become exaggerated. Think about it. If we are happy or

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grateful, we find ourselves bowing and prostrating to a shop assistant. If we are angry or feel ripped off, we frown and use body language to get the point across that the other person’s behavior has not gone un-noticed just because we don’t speak the same language. It’s almost like being two years old again. Some over-the-top combo of handclapping enthusiasm and footstomping tantrums. The results are mixed and rarely satisfying.

What does not learning the language communicate to the locals?

My friend Gede says it’s ok. He understands that it’s difficult for us to learn Bahasa and it’s nice for him to practice his English. And his German. And his Japanese. He likes to practice his French too. Uh huh.

I asked him how he speaks all these languages. He said “Oh, because I have a friend from Germany….

And many Japanese come here, so I try to learn with them little bit…. And then I become good friends with many Japanese…”.

I really am a terrible person.

I asked a longtime expat about my lack of language skills. She said “Dude. Isn’t it just frustrating? I mean, seriously.” Yes it is. When I ask myself why I don’t speak the language I don’t have any clear insight or understanding as to what the block is.

Seven-year cycles… I think my cycle of ignorance needs to come to an end. Learning the language this year will give me a whole new access to Bali. I’ll probably move to New Zealand though. My timing may be off… ,

Meg divides her time between Bali, Canada and New Zealand

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Cockfight

By IB

Photos By Glenn Chickering

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erhaps you’ve seen them. It looks like a motorbike rally from the street. As you come closer it sounds like a shouting match or a civil war in the village (banjar). This is the only event in Indonesia for which you must show up on time or even early. Latecomers are turned away. Enthusiasm, pure and simple, fills the arena before the feathers start to fly. It’s a cockfight.

Although cockfighting was officially outlawed in Indonesia in 1981, it continues to flourish despite the prohibition. It is technically still permitted to sacrifice cocks ceremonially, but many of the cockfights continue long after the temple offerings are done, lasting for hours or even days.

Owners of fighting cocks (siap) can often be seen handling them by the roadside - comparing them, stroking them, and passing them back and forth.

The birds are kept alone in woven bamboo baskets (guwungans), nibbling on grass and leftovers to fuel up for the big day. Whether to appease evil spirits, raise funds for a temple or gamble for personal gain, the tradition of cockfighting in Bali is a lively part of local island life.

How it works: Cockfights (locally known as tajens) begin with a blessing from a priest. The professional handler of each bird then presents their cock in the center of the ring to establish their contestant. Ideally, they are looking for two birds that are about the same size so that the competition is fair. The owners of the bird on the sidelines must approve the match before they move on.

Once a match has been confirmed a sharp blade (taji) is attached to each cock’s foot. This is done by a blade expert who affixes the device carefully so that the losing bird is killed instantly.

Then comes the gambling, also illegal in Bali. The betting process is quick and complex. It includes a lot of yelling, gesticulating, lip movements and knowing glances. Betters call out the colour or other distinguishing features of their favorite cock in order to confirm their bet. Money is collected before the fight begins and bets typically range from 100,000 to 1,000,000 rupiah, with an average win of 150,000,000.

The match begins with the sound of a gong and ends with the death of a bird. It’s usually over in under five minutes. Draws are rare. The winner of the round takes the cash and the dead bird. The champion cock moves on. , Learn more about cockfighting and many other Balinese traditions from “Bali: Sekala & Niskala” by Fred B. Eiseman, Jr. from Periplus Editions.

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COMMUNICATING

IN THE TIME OF THE INTERNET

By Uma Anyar

“We lived on farms and we moved to cities, and in the future we’ll be living on the Internet!”

The Social Network (2010)

Time is relentlessly forward looking, and the present is continuously changing. It is mystifying that we humans manage to ignore all this instability and go from day to day doing what we do. All the while deftly ignoring the certainty that one day we will no longer be a designated red dot moving along a GPS map embedded in the dashboard.

When the last baby-boomer dies there will be no one alive who will remember what life was like without instant access to some form of communication, information or entertainment. PI (pre-internet) will be a techno version of BC, a second Dark Ages, a historical period before we moved into cyberspace and reality morphed into HD pixel images.

