A Wealth of Workshops

There are so many workshops to choose from at the Bali Spirit Festival that it boggles the mind. This morning alone, there is Apple Yoga with Katy Appleton,
Power Yoga with Eoin Finn, Kundalini with Rebecca Pflaum, Astanga Yoga with Prem and Heather, Pranayama with Ananda Leone, and Shrivatsa Yoga with
Matej Jurenka. And that’s just the 7:30 am classes! Multiply those 5 classes and teachers by 5, and you’ve got an idea of the vast choice of classes
available on just one day of the Bali Spirit Festival.

My first choice of workshops for today? I opt for the chocolate and pool workshop. That is I head over to the Dharma fair to buy a goji & ginger raw
chocolate bar made by our very own local Daniel Aaron. Then I go for a quick dip in the pool to cool off, to be with festival attendees, to find out
what they are thinking and saying.

I dip down into the cool water next to Susanne, a yoga teacher from a small town in Italy and Angelo, living in Ubud for now, a new convertee to yoga.
They tell me how rich the experience has been for them, both on tight budgets. Susanne points out that a 3 day yoga workshop in Europe with one yoga
teacher would cost the same as the price of this festival so for her, a yoga teacher in search of inspiration to take back to her students, she is
overwhelmed with the number of master yogis she’s been able to study with over the past 3 days.

I move through the cool water to where another Ubud friend, “Marie”, who is talking to a man from Australia named “Sun” and a woman named “Nicole”, currently
living and working in Thailand. Standing in a circle, submerged up to our necks, we can’t stop smiling. “Sun” says he’s in the pool soaking up the
love. He talks about a song he wrote once when he was really sad, and he is saying this with a broad smile which makes us all laugh. I ask Sun if he’ll
share it with us now. So right there in the pool he sings to us in a hauntingly beautiful voice a song about happiness.

Nicole talks about living in the Sanctuary in Thailand…how it is like this experience at the festival, a full rich life of workshops, personal growth
and expansion among like minded souls in gorgeous natural surroundings next to the sea.

I ask Sam, “Are you enjoying the workshop?” He smiles even broader, “I’ve gotten my money’s worth many many times over.”

The vibe here is all about love. And that’s what it’s all about right? I climb out, towel off, and walk across the grounds, past the gamelon players gracing
us with lovely notes of hammers on bamboo, festival attendees sitting about on the grass eating delicious raw food and traditional Indonesian dishes
on banana leaf plates, with banana leaf spoons.

I am off now to my next class – Danny Paradise’s Ashtanga Yoga class!

Written by : Robin Sparks