Loving life on Lembongan

Loving life on Nusa Lembongan

WOW. Where to begin? This little island has changed my World. It was as if all of 2013 was planned in such a way that brought me to exactly where I needed to be. As soon as I arrived onto the island I knew that I had found my home :)

Instantly I wanted to put my backpack down and just settle a while. How exactly does that happen? They say to trust the universe and the journey even if you don't understand it. I guess I needed to learn to have a little bit more faith ;)

Nusa Lembongan. The tiny island that rocked my world. Located 30 minutes by boat from the beautiful island of Bali. Somewhere which has always held a special place within my heart, so how wonderful it is to me that Indonesia should become home. I shouldn't be surprised really given my love affair with Lembeh last year, and just how much time I ended up spending in Indonesia during 2013, always feeling a sense of loss when I had to leave. I just sat down and realised that I actually spent 6 months of the year between Lembeh, Bali and Lembongan last year.

Everything just fell into place from the moment I arrived.  Within a week I suddenly was catching up with friends I hadn't seen in years, who all emailed me saying they were making their way also to Nusa Lembongan or Bali within the coming months and would I be there to say hey and hang out. Nora and Marcelo, Liz and Brendan, our diet coke crush from the office in Bermuda did some surfing off Bali, Amarjeet and Owen, Debs and Neil, Rohan and Carys, Theresia, Imi. And even stranger than that, within days of arriving it became clear that the scuba/yoga connection was there and I was meeting new friends who knew my existing friends and so the plot thickened....

Ok so I knew it was going to be an easy arrival. I had deliberately chosen to come to the island to spend my birthday with Theresia, my good friend who I had left behind in Lembeh earlier in the year. Why spend your birthday alone when you can be on a paradise island with fab company and amazing diving?! Duh. My good friend Jase had told me to get in touch with Yoga Shack Lembongan and his friend Tim when I arrived as well, so I knew I was in good hands. Yet still it surprised me how easily the pieces fell into place.

My first day on the island was my birthday, which I spent doing handstands and eating Dunkin Donuts with Theresia and the boys at Two Fish Divers.  Shortly after being upside down I went across the street and introduced myself to Tim at Yoga Shack Lembongan and found we had a great connection. He showed me the yoga shack and I instantly fell in love with the yoga space, and the beautiful garden and great vibes surrounding the shack. He told me they could use a part time yoga teacher and I immediately accepted the opportunity to teach there each week!! Day two saw me diving with the lovely Theresia and meeting face to face the fabulously amazing mola mola!! Just love them, it had been 7 years since I was lucky enough to last see one. SO exciting! Having accepted the job as part time yoga teacher, I was invited out to join the Big Fish diving crew (the yoga shack is located in the gardens surrounding Big Fish) for a typical Friday night in Lembongan to celebrate my birthday in style! And celebrate we did...wow what a funny evening, talk about going with the flow and accepting what comes into your World unexpectedly and embracing it :) I knew there and then that life would never be the same again.

I quickly moved from my short term accommodation into the most beautiful little bungalow in a place called Puri Kirana, with the most lovely local owners ever. I had found my new 'island parents'. It is a beautiful setting with a gorgeous garden and an even more fabulous swimming pool. So easy to spend my days chilling out here between dives and yoga classes. On Christmas eve we upgraded to a slightly bigger bungalow even closer to the swimming pool :) Lucky girl! That's my bungalow in the background of above pic :)

I also quickly adopted a beautiful yoga pup called Cha Cha. Cha Cha belongs to the owner of Secret Garden Bungalows and Big Fish Diving but enjoyed lots of cuddles and time with me in the yoga shack. I love how he comes running in and sit at the end of my yoga mat and watch the yogis getting their yoga on! The customers adore him too! He's my new favourite thing in my world. SO much unconditional love. How could you not fall in love with this pup?

