Leadership

june july august

The Leadership Issue

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Welcome to our third issue of Inspired Bali Magazine Each of us has been touched, at one point in our lives, by leadership.

Perhaps we were mesmerized by someone’s vision and charisma, or conversely, damaged by the guidance of someone who led us astray.

In this edition we explore the complexities, challenges and myths that surround leadership, and ask the ultimate question: what makes an Inspired Leader?

Is it someone who shines down from above, naturally blessed with superstar qualities? Or is it someone more quiet, humble and less glorified? Is it an innate gift, or can it be acquired with hard work over time? How does culture inform our understanding of what makes a great leader?

To answer these questions, we have compiled a diverse selection of images, articles and interviews that examine leadership from many perspectives.

Ultimately, we hope this will inspire you to question what it means to be a leader and perhaps discover your own call to lead.

We hope that you enjoy our issue.

The Inspired Bali Team

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The Leadership Issue June . July . August 2013

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Managing Director manager@inspired-bali.com Editor editor@inspired-bali.com Art Director art@inspired-bali.com Sales sales@inspired-bali.com Publisher publisher@inspired-bali.com General Inquires hello@inspired-bali.com

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Inspired Bali reserves the right to refuse any advertisements that don’t complement the magazine’s vision. We are not responsible for any copyright infringements for images supplied to us by writers or advertisers.

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https://www.facebook.com/InspiredBali www.inspired-bali.com

Cover photo by Sebastian Belaustegui www.photosuki.com

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OFFERINGS

Inspired Bali

PROGRESS

Amit Janco

REEF

Michael Straus

WONDERWOMAN

Rachel Glitz

GURU

Kelly Damas

KNOWMADS

Renee Martyna

FILM

Uma Anyar

GRADUATE

Emily Ferguson

SUBAK

Melinda Chickering

FOOD

LIVING FOOD LAB

RESEARCH

Rosanna Nicol

LEADING

Renee Martyna

FICTION

Tamarra Kaida

TOP FIVE Inspired Bali | 5

Leading with the Mind

Through Darkness Into Light

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roundings and opened her he Ubud Writers and mind to aspirations toward Readers Festival will women’s equality. celebrate its 10th anIn keeping with contemponiversary as writers rary Javanese custom for and readers from around females of her socio-ecothe globe converge in Ubud nomic class in the late 19th on October 11-15, 2013. The century, Kartini was disaltheme of this year’s festival, lowed further education in Through Darkness into Light, her adolescence after this celebrates the spirit of R.A. Kartini (1879-1904), a pioneer R.A. Kartini Inspires Theme of 10th early energetic start. She nonetheless became an outof women’s rights and educaAnniversary spoken advocate for greater tion in Indonesia.

The collection of Kartini’s let- Ubud Writers & Readers Festival educational opportunities for women through her corters to friends abroad entitled respondence with European Habis Gelap Terbitlah Terang friends in Dutch. Kartini died shortly after giving birth (Through Darkness into Light) was published posthuto her only child at the age of 25. mously in 1911, and translated into English as Letters Kartini’s legacy lives on in the form of schools for girls of a Javanese Princess. in Java and an Indonesian national holiday (April 21).

Like many mythical princesses, Kartini experienced the strictures as well as the privileges of her station.

The 10th Ubud Writers and Readers Festival proudly returns to its original theme to celebrate the influAs the daughter of a colonial aristocrat in the Jepara ence of leaders like Kartini. Heroes and visionaries will regency of central Java, Kartini’s privileged upbringing feature prominently in this year’s festival, along with afforded her an exceptional education. By the age of women’s stories, women’s rights and education.

12, she was fluent in Dutch, which facilitated her communication with the world beyond her provincial surInspired Bali | 6

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eputedly the busiest woman in town, American born Meghan Pappenheim, and her husband, Ubud local I Made (Kadek) Gunarta are long established community leaders and innovators. They are in many ways responsible for putting Bali on the map as a yoga hub.

But their work and interests don’t end there; much of their energy is poured into Bali ReGreen, a reforestation project. In collaboration with the charismatic Arief Rabik, Director of Environmental Bamboo Foundation (EBF) and son of Linda Garland, Bali ReGreen has started with reforesting the desiccated area of Desa Ban in East Bali. Residents of this area are still experiencing extreme poverty and malnutrition since the 1963 eruption of Mount Agung devastated the land. By planting special, fast growing, drought-tolerant bamboo, they are creating micro-climate ‘shelter belts’ which protect the land from wind and sun, naturally controlling soil erosion and allowing water back to the area.

Funded by Teh Kotak, and Bali Spirit Festival, all Bali ReGreen projects are carried out with full cooperation of the local communities, with the hope that it will revitalize the local economy.

Naturally their next step is the creation of Sekolah Lapangan Bambu (bamboo field school) to educate locals in sustainable land management.

“Water is life’s matter, matrix, mother, and medium. There is no life without water. Planting bamboo is like building a water reservoir for the top soil of the earth, allowing all who drink from this thin layer of life to thrive!”

Arief Rabik Inspired Bali | 7

The Antidote for Unsustainability

By Ben Tamblyn

A leader is any person with a pulse. Beyond that, one’s effectiveness as a leader is largely determined by the interplay between two things: Life, and your ability to learn from it. So, the essential question for us to answer is: what does effective learning look like?

Effective leadership is a bi-product. Obviously, I am not merely talking about the memorization of facts and data and case studies here. This kind of learning is a deeper, more complex and personal pursuit - a lifelong practice. In large part, it involves an understanding of the principles of holism, for human nature is comprised of a dynamic range of intelligences including the emotional, social, physical and spiritual. We are, as many contemporary theorists will argue, so much more than just an IQ. When we step up to life from a holistic perspective and choose to learn on many levels, the journey becomes a fascinating adventure. Our lives unfold around us in a constant flow of possibilities, some subtle and others, deeply profound. I believe it is our responsibility to fulfill our unique human potential and that a holistic, experiential approach to learning is an integral part of a sustainably-lived life.

We are living in a time characterized by fundamentalism, intense competition and the persistent popularity of myths and perceptions of finality. We are bombarded with messages like, “we’re running out of time” (due to aging, the resurrection of ancient calendars, prophecies, computer programming errors, etc), and “we’re running out of resources” (oxygen, food, space, power, trees, money).

We even say things like “we’re running out of ideas”. If this is true, it suggests we are, indeed, running out of Life as we know it. It seems to me, however, that much of this discourse is part of a Global Culture of unSustainability. Sadly, modern responses to our modern

crisis lead well-intentioned citizens to act “green” more out of anxiety than love.

But what if we really think about leadership and sustainability holistically? What if we take the courage to explore our own truth and simply lead ourselves wherever the road less traveled may take us? Most of our focus on sustainability is about the environment. But what about spiritual, mental or emotional sustainability? Is a fundamentalist driving a hybrid living sustainably? What about an organic gardener with an addiction, or an avid recycler who eats meat and smokes? Or, how about the burgeoning lefty nouveau-riche with their expansive villas, private pools and regular long-haul flights? If they buy a green education for their children are they absolved of further need for change and personal growth? Who, if anyone, is actively involved in effective leadership towards sustainability?

The more we can think about what we have to learn in terms of our own personal mental, emotional, social, physical and spiritual growth, the more effective and powerful our contribution will be to a genuine, globally-realized culture of sustainability. The real irony is that, in realizing this, we arrive back at the beginning, asking the same questions that the thinkers and sages of previous generations dared to ask. When you look at our contemporary challenges holistically, sustainability is just a modern word for Enlightenment.

Reprinted with permission www.odysseyinstitute.com

Inspired Bali | 8

Rucina Ballinger Tokoh Perintis di Bali

by Inspired Bali photos by Suki Zoe translation by Yoshida “Ochie” Chandra

Berasal dari Amerika –Indiana–, Rucina Ballinger pindah ke Bali pada tahun 1974, dan langsung jatuh cinta dengan masyarakat, budaya, dan ya, seorang pria. Setelah menikah dengan seorang anggota keluarga kerajaan Bali (dan pindah ke agama Hindu) dan menjadikan Ubud sebagai rumahnya, beliau memiliki dua hidup; sebagai seorang wanita Bali namun juga sebagai orang asing. Kedua anak lakilakinya merupakan contoh yang baik mengenai dikotomi ini, satu dari mereka saat ini tinggal di Bali dan satu lagi di Amerika Serikat.

Rucina, salah satu dari sedikit orang asing di Bali yang bisa berbahasa Bali, telah mempelajari dan mempromosikan seni pertunjukan Bali selama lebih dari 30 tahun. Beliau adalah seorang penari, pemain dan pendiri Gedebong Goyang, pasukan seni komedi yang terdiri dari wanita-wanita ekspat, yang menampilkan komedi pendek dan lagu-lagu dalam bahasa Bali dan Indonesia untuk penonton lokal. Sejak tahun 2001, beliau merambah ke bidang amal bekerja sama dengan Annika Linden Foundation untuk membantu Bali pulih dari efek Bom Bali.

Namun kegiatan beliau di tahun inilah yang benarbenar tidak biasa. Di bulan Januari, Rucina menjadi wanita asing pertama yang berperan sebagai Kelian Istri dari banjar suaminya, di Tabanan. Kelian Istri bertugas mengurus upacara-upacara besar di desa.

Peran ini memiliki aktivitas yang padat dan memakan banyak waktu serta komitmen dalam setahun, namun Rucina yang energik dan optimis telah bersedia untuk menjalankan perannya dengan antusias. Inspired Bali berbincang-bincang dengan beliau tentang bagaimana rasanya menjadi seorang pemimpin asing di desanya.

Anda pindah ke Bali tahun 1970-an, Q:Ketika apakah Anda pernah berpikir bahwa Anda akan memegang peran yang Anda pegang sekarang sebagai Kelian Istri untuk desa Bali?

In 1974 when Rucina Ballinger first moved to Bali from Indiana, USA she fell in love with the people, the culture, and, yes, a man. After marrying a member of a Balinese Royal family (and converting to Hinduism), she made a life that is, in many ways, half-Balinese and half-Western. Her two sons are a good example of this dichotomy – currently one lives here in Bali, another lives in the United States.

Rucina, one of the few Westerners who speaks Balinese, has been studying and promoting Balinese performing arts for almost 30 years. She is an accomplished dancer, talented performer and founder of Gedebrong Goyang, a comedic performance troupe comprised of western women, who perform skits and songs in Balinese and Indonesian for local audiences. Since 2002, she has branched out into the philanthropic world, and is currently working with the Annika Linden Foundation to help balinese people recover from the bombing.

But, it’s what she’s doing this year that is really unusual. In January, Rucina became the first foreign woman in Bali to become a Kelian Istri of her husband’s banjar (home hamlet), located in Tabanan.

The Kelian Istri is responsible for organizing the major ceremonies in the banjar, and the fact that this job is being done by a foreigner is significant and amazing!

It’s an intense and time-demanding one year appointment, and the energetic, optimistic Rucina has taken on the role with her characteristic enthusiasm.

Inspired Bali spoke with her about what it’s like for a “bule” (foreigner) to be appointed to this position. you moved to Bali in the 1970s, did you Q:When ever think you would end up in the position

A:

you’re in now – as Kelian Istri for a Balinese banjar?

No, when I came here at the tender age of twenty-one I was studying dance, and that was Inspired Bali | 10

Ketika saya datang ke sini di usia dua puluh A: Tidak. satu tahun, saya belajar menari dan itulah fokus

saya, untuk belajar seni pertunjukan dan bahasa. Tidak ada orang yang tahu apabila mereka bertemu jodoh, pasangan jiwa mereka, namun saya tahu saya akan tinggal di sini untuk waktu yang lama.

Kelian Istri, Anda harus tahu banyak Q:Sebagai tentang upacara-upacara. Bagaimana Anda

menghadapi hal ini?

Setiap desa memiliki sedikit perbedaan, dan di desa kami terdapat tiga kegiatan tahunan yang dikenal dengan nama Peratus, di sini semua anggota harus melakukannya sekali seumur hidup. Saya dan suami saya saat ini adalah Kepala Kelian, dan sebagai seorang wanita asing, ini merupakan pertama kalinya ada di Bali. Ada dua pekerjaan lainnya, yaitu Pengarah, dan mereka inilah yang keliling banjar dan memberitahu masyarakat kapan pertemuan akan diadakan dan melakukan pembenahan.

A:

Jadi ada empat orang (yang keempat adalah istri dari Kepala Administrasi Banjar), walaupun saya dan suami adalah pemimpinnya. Hal ini cukup rumit, karena secara teknis sayalah yang akan memimpin keempat wanita yang lebih tahu daripada saya ini. Seringkali saya membiarkan mereka yang memiliki pengetahuan lebih banyak dari saya untuk melakukan apa yang harus dilakukan.

Para wanita sebenarnya tidak punya banyak kuasa.

Contohnya ketika para wanita di banjar saya berkumpul, suami saya hadir di semua pertemuan ini dan tidak hanya itu, beliau juga memimpin mereka.

Beliau selalu mendorong saya untuk mengambil alih, jadi pada suatu pertemuan di bulan April saya maju dan berbicara untuk pertama kalinya, dan saya harus melakukannya dalam bahasa Bali paling halus.

Meskipun mereka sudah kenal saya (selama 26 tahun), begitu saya mulai berbicara, mereka mulai tertawa.

Tidak tahu kenapa. Mungkin karena aksen saya atau karena saya lucu? Saya tidak tahu.

Q: A:

Apakah Anda pernah ragu untuk mengambil peran ini?

Tidak ada pilihan. Saya harus. Kami sebenarnya sudah tahu dalam dua tahun terakhir ini bahwa kami harus melakukannya dan kami berusaha menghindar. Suami saya sempat sakit dan itu bisa dijadikan alasan. Juga karena saya orang asing,

my focus, to study performing arts and the language. I mean, no one ever knows when they’re going to meet their jodoh, their soul partner, but I had a feeling that I was going to end up here for quite a long time.

Kelian Istri, you have to know a lot about the Q:As ceremonies. How do you handle this? village is slightly different, but the way it A: Every works in our village is that, there are three annual jobs for the village known as the Peratus that every member must do once in their lifetime. My husband and myself are currently the HEAD KELIANS, and as a foreign woman, this is a first in Bali. There are two other jobs too, knows as the Pengarah, and they are the people that go around the village and tell people when the meetings are and do all the cleaning up.

So there are the four of us (the fourth being the wife of the Administrative Head of the Banjar), though my husband and I are really the bosses. It has been tricky because technically I am in charge of these woman who know more than me. This means that a lot of times I defer to their higher knowledge of what needs to be done.

The women actually don’t have much power. For example when the woman in my village meet, my husband attends all of the meetings, and not only that, he leads them. He’s been pushing for me to take more control, and the April meeting was the first time I really got up and spoke for the first time, and you have to get up and do it all in Balinese. And they all know me, and they’ve known me for 26 years, but as soon as I start opening my mouth they all start laughing, and who knows why, because of my accent, or because I’m funny? I don’t know. you have any doubts about whether you Q:Did should take on this role? is no option. You must. And we’ve known A: forThere two years that we’d have to do this and we

were trying to avoid it, and my husband was ill for a while and that was an excuse. And then, I’m a bule (foreigner), that was another excuse, but they said sorry, you’re healthy now and Rucina knows enough, it’s your time. So they trusted me, and that’s an honour. I mean no one really wants to be a Kelian, and everyone in the village always say it’s only a year, it’s only a year, it will go really fast, don’t worry. I’m four Inspired Bali | 12

itu juga jadi alasan lain, tapi mereka bilang maaf, sekarang Anda sudah sehat dan Rucina sudah cukup tahu, sudah saatnya. Jadi mereka mempercayakan saya dan itu merupakan sebuah kehormatan. Maksud saya, tidak seorang pun ingin menjadi seorang kelian, namun mereka selalu berkata, ini hanya satu tahun, ini akan berlalu dengan cepat, jadi jangan khawatir.

Saat ini saya sudah menjalaninya selama empat bulan, dan bagi saya pembelajaran ini seperti grafik yang meliuk-liuk tajam, ada bagian yang menyenangkan dan bagian yang membosankan, seperti pergi ke desa beberapa kali seminggu dengan waktu tempuh sekitar 35 menit.

Akan tetapi bagi saya ini juga sebuah kehormatan.

Saat saya berkata pada orang Bali lainnya kalau saya adalah seorang Kelian Istri, pertama mereka akan tertawa, dan tidak percaya.

Saya berkata bahwa saya serius.

months into the job now, and it’s a steep learning curve, but parts of it are fun and parts of it are tedious, like driving to the village a few times a week (it’s 35 minutes away).