We are like gods creating images in our likeness, so credible that these images engage us more than many of our fellow mortals. We like images glowing before us on portable screens.These images are so engaging that they even make us laugh out loud while we sit entranced in darkened rooms. Does this invoke Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” or “The Matrix”? The nature of reality is a slippery concept that has been fertile ground for many film-makers. Documentaries

are supposedly about reality but, if that reality involves the internet, how does it affect the final film?

Life in a Day

Director Kevin Macdonald and producer Ridley Scott decided to use YouTube as a video communication and display site, calling out to people across the world for digital footage submissions that documented life as they saw it on July 24, 2010.

Eighty-thousand people from 192 nations uploaded 4,500 hours of footage - all about an ordinary day on Earth. This brilliant yet simple idea is a masterpiece of inclusiveness, not to mention an editing feat that boggles the mind.

“Life in a Day” begins before dawn with an image of a fat moon hanging in a black sky, elephants bathing in what appears to be a dark cave (a visual reference to Plato?), a short scene of a mother breastfeeding her newborn and folks waking up in different parts of the world. People laugh, cry, joke, eat, argue, love, fight and die throughout the day. Naturally, some sequences are more beautiful or more interesting than others. The viewer, however, can’t help but grasp the theme that we are all very different and yet really all

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the same: we are all humans on a beautiful planet living this ordinary day together in a pocket of time in something known as eternity. Awesome!

This poetic editing style is not a new idea. Predecessors are “Koyaanisqatsi” (1982), “Baraka” (1992) and “Samsara” (2011). Without the Internet and YouTube “Life in A Day” would not be possible. Yet while these artistic endeavors are worth watching and discussing, one wouldn’t want a steady diet of such poetic poignancy. The film tries too hard to be egalitarian and uplifting but still ends up being an interesting and innovative idea: a 3.5 star movie you heartily recommend to friends.

“We are like gods creating images in our likeness, so credible that these images engage us more than many of our fellow mortals.”

Catfish

Another story involving communication on the internet is the documentary “Catfish”, a perplexing romance that begins on Facebook and turns into a post-modern communication thriller that astonishes, vexes and elucidates us. Alex Pasternack, critiquing the film for the Motherboard website, wrote: “Catfish uses the word documentary the way Facebook uses the word friend.” There is storm of controversy over the ethics of the making of “Catfish” as well as the reliability of the story. The film is sold as a documentary but is it a reality thriller or a talented hoax? This is exactly the kind of publicity that drives tweets and spin-offs. “Catfish: The Movie” has spawned “Catfish: The TV Show”. Nev Schulman hosts Reality TV show about the pleasures and perils of online dating.

Deception has always been possible in any form of communication, however, it has become easier to do in the zone where Facebook and other social networks reside: cyberspace. Deception is at the heart of “Catfish” but the twist is that the film, purporting to be a documentary, may be a ruse on the audience.

The film certainly had many filmmakers questioning who knew what and when. Morgan Spurlock called it “the best fake documentary ever.” In the film, twen-

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ty-something Nev is a New York City photographer who is buddies with two documentary filmmakers (one of whom is his brother, Ariel Schulman). These young, creative guys photograph and film each other constantly. They casually start making a documentary about Nev’s Facebook relationships when an eightyear-old girl, Abby, paints a small picture based on a photograph of a dancer Nev published in a national magazine. Abby is proud of her creative accomplishment and sends Nev the canvas as a present. They begin a relationship on Facebook, which eventually extends to friendships with her older sister and mother. Over months of chats, emails and phone calls a romance develops between Nev and Abby’s 19-yearold sister, Megan. Things begin to steam up and chatting gradually turns into sexting.

Nev grows suspicious about claims Megan makes about herself as a musician. She sends Nev a cut from a song she said she wrote and performed on Facebook. Nev checks out the song on YouTube and discovers the exact same cut being performed by someone else. It is quite evident that Megan did not

write the song. All this excited angst is documented moment by moment by the filmmakers, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.