Nearer Christmas things took an even better turn and I was offered the full time yoga position which I grabbed with both hands and a huge smile on my face! It was official, I was making Nusa Lembongan my full time home. For the first time in a whole year I had a home, a pup, wonderful friends, happiness and love around me, and a full time job - not just any job but a job that made me love even more the life I live. How lucky am I? They say you have to be open to life, to opportunities in life. I guess I must have been living my life in such a way that good things just kept throwing themselves my way :) I earn a fraction of what I did in Bermuda, but you can't even compare the lifestyle and how happy I am right now to back then. Life is just awesome, and it seems to get better and better every single day.

I LOVE TEACHING YOGA!!! Never before have I felt so content, so at ease in life, so happy. I get to live my dream every single day on a beautiful paradise island. The people who come through are just wonderful - a really nice mix of total beginners, and hardcore yoga junkies, so teaching is always fun and always a different challenge every single day. I get to make a really good connection with people who stay for a good period of time, and help them to get the best from their yoga practice. Every single day I learn something new about myself and my teaching from my students and customers. It really is living the dream. So grateful and so lucky :)

I have had a ridiculous amount of visitors coming through the island since I arrived. Nora and Marcelo who I worked with in Lanta years ago came to visit for some diving. Liz and Brendan arrived to give a Shark Guardian presentation. It was so nice to spend more time together after a brief encounter in Bangkok earlier in 2013. A good friend of mine from LA who I met in Borneo introduced me to her best friend Michelle who was a fellow yogi who came to stay for a while as well. Amarjeet and Owen who I met in Vietnam while traveling came and spent NYE with me on my lovely island. So special to have her here. Debs and Neil came to stay and we did some diving with manta rays. Rohan and Carys unexpectedly stopped by for some diving too! Brilliant to see and spend time with everyone again! I have also had the chance to make some amazing friends who have just been so good to have around, amazing energy - Olli, Laura, Martin, Anna, Megs, Max, Lilli, Mary to name but a few.

Friday nights are Blue Corner party nights. I really enjoy the way we work through the week and get to celebrate the weekends in the same way as back n Bermuda. Although Saturday mornings are proving to be a little tough ;)

This island is just beautiful. I haven't seen all of it yet and I have been here for months. So small, yet so special. I have started to ride a scooter again after some initial fears, and have a bicycle to get around as well. Mary and I took a mangroves tour which was stunning. Such a peaceful place. Tim and I took paddleboards through there one day too, that was a lot of fun! On my days off you can typically find me chilling out at the Bali Eco Deli, The Deck with an iced coffee and incredible views, at Sandy Bay enjoying the 5 star luxury lunch and infinity pool or chilling by the pool at Puri Kirana :) Special times!

If I get island fever then it is only a 30 minute boat ride to the mainland, well if we call Bali a mainland ;)

Christmas day was spent with friends. I enjoyed a champagne (kind of...) breakfast with the lovely Theresia, and briefly with the wonderful Megs and Max (my new life saving friends!) at The Deck overlooking the island on the most beautiful sunny day after days and days of rain! Everyone enjoyed lunch at my favorite spot at Sandy Bay Beach Club, and then retired to Secret Garden for secret santa and a whole evening of slack lining fun and laughs! Such a great day! NYE was spent cruising between a couple of bars and ending up at Blue Corner for lots of drinking and dancing, such a great and slightly wet evening. I could not move the next morning...that's how much fun I had!! Good times. Even better to have Amarjeet with me to share the evening and following days :)

The diving has been incredible. When I first arrived I was working part time teaching yoga, and was getting low on money after 9 months of travels throughout South East Asia and a little bit of flash packing ;) Funny how things work out, because literally the day I ran out of money was the day I was offered freelance work as a divemaster for a french dive shop on the island. Someone had once told me not to worry about the money, money will always come your way when you need it. I always found that expression such an odd one, and now I totally get it. It's true. Back to the dive job - although a slightly different work experience than I was used to as a DM, I thoroughly enjoyed the month of work that they offered me before the yoga job became full time. I was out diving for free - being paid even - every single damn day. I dived with the coolest customers and was lucky enough to see a whole heap of manta rays up close and personal and 4 mola molas on different occasions!! It just got better and better! This island totally rocks - I get to teach yoga every single day and then dive with these beautiful creatures on my days off! Life is great :)