It’s quite an honour. Whenever I tell any other Balinese that I’m Kelian Istri, first of all they just laugh. They don’t believe me. I say, “No, really, I am”. it ever difficult or awkward to for you to be a Q:Isleader in the Banjar?

For the first couple of months at the end of A: last year, my husband Gung and I were trying to figure how we would do it. The Balinese are not very

sulit atau Q:Apakah adakah perasaan

canggung bagi Anda sebagai pemimpin di Desa?

Untuk beberapa bulan pertama di akhir tahun kemarin, suami saya Gung dan saya berusaha untuk mencari tahu bagaimana caranya agar kami bisa melakukannya dan yang paling penting bagaimana kami akan melakukannya.

Orang Bali tidak biasa mencatat sesuatu. Hal-hal tentang upacara biasanya disampaikan secara verbal, jadi ada banyak yang tidak saya ketahui tahu sebelumnya. Para perempuan biasanya tahu tentang sesajen yang perlu dibuat dan kapan, jadi ketika saya tanya mereka apa yang harus saya lakukan, mereka bilang; yang biasa, dan saya bilang saya tahu ini yang biasa buat kamu tapi tidak biasa buat saya. Gung dan saya berusaha untuk membuat hal ini menjadi lebih terstruktur dan kami menuliskannya di komputer jadi

A:

good about writing things down. These ceremonies are passed on orally, something I obviously hadn’t been exposed to. The women pretty much know what offerings need to be made, so when I ask them what do I do, they say yang biasa (the usual), and I say, “You know it’s biasa for you but it’s not biasa for me”. Gung and I are trying to give it some more structure and have everything recorded on a computer and written Inspired Bali | 13

akan lebih mudah diketahui orang selanjutnya. yang ingin Anda capai dalam peran Anda Q:Apa sebagai Kelian Istri tahun ini? ingin saya capai adalah untuk menghimbau A: Yang orang Bali untuk tidak terlalu banyak

menghabiskan uang untuk sesajen. Sebuah artikel di Bali Post tempo hari menarik perhatian saya. Artikel ini tentang budaya ritual kemiskinan, karena ada kepercayaan bahwa Anda menjadi miskin karena semua sesajen yang Anda buat. Contohnya, desa kami mengadakan upacara 10 hari tahun lalu dengan biaya $ 110,000 – untuk pemimpin agama, makanan, dan gamelan. Tidak lama setelah itu kami harus melanjutkannya dengan sebuah upacara lebih kecil yang membuat desa kami mengeluarkan biaya tambahan $700.

Jadi salah satu gol kami, yang ini tidak besar, adalah untuk hanya menggunakan buah lokal. Membeli buah impor itu hanya simbol status, tapi sebenarnya itu tidak penting.

Saya berusaha menganjurkan mereka untuk memberdayakan buah buahan lokal, karena saat ini sesajen kebanyakan dibuat dari jeruk Sunkist, pir dari China, dan apel Washington yang harganya sangat mahal! Filosofi sebenarnya adalah untuk memberikan para dewa apa yang Anda tanam, jadi saya selalu bercanda dan berkata bahwa sebenarnya kita memberi makan dewa-dewa Amerika atau Selandia Baru, karena dewa-dewa Anda tidak kenal buah-buahan seperti ini.

Di satu sisi ini sangat filosofis dan disisi lainnya dapat menghemat pengeluaran, karena mereka

down so it will be easier for the next person (perhaps another westerner like me may come along). do you hope to achieve in your role as Q:What Kelian Istri this year?

I really hope to achieve is that the Balinese A: What don’t have to spend as much money on offerings.

There was something in the Bali Post the other day that caught my attention. It was an article about the culture of ritual poverty, because some believe you’re made poorer by all the offerings you have to make. For example, our village had a huge ceremony last year that cost our village $110,000 US dollars.

Yeah, $110, 000 US for everything – the priest, and the food, and the gamelan, for a 10-day ceremony.

And then, for 3 odalans (temple ceremonies) after that you have to have smaller ceremonies. And, just for our banjar, it cost 6 million, or $600-700 dollars for this follow up ceremony. So one goal we have, and it’s a small one, is to only use local fruits.

It is a status symbol to buy imported but it is not necessary.

I am trying to encourage them to empower local fruits because now every offering is made out of Sunkist oranges, pears from China, apples from Washington, and they’re expensive.

The philosophy is to offer to the gods what you grow, and so I make jokes and say you’re actually feeding the American gods, or the New Zealand gods, because your gods don’t know this kind of fruit. Part of it is philosophical and part of it is economical, because they spend an amazing amount of money on offerings. It’s no wonder they can’t put their kids through high school. It really is a burden.

Another goal is to try and empower women. But you Inspired Bali | 14

menghabiskan banyak uang untuk sesajen. Tidak heran banyak dari mereka tidak bisa menyekolahkan anak mereka sampai sekolah menengah. Ini benarbenar beban bagi mereka.

Gol lainnya adalah untuk berusaha memberdayakan wanita. Untuk hal ini anda tidak bisa asal bicara, tapi harus melakukannya dengan cara yang halus.

Hal-hal kecil, seperti berbicara kepada mereka untuk melakukan pap smears, merawat katarak, sebenarnya tidak terlalu “memberdayakan wanita” namun akan membantu mereka untuk lebih dapat memelihara kesehatan mereka. Menurut saya mengadakan lokakarya edukatif itu lebih efektif daripada menceramahi mereka. Mereka menjadi bosan dan mereka tidak akan mendengarkan.

Anda, apakah Anda seorang Q:Menurut feminist?

A: Ya, tentu saja.

Anda apakah kebanyakan wanita Bali Q:Menurut menyebut diri mereka feminist? mereka tidak tahu artinya dan jika mereka A: Tidak, tahu, mereka tetap tidak akan mengatakannya.

Mereka pengikut laki-laki. Dan mereka akan memberitahu Anda bahwa mereka hanya mengikuti para laki-laki. Kebanyakan wanita duduk di bangku belakang, bermental domba. Dalam berbagai hal, sebenarnya mereka hanya terlalu sibuk untuk melakukan sesuatu terhadap hal ini! Budaya mereka mengharuskan bahwa yang bertanggung jawab melakukan ritual kematian untuk orang tuanya adalah anak laki-laki, itulah sebabnya sangat penting untuk memiliki anak laki-laki bagi seorang pasangan. Nenek moyang dari garis keturunan laki-laki akan bereinkarnasi ke keluarga anak laki-laki juga (nenek moyang sang istri akan melakukan hal yang sama dengan saudara laki-laki mereka). Saya ingin melihat para wanita untuk berperan lebih banyak dalam kepemimpinan di keseluruhan masyarakat.

Memang mereka menangani keuangan dan sebuah fakta menarik adalah kebanyakan pria memberikan gaji mereka kepada istrinya. Tapi saya percaya para wanita bisa berbuat lebih banyak. Mereka tidak berperan dalam pertemuan banjar, hanya pria saja.

Dan jujur saja, tidak semua pria adalah pengambil keputusan terbaik dalam keluarga!

can’t stand up and be on a soapbox; you have to do it in a much more subtle way. Little things, like talking to them about getting pap smears, taking care of cataracts, I mean those things are not really empowering women but it’s helping them take care of their health by having educational workshops that actually can help them, as opposed to people just lecturing them. They’re so bored and they just don’t listen.

Q:Would you describe yourself as a feminist?

A: Yes, absolutely. you think most Balinese women would clasQ:Do sify themselves as feminists? they wouldn’t know what it means, but if A: No, they did, they wouldn’t. They follow the men.

And, they’ll tell you that they follow the men. Most of the women take a back seat - the sheep mentality. In many ways, they are just too darn busy to do much about it! The culture demands that a son performs the death rites for his parents which is why it is so important for a couple to have sons. The ancestors of the male line will reincarnate into the sons’ family as well (the wife’s ancestors will do so with her brothers).

I’d like to see women taking more of a leadership role in the whole community. They do handle most of the money and an interesting fact is that most men hand over their salaries to their wives, but I believe the women could do so much more. They don’t take part in the village meetings. That’s reserved for only the men. And, lets be honest, not all men are the best decision makers in the family!

is your sense of the burden on women vs.

Q:What men in terms of ceremonial obligations? Is there

a big difference?

The men make the food. So when there is a ceremony they have to get up at 4 in the morning and slaughter a pig and make the sate, things like that.

They make all the temporary structures for temple ceremonies out of bamboo. But the women are the ones who are taking care of the spiritual aspect of it - the entire package of offerings. The women, along with priest are in charge of that. The women are the ones who make sure the offerings are complete, and offer it to the gods, and take it away from the gods to clean it up, or whatever. The men have a lot more free time.

A:

Inspired Bali | 15

Anda apakah ada perbedaan besar Q:Menurut wanita vs pria dalam hal kewajiban upacara? pria membuat makanan. Jadi ketika ada A: Para upacara mereka harus bangun jam 4 pagi dan

menyembelih babi dan membuat sate, seperti itulah.

Mereka membuat semua struktur temporer dari bambu. Namun para wanitalah yang menangani aspek spiritual – yaitu menyiapkan keseluruhan paket sesajen –bersama pemimpin agama. Para wanitalah yang memastikan bahwa sesajen sudah lengkap dan menyajikannya kepada para dewa, dan membenahinya. Para pria mempunyai lebih banyak waktu luang. dengar bahwa 1/3 hidup wanita Bali Q:Saya rata-rata dihabiskan untuk menyiapkan

upacara, berpartisipasi dalam upacara atau membenahi setelah upacara. Menurut Anda ini benar?

Setidaknya 30 persen, menurut saya. Mereka membuat sesajen setiap lima hari sekali, setiap bulan purnama, bulan baru, dan apabila ada sesuatu di banjar, ketika ada sesuatu di pura. Ya, kerja mereka banyak sekali. Mereka lelah.

A:

pengalaman menjadi Kelian Istri ini Q:Apakah membuat Anda merasa lebih menyatu dengan

Bali?

Ini membuat saya merasa lebih menyatu dengan komunitas. Agung dibesarkan bersama semua orang ini, jadi ada sebuah hubungan yang jelas saya tidak punya. Walaupun kami sudah menikah selama 26 tahun, kami tidak pernah tinggal di desa dia dan hanya datang untuk upacara dan untuk mengunjungi keluarga kami. Begitu saya sekarang terlibat dalam mengurus upacara, jumlah waktu yang saya habiskan di sana jadi berlipat tiga. Rasa hormat yang sudah saya miliki sebelumnya kepada wanita Bali sekarang menjadi meningkat lebih besar! Energi yang mereka berikan untuk perlindungan spiritual desa, banjar, dan keluarga mereka sangat tak terhingga. Tiga wanita lain yang bekerja bersama saya saat ini telah memperlihatkan semangat mereka, membagi pengetahuan mereka dan keberanian mereka, juga telah memberikan saya pondasi yang lebih kuat untuk berdiri. Terlepas dari kesenjangan dan penggunaan uang yang kurang efisien yang menganggu saya, saya merasa bersyukur telah menjadi bagian dari komunitas ini.

A:

Photos Reprinted with permission www.qito.co.uk

heard it said that 1/3 of the average Q:I’ve Balinese woman’s life is spent preparing for

a ceremony, participating in a ceremony, or cleaning up after a ceremony. Do you think this is true?

At least 30 percent, I would say. They make offerings every five days, every full moon, every new moon, and then when there’s something in the banjar, or something in the temple. Yeah, it’s a lot of work. They’re exhausted.

A:

this experience as Kelian Istri made you feel Q:Has more connected to Bali? made my feel a lot more connected to my A: It’s community. Agung grew up with all these people, so there’s that connection which I obviously missed. Although we have been married for 26 years we have never lived in his village and only visit for ceremonies and to be with our family. Now that I am involved in organizing the ceremonies, the amount of time I spend there has tripled. The respect that I already had for the Balinese woman has now soared!

The energy that they put into the spiritual protection of the village, the banjar and their families in boundless. The three other women that I currently work with have shown me their spirit, shared their knowledge and their spunk and have given me a stronger foundation on which to stand. Despite the inequalities and inefficient use of money that I find disturbing, I am grateful to be part of this community.

“The planet does not need more ‘successful’ people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every shape and form. It needs people who live well in their places.

It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these needs have little to do with success as our culture has defined it.”

Dalai Llama Inspired Bali | 16

Evolve in Style

visit ompure.com

Jl. Hanoman (next to Kafe)

Going Green...

One Village At a Time words & photos by Amit Janco

he ballooning dilemma of trash and pollution has become a scourge on this island, once deemed a natural paradise. The accumulation of garbage on roads, in rivers and on the coastlines is not only an eyesore, but an escalating environmental and health hazard. Plastic bags, foil wrappers, batteries, styrofoam and rubber tires are swept into piles, and then burned in close proximity to homes and schools, or dumped into streams or crevices that line sidewalks.

T

Unfortunately, the city of Ubud, one of the main hubs of Bali’s tourism industry, is a microcosm of this growing environmental menace. One only has to peek behind restaurants, hotels and businesses to witness how plastic bags filled with garbage are tangled up in tree limbs or blocking water passageways.

Many expats, locals and yayasan (foundations) have started clean-up campaigns of their own. But, after years of false starts and a lack of consensus in central Ubud, one young Balinese man and a group of locals are already making a visible difference. With handson collaboration from his aptly-named Palemahan* team, I Made Gandra is already changing the face of Padangtegal - one collection bin at a time. If he has his way, the rest of Ubud and its surroundings will follow suit. *Palemahan refers to the harmonious relationship that humans should strive to maintain between themselves and nature. It reflects one part of the three-pronged Balinese philosophy of Tri Hita Karana, which also includes man’s relationship to other humans, and to the divine.

Gandra is the bendesa of Padangtegal, one of Ubud’s largest villages, stretching from Jalan Raya down to the Monkey Forest. Every village in Bali is led by a kepala desa (administrative head) as well as a bendesa (head of customary village or desa adat pakraman). The bendesa is responsible for the overall organization and coordination of all ceremonies, temple rituals, meetings and activities related to the traditional aspects of village life.

Armed with an accounting degree, and a successful businessman in his own right, Gandra has earned a reputation for getting things done. He also has a team of colleagues, staff and friends who are critical to the implementation of his ideas. Gandra stresses that “this project is not going to be a success without the support from my team and my village members.”

Even though Gandra was elected in February 2012 to the position of bendesa with an 80% majority, he says that back then “the elders believed [he] was too young and inexperienced to take on the role.” But, at the age of 43, he has proven them wrong, daring to initiate and implement programs that require community-wide buy-in and compliance. With a population of 3,000 (650 families) and nearly 600 businesses and restaurants under his supervision, some of whom have shown resistance to the project, Gandra has his work cut out for him.

With a trimmed beard and mustache, the tanned Gandra cuts a striking figure himself when we first meet; he is dressed in traditional garb, wrapped in a double sarong, with a traditional udeng (head-piece) firmly placed on his head. As he glances out to a grassy space, Gandra’s manner is casual yet serious. But then, with a gleam in his eye and a smile spreading across his face, like a sneaky fourth-grader with something hidden up his sleeve, he hints at bigger things to come.

As one of Padangtegal’s top decision makers, Gandra acknowledges that he now wields an extraordinary degree of power. With that power comes civic responsibility. Indeed, Gandra’s long-term vision includes improving the residents’ quality of life. Since February, free health care and medicine has been offered to all villagers, with hopes of later extending those services more widely around Ubud. English language courses have already begun and other educational classes are planned for the future. But at the moment, foremost on his list of priorities is making Padangtegal clean and environmentally-friendly.

If the bright green trucks trolling through the narrow streets of Padangtegal are anything to go by, Gandra and his team have already made an impact. Since February, two trucks have been roaming around the village, stopping long enough for a crew of seventeen to sort through bins marked Organic and Non-Organic that line the sidewalks in front of compounds. Businesses are expected to get on board in May, along with the addition of one more truck.

The employees, brightly clad in blue coveralls, yellow helmets and rubber boots, are paid a daily salary of 50,000 rupiah, with the additional incentive of earning a hefty commission by selling the fruits of their labor to recycling companies. Their daily routine is the same: they sort through bins, then dump and separate the refuse into the truck’s compartments. It’s a new experience for these workers, all of whom hail from other parts of Bali. It’s also a first for Ubud.

Inspired Bali | 22

If you get stuck behind such a truck on one of Ubud’s notoriously narrow streets, be patient and show your support for this crew.