After completing a film job in Chicago the trio decide to drive to Michigan and show up unannounced at Abby and Megan’s house in order to get to the bottom of things. The film-makers are after a True Romance Magazine exposé, wiring Nev with a tiny microphone and hidden cameras. Nev arrives at Megan’s front door holding a bouquet of flowers he picked by the roadside and with suspicion in his heart. Angela, the sisters’ mother, opens the door.

The film then shifts from a lightweight Facebook romance story into a reality thriller. The plotline becomes more interesting than these naive young men originally imagined. This poignant encounter with Angela, a middle-aged housewife, throws viewers into ambivalence about the film. Angela’s real life proves to be reason enough for creating alternate identities on Facebook. I found it excruciating to watch Angela’s lies unravel as Nev gently confronts her about the missing Megan.

I began to suspect the veracity of “Catfish” as pure cinematic verité during the segment where Nev interviews Angela’s husband Vince. He suddenly turns the story’s focus away from truth versus lies to the human need for stimulation and uncertainty in life. He tells an allegorical story about how difficult it is to ship live cod to Asia from America because the lack of activity for the cod in the tanks causes the fish to arrive flaccid and flavorless. Some fishermen then discovered that if they added catfish to the tanks the cod became active and assertive. The spunky catfish helped the cod to retain their vitality and flavor. Vince thinks that people need catfish-type individuals in their lives to keep them on their toes. He implies that Angela is such a person.

responses to “Catfish”.

My reading of the film is that Joost and the Shulman brothers stumbled into a far more complex story than they had initially expected. Most likely parts of the documentary were re-shot once Angela and her family entered the story. The film-makers, nevertheless, did maintain their complete integrity to the film’s timeline.

“Catfish” raised controversy at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013. The question of who’s conning who made me wonder - are we, the anonymous viewers, also part of the deception equation? Upon further reflection I realized that is precisely why I liked the film.

“Catfish” is a catfish! , Reprinted by permission: www.umaanyarwriter.wordpress.com

More related films “The Social Network” by David Fincher “Jobs” by Joshua Michael Stern “The Fifth Estate” by Bill Condon “The Matrix Trilogy” by Andy and Lana Wachowski “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by David Fincher “One Point O” by J. Renfroe and M. Thorsson “Revolution OS” by J.T.S. Moore “The Italian Job” by F. Gary Gray “We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks” by Alex Gibney “Her“ by Spike Jonze

This thought-provoking interpretation of the identity forgery issue on Facebook feels suspiciously like a set up because it is an unlikely theory to be espoused by someone like Vince who appears far from philosophical. Where did the catfish story come from? I will avoid serious spoilers - viewers should wrestle with their own

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A gateway to college studies in France and worldwide

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A network of 488 schools around the world

100% reat alau Bacc ces rate c u s

Baccalauréat + TOEFL = IB

Hot on the heels of a hugely successful tour of Indonesia with the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2013, literary salon Women of Letters now brings the love of letter writing to your small screen.

Curated by Marieke Hardy and Michaela McGuire, Women of Letters events in Australia and all over the world focus on the value of letter writing and reviving the lost art of written correspondence.

This innovative letter writing portal will encourage entries via snail mail, digital upload, or soundbyte submission. Each month will explore a different theme, the first being the 2013 Festival’s ‘A Letter to a Wish’.

Better yet, it’s easy to do – here’s a simple guide to get you started: Point your mouse in the direction of www.ubudwritersfestival.com Head to the About section, click on the Women of Letters button.

Browse the selection of letters already posted, or else submit your own digital version. This can include a postcard image of where you are, and can be personalised with different handwriting styles and letter design. Opt to go public or stay anonymous – it’s up to you.

You can also link to a Soundcloud file or a YouTube video (like an audio/video book, but letter form!). Try and ensure these are no longer than 5-10 mins.

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Finally, for those who want to keep it completely old-school, letters can be sent by post to the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, who will then scan and upload the letter for you. This is also a great option for those who have a story to share, but may not have access to a computer or internet connection.

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Suka Duka How to turn a challenge into an opportunity

By Jocelyn Gordon Suka duka is a Hindu saying for the highs and lows of life. The sweetness and happiness of suka versus the bitterness and grief of duka.

Today all is going well; your plans are joyful and effortless.