Did I mention how unbelievably amazing the sunsets are here? The best of my entire travel adventure :)

Handstand heaven - found a handstand queen in my good friend Lillian who is just adorable. Each day we practice our handstands and video or take pics of each other. I am way way behind on the challenge but totally back into it now so watch this space :)

How quickly your life can change. It amuses me endlessly how just a short while ago I was living out of my backpack, making brief friendships before always moving on, growing more and more tired and unsure of what would come next and then suddenly here I am in this whole new life and loving it. I realise now how open I was to finding a home and just settling a while, learning to enjoy just being in the moment and appreciating life. Trusting the universe. Being open to whatever came my way next and embracing it. Not alway searching for the 'where next' moment or ticking off another country or tourist attraction.

LIVE THE LIFE YOU LOVE my wonderful friends. I cannot recommend it enough :) Love and smiles xxx

AIM TRUE CHALLENGE

AIM TRUE CHALLENGE 

During my time in Dubai, I embarked on an Instagram challenge introduced to me by one of my yogi students from Lembeh days - Imi. It was a 10 day challenge with a different theme each day which allowed you to pick your yoga pose according to what that theme meant for you. 

One of my all time favorite yogis in the World - Kathryn Budig - is the creative genius behind both the "Aim True" theme, and the Instagram challenge itself :) 

I absolutely loved it, and am sure I can vouch for Imi also in saying how much we both needed that challenge right then. Don't they say "you are exactly where you are meant to be right now"? Haha! Well we both needed it to ground us a little, and bring us back into our yoga practice on a daily and newly refreshed and committed level. It worked :) Dubai was all about the yoga for me! 

Check out my contributions to the challenge below :) 

DAY ONE of the Aim True Challenge on Instagram theme - "Enpower" After 115 days of the handstand365 challenge I feel absolutely amazing when I'm on my hands with my feet in the air!!

DAY TWO of Aim True Challenge - Challenge! It's taken me forever to be able to lift my head and unless I practice this pose frequently I lose it so quickly. Taken at the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa

DAY THREE of aim true challenge! A pose that comforts you  Hero pose! I can easily fall asleep in this class in yin yoga! Love it! Photo taken by Tracy in a local park outside of Hatfield, South Africa

DAY FOUR of the #aimtruechallenge with the #aimtruecrew. Theme today is community! Here's my contribution done with @athomeintheclouds from other sides of the world! We used to be yogis together in Lembeh and I got the pleasure of teaching Imi and watching her open up her body beyond belief! We still help each other remotely and for that I am eternally grateful. 

DAY FIVE of #aimtruechallenge with the #aimtruecrew. Today's theme is including your environment in your yoga. So I'm using the rail on the balcony of my friend Russell's apartment to balance myself in half moon pose! He didn't like me playing with yoga poses on the balcony of his 19th floor apartment lol! But check out the view!! To the left is the tallest building in the world - Burj Al Khalifa.

Day 6 of the #aimtruechallenge with the #aimtruecrew. Theme is no stretchy pants which means staying away from our yoga clothes and dressing up for the occasion! Dress designed by the lovely Kathryn in India, made in Vietnam, and worn to my friends wedding in South Africa 

DAY SEVEN of the #aimtruechallenge with the #aimtruecrew. The theme is embarrassing!! Picking a photo of yourself that you would ordinarily delete the second your camera captures it!! This is me falling elegantly out of handstand during the handstand 365 challenge!! Could I call this a one handed handstand perhaps lol?!

DAY EIGHT of the #aimtruechallenge with the #aimtruecrew. The theme is a photo of something that you love doing besides yoga. This is just so easy for me to answer - diving of course!! 

Diving is my meditation, my quiet place, my happy place. I am never calmer or more at ease than on my yoga mat or underwater  Diving has been part of my life for many years, including a long period working as a divemaster in Asia. It has quickly become a vital part of my World as I know it and featurea heavily during my current travel adventures! Smiles!