The genesis of Gandra’s eco-initiative goes back a decade to when he first learned about the importance of recycling and composting. He figured that he should lead by example so last year he began to implement the same at home with his wife Ni Made Sariani and their three children. At the same time, Gandra recognized the widespread dwindling of Padangtegal’s green spaces and a shrinking eco-system for the ever-growing monkey population. This awareness led to a more expansive vision, which includes increasing the size of the forest and the planting of more trees.

In August 2012, with a budget of USD$200,000 derived from entrance fees to Monkey Forest, Gandra launched the “Clean and Green” project. At the annual I Made Gandra, Bendesa of Padangtegal village meeting, a sacred gathering at which attendance by a representative from each family is mandatory, he conducted a slide show presentation that lasted four hours. During the meeting, he explained the importance of recycling and composting, and handed out educational materials to every family.

A colorful booklet, called “Ubud Clean & Green” was given to each compound and business in the village. The booklet explained how to separate garbage, how to compost with worms, and how to care for the environment.

But it wasn’t enough to explain the risks and requirements in writing; in light of a known preference among Balinese for visuals over words, Gandra’s staff filled the pages with photographs and illustrations, depicting piles of garbage and its effects on the environment, wildlife and human health.

In the first few months of the project, some villagers refused to attend meetings, criticized the idea or were slow to comply. Gandra says that indifference and laziness can be attributed to the fact that many store and restaurant owners are not local. He intends to change that by starting to impose fines.

Ni Ketut Yudani, a longtime resident and owner of the Asti Bali store on Jalan Hanoman, is an avid supporter of Gandra’s initiative. The divorced mother of two, now living in the same compound where she grew up, says that some of her neighbors and fellow store owners are lazy so she scolds them when she notices them sneaking non-organic trash into the wrong bin. With eyebrows raised, Yudani exclaims, “Even my 81 year-old mother recycles! She screams at my children and others in our Ni Ketut Yudani and her nother Ni Wayan Cameng compound, reminding them to put plastic bags into the non-organic bin.”

Yudani says she learned about the importance of recycling and composting at a young age. As far back as 1980, her family was digging holes for compost in the garden. When her older brother joined the the student environmental group Mahasiswa Pecinta Alam, Yudani learned more from him, and eventually, joined the group herself. She hopes that Gandra’s outreach will be the Inspired Bali | 23

catalyst to teach her neighbors what she has known for decades: “If we can recycle and reduce, it will help our earth.”

Despite the setbacks, Gandra’s sights are set on cleaning up the island. He thinks Ubud’s garbage collection trucks should be repaired, refurbished, repainted and then repurposed into recycling trucks.

He also intends to ask the bupati (regent) of Gianyar regency to implement a similar program throughout the regency’s 400 villages. Earlier this year, when word of his initiative caught the attention of administrators in Denpasar, Gandra was invited to make a presentation in the capital city. It was favorably received.

More signs of “going green” keep popping up. Just in time for this summer’s tourist season, the village assembly of Padangtegal recently approved a plan to set up a central location outside of Ubud for tourist buses to park and for smaller and less fume-emitting vans (or, possibly, electric vehicles) to shuttle visitors around town. It’s potentially a big step forward. Once

this initiative is implemented, the vision of a cleaner village will come closer to reality.

If it were up to him, Gandra says he would implement most of his team’s plan in 2013. But, in a uniquely Balinese twist, his hands are tied: a massive communal cremation is taking place later this summer and, since daily routines are put on hold while preparations are made for this ceremony, for the time being, that trumps all.

Reprinted with permission www.healingpilgrim.com

Saving the Gili’s Aquatic Disneyland

by Michael Straus Senior Editor of GreenTravelerGuides.com photos by Foued Kaddachi

H

ere on the Gili Islands, within eyeshot of Lombok and less than two hours by fast boat to Bali, every question about environmental leadership has one common answer: Delphine Robbe.

As coordinator of the phenomenally successful Gili Eco Trust (GET), Robbe, 35, has transformed a tiny group of volunteers into a highly influential and effective grassroots environmental organization. Passionate about SCUBA diving and the marine environment, Robbe created a tidal wave of environmental initiatives designed to protect the stunning natural beauty of the Gili Islands.

Inspired Bali | 26

Gili’s troubled waters For the fish and coral, it wasn’t a moment too soon.

Gili’s coral reefs were brutally bombed to provide construction materials for development (fueled by the rapid growth of tourism) and to give the increasing number of boats easy access to the shores.

Uncontrolled growth led to erosion and sewage pollution, while overfishing, cyanide poisoning and dynamite bombing of the coral reefs in 1999-2000, caused massive decline in stocks of multiple species.

Meanwhile, the impacts of global climate change were becoming fiercer, causing record levels of coral bleaching and destruction.

Facing many environmental challenges, this once pristine tropical paradise was increasingly looking like a desolate lunar landscape.

Diving into a challenge Enter Robbe, a world-traveling backpacker. On Gili Trawangan—largest and most touristic of the three island archipelago—she initially trained as a SCUBA diving instructor, and later was inspired to get involved in local environmental conservation. “I wanted to give something back to that amazing place.”

Indeed, Robbe has unleashed a seemingly endless number of environmental initiatives, overcoming a host of cultural and bureaucratic roadblocks.

Learning Bahasa Indonesia has made her efforts even more successful. “I was never good at languages,” she says in perfect, if slightly French-accented, English.

“But now that I can communicate in their language, the Indonesians trust me more, and I can explain issues and concerns much more clearly.”

innovative project, GET pays 13 fisherman families about six million rupiah per month not to overfish.

Success, of course, presents its own challenges. “Not long ago, a fisherman purposefully caught a leopard shark and brought it to me, knowing that I’d pay to have it released,” Robbe laments with a barely controlled look of disgust. Then she shows me pictures of a bloodied manta ray that she paid to have released a month before. Robbe notes, however, that the government is setting up new ‘protected zones’ which would outlaw destructive fishing practices altogether. “We are still happy to pay so that they don’t fish anywhere, but we will see how the government wants to control things.”

Rebuilding Gili’s reefs Conservation and restoration of fragile coral reefs—a critical component of marine biodiversity restoration—are a top priority for conservationists and the environmentally savvy tourism sector.

GET’s most successful initiative to date has been reef restoration, building so-called constructed reefs to replace those that were either bombed or damaged from global climate change. Simultaneous efforts— including patrolling, placing mooring buoys and organizing garbage clean-up days around these “reef incubators”—have helped revitalize coral and fish populations.

Around the world, significant changes in water temperatures have caused reefs to die off from “coral bleaching.” In some aquatic wonderlands, such as the Maldives or Malaysia, more than 70% of coral is dead. Here in the Java Sea, the dead coral remnants scattered along the beaches and littering the sea floor are primarily the result of the deliberate blasting to extract building materials. Dead coral crumbles away, and injured coral grows back excruciatingly slowly (2-6 cm/year—about 0.75”–2.5”).

Gili dive shop détente Much of GET’s success derives from unparalleled cooperation by the 20 dive shops operating on ‘Gili T’ (as Trawangan is known locally)—a competitive détente to protect their shared environment. All have agreed to charge their customers an annual fee of 50,000 rupiah (about US$5). Today, that translates into a monthly operating budget for GET of nearly US$4,000, a huge sum in Indonesia where, in 2008, the average annual income was less than $400 per person.

New coral’s best chance of long-term survival rests on a solid infrastructure on which to grow, and that’s where the underwater scaffolding of these constructed reefs comes into play.

“We are now the island’s largest funder of environmental and social welfare projects,” Robbe says. In one

BioRock on … and on and on Robbe’s first project in 2006 was to organize an Inspired Bali | 27

international workshop on coral reef restoration, which has since grown under her leadership and continued every two years. The 4th Gili T conference, held in November 2012, drew nearly 100 attendees, including formerly skeptical Indonesian government officials, engineers, dive professionals, marine biologists, environmentalists, lawyers and global experts on marine conservation.

At that inaugural 2006 event, Robbe teamed with the Global Coral Reef Alliance and an international team of scientists, engineers and even artists to prototype BioRock, an artificial reef system that creates underwater habitat for corals (and lots of fish). BioRock reefs are made from welded metal rods—often in creative shapes—that are connected to a an extremely low electrical current.

The resulting electrolysis produces a thick layer of calcium carbonate, the perfect substrate on which to regenerate the broken-off pieces of coral that divers collect from the sea bottom, then tie to the structures.

As a marine habitat, results are nearly instantaneous.

Fish arrive within minutes. Because of the tiny electrical charge, coral on BioRock grows 2–6 times faster than normal.

Robbe, the world’s only certified instructor in BioRock coral construction, has trained hundreds of volunteers.

To date, 78 BioRock installations have been successfully created around the Gili Islands, with dozens more in the planning stages. The largest is a metallic-framed dome 40 feet in diameter with specially designed tunnels in which divers train to control their underwater buoyancy.

Not all her reef tales, Robbe points out, have happy endings. Despite being surrounded by protective moorings, one boat dropped anchor on the original BioRock dome, crushing a large section. Another BioRock structure was stolen. And some of her painstakingly revitalized coral itself is being choked to death by a bacterial sponge that’s fed by discharges of raw sewage from Gili T’s mushrooming forest of hotels, restaurants and homes. These setbacks only spur her on.

To tackle the issue of shoreline erosion, she points again to the invaluable reef. “Those huge holes in the coral shelf around Gili T which fishermen blasted have

been causing horrible erosion—you can even see it clearly on Google Earth.” I didn’t doubt her word, but she insists on showing me the live images on her BlackBerry. “The erosion has intensified from this year’s unbelievably large storms.”

After conferring with scientists and engineers, GET attempted to plug these reef holes with gabion baskets (rubble-filled Gortex sacks). “It worked for a few months, until massive storms broke everything. A few baskets are still in place, but trying to reconstruct nature is not always successful.”

Future efforts may include using an experimental combination of Gortex and Biorock technologies, creating wave-breakers to reduce the erosion-causing intensity of the crashing waves. They’ll provide the necessary low-current electricity with a customdesigned, underwater wave-powered generator. GET also plans to build a pier so that boats can dock safely beyond the coral shelf, and at the same time expand an erosion-preventing native plant project along the crumbling shores.

GET-ing Gili’s future Robbe truly believes Gili’s coral has a fighting chance.

But there’s so much yet to do.…

“More eco-activists need to get involved,” she declares.

She is GET’s only full-time employee. Foreign volunteers, while plentiful and helpful, don’t stick around very long. But volunteers do continue to arrive, with no dearth of new projects to harness their talents.

Little slows Robbe down, including a 2011 surgery for skin cancer when she was 33. “My father died when he was 33 years old,” Robbe confides. “But I’m just getting started.” Last September, Robbe gave birth to her first child, Evan … a water birth, of course. Rather than take time off, Robbe has learned to delegate, training a dozen team leaders to oversee the recent conference.

Delphine Robbe spoke at TEDxUbud 2013.

Reprinted with permission www.MichaelStraus.org Inspired Bali | 28

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Ketut Madra, age 73, in his studio in Peliatan

photo by Rio Helmi

Painting Bali’s Myth’s and Legends A leader among Bali’s wayang artists, Ketut Madra tells the story of a young Hanuman Long, long before Hanuman became famous as the general of the monkey army in the Ramayna, he was a just a white monkey youth. Well, not really, for he had a goddess as a mother, Dewi Rinjani. And, he showed unusual strength while still very young indeed. One evening, he asked his mother what was the best food to eat. She replied, “You must be careful not to eat green fruit. Always choose the reddest and ripest.” Hanuman nodded, he already liked fruit like that.

The next morning, after a long evening playing in the forest, he awoke early feeling incredibly hungry and saw the reddest, ripest, orb-like fruit that he had ever seen. He leaped to grab it and found himself confronting Sanghyang Surya, god of the sun, and the great bird Aruna, who carries him across the sky. “Ahh, Hanuman”, said the god gently, “You will grow to be an important leader, but you are still young, and you do not yet know the powers you have or will acquire. The red rising sun is not the fruit you seek. Do not burn your mouth.”

Inspired Bali | 32

“Hanuman and Surya� by Ketut Madra (acrylic on canvas, 1972)

This painting will be part of the exhibition, Ketut Madra and 100 Years of Balinese Wayang Painting at the Museum Puri Lukisan in Ubud from 7 October to 7 November 2013.

Inspired Bali | 33

Wonderwomen

by Rachel Glitz photo by Jamie Woodall

It

was pretty early in our tenure here in Bali when I first noticed it. For a while I wondered if it was the age difference. My daughter is two years older than my son and it is not unusual for the youngest to get more attention from adults, at least in my home culture of North America.

Yet, I felt sure my son’s appeal was due to something more than age. Was he really so much more adorable, so much more fun to play with than my daughter?

And if neither of my children were with me, why was the inevitable inquiry from my Balinese friends and neighbors always “where is your son?” Eventually, I came to realize the answer was quite simple. He is a boy.

Perhaps that shouldn’t be surprising. Balinese culture

may be communal but it is also patriarchal. Land may belong to a family, but it is held in the men’s names.

When a couple gets married, they typically move into the compound of the husband’s family and it is his social status she assumes and that passes to their descendants. Although the domestic and social duties she takes on are vital to the family and to the community, and are valued accordingly, it is her husband who has the voting power in their banjar (village). In the unlikely event they later divorce, (something still shunned in Bali), the wife must leave her home in her husband’s compound and her children, if any, will remain with their father.[1] Given this traditional balance of power in Balinese society, leadership was not a concept I tended to associate with Balinese women. Nor did their favoritism for my son raise my expectations about their aspirations towards leadership, whether for themselves or for their daughters. Nurtured to fulfill the essential roles of maintaining social and domestic harmony in a complex social structure, girls are not Inspired Bali | 34

typically raised to take charge or assume power. Nevertheless, some do.

I did not set out to find these women. But, they stand out from others I know - and it was this difference that enabled us to meet. Ni Nyoman Sudiadnyani is my Indonesian language teacher and I was introduced to Wayan[2] when my parents signed up for her tour while on a visit from the U.S. Both women operate at a level of independence and autonomy that differs from my observations of, and relationships with, other Balinese women.

Nyoman showed me there is room for female leadership within the traditional structure of a Balinese community. Elected by the women in her banjar, Nyoman’s role requires her to create consensus around decisions related to ceremonies, offerings, cooking and other topics of direct concern to her female peers. Creating and maintaining unanimity is key. Just like the man elected by their husbands to lead the banjar (in very different, but equally prescribed responsibilities), these women were seeking a hard worker who could mediate amongst personalities to facilitate good relationships in the community. They needed someone who could be flexible but also organized – someone who people would be willing to listen to and take direction from.

A leadership role in the community may also be derived from achievement in non-traditional roles. After working for a number of years in a restaurant, Wayan now partners with an expat to operate a popular tourist enterprise that relies on her expert local knowledge of the environment - some learned from books but much learned from Wayan’s mother and the community in which she was raised. Wayan’s business acumen and her genuine enthusiasm for her work have produced the kind of financial reward that makes her an important source of income for her extended family. Both her earning power and the sheer force of her personality make Wayan a decision-maker in her community.

Some other factors also set Wayan apart. First, she is not married. Although she has numerous family and community obligations, without a husband or children, Wayan’s time is freed up for pursuits besides the daily time-consuming demands of household budgeting, cooking, cleaning and childcare. Second,

she had strong family support for her education. Born to rice farmers in 1967, Wayan grew up with very little money. But unlike many girls in poverty, both then and now,[3] Wayan’s parents sent her to school.

They did not distinguish between Wayan and her two younger brothers and sister. Believing it would allow for more opportunities and a better life, each child was educated even if it meant giving up food on the table.

As a kid, she told me, she did not think about this arrangement as equal opportunity. She just focused on school and the work she did after school (carrying bricks for her uncle’s business) so that she could help pay for school fees.

Both Nyoman and Wayan describe themselves as tomboys when they were young. Nyoman’s parents even sent her to dancing school in an attempt to teach her to be more feminine. However, contrary to expectations for girls in her community, she liked to help her grandfather in his metal shop and would join him out in the rice fields at night to search for eels. She rode her own motorbike at age eleven and didn’t care that she was teased for being like a boy. To the contrary, she liked the association. Viewing males as more logical and rational, she was and still is, more likely to seek them out as friends.

Unless and until she finds the right partner, Wayan has chosen to remain single, but like Nyoman, her friends are mostly men. Not only does Wayan see herself more at ease with her male than her female peers, she finds it a challenge to stay connected to women who do not live in her banjar. The friends she grew up with mostly married men who live elsewhere. She spoke fondly and a little wistfully of the women’s volleyball team with whom she used to play. Once her team members married, the distance and their new domestic duties left them no time left to play.