Then there’s a downturn - an unexpected turn of events - that doesn’t feel so good.

Case in Point: One Saturday while my daughter was out at a birthday party I found us a new home – a beautiful villa that faces the jungle. After placing a deposit on our home and meeting with friends to celebrate, I set out on my motorbike to travel an hour south of Ubud to pick up my daughter. I was feeling empowered and confident. I made it safely and it was a very sweet journey.

Reality: Sometimes duka moments last a long time or can be triggered by more extreme situations – a cancer diagnosis, losing a loved one, not getting a job, etc. How do you create a bridge that allows you to participate in the fullness of life without spiraling out into the highs and tumbling into the lows?

Some tips 1. Consider suka duka less as a polarity and more as a circle of oneness where the circle is both empty and full. Accept the wholeness of life experiences and attempt to find a relaxed state that allows you to observe the highs and lows, and all the places in between.

I woke up on Sunday morning and my computer wouldn’t turn on. Three tries and still a blank screen.

My whole life is in my computer. It has my files, my codes, my passwords. My professional life and my personal life are in there; it’s a big deal.

2. Practice compassion: compassion is the container that holds all things. Whatever is causing suffering in your life, create a container of compassion for it. Hold it with loving attention as if you were a grandmother holding a baby. A sense of gratitude can shift the hardest of sentiments.

Duka to suka:

3. Ishvara pranidhana - Let go and let God(dess)

My first reaction was to panic - “I didn’t back it up.”

“What if I have to buy a new computer?” “Can my files be retrieved?” “Please turn on.” And then I gave up, realizing there wasn’t much I could do except charge the machine and get on with my day. I would address the “what ifs” should they happen.

I plugged in my computer and moved on. A part of me felt grateful for not being able to turn on my computer: “Well now I will give my undivided attention to the day and to my daughter.”

Offer your situation to the highest good for the benefit of all. Offer up your joy, offer up your grief. Allow wisdom to be revealed to you. Bridging suka and duka is a practice of inner alchemy. You become the alchemist. You turn water into wine. Consider where can you apply this inner alchemy in your life.

By the way, my computer turned back on 12 hours later. ,

Jocelyn Gordon loves movement, meditation and places that begin with the letter B: Bali, Bermuda, Brooklyn, Big Sur, Brazil. Reprinted with permission www.jocelyngordon.com

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A DAY IN BALI

A DAY IN BALI with Hayley Hogan

I often ask myself, what is it about Bali? The jagged blue line of Mt. Batur, intriguing and vaguely threatening as it towers over the lowlands. The fathomless eyes that glance beneath paddie hats, impassive as they see right through you. The Island asks us to lose ourselves and happily we do, in the hope we might find something better.

the cool, delicious embrace of the forest.

In the 1580s, a group of shipwrecked Portuguese sailors refused the rescue offered them, choosing instead to spend the rest of their days on Bali, with a people they couldn’t understand, in a land that must have seemed as foreign to them as the moon.

Chefs from every corner of the globe have fled their busy urban restaurants to bring a taste of home to Bali’s culinary cornucopia. I’ve enjoyed better croissants here than in Paris, and learned that raw food is a lifestyle, not a salad.

Perhaps they realised that words could be replaced by gentle gestures, that a flash of white teeth communicated something universal. Afterall, it’s impossible to feel lonely in Bali, where endless conversations can be had with babbling streams and whispering bamboo.

As the day begins to heat up I’m reluctantly drawn out from the quiet of the trees and into the sweaty surge that is Hanoman Street. Taste satisfied, a short stroll leads me to Shangri-La Spa, where my understanding of sound is about to be broadened in a Big Way.

Like many others I thought I’d come to Bali to ‘get away’, but now I realise I was looking for something.

It didn’t happen for me in a single workshop, or the words of a wise guru. It was a merging of experiences across all five of my senses: sight, smell, taste, touch and sound, reminding me that life is what happens when, as a recent comic said, you’re busy taking instagram photos.

