Take a Virtual Vacation: Bali

Today we left our beautiful, peaceful resort on the shores of the Indian Ocean and drove to Ubud for the middle section of our trip, which focuses on seeing local healers, experiencing traditional purification rituals, and learning more about Balinese spirituality. On our way, we stopped for lunch at Senang Hati, the only center in […]

In the early days of writing class for group #2, one of the prompts I gave my students was, “Write a set of directions for how to bring more wildness into your life.” This was my response. What would yours be? Stop listening to the news. Stop looking at your list. Better yet, burn your

One of the first things a visitor to Bali notices, after the tropical air, the hundreds of roaring, beeping motorbikes carrying entire families, and the incessant, wild flow of traffic, are the offerings you see everywhere. These small square flat green boxes, 3-4 inches wide, start with a base of young coconut or palm leaves,

Today, we got to visit the expansive home and studio of our guide Surya’s mask carving teacher, Cok Raka Tisnu, vice-chair emeritus of the music and dance department at Udayana University in Denpasar. His family’s royal compound, which houses several generations of his family, stretches for an entire city block in the village of Singapadu.

On my first writer’s retreat in Bali, 12 years ago, I brought along by wife Karyn, who taught yoga in the mornings, and our 15-year-old daughter, Eliza. One of my fondest memories of that trip was Eliza’s excitement about all the cute monkeys in the Ubud monkey forest. I still have a whole bunch of

The Balinese New Year’s Day, Nyepi, occurs in March or April of each year. Three days before Nyepi, all the villages take all the ceremonial objects they own and carry them to the beach in a procession to be purified by water—including Barong and Durga masks because they have living spirits in them. The next

Each day of this trip, we break away from our daily adventures and our cultural and spiritual learning to gather together for a two-hour writing class. Writing class is a time to ground, to process the events and experiences we’re having, to bond as a group, to affirm the power of our words, to dive

Today, our first full day in Munduk, the last stop on our three-location Bali tour, we headed out after breakfast for one of my favorite local hikes: to a waterfall a little more than a mile away. Our lead guide today, Ketut (known as Young Ketut to differentiate him from Old Ketut, from the same

Munduk, the site of our third stop in Bali, is well-known for its many trekking and hiking options. And when I bring a group here, hikes are always a priority on the agenda. Yesterday, we went on a long meandering hike through local coffee plantations, neighborhoods and rice fields. Once again, we were guided by

Our final hike on this Bali trip was between two volcanic lakes in West Bali. Four of us went on the hike, along with the two wonderful guides who’ve been with us all week: Ketut and Putu. Other members of our group stayed back at the hotel to write, relax, hike back to the waterfall,

In our final writing class session, I read this quote from Joseph Campbell: “You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.” Then I asked everyone to think about something they wanted to let go of and one thing they wanted to integrate from Balinese

In one of our final writing classes, I helped everyone record the sensory and emotional richness of their time here by leading them step-by-step in a writing exercise where I had them remember specific things that awakened each of their senses. At the end of the class, I gave them the following homework: “Choose up