A Balinese woman’s obligations upon marriage leave little room for leisure. If Western women trying to balance work and family obligations are “super women,” then the Balinese women who must tend to both of these demands, as well as their c ommunity and religious obligations are perhaps most aptly described by the Japanese anthropologist, Dr. Ayami Nakatani – as “wonder women.”[4] Nyoman, for example, struggles constantly to fulfill all of her domestic, religious, social and employment demands.

In addition to caring for her four children and other Inspired Bali | 35

family members, Nyoman manages both the women in her banjar and her own household. She is also the wife of a military officer and must participate in the numerous events that utilize the support of the officer’s wives. Add to that Nyoman’s work obligations, teaching Bahasa Indonesia to tourists and expats in Ubud, and you understand why her free time is both precious and rare.

Yet I find it hard to accept the distinct roles assigned

by Balinese culture in a way that Nyoman does not.

Men and women are deemed interdependent – the input of the individual, whether male or female, is intended to benefit the whole. Complementary, however, does not necessarily mean equal – which, Dutch professor Anke Niehoff would argue, is a bit of an awkward fit with my “Western feminist notions of egalitarianism and autonomy.”[5] Nyoman and other women I know and encounter would seem, for the most part, to concur. To them, the question of fairness is moot and the role that women assume just is.

Still, I can’t help but question whether the harmony of the community as a whole comes at the expense of women - beginning at the earliest age. To be sure, Balinese culture is multi-layered and there is much that occurs beneath the surface that I will likely never know or understand. But, when I look around at the children, typically, it is the boys I see. In my village, it is the young men who hang out at the bale banjar. On the soccer pitch and in the street, it is the boys who are playing football and, out in the fields, it is the boys who are running and laughing as they fly kites. At Nyepi, it is the boys, again, who are active and visible.

The boys build the Ogoh-Ogoh and it is the boys who parade it the night before. The girls might watch the building process now and again and perhaps they carry torches or the banjar’s banner in the parade, but there is no doubt they are on the sidelines - when they can be seen at all.

So where are the girls? Unless they are very, very small or en route to school or mandi, they are harder to locate. The community does not look highly upon girls who linger outside the compound too much, especially if they are alone. Nor is it considered safe.

Protected, behind those walls, the girls are playing too: hopscotch and jump rope -- but also “shopping” and “house.” The boys may join in from time to time, but from the earliest ages, when the girls “play” at cooking,

cleaning, washing and of course, the vitally important task of making and giving the daily offerings they are, in truth, learning how to manage their future community and household responsibilities.

Most Balinese girls are not raised to be confident, Wayan told me. The women in her family were different, “more powerful.” Wayan equates this power with success. And in her view, the “modern Balinese woman” is more likely to achieve such success than a man. In her experience, a woman is more likely than a man to try a variety of jobs, to seek out jobs different from those her parents held. According to Wayan, men tend to be less ambitious and less willing to try alternatives. Ultimately, she claimed, women are more open to change in order to seek a better life.

Suppose Wayan is right. Is that because Balinese women have more to gain from change? It is hard to know the answer to that question but it seems almost certain that change is coming – the kind of change that will leave daughters who are raised with only traditional goals in mind ill-equipped to navigate, let alone lead in a modern, globalized economy.

As my son and I were walking home the other day, we paused to say hello to our neighbor’s sons and wife whom we met on the road. Although I can’t imagine it was impending globalization she had in mind, I couldn’t help but ponder the possibilities when she asked me, “Where is your daughter?” _______________________________________

[1] Divorce is, more often than not, deemed the wife’s fault.

See Journal UNAIR, Balinese Women and Identities: Are They Trapped in Traditions, Globalization or Both, fn 8, I Wayan Suyadnya (http://journal.unair.ac.id/filerPDF/01-Balinese_Women_and_identities.pdf ) One divorcee I met soon after I arrived in Bali told me she is not permitted to see her children, ever, a predicament I have subsequently heard from other Balinese.

[2] Because she did not want to be identified, “Wayan” is a pseudonym.

[3] Even today, in poor families only two girls for every eight boys attend primary school. See: http://www.baliwise.org/ girls-education-awareness/ [4] See: http://journal.unair.ac.id/filerPDF/01-Balinese_Women_and_identities.pdf [5] See: (http://www.kitlv-journals.nl/index.php/btlv/article/ viewFile/1781/2542)

Reprinted with permission www.hereinbali.wordpress.com Inspired Bali | 36

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Vikram Gandhi Interview with Kelly Damas Photos by Suki Zoe

Director Vikram Gandhi recently came to Bali to screen his movie, Kumaré - A True Story of a False Prophet. In the film, he impersonates a guru named Kumaré in order to test the limitations and find the origins surrounding the cultivation of positive personal growth. Vikram began this process as an average artist, then became a fake leader, and then exposed himself as just an average artist. In doing so, he created a work of art that gained him great notoriety and influence as a leader. After his artistic and spiritual journey brought him full circle. Who better to sit down with and talk about leadership in the spiritual community?

Q: Who were your leaders growing up, people you looked up to?

A: I think my father was the main leader I saw in my life, but my mother was also very much a leader.

Q: What about spiritual leaders?

A: The first real guru or spiritual leader I was exposed to in a major way was in an ashram in Pennsylvania. There was a Swami there called Swami Dayananda [Dayananda Saraswati, founder of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam] that teaches Vedanta. I probably started going when I was seven. He was like a grandfather figure. He was the leader but you never actually saw him leading. He was just the person in charge who kind of had spiritual authority, but it wasn’t dogmatic or anything. I had no objections with the way he acted; there was kind of a family vibe.

Q: What are your thoughts on political leaders?

A: I’ve been skeptical of political leaders my whole life. I haven’t had really too much interest [in politics] until Obama. That was a really big deal for anyone who’s not white in America. I mean - to have somebody who’s a brown man become President? That changes your whole perspective on the world in a major way… Then after a few years it’s like, “Oh well, it’s just politics again…”

Q: Have your opinions about leadership roles changed since making your film?

A: Being a film director and being a spiritual leader are very similar in a lot of ways, especially when you are making an independent film. Part of it was leading people by example, even if it didn’t make any sense. If I didn’t have producers who believed in the project, no one was going to show up. They were like, “I believe in this guy.”

Then, when the assistants came to audition, they were like, “Well, it’s a crazy fucking idea, but if those guys believe in it...” It’s really the first people who believe that get the other people on board. Once that happens, at least in the spiritual leadership sense, that’s how it takes off. It’s like the Dalai Lama - if he just calls himself “The Dalai Lama,” he would be just a dude who dressed in a robe. But, because there is a system that says, “ This guy’s the Dude,” then all of a sudden he can play that role.

“It’s not about the person who is leading; it’s about the first person who decides to follow.”

Inspired Bali | 39

Q: Is it easier to see the relationship between authority and corruption after having made this film?

A: I think if you are a spiritual leader, you have absolutely NO motivation or ambition that’s justifiable other than to help other people. The majority of people in the “spiritual industry” have to make a living and that’s honestly what’s going on. I think that’s what’s funny about spiritual leaders to me: it’s about them leading, not about where they are leading people to. It’s supposed to be about where...

Q: After being Kumaré, did it seem like it would be easier for someone in an authority position to take

advantage of people?

A: I couldn’t because I was making a movie. I was documenting everything. If Kumaré was real, he could do whatever he wanted. But I’m Vikram so I couldn’t break any rules because I’m not the person they think I am. The point was, I’m put in a situation where all these things are at my fingertips in this movie and the audience feels uncomfortable because they know. These people feel a certain weight of his [Kumaré’s] authority or his presence that has nothing to do with anything he said. It’s just that he is in a position and looks the part, and that has created the opinion of so many different people, including the audience.

Q: Didn’t you talk about those boundaries in an interview with Stephen Colbert?

A: Yes, I told him that the rules of a fake guru are a lot more strict than the rules of a real guru.

Q: Were there different reactions between men and women to the Kumaré film?

A: Men might be excited to be that spiritual leader that I’m playing - that’s their excitement about the movie.

Perhaps the excitement for women is how it has exposed spiritual leaders as frauds. I had a great reception from a very strong women’s group called Off The Mat, run

by Seane Corn and some other people from L.A. They showed it in a Yoga Teacher Training and the feedback was that it was about not giving your power up to gurus and other people [or] to men in positions of power. Some women have interpreted [the movie] as a way of exposing male spiritual teachers who take advantage of women, which is totally accurate.

Q: Do you still practice yoga?

A: Yeah, I do. I’m just not as obsessed with it as I was for the movie. I think modern yoga is an invention, a complete fabrication. Very much like Zumba, maybe more than people want to admit.

“You may say that this teacher has the answer to my problems. If I can catch something he is giving, maybe I will find happiness. You see, this is an illusion. You do not need anyone outside yourself to be happy. But that does not mean you should not seek happiness, and that does not mean you should not find teachers. Often, it is through illusion that we create our greatest truth.”

Sri Kumaré

Inspired Bali | 40

VIKRAM ON OSHO On creating a fictional guru

I watched YouTube videos of Osho speaking when I was preparing for this part. He was a fashion inspiration as well because basically he said, “You can dress however you want. Dress like an alien, like Sun Ra Arkestra, like Parliament-Funkadelic if you want.” Osho dressed like a fucking crazy person and people were like, “Oh, he’s from outer space or something. Cool.” Beyond that when he spoke – he didn’t blink. I watched a fifteen minute lecture - he doesn’t blink once. His focus is so ON. I don’t think he’s a charlatan; he’s just a trickster. He’s an interesting and smart person and he’s playing with it.

People expected him to be magic. Everyone wanted him to be magic so he was like, “Cool. I know that you think I’m magic, so I’m just going to play on that.” With Osho, it’s like, “You’re so wise, but are you fucking with me?”

Everything is a joke, but it’s also deeply serious.

On Osho’s popularity in the Spiritual Community

Well, Osho is made up. The word Osho is nonsense. He just made up his name. His name was Bhagwan Rajneesh.

Nobody in India was ever practicing Zen, so he incorporated Zen. Then, he put Ecstatic Dance and Twirling and all this kind of thing, and he opened the door to saying anything is valid. Anything could become “spirituality” and that was something slightly new. Also, he didn’t take things too seriously so he was able to constantly contradict himself. In fact, he always talked about contradicting yourself and how important that is.

The beginning of Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic starts off with him saying that he runs a circus.

What has appealed in America has often been performance oriented. The first cult leaders in America - yogis with Ashrams - the first [leader] was a complete charlatan named Pierre Bernard who had an ashram in upstate New York… and it was like a circus. He pretended he was from France but really he was from Middle America.

Reprinted with permission damasiadowalkabout.blogspot.com

“Don’t confuse information with wisdom.

Don’t confuse interaction with connection. Don’t confuse disorder with flexibility. Don’t confuse confidence with strength.

Don’t confuse what you think you are with what you are becoming.”

– Kumaré

Inspired Bali | 41

Could KNOWMADS Take the Lead?

F

rom Marco Polo to modern-day missionaries and mercenaries, history has always had a liberal sprinkling of purpose-driven, wayfaring spirits. But thanks to the convergence of hightech communication, low-cost airlines and a truly global economy, a new class of itinerant expatriate may soon be capturing our literary and political imagination. And, the real news is that you may recognize yourself among them.

Bali is full of us, but not just because the locals call us ‘bules’.

Dr. Greg Madison, a Canadian psychotherapist and researcher now living in London, calls this physically and ethnically rootless population ‘voluntary migrants’, though he acknowledges that many of us feel driven by an existential impulse far beyond our control. That impulse is an actual desire to be foreign, an “affinity with otherness” as he describes it.

existence, tapped into what drives me, and relieved me of my neurosis all in one fell swoop. Turns out, I am one of his ‘existential migrants’-- warts, whimsy, and all.

Travelers of this tribe are existential junkies. Madsen says you will recognize us because we are always chasing the high of self-actualization, using travel, temporary residency, and the curiously intoxicating feeling of being perpetually different as a way of exploring who we really are.

We know ourselves only in contrast to the cultures and customs that host us. Having rejected the restrictiveness of patriotism and the conventionality of our countries of origin, we are drawn to temporary social groups that form around values like tolerance, respect and experimentation rather than color or creed. Ironically, we only experience culture shock when we visit ‘home’ but we can’t go on holiday without asking ourselves: “could we live here?”. We are also

So, it’s not your average globetrotter or jet setter that interests Madison. He sets his The skeptic might be nauseated by this brand of sights on exploring the psychosocial set, navel-gazing, globalized misfits. But it’s worth those of us whose travels are not spurred paying attention to, because academics think we by civil war or economic collapse. Nor are we motivated by power, prestige or might be taking over the world before long. financial gain. It takes something far more personal and profound to ‘move’ us; it’s a wanderlust fueled by our desire to reach our everdeeply attracted to a sense of mystery. In fact, research elusive human potential. reveals that our motivation for movement has an almost transpersonal dimension—an element of The first time I read Madison’s work I had the uncanny being in the world, but not entirely of it. experience of believing he had written it just for me.

It was as if someone had unveiled the sum total of my The research of international development specialist Inspired Bali | 42

and co-founder of Education Futures Jason Moravec introduces a group of people he calls “Knowmads”. His emphasis is less on the psycho-social aspect of these migrants and more on what makes them unique in the political economy. Knowmads are novel, he claims, precisely because they are ‘location-independent’ (a buzz word I recently heard at Hubud— Bali’s first community coworking space— which is literally teeming with people I call “Knowmads who don’t know it”), and because they emphasize expression rather than possession. This is good news, because in an age of over-consumption and suburban sprawl, that might be just what the world needs.

Moravec predicts the rise of a creative class who are “transnational, trans-cultural and post-organizational” to lead us into the economy of the future. It’s easy to see why this is a practical evolution. In the digital age, one cannot possibly absorb all the ‘information’ out there to become an expert in the traditional sense.

Even if we could, the sheer volume and contradiction of that information would leave us overwhelmed and confused. In that context, we rely more heavily than ever on deeper, more personalized expressions of knowledge that some call “hunches”, “emotional intelligence” or our “creative instinct”.

Expertise becomes less about data acquisition and more about intuitive sense.

But I still sometimes wonder how, and why, I chose this life. Madsen’s research gives us a clue. He claims that people who did not see themselves reflected in their environments of origin have a natural desire to widen their frame of reference: “The required balance between space and relationship was not experienced in the home culture.

In this sense, migration can be a ‘self-protective’ choice. Moving to a foreign place fosters flexibility to develop oneself according to an ‘inner call’. The ‘call’ to realize one’s potential overrides most other considerations, including the need to belong.

However, finding oneself ‘rootless’ and alone can result in a fragile sense of self that is constantly unsettled and restless, seeking respite.”

That’s the trade off: a shifting sense of self. Ask around and you will notice that many of the people you run into on the island will speak vaguely of ‘never really belonging’ in the place they were born, even while they constantly question who they really are. They speak of agitation, the love of diversity, and ‘itchy feet’ that draw them to change - but also to be changed by the world.

“The World is my Home”

If you are a knowmad, Moravec says, ‘knowledge’ is your premium, tradable talent, and you don’t look for a job, because your work is designed and directed by you. This is where the convergence with Madison’s ‘existential migrants’ theory is enlightening. In the new economy, your ability to innovate and ‘self-create’ becomes the greatest predictor of your success. So, existential migrants-cum-Knowmads, those wayfaring spirits who have honed their connection to a deeper, bigger, and more authentic self, will have the cutting edge. In the new economy, self-knowledge is currency.

Anything less could have you replaced by a machine.

ARE YOU A KNOWMAD? It took living in 9 countries and travelling through 47 more for me to realize that the real journey was within.

~James Michener

Being foreign offers Knowmads a convenient space to experiment with all that, and a much wider mental, emotional and spiritual canvas to create our work and our lives - because we are different no matter what.

History has always considered this a solitary sort of exploration, the purview of seafarers, poets, and lone wolves, something you feel but cannot quite describe (Theroux, Camus and Michener notwithstanding).

But people have started talking, mostly because our numbers are growing. Third culture kids (those little souls who are schlepped from place to place by their transnational parents) may not be ‘voluntary’ migrants, but having lived a migrant lifestyle from birth, many might opt for it once they’ve grown. And as the ranks of multinational corporations and international aid missions grow, so will the numbers of people who are born into voluntarily mobility. Add that to those who Inspired Bali | 43

Call for Contributions Great stories are the ones we tell.

Knowmadsland is a space between worlds where Knowmads have creative conversations about what ‘moves’ us; how we’ve changed and been changed by the world, what we’ve learned, and even what we’ve lost.