A handsome young man leads me to a large, hard slab of oak. I’m dubious; wondering if I’m about to be served up to some affluent Chinese business men. I’m actually lying atop a giant guitar, the thick cables running under the length of my spine. My guide plucks the chords in a gentle caper across the scales and as each note resonates through my body it appears in my mind as a burst of colour. Suddenly I realise that it’s entirely possible to see and feel sound; he has played a song to my soul, and as awfully trite as that may sound, I’m dazzled by it. Just another one of those ‘only-in-Bali’ moments, I guess.

So with iPhone firmly tucked away I endeavour upon a day in Bali, with no set destination in mind. And like all the best adventures, it has to start on a full stomach.

Taksu Spa overlooks a small river that curves its way around the airy timber structures. You can almost imagine being one of those Portuguese sailors, weary after months at sea and sick to death of endless blue and salt and sun, only to find yourself enveloped in

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www.inspired-bali.com

I order the tofu scramble, which let’s face it, isn’t the most intrepid choice, but as I feel the soft texture of it on my tongue, revel in the hints of onion, mushroom and spinach, I decide it truly does leave scrambled eggs for dead.

In Australia you might say my body and I weren’t really on speaking terms. At best, it was a relationship of convenience, but Bali doesn’t allow for that kind of complacency. That is why my exploration of ‘touch’ is not in a massage parlour, or hair salon, but at Motion Fitness in Petitienget. The worst thing

Taksu garden in Ubud - Photo by Ulrike Reinhold is, I’m not even there out of some gnawing sense of obligation. Somehow, the brutes have actually tricked me into enjoying exercise. That’s right; I can’t have a hedonistic day of pleasure anymore without a workout. It’s disgusting.

With the floor thumping under your feet, hands on swaying hips and twists that wake up muscles you never knew you had, Move & Groove is the kind of workout for people who hate workouts. By the end of the hour I’m exhausted, but my body is tingling and in its own way, thanking me for it. We’ve broken into a new dialogue and for once, I’m willing to listen.

Friends of mine send their kids to Motion Fitness’ Teen Move & Groove, and I can’t help wishing I’d started this journey at their early age. But as they say, better late than never.

My perfect day in Bali is incomplete without a brief sojourn to Utama Spice, on Monkey Forest Road.

Afterall, Bali is a land of smells, and I’ve come to love the good with the bad. The lusty frangipanis, warmed by the sun, and the rich, visceral stench of backyard pigs. Bali’s herbal remedies are fascinating and sadly many are being lost along with other elements of traditional life. The guys are Utama make everything by hand with natural ingredients, not because “organic” and “chemical free” are the latest buzzwords, but because they’ve never done it any other way. The “Wellkiss” and “Clearing” oils are my favourite, and a small way for me to carry a little piece of Bali around with me.

View at Abing Terrace - Photo by Gabriel Ulung Wicaksono

As the shadows grow long it’s time to get home and satisfy the last of my five senses: sight. I’m staying at Abing Terrace, not because the photos on the website looked pretty, but because the reviews on Trip Advisor are so glowing. I figure it must be worth the 15 minute drive out of Ubud. I’m not wrong. The rice terrace views are epic, and you almost expect King Kong to step through the valley of coconuts.

That golden glow, unique to Bali, has descended over everything like an old-school sepia lens. The sky is reflected in the mirrored glass of the paddies, the splash of bright pink bougainvillaea almost surreal against the green. It’s so breathtakingly beautiful, I wonder if it’s possible to ever get used to it. Do the Balinese feel the same awe as visitors who’ve come from concrete jungles, or the Portuguese sailors who lived atop endless hills of blue and grey?

A single day in Bali is a lifetime elsewhere and I guess that’s why we surrender ourselves to her black sand shores. To live, to feel. To know that in this moment we are here to witness, to taste and touch, to smell and see, to hear a song that can’t be heard above the roar of life in the different places that we’ve come from. ,

Hayley Hogan is a romance novelist who lives in Ubud with her partner Ivor and their golden retriever Rupert. She writes under the pseudonym Cate Hogan.

Reprinted by Permission: www.catehogan.com

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TOPSIX

Where to go, eat, give, practice, shop and explore Bali from hip locals “in the know.”