We share poetry, prose, research and journalism about people, places and projects that use passion to build bridges between worlds.

So if you live, work or learn beyond borders: connect@knowmadsland.com and tell us your story.

choose this life the moment they free themselves from their family’s clutches or break out of that corporate life they no longer believe in, and you have the makings of a modern movement, a whole new class of people who disregard national, cultural, or spiritual borders.

Will Knowmads take the lead? At very least, the world should watch closely. In a time when borders are increasingly irrelevant, those who rely on them the least may well take up the pole position. The journey we’re on takes us to new realms of identity, belonging and purpose that, if nothing else, make for a very good story.

So if you find yourself living questions more than answers; if you feel you belong everywhere and yet nowhere; if the quest for Truth and it’s creative expression in your work preoccupies you more than most, and you travel because you’d like to know the world (and yourself ) better, the chances are you are a Knowmad. Join us at Hubud, in the pages of this magazine, or at knowmadsland.com to tell your story, and you may just find your tribe.

This article was reprinted with permission from: www.knowmadsland.com, where Knowmads find a Home between worlds. Pay us a visit, and we will send you a postcard about the people, places and projects stirring the Knowmadic imagination.

?

Helen Mirren

Queen Elizabeth II

Replicating Reality: Facts, Fiction and History

by Uma Anyar

H

ow do movies such as The Queen and The Iron Lady, both masterful bio-pics about remarkable female figures (Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher), affect our notions about these women as leaders?

Leader. A word that functions only in tandem with its opposite - follower. A leader needs a society in which to flourish. There is an unspoken and vulnerable trust between the two. Some leaders are elected, while others are born into their posts of power, privilege and responsibility. Queen Elizabeth II of England is an example of the latter and Margaret Thatcher, the former. Thatcher was the ambitious daughter of a grocer and an Oxford graduate who, despite the highly improbable odds of sexism and classism, became the leader of the Conservative Party and the first female Prime Minister of The United Kingdom. She exceeded her own vision of what was possible in the political climate of her time. She herself stated, “I don’t think

there will be a woman Prime Minister in my lifetime.”

If that isn’t impressive enough, she held her office from 1979 to 1990, the longest anyone has held the position in the twentieth century.

The Queen of England is more than just a person. She is a historical institution that many Brits complain about as an unnecessary and expensive anachronism. Others feel she is what makes England, well…

Great Britain. She has little direct political power but much influence. Prime Ministers come and go but the Queen is Queen for life.

Over the last few years biographical films about these prominent female leaders have been shown worldwide and have affected millions of viewers’ notions of the real women. Both Helen Mirren’s and Meryl Streep’s portrayals have far exceeded mere impersonations. Mirren (The Queen, 2007) and Streep (The Iron Lady, 2012) won Best Actress Oscars as well Inspired Bali | 46

Bali Views

Perspectives on Films, Television & Media

Meryl Streep

as a slew of other major awards for their extraordinary performances.

Margaret Thatcher’s death on April 8, 2013, at age 87, produced an avalanche of press coverage examining and analyzing “The Iron Lady,” a nickname bestowed on her by a Soviet era journalist who characterized her uncompromising politics and leadership style back in the 1980s.

While watching news coverage on Thatcher’s death, I was amused to learn the Taiwanese station CTI Cable had shown footage of Queen Elizabeth while the newscaster reported on Thatcher’s passing. Also, Thai Channel 5 accidentally used images of actress Meryl Streep as Thatcher rather than pictures of the actual former Prime Minister. Passing these incidents off as mere mistakes does not deal fully with the question: how do we know what is real in this time of simulacra? Also, how do we know what the real identity of a celebrity leader is, and how does that change when we see a movie representation?

I decided it was worth re-watching The Queen and The Iron Lady in order to reflect on these remarkable women leaders. How does a smart, sexy and

Margaret Thatcher.

somewhat sassy actress like Helen Mirren affect our sense of the proper, reserved and somewhat dowdy Queen Elizabeth II? The answer is she makes the Queen more interesting and more human. How do contemporary viewers who strongly disliked Thatcher’s policies come to feel compassion for an aging, lonely woman as they watched her sympathetically portrayed by the gifted Meryl Streep? And, why did a liberal like Streep take on the role of an addled conservative post-Prime Minister?

Streep explains taking on the challenging role because she was looking for a chance to portray old age, which she felt had been under-represented in films. When Iron Lady director Phyllida Lloyd approached her with Abi Morgan’s script (based on Carol Thatcher’s book, A Swim-on Part in the Goldfish Bowl: A Memoir), Streep came on board explaining she was interested in Thatcher’s later years and, as Streep described it, “the diminishment of power, the denouement of a big life.”

Streep does not sentimentalize Thatcher, but rather humanized a woman who, like all leaders, no matter how powerful, must deal with the humbling loss of mental faculties that ageing often inflicts. A scene Inspired Bali | 47

taking place in a corner store, where no one recognizes Thatcher or pays her any attention, offers brilliant ‘show, don’t tell’ examples depicting the fleeting nature of fame. If Margaret Thatcher’s legacy is affected by the sympathetic interpretation Streep brings to the screen, what changed in Streep during her immersion into this role?

Hadley Freeman, a columnist at The Guardian newspaper wrote, “She was dubbed ‘the best man‘ in the cabinet. I submit that because she was not a feminist. She had to put her gender, and all the values and graces that go with it, aside in order to fight her way up through sexism and classism, and to her credit, she succeeded but she lost her humanity along the way. She didn’t even like other women. And did nothing for them or female workers while in office. Far from ‘smashing through the glass ceiling’ she was the aberration, the one who got through and then pulled the ladder up right after her. Contrary to an increasingly common belief, ‘a woman who is successful’ is not synonymous with a feminist.”

But the gender issue always plagued Thatcher. Curiously, it is this feminist focused interpretation that makes Streep’s version of Thatcher more appealing than the actual anti-feminist Prime Minister.

Whether or not Thatcher admitted to her struggles in politics as gender battles, she was lucky to have had Phyllida Lloyd directing the scene filmed from a Embarrassing blunder: A broadcaster in Thailand used a picture of actress bird’s eye view in which we watch the Meryl Streep in a report into the death of Margaret Thatcher. only pale blue hat amidst a herd of dark suits and balding heads treading into Streep shared, “The more I learned, the more my view Parliament like a constituency of penguins. This shot of her changed. Wherever you stand on her policies drives home the point that she was the ‘odd man’ out - and many people didn’t like her - the scale of her simply because she was a woman. It is not surprising influence and the fact that she got things done was she was referred to as the best man in her cabinet. extraordinary. And the mental, physical, spiritual She had to be. energy that it took to live every one of those days as head of the government was phenomenal. It’s The movie, The Queen, written by Peter Morgan and humbling to consider that she was at 10 Downing directed by Stephen Frears, deals with the tragic Street for ten and a half years. I admire that death of Diana, ‘the people’s princess’. achievement. I stand in awe of it, even though I didn’t agree with a lot of her policies.”

Documentary footage from the automobile accident and from Diana’s life is included in the The Queen.

Although Thatcher was renowned for having said, The film takes place during the week that follows the “‘If you want something said, ask a man; if you want tragic deaths of Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed. something done, ask a woman”, she would have It reveals the struggle between the image-conscious considered it insulting to be called a feminist. She Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and Her Royal Majesty allegedly remarked to her adviser, Paul Johnson, in Queen Elizabeth II, over how to handle an event 1982, “The feminists hate me, don’t they? And I don’t which, due to the Royal Family’s desire to stick with blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison.” tradition, threatened to bring down the Monarchy.

Inspired Bali | 48

The film depicts the Royal Family’s disconnect from the British peoples’ need to participate in a public grieving. Queen Elizabeth has to accept the reality about how much Diana was actually adored by people all around the world. She finally follows Tony Blair’s advice to return to London, fly the flag over Buckingham Palace at half-mast, and join her subjects in mourning Diana. The Queen is a small, rather poetic movie which uses restrained humor and symbolism to convey complex and conflicted feelings brewing inside Elizabeth II as she is faced with the dilemmas surrounding Diana’s shocking death.

The scene I found most touching and beautifully acted was the Queen’s mystical encounter with the fourteen point stag that Prince Phillip hopes to shoot while they are at Balmoral Castle. Prince Phillip (James Cromwell) is eager to hunt with his grandsons saying “let them take it out on the stag.”

The deer, which Elizabeth knows is in danger, gazes at her like a mythical character from an Arthurian legend.

She is stunned by the animal’s majesty and wants to protect it. In her awe and helplessness all she can do is wave her hand and say, “shoo”.

It is a tender and touching scene all the more significant because it is presented matter-of-factly. Later when she sees the decapitated deer carcass suspended over a drain in a cold room on a neighboring estate, she is deeply moved. Viewers grasp that the Queen feels sorrow not only for the innocent deer but also for the long hunted Diana and all beautiful creatures in danger. The open-ended symbolism allows viewers to distill what they want from this transformative moment.

position but it turned out to be politically detrimental as well as a recipe for personal loneliness. Both films show the isolation of these leaders, but it is exactly that loneliness which helps us to empathize with them.

Film is a powerful and ubiquitous medium. It is up to talented teams of collaborators to create movies that respect reality while providing us with remarkable fiction that is capable of altering our views of prominent real life leaders. Paradoxically, this alchemy of fact and fiction will inevitably blend together to become: history.

Another journalistic faux pas, Taiwanese station CTi Cable broadcast footage of the Queen

If there is a lesson to be gleaned (pictured above) with its report on Lady Thatcher’s death. from these two portrayals of women leaders, then I submit that the feminine strengths of flexibility, compassion, and the ability to change one’s mind should be encouraged in all leaders. Perhaps, like Margaret Thatcher, we have honored toughness too much and equated flexibility with weakness for Reprinted with permission too long. Margaret Thatcher’s dictum, “Never http://umaanyarwriter.wordpress.com compromise” may have seemed like a principled

Inspired Bali | 49

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Graduating Leaders

by Emily Ferguson photos by Suki Zoe

A

time of excitement and trepidation, high school graduation is a rite of passage that adolescents share across cultures. It is a transition into adulthood. It is also a time to celebrate and acknowledge students’ accomplishments, to show gratitude to those who have supported their growth, and to embark on exciting new journeys.

For Ira Warastri and Gika Savitri high school graduation is all this and so much more. They are among the first graduates from Green School. Even more, they are the first local representatives to graduate through Green School’s scholarship program, a fund originally set up by founders Cynthia and John Hardy to allow local Indonesians an opportunity to attend the school. The fund is intended to be a mutually beneficial program for the school and the local communities.

Ira is our quiet and shy leader. Outwardly she may seem timid but Ira has discovered a strong and powerful voice through her art. Her artistic pieces demonstrate her compassion and her sense of social responsibility. In one of her courses at Green School, Ira co-wrote and performed a protest song. The lyrics spoke about the mass media’s portrayal of women. Brought up in a traditional Balinese community, Ira came to Green School in its first year of operation in 2008. Since then, she has immersed herself in number of activities around the campus, most notably painting, creating comic books and composing music. Her artistic talents abound and her innovative ideas inspire and motivate her peers every day. After graduation, Ira hopes to pursue her passion for art at Quest University in British Columbia, Canada, where she has already been accepted.

Gika is our outspoken leader. She is well-known in the Green School community. Although she may be most famous for having the longest hair on campus, Gika’s unique dance moves are also bringing her notoriety. Her fusion of Balinese traditional movements and hip hop choreography reflect her dynamic personality and talents. She has also taken a keen interest in politics. She involves herself in student council, community events and service projects on a regular basis. Gika has represented Green School at the Model United Nations in Shanghai and has started her own sustainability-themed business on campus called “BuBam”, a business she co-directs that generates personalized bamboo business cards. After graduating from Green School, Gika hopes to study International Relations in Jakarta.

I sat down with these two students recently to discuss the pressures of being Green School’s first local graduates. They spoke about what it means to be local leaders, how they wish to continue pursuing their passions after graduation and how being a scholarship student comes with its own unique pressures and challenges.

“I want to encourage locals here to not be afraid to be leaders , not to be afraid to follow their passions. You know your dream. You are the only one that truly knows it—it is pure.”

Gika Savitri Inspired Bali | 52

are the qualities that define a great leader? Is the definition of leadership cross-cultural?

Q:What How is leadership viewed in Balinese culture?

Ira: I believe a good leader must be able to inspire and motivate other people. A leader in Bali would need to have the same characteristics as they would in other cultures.

Gika: I agree. A leader must also be someone who the people can trust and someone who will seek to change things for the better. However, from what I’ve observed in Balinese communities, being a leader is not always considered a good thing. For example, consider for a moment that everyone is a flower. In Balinese culture, if one flower is taller than all the rest, the shorter flowers will not let it stand tall. They will try to cut the tall flower down.

In Western communities, taller flowers are celebrated and supported by the rest. At the same time, if there is a shorter flower, the rest of the flowers are going to accept it and support it however they can. Leadership is having the courage to be innovative and think differently, but in Bali is it sometimes more difficult to be different.

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Ira: Yes, I think this is also why Balinese students in public schools are less likely to take risks and become leaders. In public schools, everything is rigid and people are not as open to difference.

Gika: Being in public school in Bali is about following the rules. Being in Green School is about knowing that you can be different. It is about thinking out of the box and being more creative. In Bali, people may wonder what you’re doing if you do something different. In Green School, there are so many leaders, so many unique personalities - more than in local schools.

have your experiences at Green School influenced you Q:How and your goals for the future?

Gika: Being at Green School gives us more opportunities. I’ve changed a lot during my time at Green School but a lot of that had to do with me growing up and learning who I am. I can only guess at what my path would have been if I had stayed in public school.

Ira: Here, at the high school, we have the choice of what we want to take.

We are the leaders of our own education. To be able to choose what we want to do is quite inspiring.

Gika: Yes, but school is only one thing that can shape you. If I had stayed in public school, the factors would be different, but it would have been me who decided my path. It’s a mixture of both. The people can shape the school as well.

have you managed to maintain your Balinese culture and values while attending Q:How international school?

Ira: It can be very challenging to be a Balinese student at an international school. Scholarship students here have to move back and forth between two very different cultures. But it helps when students have families that are very understanding and open. My family understands the challenges that I face moving back and forth. For example, I am the first member of my family to go to an international school and my experiences are much different from those of my family. Instead of judging these differences, my family is supportive and they encourage me to pursue my dreams. Especially considering I am travelling to another country to pursue art - they never discourage me from taking risks and pursuing my passions.

Gika: Our families try to understand, but it is difficult for them as well. There are still cultural traditions that families encourage at home. Sometimes I feel like I’m a chameleon. I have to change who I am depending on my environment.

Ira: Chameleon! That’s so true. It’s almost automatic. When I go back home, I change my behaviours right away.

Q:How have you benefitted from this challenge?

Ira: We have learned how to be flexible and adaptable. These are qualities that will help us in the future. We need to be able to adapt to sudden changes.

Gika: When we go to university, we will have to learn how to behave in a new culture all over again. Being able Inspired Bali | 54

to adapt easily is a skill that we’ve learned by moving between the two cultures. That skill will be useful in university.

two are the first Balinese graduates from Green School.

Q:You What can you share about your experience that will help future generations of Balinese students?

Gika: Balinese students at international schools need a lot of support. I feel as though the school needs to recognize how difficult it can be for scholarship students, culturally and socially. Having someone who understands these challenges may help. The process of balancing two different cultures can affect every part of an individual. When I got to Green School I felt as though I was under so much pressure. I hope that younger generations feel supported in whatever path they choose.

Ira: I feel like future students can benefit from adopting the positives and dropping the negatives from both cultures - a scholarship here can be a great opportunity but a challenge at the same time. It puts a lot of pressure onto the students to do well.

Gika: Yes. It’s a gamble – the outcome is unpredictable when you come to Green School. Nothing is a guarantee at least that’s how it feels sometimes. Because I am a scholarship student, I’ve never truly felt as though my position here is stable. I feel so much pressure to perform well at the school because I’ve been given this opportunity. Also, there is no one for me to look up to - we are the first to choose this path and we don’t know where we will end up.

Q:What are your plans after you graduate?

Gika: I am considering two options, but my first choice is to go to university in Jakarta to study International Relations. I’ve learned so many ways that I can work to improve Bali, such as working to reduce the amount of plastic on the island. Also, I like the idea of working in politics. I want to be able to work for the Balinese people from a political or governmental level. It will be great to bring outside knowledge to Bali. But opening Bali up to the outside world hasn’t always been a positive thing. Bali must develop in its own way and I want to be a part of this process. I hope to do this by leaving Bali for a while to learn outside perspectives.

Ira: I’ve just confirmed my acceptance to Quest University in Canada. Their program is similar to Green School in that students create their own program. I want to tailor mine to focus on music and art, specifically on political or activist art. That’s why I’ve taken a lot of media studies classes at Green School. However, I’ve learned how challenging it can be to work for social justice and change. If we want to work for something that we feel passionate about, we always feel so small and helpless. But I’m willing to try, and I want to make a difference.

These ladies leave behind an inspiring legacy at Green School. They have persevered and shared invaluable lessons with their communities. They are true pioneers.

Reprinted with permission www.emilyrferguson.wordpress.com

www.qito.co.uk

Inspired Bali | 55

Leadership

is not about being the boss although many bosses may think so

Leadership

is not about telling others how to do their work but allowing them the freedom to do it their own way

Leadership

is not about confronting others about their responsibilities but about asking them what and how they are willing to contribute

Leadership

is not about giving orders but about offering invitations

Leadership

is not about leading others because people are very capable themselves

Leadership

is about leading yourself and trusting and serving others

Imagine

what it would be like to build harmonious communities where every one is a leader.

Reprinted by permission www.frankweijers.com

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Bali Subak: Communal Leadership from the bottom up

by Melinda Chickering

T

raveling north from Bali’s international entry point of Denpasar, traffic gives way to villages and villages gradually give way to emerald terraced paddies of rice. Continuing northward, the rice paddies become the dominant feature of the landscape, stretching across beautiful swathes of hillsides, and falling away from the crater lakes that feed them life-giving water.

Visitors who venture this far inland will want to stop their car or motorbike to photograph epic vistas for the folks back home. Those who take the time for a stroll through the rice paddies will notice narrow streams carve between the paddies like bloodlines, with miniature waterfalls connecting higher paddies to lower.

Subak is the term for the system of irrigation itself, including canals and tunnels that carry water from the volcanic crater lakes to the coast. It’s also the name for the voluntary associations of paddy rice farmers who share a common water source for irrigation.

Bali’s subak is a classic example of what experts call a complex adaptive system (CAS). Academic study of CAS has developed only recently across diverse fields; generally speaking, a CAS involves many autonomous Inspired Bali | 58

Photo by Suki Zoe

components or agents learning, adjusting and adapting to changing conditions as they interact both with each other and their environment. Examples include neural networks, social networks, stock markets, ecosystems, the Internet and the subak system.

meetings and part of their harvest to their water temple. Their responsibilities also include rituals and rites performed according to the Balinese lunar calendar.

Humans and the landscape here have co-adapted over a thousand years without direction from a centralized authority. The system self-corrects for periodic disruptions as varied as pests, dry weather, volcanic eruptions, or colonial invaders.

Balinese society still operates according to castes that usually dictate how one person should speak to another. During subak meetings, everyone speaks to each other on a common level, without reference to caste. This encourages democratic participation.

Violation of this egalitarian convention can prompt fines.

All male farmers in a subak must attend the meetings, participate in decision making, and pay a tithing to the collective. They all receive holy water through their subak temple’s priest, who collects the holy water from the priests at the island’s highest water temple Pura Ulun Danu Batur at the top of Mount Batur. Farmers belonging to a subak contribute both time for

Anthropologist Stephen Lansing, the world’s foremost non-Balinese expert on subak, and his colleague James Kremer designed a computer model to test whether the subak system could come about through spontaneous self-organization, rather than being directed by a central authority. Simply by virtue of sharing the same goals—optimizing yields, Inspired Bali | 59

Photo by Jamie Woodall

minimizing pests, ensuring adequate water supplies—the model showed how coordination like the subak system promotes high yields not only for a few, but for everyone. Nature tends to punish—with lower yields, pest infestations, or water shortages— those who defect from the cooperation, such that over time, the subak associations of farmers become a self-sustaining equilibrium.

Water temples across the island provide forums in which farmers of each subak gather to agree upon planting schedules in order to use their common water source equitably and to coordinate fallow periods that control pest outbreaks. Farmers in a subak are thus also congregants of a given water temple. These are democratic participatory institutions, but they are also religious institutions.

All Balinese revere the Goddess of the Lake Dewi Danu as well as the Rice Goddess Dewi Sri. Beyond the infrastructure of canals and waterways for irrigation, the subak social structures for management of water flows and pest control were invisible to outsiders for generations, manifesting tacit knowledge of best practice in balancing the demands of the earth, the spirit and the community.

Balinese people are imbued from early childhood with their philosophy of Tri Hita Karana, which emphasizes right relations with God, the natural environment and fellow human beings. The subak system is an

island-wide manifestation of this holistic philosophy that embraces that need for balance between reverence for the divine and the messy business of getting enough for everyone to eat.

“This is the theatre in which we can look for comprehensive solutions instead of piecemeal solutions,” said Lansing, who has studied Bali’s subak for over three decades. Lansing, among others, has criticized the Green Revolution’s narrow and myopic focus on increasing grain yields. The Green Revolution - in which international donors funded directives for large scale adoption of monoculture with intensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides - swept much of the developing world, including Indonesia, in the 1960’s.

“My research with James Kremer showed that the Green Revolution failed because planners did not understand the role of water temples in managing the ecology of the rice terraces,” explained Lansing.

“We showed that the temple networks are a real-world example of a complex adaptive system.”

The collective management of water resources has proven sustainable for a millennium. UNESCO’s recognition of Bali’s subak as World Heritage differs from Cambodia’s temples at Anchor, for instance, because the subak heritage is still alive, a testament to the functionality and sustainability of democratic, collective management, at least on this small, Inspired Bali | 60

culturally homogenous island.

The communal leadership model of the subak has proven successful where the Green Revolution’s top-down leadership failed. Yields increased with the Green Revolution, but nutritional quality, environmental health and holistic sustainability were sacrificed.

Well-intentioned Green Revolution planners in the 1970s failed to see the practical as well as spiritual importance of the subak system with its water temples, priests, goddesses and rituals, according to Lansing. Planners brought in technology packets with high-yield rice varieties and chemical fertilizer that continues to degrade Bali’s traditional rice culture, soils and even coral reefs surrounding the island.

Invaluable as endangered cultural heritage, Bali’s subak may also prove instructive in contexts beyond Bali’s shores. Supporters of the UNESCO bid hope that it will not only raise awareness about Bali’s traditional methods of sustainable agriculture but also provide a new model for UNESCO World Heritage sites that empowers local communities to keep more of their earnings.

“We are hoping that this will trigger an increased involvement on the part of communities both in terms of design and implementation and in terms of sharing revenues,” said Maria Osbeck, Research Fellow in water management and rural development at the Stockholm Environmental Institute. Farmers might more likely soldier on as farmers if they feel they have a greater stake in the tourism-related revenues agriculture can help attract.

The subak irrigation system carries volcanic soil naturally rich in potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen Agro-tourism might provide a balance to help resolve down through watersheds. Ecologists these tensions. Educating tourists about the role of discovered that most of the chemical fertilizer adopted “The subak system represents a kind of wisdom that is vital for during the Green Revolution intelligent climate adaptation and sustainable development,” proved excessive and washed observes Tom Hilde of the University of Maryland School of Public off into the ocean, harming Policy, who recently brought graduate students to Indonesia to study nearby coral reefs.

development challenges. “To lose it would be not only to lose a thing

While the Green Revolution of great beauty, fascination and dynamism but also a powerful challenged the subak from the critique of the failures of existing development paradigms.” top-down, the dominant tourism economy in Bali today challenges subak from all sides, paddy by paddy, as restaurants, agriculture in the intricate beauty of Balinese culture hotels and villas multiply and encroach. Property and topography seems an important step. Who could taxes are based upon potential economic value of fail to be amazed by the elegance of Bali’s living land where it is developed rather than the productive heritage when offered an opportunity to appreciate history or potential of farmland. Even farmers with its entirety? consistently strong harvests face ever-increasing land taxes, rising due to development next door. This UNESCO World Heritage recognition might help tip puts enormous pressure on farmers to sell or lease the scales toward tourism that preserves a unique and their land rather than continuing to grow food. The vibrant way of life that has stood the test of time but momentum of tourism development on this model now faces threats from outsiders who could leads to ever diminishing food production on the unwittingly love the island to death. Though few island to feed an ever increasing population of locals Balinese kids today would admit to wanting to be and visitors. Moreover, as land is converted away farmers when they grow up, “Cultural Interpreter” from agriculture and associated cultural traditions sounds like a pretty cool job, and Bali could be trainincluding rituals, offerings, temples and rice paddies ing many more of them. toward concrete structures to serve a mass tourist market, Bali’s strongest draws for tourists will weaken Reprinted with permission inexorably.

IndoVisible.blogspot.com

Inspired Bali | 61

Not all foods are created equal.

At the bottom of the food chain are mass produced, processed food items that live on a supermarket shelf in plastic wrappers, boxes and cans. They do not have enough nutritional value to deserve the title of food.

Increasingly, worldwide populations are turning away from farm fresh produce and subsisting on packaged food, resulting in an epidemic of obesity, diabetes and related illnesses. This is largely impacted by the lack of true nutrition. Here in Bali, with a rising middle class, processed foods purchased from a Western style store are becoming a status symbol and, inexpensive sugary snacks sold in every small warung are an easy new treat to mollify children. With this shift in diet comes a rapid increase in the same health problems found in developed countries, as well as the inescapable disruption of the Balinese ecosystem with the plastic waste.

On the other end of the spectrum from processed foods, yet also sold in packaged form, those designated as superfoods have achieved rock star status, with manufacturers’ claims of preventing or curing disease and reversing the aging process.

Superfoods are endowed with multiple combinations of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and are considered especially beneficial for health and wellbeing. It would be easy to see the superfood title as a marketing technique, especially when much of the information about it comes from distributors, yet many of what seem to be newfangled superfoods have actually been cherished for centuries as medicinals, food staples and sacred ceremonial ingredients.

At one time food and spirituality intertwined for indigenous people across the globe. Superfoods quinoa and maca root were sacred for the Incas, cacao was precious to the Mayans, chia was revered by the Aztecs, acai was a sacrament for the Amazonian tribes, and spirulina, a blue green algae, was holy in Africa.

Chinese medicine has utilized goji berries for more than 5000 years. These superfoods may appear to be new discoveries by gourmet foodies and health food advocates, but actually are rediscoveries of ancient wisdom.

Superfoods are increasingly available worldwide and are making their way to Bali at specialized locations, bearing the price tag and carbon footprint of imported goods from afar. Though these exotic superfoods may be nutritionally worthy of their hype, the earth conscious choice is to favor a variety grown right where you are.

Seven Superfood Standouts (some local, some imported)

Chia, Flax and Sesame

These seeds pack a punch of Omega-3s, antioxidants and protein that will give you and your metabolism an energy boost. Sesame is our local super seed.

Acai, Goji and Mulberry

This trio is loaded with antioxidants, helping counter the effect of pollution on our cells and strengthen immunity. Local mulberries are available seasonally in Bali.

Cacao (Local)

Delivering, by far, the greatest concentration of antioxidants is raw cacao powder, grown abundantly in Bali and Java.

Inspired Bali | 62

Food Inspiration Humble, local, less flamboyant than imported superfood products, some of our most familiar, affordable and commonly available produce offer a powerhouse of antioxidants, fiber, minerals and vitamins to super fuel your brain and body. Nearly every brightly colored, organic fruit, vegetable, herb and spice fits into the realm of superfood, each with a plethora of well documented beneficial nutrients. Are your veggies looking more glamorous to you by now?

Load up on fresh, tasty preventative medicine in the form of super plant foods from your local organic farmer.

10 Local Plant Food Superstars All 10 of these common superfoods excel in aiding digestion, cleansing toxins, strengthening the immune system and helping regulate metabolism, enhancing brain and body.

1. Dark Leafy Greens: Spinach, Kale, Chard, Collards, Parsley, Bayam, Kangkung 2. Sprouts 3. Sea vegetables (kelp, nori, hijiki) 4. Avocados 5. Apples 6. Beets 7. Alliums: Onions, Shallots, Leeks, Garlic 8. Cinnamon 9. Turmeric 10. Hot Chilies

MUCHO CHOCO SUPERFOOD ENERGY BARS 1 cup (240 ml) dates, pitted and chopped 1 cup (240 ml) raisins 1/4 cup (60 ml) dried figs, chopped 2 cups (480 ml) raw sunflower seeds 2 cups (480 ml) raw pumpkin seeds 1/2 cup (120 ml) raw sesame seeds 1/2 cup (120 ml) flax seeds, soaked 2 tbsp (30 ml) chia seeds to make chia gel (below) 1 tsp (6 ml) fine Himalayan or sea salt 1/2 cup (120 ml) raw cacao powder 3/4 cup (180 ml) raw cacao nibs 1/2 cup (120 ml) shredded coconut 1/4 cup (60 ml) goji berries To make chia gel: Pour the chia seeds into a glass jar with a lid. Add 6 tbs purified water to cover and shake well.

Chop the dried dates, raisins and figs and soak for 15 minutes in just enough purified water to cover.

Using a food processor, blend the sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds into a chunky batter. Add the chia gel, the flax seeds and the salt. Pulse.

Add the cacao powder, a bit at a time, pulsing until it blends in. Remove the mixture into a large bowl. Strain, then place dates, raisins and figs in food processor. Mix until it forms a paste ball.

Add to the seed mixture in the large bowl. Hand mix or use 2 large wooden spoons. When the seed mixture and the paste are well combined, add the cacao nibs, shredded coconut and goji berries. Mix. Press into a rectangular glass dish, refrigerate or freeze to set, then cut into bars. Alternatively, you may hand form into desired shape (balls, squares, bars...) or use a biscuit cutter to shape.

Some yummy variations: • add dried cherries or dried mulberries, or replace one of the other dried fruits • substitute Brazil nuts, pistachios, walnuts and/or almonds for the seeds • substitute raw tahini plus honey for the dates

SUN DRIED TOMATO SUPERFOOD VINAIGRETTE 1 cup (225 ml) cold pressed olive oil 6 tablespoons (90 ml) apple cider or balsamic vinegar 3/4 cup (180ml) sun dried tomatoes 1/2 cucumber, diced 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 shallot, minced 1 tablespoon (15 ml) goji berries 1 tablespoon (15 ml) fresh oregano 1 tablespoon (15 ml) fresh basil 1 tablespoon (15 ml) chia seeds 1/2 teaspoon (3 ml) chlorella 1 teaspoon (6 ml) sea salt Place all ingredients in a blender and mix until creamy.

Delicious variations: • add purified water or more olive oil for a thinner dressing • add more sun dried tomatoes for a thicker consistency and use as a dip • substitute spirulina, maca or other superfoods for the mesquite powder and chlorella • substitute flax seeds for the chia • add chopped beet root • replace vinegar with lemon or lime juice

“He that takes medicine and neglects diet, waste the skill of the physician” Chinese Proverb

Inspired Bali | 64

Food Inspiration

APPLE FENNEL SUPER GREEN SALAD WITH ORANGE PASSION FRUIT DRESSING SALAD: 6 tart, crisp apples, sliced 6 small fennel bulbs, sliced 6 small shallots, minced 3 cups (720 ml) arugula, roughly chopped 2 cups (480 ml) baby spinach, roughly chopped 1 cup (240 ml) kale, finely chopped 1/2 cup (120 ml) parsley, stemmed and chopped nasturtium blossoms DRESSING: 1 cup (240 ml) fresh squeezed orange juice 1 tbsp (15 ml) orange zest 1 passion fruit, seeds and juice 3 tbsp (45 ml) olive oil 1 tbsp (15 ml) poppy seeds 3/4 tsp (4.5 ml) sea salt Whisk together all ingredients.

Dressing variations: • replace the poppy seeds with chia seeds • add finely grated ginger and/or turmeric • include finely minced or pressed garlic Mix chopped greens in a large bowl or arrange on a platter. Add dressing to apples, fennel and shallots. Toss. Spoon apple mixture onto the bed of mixed greens just before serving.

Garnish with nasturtium blossoms.

Salad variations: • include thin slices of salak or turnip with the apples • substitute beet greens, baby romaine or chard for the other greens • add mung bean or alfalfa sprouts

The Living Food Lab is a teaching kitchen serving nutrient-rich, living food to a growing community of global sustainability leaders. We prepare freshly harvested, locally sourced, organically grown, living food meals; promote conscious eating; and educate people of all ages about the power of their food choices.