Sook Fun

Gun Gun Gumilar

Trina Butko

1. Chinamoon on Monkey Forest Road has authentic Taiwanese noodles and a must try banana red bean yogurt.

1. My morning is never complete without a visit to Ubud Traditional Market (Jl. Raya Ubud). Two bunches of bananas, one kilo of tomatoes, a papaya and a bunch of spinach is enough for me to start the day …

1. Random adventures. Ubud has many roads that lead to the promise of adventure and picturesque scenery. Pick a road and take a ride into the unknown!

2. Spending half a day at Swasti Eco Cottage in Nyuh Kuning for organic meals, swimming in natural salt water pool and visiting farm animals. It has a beautiful vegetable garden.

3. Daily coconut water at fruit stall on Jl. Raya Nyuh Kuning.

Variety of seasonal fruits and Ibu Badung knows and can tell you lots about her produce.

4. Great “getaway” at Hotel Harris Jimbaran. Wonderful staff and breakfast is amazing.

Incredible value for money.

5. Sang Spa 2 on Jl. Jembawan, Ubud has great rooms and ambiance. Love their fresh fruit snack.

Sook Fun is a Pilates teacher and moved to Bali with her son in 2012.

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2. There is no other place in Bali than Hubud (Jl. Monkey Forest, Ubud). It’s the perfect space to work, develop knowledge, share ideas and to build a network.

3. Masakan Padang (Jl. Raya Ubud) is my favorite spot for lunch. There’s plenty of choice to keep a vegetarian like me happy.

4. Campuhan Ridge (Jl. Campuhan, Ubud) is a green open space for walking or cycling to the north of Ubud. You can park your bike or car near Warwick Ibah.

5. Ubud Football Field (Jl. Monkey Forest, Ubud). I always love to watch little kids play football ... and maybe you would like that too?

Gun Gun Gumilar is a photographer living in Ubud.

2. Sunday Dance at Yoga Barn (Jl. Pengosekan, Ubud). I believe that a community that dances together thrives together.

3. Soma (Jl. Dewi Sita, Ubud).

With their spontaneous musical jams, high-vibe food and straight-up love, it’s no wonder they’ve become a local institution.

4. Cantika Organic Health and Beauty Spa (Penestanan Kelod).

Check out Cantika Zest for an overall sensory experience.

5. Yoga with Daniel Aaron at Radiantly Alive (Jl. Jembawan Ubud). Daniel’s classes are akin to going to church; they truly are a religious experience.

Trina Butko is an international traveller with deep roots in the Ubud community. She is a leadership strategist who provides coaching to communities and individuals.

Ke mana harus pergi makan, memberi donasi, latihan, toko dan menjelajahi Bali “dari penduduk setempat”

TOPSIX

IB John Stanton

Henry Hockley

Our favourite places

1. As a frequent traveler, I’ve tried them all and S2S (Pantai Brawa, Canggu) is one of the top fitness centers in the world.

1. Pelangi School (Mas), because I like my friends, the teachers, the playground and the vegetable garden.

2. Breakfast at Watercress (Jl. Batubelig, in Kerobokan). They never fail to deliver. Carrot, apple, beetroot, spinach and ginger for me, please.

2. Waterbom (Kuta), because the slides are awesome and they have ping pong and a lazy river.

1. Take a Kundalini yoga class with Daphna, then sip one of the most artistically presented coconuts in the world. All this and more at Desa Seni (Jl. Subak Sari,13.

Canggu).

3. The team at Apneista Freediving (Amed) changed my life-from surfing to yoga to business meetings. Being 30 meters underwater without an O2 tank teaches you a lot about yourself.

4. I love doing things others have difficulty finding, so I surf with Ki Alohoa Surf Guides. mattfredeluces@gmail.com 5. You do not have to settle for a mediocre massage. Quality and reasonable prices are found at Devira Massage (Jl. Batubelig, Canggu) John Stanton is an international clean tech investor , entrepreneur and founder of Ninja Camp Bali, NinjaCampBali.com

3. Kafe (Jl. Hanuman, Ubud) because the tuna steak with green beans and rice are delicious.

4. Beachwalk Mall (Kuta), because of the food, games and stuff. The movie theatres is 3D and has super comfy chairs.

5. Treetop Adventure Park (Tabanan), because I like high places.

Another favourite place: Pasir Putih Beach, Karangasem. It’s a white sand beach with fun waves that are usually perfect for swimming, and the grilled fish with garlic sauce is really good.