Visit us at The Green School www.greenschool.org www.facebook.com/livingfoodlab

Look for our new location at Hubud in Ubud Inspired Bali | 65

The Myths of Leadership

by Rosanna Nicol

L

eadership is one of the subjects most talked about and least understood. It is fraught with assumptions and myths, and our understanding of leadership often lacks clarity. Yet it remains much-discussed from high-school leadership camps to corporate management research to studies in cognitive psychology. So, what is leadership?

What do we know from research about what makes good leaders? And, how can we cultivate good leadership in ourselves and our surroundings?

Let’s explore some of the major questions within current research on leadership.

What is Leadership?

Broadly speaking, leadership is another word for influence – which we all possess to varying degrees. It is a term applied to military strategists and pacifist prophets, to CEOs with a legally defined mandate, and to helpful grandmothers working informally behind the scenes.

Photo by Suki Zoe

Inspired Bali | 67

There are a number of myths floating around about leadership, and, if nothing else, they provide a good place from which to jump into the world of leadership theories. is an innate quality of an 1. Leadership individual: Some older theories suggest this, but

it has proven impossible to identify what these qualities are. Studies of twins suggest that, at most, 30% of one’s leadership potential is hereditary. Studies also show that interventions such as role-play exercises or training sessions to improve leadership style are highly effective. This shatters the notion that leadership is an innate quality, but rather, suggests that good leadership is learned and honed through hard work and observation.

A traditional definition of leadership that continues to hold sway does define leadership as the ability of an individual to rally a group towards a particular goal. People have been asking what distinguishes leaders from others for a long time, from Sun Tzu, the military strategist of ancient China, to Thomas Carlyle in the 19th c. writing about Prophet Muhammed.

This notion of a ‘Man of History’ who creates change through charisma, vision, and incredible social influence continues to affect current theories of leadership.

Characteristics that are thought to correlate with leadership include extraversion, intelligence and self-efficacy (the ability to get stuff done), and historically, other traits such as physical attributes or inherited qualities (think royal blood) were also popular. However, linking these qualities across leaders in empirical study has proven very difficult.

The elusive charisma or “presence” that good leaders exhibit has proven especially hard to pin down.

Research on leadership now includes questions about “followship.” Factors like the cohesion of the group, followers’ behavior and respective degrees of selfawareness will also determine the nature of the leading that emerges. In this way, leadership is not a quality of an individual, but a quality of a group.

In other words, leadership is neither innate nor exclusively the quality of an individual; it is influenced by the surrounding context and improved by the dedicated hard work of leaders.

is power over people: While this 2. Leadership is sometimes the case, good leadership is more

often power emerging between people in a reciprocal relationship. It is shown in a number of studies (and comes as no surprise) that leaders who involve the group in decisions and are accountable to the community are often better at rallying support and commitment.

Another definition argues that leadership is the property of a group or system rather than an individual.

In this definition leadership cannot be power of one over another because leadership is a dynamic that emerges in a group. James Scouller’s 3 Levels of Leadership presents leadership in this way. He says leadership is a practical problem that is bigger than the leader. Leadership is not personal power, but a series of processes and choices towards a certain goal.

He argues that a leader must ensure that in a group there is a shared vision, progress and results, team spirit, and individual attention; however, leadership exists in the processes not in the individual. In other words, a good system involves many different people taking on roles that might be considered “leadership roles.”

Another theory that subverts this myth even more is leadership as service.

This is perhaps the most ancient theory of leadership, but it is not common in the corporate management writing that dominates current leadership studies.

Rather than the familiar image of a pyramid with the leader at the top, servant leadership flips the image to an upside-down pyramid with the leader at the bottom, working to serve the needs of the others, and to help them perform and flourish. The term was coined in 1970 by Robert Greenleaf, and its central values are empathy, integrity, competence, and amiability. The test to distinguish between leader-first or servant-first leadership is to ask: Do those served grow as people? The expectation is that followers become healthier, wiser, more free and autonomous and more likely to become servants themselves.

In short, leadership can be power over people (an authoritarian leadership style), but it can also be power between people or service to others.

control group outcomes, usually for 3. Leaders the better (i.e., it’s good to have a leader): Inspired Bali | 68

Studies show that leaders can be helpful in rallying group action and reducing the bystander effect (where people wait around for another to take action); however, leadership can also be destructive. Besides the many obvious examples, and on a more banal level, one recent study shows that business managers regularly stifle employee’s experience of meaning in their work. This happens routinely and unwittingly when input is undermined, when project goals are shifted frequently, or when people are transferred away from projects before reaching any kind of conclusion. This is related to the false notion that leaders are almost solely responsible for the achievements (or failures) of the group. Empirically, many other factors are shown to be important – group dynamic, group cohesion, relevant experience, competence, and a host of other environmental factors.

in themselves and their desire to serve. The list goes on. The range of ways people exert influence in their lives is infinite.

Indonesians are some of the most active Twitter users in the world, and an increasingly influential arena for people to exert their influence is online.

Unsurprisingly, a new topic in research is “e-Leadership.” Research questions include: What is the role of technology in determining how we work together? Can leaders effectively rally people and support their work when they never meet faceto-face? What tools are needed for effective e-leaders?

So far, studies show that most of the skills needed to rallying people in-person translate to virtual communities, including self-awareness, being mindful of peoples’ feelings and status, etc. With the exponential spread of technology, we can expect more research on this topic in the future.

This relates to Noam Chomsky’s criticism of our misplaced reliance on leaders: it allows us to ignore personal responsibility and dulls our critical thinking. This is an important Leadership can take many different forms, and, in many critique. How many times are we eager cases, our understanding about what constitutes an to defer judgement to an authority figure (regardless of whether they are an expert influential and effective leader is flawed. As new world in the field)? How often do we relegate issues emerge, so will the need for new leaders with the our own analysis, out of laziness, out of skills to generate innovative solutions through collaboshyness, because it allows us to remain ration and creativity. How will our collective leadership distant and disengaged? Chomsky qualities serve our planet and society as a whole? As distinguishes leaders from “subject matter experts,” and he suggests seeking the sum of its parts, perhaps one of the most pertinent advice and opinions of subject matter exquestions is how we choose to lead our own daily lives perts makes sense in contrast to desperand whom or what we choose to follow. ately seeking authority figures, regardless of their relevant expertise. This raises another question: what if the “subject matter expert” speaks softly and modestly? How often While academia may not offer a unanimous picture of are we compelled by confident “leaders” rather than a leader, what does it tell us about good leadership? quality guidance?

Are there certain qualities good leaders seem to share?

Leaders can have a positive influence in a group, but they are not necessary in every circumstance, nor is What do we know about good leaders? their input necessarily more important.

In the context of leadership as a personal quality, how do good leaders lead? This is unsurprisingly one of What is a leadership? Some say it is the ability of an the central research questions today. On a basic level, individual to rally a group towards a certain goal. there are different types of leadership. TaskOthers say it is a quality of a group that includes oriented or transactional leadership revolves around shared vision and monitoring progress and results. performance and reward. This can be contrasted with Others say it is the process of group members growing transformational leadership where followers Inspired Bali | 69

overcome expectations and transcend themselves towards a common goal.

A critique of earlier leadership theories is that they fail to look at leadership presence – that special energy that inspires. Work on authentic leadership tries to include this and hypothesizes that “presence” comes when a leader is deeply in-tune with his or her inner self. Research suggests that authentic leaders share 4 qualities: 1. balanced processing: considers outside experience and evidence before forming an opinion or making a decision.

2. internalized moral perspective: has and adheres to an internal set of values or code of conduct, has a moral compass.

3. relational transparency: communicates clearly and directly, is honest and transparent about relationships.

4. self-awareness: is conscious of one’s feelings and behavior, and their effect on surroundings.

There are a lot of books out there with concrete tips and tools on how to develop one’s leadership skills.

Studies do show that leadership, like any skill, can be improved through work and practice. These books usually frame leadership as the ability to rally groups towards an external goal. In other words, these are guidebooks in how to increase one’s influence.

Unfortunately, they are mostly marketed towards the business world, and one can’t help feeling it is not the corporate sector that should be strengthening its social influence skills. Perhaps if more of these books talked about leadership as service I’d feel differently.

Photo by Jamie Woodall

In terms of what research tells us about good leaders, Project GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness) is a massive international study in leadership styles. It looked at 17, 300 middle-managers across 62 cultures and identified 6 dimensions of leadership that are shared across cultures.

These are as follows: 1. Charismatic: integrity, decisiveness, self-sacrificing, and performance-oriented.

2. Team Oriented: diplomatic, administratively competent.

3. Self-protective: able to induce conflict when necessary for the greater good. but conscious of status and wanting to save face.

4. Participative: supportive of those being led 5. Human Orientation: modesty and compassion for others in altruistic fashion 6. Autonomous: can function without constant consultation.

Following from our initial myth-debunking, you will notice that none of these are innate qualities and that each requires effort and practice.

So, how do we cultivate good leadership in ourselves and our surroundings?

Maybe we practice our critical thinking and voicing our own questions. Maybe we ask ourselves what myths about leaders we hold close? If leadership and influence are as closely related as they seem then it’s important to examine our own ideas about leadership.

It might help us see to whom we turn for authority (the tallest in the room? the loudest? the oldest? the youngest?) and those whom we marginalize.

Surveying academic research on leadership illuminates a few things. First, there is a dominant way of thinking about leadership: leadership as measured by project outcomes. It is implicitly hierarchical, and, luckily, not the only way people envision leadership.

Second, followers choose the leader and the type of leadership that is possible. Even though the dominant research focus continues to be on personal leadership style, the rest of us, in every moment when we are following rather than leading, are influencing the kind of leadership that exists around us. In other words, we are all implicated, all the time.

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The designs use local and international fabric such as cotton, lace and silk. Prunele which is an italian word play for high quality cuttings has started early this year.

How we think of things affects how we behave; if we think of something as healthy, we may seek to eat it. If we see someone as a leader, we may treat them differently than we otherwise would. For this reason alone, it is useful to be aware of how we think of leadership. Do you think of a leader at the front of the room encouraging, guiding and rewarding performance? Do you see a group brainstorming together and see leadership as the spark of energy they are generating? Or does it appear for you in acts of service?

Perhaps from years of schooling, I am quick to see the person standing at the front of the room. If anything, this leads me to react against the hierarchical, static leadership structures I see around me. But I’m inspired to begin a process of unlearning: those structures are only part of the picture, and it is my eyes that highlight them. How can I learn to notice the acts of service around me? Would I feel more compelled to step into traditional leadership positions if they connoted self-awareness, kindness, and generosity? If good leadership is envisioned as facilitating a creative and dynamic group environment, it begins to sound like a wonderful skill and activity.

Sources: Avolio B, Walumbwa F, Weber T. 2009. Leadership: Current Theories, Research, and Future Directions.

Annual Review of Psychology 60.

DasGupta P. 2011. Literature Review: e-Leadership.

Regent University.

James Scouller: www.3-levels-of-leadership.com McKinsey Quarterly: How Leaders Kill Meaning at Work.

Reprinted with permission rosannanicol.wordpress.com

less is more...

SUGRIWA STREET NO.10, UBUD +62 857 3912 1017, +62 813 3738 0780 email: komang.angelo@gmail.com Welcome to our traditional Balinese family run home business.

Located in the heart of heart of Ubud (near Bali Buddha), our family has passed down the tradition of creating herbal remedies for decades.

Made without chemicals, pesticides or additives, we offer the most comprehensive selection of locally produced traditional herbs, body products and herbal drinks and tonics.

Drop by our store to ask questions, to shop, to have a drink or to sample some of our products. We are always home to welcome you!

WE ALSO OFFER DAILY CLASSES

Learn how to make traditional medicine tinctures and beauty products, daily. Drop by our store for details.

Share, Care and be Positive.

We can heal our bodies, our souls and our planet.

Together.

“The Amazing Bamboo Trail” THE AMAZING BAMBOO TRAIL is a spectacular showcase at how Bali is at the forefront of building houses in 100% bamboo in the world.

Bali is rewriting the definition of a bamboo house by creating stunning mansions rising up to five floors combined with a unique architecture, interior design and furniture, all made in 100% bamboo that has wowed visitors around the world. This eye opening tour is a must for bamboo lovers, people working in green projects, architects, designers, students and for those who are eager to discover the amazing creative use of bamboo. Bamboo is one of the most amazingly versatile and sustainable building materials available. It grows remarkably fast and in a wide range of climates. It is exceedingly strong for its weight and can be used both structurally and as a finish material. The canes are beautiful when exposed and they can be cut in such a way as to be re-combined into useful products such as flooring. There is a long vernacular tradition to the use of bamboo in structures in many parts of the world, especially in more tropical climates, where it grows into larger diameter canes. We anticipate that the value of bamboo as a building material will only become more apparent as we move towards an era of ever more wood scarcity and higher costs of energy.

What to bring ?

Water, sun hat, sun block and comfortable walking shoes, or trainers Both Tours start at 9am, meeting point is Bamboo Factory We can arrange pick up and drop off from Ubud, Sanur, Kuta/Legian, Denpasar, Nusa Dua : price USD49 per car

We offer different tour packages green Village, Bamboo factory, Springs 5 floor bamboo mansion, green school Full Day : Half Day : price : $50 (lunch) price : $39 kids : $35 kids : $19

discounted rates for tour operators and large group over 20 persons

Our first discovery is the biggest bamboo factory in Indonesia, Bamboo Pure www.ibuku.com where the freshly harvested poles are treated to resist termites. This is the place to see all the different bamboo species available in the country. Besides treatment, the factory produces different types of planks, splits, roof shingles, doors and an amazing collection of furniture, all in bamboo.

In the forests of Kintamani, there stand majestically those giant bamboo poles up to a height of 20 meters with a diameter of 15 to 18 centimeters. Bamboo is from the grass family and can grow up to one meter everyday and is ready to harvest in 3 years. Chopping the pole does not kill the tree as young trees keep shooting at its roots.

Set within a river valley landscape along Bali’s sacred Ayung River, Green Village is a master-planned community of high end bamboo villas with its distinctive blonde roofs. Entering these big houses is a feast to the eyes. It is a showcase at how black and white bamboo can be combined in all shapes and pattern to create a stunning collection of luxurious floors, walls, ceiling, stairs and railings. Even the roofs are an innovative arrangement of bamboo shingles. Learn more at: www.greenvillagebali.com

For booking & more tour information : patrick@greenvillagebali.com www.greenvillagebali.com or call Maha : 081340271458

IDEALIST INTERUPTED:

Fits and Starts on The Spiritual Path

by Renee Martyna Photo by Jamie Woodall

Who leads?

M

ost of us come across a word like ‘Leadership’ and immediately assume it describes a politician, a rock-star, or a CEO—basically, someone important, dignified, and accomplished… but not us. At least, that’s what I do. After all, a true leader is someone superhuman who knows exactly what to do and when to do it, who always got As in some overpriced prep-school and never says a stupid thing, ever (George Bush notwithstanding), right? It’s not my mom or the guy who sells coconuts down the street.

Of course, we all know that’s bullshit (or at least I hope we do). True leaders—the people who inspire us to greatness—come in all shapes and sizes. And yet we are still prone to set the standard for leadership at some wildly imagined level of omnipotence and perfection. But what if we threw out the scorecard and looked instead to a list of “leaders greatest ego-hits”?

What wisdom would we gather from the mistakes, about-faces, and surprises they have encountered?

Turns out, they may well be more instructive than we thought.

Here is what I’ve learned: It’s ok to change my mind.

There is nothing more frustrating than a person in power who refuses to let go of a failed plan (think of Nixon in the Vietnam war). And, nothing quite so compelling as a leader humbly admitting they were wrong (think Robert McNamara’s apology for that same war). It seems to raise us all up a notch on the human spectrum of tolerance, honesty and forgiveness. You can almost feel a collective exhale. Who likes perfect people anyway?

Taking my hands off the controls is wild, but worth it.

Trusting your intuition and, in turn, being led by something much greater than yourself — your cause, your God, or the people you aim to serve — takes courage of a particular, and often unrecognized, sort.

But as the biographers of Steve Jobs, Nelson Mandela and every mom out there will tell you, relying on inner listening in a time of upheaval can lead to great empires of innovation and love, even if it puts you in the doghouse for a while. I know my gut has saved my butt more times than I can count, but only if I have had patience to bear it out.

Context is the true King.

Einstein told us that he “stood on the shoulders of giants”, and the Dalai Lama reminds us he is the 113th incarnation because they are leaders who understood their place in history. CEOs defer to their teams and praise their mentors because they know that pure self-reliance is suicide, and a masquerade for ego, micro-management and the gradual disempowerment of the people around them. Setting yourself among, rather than above, the people you aim to lead allows you to see through a multi-colored lens and spare yourself the tyranny of a single perspective. The bonus? I find it saves me from the cannibalizing effect of over-responsibility.

Best accept my flawed authority so it doesn’t inhibit my gifts.

If Martin Luther King had been derailed by his womanizing ways, or Mahatma Gandhi by the fact that he was often cruel to his wife, where would nonviolence be today? This does not absolve us of our faults, of course, but reminds us that we are not the sum total of our worst acts. So, we should all get down to the business of getting over ourselves. It’s my work, not myself, that I should take seriously.

Inspired Bali | 74

Know when it’s time to take a bow.

We cringe when rock legends let it go a little too long and produce that embarrassing, critically defiled album with acrimony written all over it. Leaders risk the same if they don’t recognize when their leadership is not longer required. A psychologist who worked with many high level managers once told me that many people she treated were suffering from a classic leadership dilemma; they did not understand that the people who start projects are not always the people who are meant to finish them. Taking a bow is not easy, especially if the project or purpose is dear to your heart. Perhaps, it was never about you.

Who leads? The question might be moot. Whether you are a parent or a CEO, we are all called to lead on some level. The real question is the degree of humility, inspiration, and discernment we bring to the act, for therein lies the power. What I have learned from the humanity of inspired leaders is that if I listen deeply

to my life, know myself well, change my mind when I need to, and let go from time to time, my scorecard often looks a lot more like theirs. In the end, I’ve learned that leading looks more like being led.

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.

Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.

- Lao Tzu

Reprinted with permission from: www.knowmadsland.com

A Picture & A Thousand Words

Lobke Peers

The Bird Girl and the Painter Boy

by Tamarra Kaida

O

nce upon a time on a mountain high above Lake Batur in Bali there lived a Bird Girl named Kiriana who was very unhappy.

Kiriana had marvelous feathered wings which changed colors according to the Bird Girl’s moods - canary yellow when she was happy, flamingo pink when relaxed, parakeet green when the stings of envy struck her soul, kingfisher blue when she felt serious, and egret white when at last, serenity settled over her. But for the longest time her feathers were mostly gray and black because Kiriana, the Bird Girl, did not know how to fly.

She just sat and sat and sat, like a stone statue, and stared down onto the mirror lake far, far below. Cold rain poured down on her head. The sun dried her back.Kintamani dogs sidled up and sniffed her human feet and her feathers, then backed off, confused no doubt.

Clouds blew across the sky as if agitated by some unseen force but the sun continued to rise in the east and set in the west. Days and nights passed by while the Bird Girl sat on her rock, still as a stone.

The King of the Winds felt sad whenever he looked down and saw the Bird Girl sitting and brooding her life away.

“Someone help her!” he shouted at the mountain, the trees, the sandy shores and the fish in the cold clear lake. But the huge mountain remained silent, oblivious to the plight of the beautiful Bird Girl. The trees shook their leaves but held their ground. On the shores of Lake Batur, the people in the villages did not understand the King of the Wind’s commandment.

All they heard was a breathy roaring as they ran into their homes and bolted their doors against the wailing wind. Everyone but Kadek Krishna. He was a young artist who lived alone in a forest hut and painted pictures of trees and birds and mountains and was happy doing what he did no matter what it was or how long it took to do it.

Kadek listened to the wind and decided he would do whatever he could to help the Bird Girl who didn’t know how to fly. Kadek stood at the edge of the lake and watched as the wind whipped up the waves and churned the fish into a froth in the center of Lake Batur. The Painter Boy stood on the shore and watched the trees and grasses wiggle wildly and felt afraid.

“You will go to the Bird Girl, who is called Kiriana, and teach her to fly,” commanded the King of the Air who had two faces, one in the front of his head and another one behind.

“But I don’t know how to fly! How can I teach Kiriana, the Bird Girl, how to fly? “ said Kadek. All he heard was a long low growl that warned him against turning away from his destiny.

“There are many ways to fly,” said the back head, who was the King Of the North Wind. ”Show her your way,” advised the front head, who was the King of the South Wind.

Kadek the Painter Boy packed his sketchbook, his charcoal pencil, his brushes and paint tubes into an old rucksack and started up the mountain determined Inspired Bali | 76

to find Kiriana, the sad Bird Girl who could not fly. He climbed through dense woods, past tall trees and over rocks both big and small. He climbed all day and all night and when he reached the top he laid on his back and rested. He watched the sun rise in the East and felt it warm the ground for all the creatures of the forest that awoke one by one, then two by two to begin a new day on Mount Batur.

“Where can I find Kiriana, the Bird Girl?” Kadek asked a brown squirrel who was sitting in a tree. But the squirrel scurried up the tree without a reply. Kadek, the Painter did not take offense. He knew squirrels were very busy creatures and always in a hurry. He walked on until he saw a goat.

“Please Mr. Goat, can you tell me where the Bird Girl they call Kiriana lives?” he asked. The goat smelled the Painter Boy’s scent and sensed he was not a hunter so Mr. Goat was not afraid. “She sits on a big rock on the far side of the meadow,” said Mr. Goat.

“Thank you very much,” said Kadek, just as a beautiful gold and black butterfly fluttered in front of the Painter Boy. “Follow me,” she instructed without uttering a word as she guided Kadek through the tall green alang-alang grasses to the place where a big flat rock protruded over a wondrous waterfall that never ceased falling.

On the bleak rock sat the sad and beautiful Bird Girl named Kiriana. Kadek’s heart leaped with joy at the sight of her. Her feathered arms were dull gray but her oval face was more beautiful than he had imagined.

The butterfly circled the Bird Girl’s head, then settled on her shoulder and silently imparted the news in Kiriana’s ear. The Bird Girl watched Kadek approach.

“Please sit,” she said in welcome. “Butterfly told me you have come a long way. She said you are a much admired nature painter and you love all the creatures of the forest, be they great or small.”

“Thank you for your kind words and those of Butterfly. I have climbed Mount Batur in the hope that you would permit me to paint you in this field,” said Kadek.

“I cannot stop you as I am afraid to take to the air because my mother died before she could teach me how to fly,” Kiriana said.

“Thank you for your permission,” he said as he sat to the side of Kiriana and began drawing in his sketchpad. Kadek worked quickly and produced one picture after another. In time he drew what he did not see with his eyes but what he saw with his heart. Page after page showed the Bird Girl in flight: her wings lifted up, then down, then up and down. He drew the Bird Girl gliding on wind currents over rice fields, temples, and banana groves. He drew Kiriana floating above the waves in the Indian Ocean, her face glowing with confidence and joy.

Kadek worked from morning to night and when he was satisfied he brought the sketchpad to the rock and sat beside the Bird Girl. He said, “I want to show you how to trust the wind and yourself.”

But just as he opened the notebook a gust of wind blew out of the shadowed forest and tore only the sketched pages from the book’s spine. One after the other the pages flew into the sky like black and white birds.

Kiriana looked at the painter and no longer felt lonely.

She stared at the flying drawings and felt glad for them. Suddenly, the beautiful Bird Girl jumped up, shook herself free of old fears, then spread her gray wings and lifted off just as the last picture tore out of the notebook and took to the air. Kadek watched Kiriana fly and saw her wings turn brilliant blue followed by an ecstatic yellow and then a serene white as she glided on wind currents.

A gentle wind blew through the tall grasses and Kadek was sure he heard a distant gamelan playing. After a while, Kiriana returned and told Kadek to climb on her back, which he did, and she flew down to his house by the lake. After a long farewell, Kadek went inside his house and felt both glad and sad because he knew Kiriana could not stay with him. She belonged in the air, and he on the ground. But the Bird Girl never forgot the nature painter from the shores of Lake Batur.

Occasionally it still happens that someone finds one of Kadek’s sketches on the path leading up the mountain or floating on the surface of Lake Batur, and they retell the story of how art helped a shy and lonely Bird Girl to fly... without whispering a single word.

Reprinted with permission

Web: www.tamarrakaida.com Inspired Bali | 77

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e are extremely grateful to the businesses listed below for their financial support of Inspired Bali Magazine.

Without them, we would not exist.. We have consciously decided to be a ‘review free’ periodical so that we can express our views, free of any advertising strings. This is a bold move on an island of magazine abundance, however we stand by this choice and know that it will give our readers a more authentic and honest perspective.

We ask that, whenever possible, you support these businesses as a way to support us. Let them know that you saw them in the pages of our magazine and please don’t be shy to say thanks. Help us grow.

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Inspired Bali | 79

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FAVORITEFIVE

Where to go, eat, give, practice, shop and explore Bali by well-known locals “in the know”

1. 5:00 a.m. solo motor bike rides north to Kintamani - the place to go for mindblowing volcano and sunrise views. Follow up with a walk along the Batur Lake lookout trail with the voodoo temple.

2. AWESOME twenty minute Denpasar airport reflexology session at Nu Prasada Reflexology, next to Terminal 7 - best with Junie (or any of those kids). There are times I just get to the airport too early, ya know?

3. One hour from Ubud, splashing around in the Air Panas Sengeri (hot springs) accompanied by radical views, amazing fresh bread and delicious soups at Village Above the Clouds in Munduk Andong.

4. Surprise “ooohey goooey” visits to my fiancée at Hubud, Ubud’s very cool co-working space.

5. Sunset tea and wine dates with old friends (and new) at our home on Sayan ridge. The view? Let’s just say I can see dinosaurs roaming.

Emily Kuser

Emily Kuser has been involved in a ridiculous amount of fun and weirdness over her five years in Bali. She teaches yoga at Yoga Barn.

1. Revolver Cafe. A Seminyak haven - enjoy amazing coffee and delicious wraps, surrounded by an eclectic mix of locals and lucky-to-find-the-place tourists.

2. Kreol Kitchen, Seminyak. Just adore the food in this little place. I can’t describe it - best you ask Annick what she does with her food. Better still, just go in and taste it.

3. Toasting marshmallows (bring them with you) on a log fire at Bali Ecovillage, Pelaga. High up in the mountains, pouring with rain, thick jumpers on, we sit in the main room, sharing our “mallows” with other guests whilst using the resident Great Dane Cindy as a fabulous pillow.

4. Deus Sunday Session. This is when Canggu comes out to play. It always seems to feel like a big old thank you for giving us this week. The bands are varied, the people laid back and happy. Part sun-drenched, part food-full, part drunk.

5. Everyone loves BJ’s. The cheekiness has continued since the opening of BJ’s Burger Joint thanks to the hosts Glen and business partner Ivan. The sign reads ‘Best Damn Burgers’. They are. Amazing veggie burgers (so my wife tells me) and my usual, the jalapeño burger. Hand cut chips as well.

Mark is a roaming English Creative Director, here in Bali to educate his children, immerse himself into this amazing lifestyle and culture, and to set up Sing Ken Ken, a soon-to-be-launched Fashion/Art/Karma brand that gives back to the community.

Mark Carolan Inspired Bali | 82

1. Sunset dinner at La Luciola, Petitenget Beach, Seminyak with a small group of friends.

2. Surfing in K-dungu - disappearing up north for the afternoon.

3. Hashing through the thrift markets in Pasar Kodok, Tabanan.

4. Facials and Scrubs at Ammo Spa, Petitenget.

5. Guilty pleasure? Nachos Supreme at Bob’s Taco Beach.

Katie Stone is an actress and writer from New York City. She left some years ago to travel around Southeast Asia and never went back. Bali is currently home, for better or worse, as long as the surf is good.

Katie Stone 1. Rapturous chanting with Kevin James in a heart song circle.

2. Making offerings and prayers at the water temples of Tirta Empul and Puri Sebatu.

3. Sunset Agni Hotra fire ceremony at Fivelements, Mambal.

4. Deep tissue massage with Made at Body and Soul, Ubud.

5. Colonics at Alchemy :) Kim is the producer and director of ‘Whale Dreamers’ and ‘Bali Life is an Offering.’

Once upon a time from the UK, he’s now scratching his head wondering what he’s still doing here. “Bali could be a blueprint for the world.”

Kim Kindersley

Jill Gocher

1. Lakeview Hotel in Kintamani has one of the world’s great panoramas. Throw in the cool, clear air, some organic food and (if you are lucky) a chance to hear the Gong gede at a nearby temple festival.

2. Surya Restaurant at the tip of Tanjung Benoa. Live seafood and ships passing in the night makes for a perfect evening. Food is cooked Chinese-style and a cool Bintang is always available.

3. The 13th century complex of Gunung Kawi with candis (shrines) carved into the rock cliff face, a Buddhist hermitage and the gurgling waters of the Pakrisan River.

4. Visiting a Balinese temple ceremony is always a great source of pleasure and a meditative experience. When the dancers come out, transformed into otherworldly creatures to entertain the gods, it is a performance worth seeing. Ask a knowledgeable Balinese friend where you can find a nice ceremony.

5. Stopping at one restaurant is almost impossible. We have to eat. Rondji Restaurant at Blanco Museum is great for a very international Balinese experience.

Travel photographer and writer Jill Gocher has been coming to Bali for more years than she cares to admit. Choosing five favorites is a tough call but here we go.

1. I love going to Waterbom! My favorite slide is called Macaroni. It’s really fun and I eat lots of ice cream there.

2. I love going to Green School. It’s awesome. The river at my school is called the Ayung River and it has a whirlpool that makes electricity.

3. I love snorkeling in Pemuteran. I saw a puffer fish and I swam to the drop off where it was dark and gloomy and really cool. And my dad saw a fish as big as me 4. I love Tree Tops. There’s zip lines and obstacle courses in the air. My favorite is the orange circuit.

5. I love learning to surf at Turtle Island. The water is shallow. It’s right next to the airport and we can watch the planes.

Melia Rigsby

Melia is seven years old and from California. She has lived in Bali for two years.

She likes catching bugs, making fairy houses and swimming in the pool.

1. Riding my scooter through the rice fields of Pejeng or Sebali in late afternoon, stopping to take photos, catching amazing light, falling into a rice paddy, cursing, washing myself off, smiling.

2. Shopping at Pasar Ubud market at dawn before the tourists arrive, feeling the energy, choosing non-organic veggies, admiring the enormous dead pig at the babi guling stall, witnessing the town come alive.

3. Visiting Alchemy (rare!) and feeling like I’ve walked into the Space Bar from Star Wars but with colonic detox hippies instead of Martians. My most exotic Bali experience so far.

4. Clubbing all night in Seminyak with friends from Jakarta, stumbling out of the club at 5:00 a.m., remembering that I hate waking up in Seminyak, riding through the cold mountain air back up to my cozy Ubud home.

5. Indulging my coffee obsession at Ubud’s wonderful cafes and roasters: Freak, Tutmak, Localista, Seniman & others. But never more than five cups a day, warns my Ayurvedic doctor.

Daniel is a documentary filmmaker and author who relocated to Ubud 3 years ago after ten years of enlightenment in Jakarta. He is the moderator and co-curator of TEDxUbud.

Daniel Ziv

1. I love Sangria at La Plancha, Seminyak for sunset. Funky bean bags in the sand and gorgeous floodlit waves.

2. Watching wicked bands on Sunday nights at Single Fin, Uluwatu as the sun sets from the stunning cliff tops.

3. The great walk up the green green Campuhan Ridge, in the heart Ubud.

4. Getting sweaty at Friday night Ecstatic Dance at Yoga Barn.

5. Having an early morning swim at Bliss Spa, Jl. Raya Sanggingan, Ubud.

Yuliana quit the city life in Jakarta to live closer to nature in Bali, one of the most beautiful islands in Indonesia. Her passions are travel, permaculture, Spanish language and science fiction books.

Yuliana Tan

1. I love to listen to live music at XL Shisha lounge, Ubud. My favorite band, The Stone Pillow, plays there almost every Sunday. Milo can really wail on the saxophone and lead singer Kai has a beautiful voice.

2. I go to Taksu a couple times a week for yoga classes. The studio is in a beautiful setting right by the river.

3. I love the massages at Iman Spa on Jl. Sri Wedari. The staff are really well trained and they are paid fairly.

4. Oil painting class on Saturdays with teacher Kikuo Mori at his studio in Penestanan. It really gets the creative juices flowing.

5. Go to eat at family owned Abe-Do Warung on Jl. Tirta Tawar. Great atmosphere, small and quiet! The owner is very nice and accommodating.

Serena Stillwell

Serena Stillwell is a seventeen year old homeschooled Californian living in Bali, enjoying independence, expanding her knowledge of the world and the things that interest her - psychology, art, photography, and fashion design.

www.odysseyinstitute.com

Medicine for The People with Dustin Thomas & Patricio Zu単iga Labarca - photo by Eliza Quanbeck. Top photo by David Sullivan