2. Head north for some mind blowing snorkeling at Menjangan Island then rest your head at Mimpi Resort in Pemuteran.

3. Meet up on the first of each month for the Big Ubud Clean Up. Find it on Facebook.

4. Our team loves coffee so we meet up and brainstorm at Anomali (Jl. Raya, 88 in Ubud).

5. Heading out into the streets to Dancewalk, followed up with Bodhi Raw Chocolate at Localista (5 Jl. Suweta, 5 in Ubud)

Henry Hockley is a globe-trotting Canadian ten year old currently living in Ubud, Bali. He misses snow and curses his cruel parents for denying him icy cold Canadian winters.

www.inspired-bali.com

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!

g n i n u K ) ; h u e l y i N m ’re in You

S

“Smiling is the beginning of happiness,” says Agus Premananda, a longtime resident and proud member of the local community group Mekenyem (“smile” in Balinese). He and his group are clearing the streets of litter, planting trees and ambitiously planning to plant 5,000 frangipanis. This, they claim, is sure to bring a smile to even the grumpiest of souls.

sibility for all of their garbage. On Saturday mornings you’ll see local school kids collecting their community waste along the main road, Jl. Nyuh Bulan. The trash is then sorted, composted or recycled. This kampung runs their own local warung, a transportation co-operative and a parking lot to raise funds for community projects.

Nyuh Kuning (“yellow coconut” in Balinese) is a banjar (small village) of roughly 800 residents located south of the Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud. Once a village of wood carvers known for their animal figurines, Nyuh Kuning--much like Ubud and much of Bali--has been impacted by the tourist industry. Increasing numbers of guest houses and hotels dot the village, as well as a small selection of shops and restaurants. You won’t be solicited here for a taxi or a massage (though both are available), a welcome break from Ubud.

Though the village consists of only two streets that converge at the football field and continue to the Monkey Forest, it is full of artisans, cultural and healing centers and ashrams. The soccer field is busy with a variety of activities: soccer, kite flying, community ceremonial preparations and even a Saturday morning baseball game headed-up by neighbourhood North American parents. There’s Yellow Coco Creative Nest, a center for art and creativity, the Amrtasiddhi Ayurvedic and Yoga Health Center, Movement Matters, and notably for food, Coffee and Copper next to Monkey Forest.

The community even has a facebook page to stay connected to local activities (FB: Nyuh Kuning Neighbors).

Nyuh Kuning’s popularity skyrocketed in 2009, when Julia Roberts came through town to film Eat, Pray, Love.

It’s also home to Yayasan Bumi Sehat Klinic, a prenatal care and birthing clinic founded by Robin Lim, winner of CNN’s 2011 Hero Of The Year Award. Relatively tidy and pedestrian-friendly Nyuh Kuning has become a favourite choice for expat families with children.

“I want my kids to explore our neighbourhood on foot,” said one expat mother walking through the football field carrying a handful of organic produce from a neighbour’s garden. The football field regularly hosts informal baseball, frisbee and football (soccer) matches, drawing a culturally-mixed group of players.

Nyuh Kuning stands out as an integrated, pedestrian-friendly village. It’s clean, bright, orderly, and colourful without the signature aroma of burning garbage.

“Who smiles in an unclean village?” asks Agus with a raised eyebrow. The village collects, and takes respon-

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By IB

www.inspired-bali.com

Another lovely sight is the local elderly residents with yoga mats tucked under their arms heading either to exercise class or Laughter Yoga classes at the Ambarshram.

You can reach the village by riding your scooter or walking along the stone path left of the entrance to the Monkey Forest in Ubud. If you come by car you will be charged a 2000 rupiah entry fee, a village initiative to keep traffic down. With no shortage of innovative environmental programs and community activities, there is much to smile about here. ,

www.movementmatters-bali.com www.meandmyshadows.ca www.amrtasiddhi.com www.ambarashram.com

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