This photo was taken recently in Lembeh by the lovely Markko who taught me how to dive on sidemount, something I immediately loved  

DAY NINE of the #aimtruechallenge with the #aimtruecrew. Theme today is to pick a pose that you once felt was impossible and now is a regular part of your practice - your YES I CAN pose!!! Mine is scorpion! @nielleekat can vouch for how in India in April I couldn't even balance on my forearms with straight legs without fear of falling and breaking my back. How we used to practice that pose over and over lol!! Now with steady determination scorpion features regularly in my practice! I still like the wall to be nearby but I can comfortably jump up into it now! Practice, practice, practice...oh and a lot of patience Actually perhaps my stubborn streak featured in my successfully cracking this pose too - one of my male yogi students in Lembeh jumped up into this pose on his first attempt and I thought to myself, right time to get practicing again Caroline! Off I went to my room, rolled out my mat and so it began...

FINAL DAY of the #aimtruechallenge with the #aimtruecrew. Today's theme is what does Aim True mean to you. 

To me aim true means being determined, driven and proud to be following your dreams. Comfortable in your own skin, and getting closer every day to the person you were born to be. I've been on this wonderful travel adventure for 8 months trying to find the real me and I feel so close right now. For me aim true is staying true to yourself, believing in yourself, trusting yourself. I chose the super pose Visvamitrasana because it is named after an ambitious king who transformed himself into a yogic sage. It's a complex asana - it's an arm balance, hip opener, shoulder opener, hamstring stretch and more all at once! Life takes you in many different directions but being able to focus your body and mind and heart and stay grounded is so important in this journey. With dedication all of the seemingly separate body parts and actions come together and the energy of the pose comes to life! 

This Aim True Challenge was just perfect for me. It brought me right back to my yoga mat, giving me  drive, a focus and a sense of purpose in a challenging time mentally for me. Thank you to Kathryn Budig :) 

<3 <3 

Dazzling Dubai - Take Two ;)

Dubai Take Two

After my time in South Africa, and staying in the beautiful accommodation with all of my friends from Bermuda I was more than accustomed to the lifestyle I would be living in Dubai during my stay, and was very excited about it indeed J

It was where my adventure had started, and I was keen to see how I would feel to be back 8 months later. It also took me back to the nearest point to the UK since I had started this big adventure in January 2013. That was a little bit weird if I am completely honest…especially knowing that I had taken the decision not to use the final leg of my pre-booked ticket from Dubai to London at the end of September after all.

Dubai was just as I remembered – shiny, glitzy, inviting, sparkling, busy, rich and full of activity and things to see and do.  Which makes me laugh really, especially the full of things to see and do, as I was just about the laziest I have been for my entire 8 months of travel during my stay in Dubai. Each day, Russell would say what have you done today? To which, my answer was religiously “yoga, worked on my yoga facebook page, read articles about yoga, studied new yoga classes to teach, and submitted yoga poses to the Aim True Yoga Instagram Challenge that Imi had drawn to my attention. In fact since I left Lembeh I had thought about nothing other than yoga and how to make that my new world entirely.  To be fair, I did sometimes surprise him by throwing in a 10k run on the treadmill, or a bit of sunbathing around the apartment swimming pool. One day I even walked across the main road to Dubai Mall, the World’s largest shopping mall, and watched the water fountain display outside of the mall and filmed a little bit to show friends on facebook.

I was so happy with this level of laziness and it was exactly what I needed, and Dubai and inside Russell’s beautiful apartment was exactly where I needed to be right then in those days that allowed me time to think about what an earth should or would or might come next in my life. I spent days researching my options, thinking and planning what I could do to make a living, applying for some yoga jobs in Singapore, considering creating workshops to deliver to athletic clubs, even considering taking some certificates in group fitness and personal training while I later traveled through Singapore. Nothing came to a complete conclusion because I was always do busy thinking about or actually doing yoga.  Russell’s apartment had a view to die for, and the enormous spaces in the living room and bedroom allowed me so much freedom to roll out my yoga mat and just do yoga, and practice some kick ass poses that I hadn’t had the opportunity or time or focus to do until then.

It was during my time in Dubai that I realized just how much of my heart I had left in Lembeh. I missed teaching yoga like crazy, and it made me so super sad to not know when I would teach again so I kind of set myself the task of practicing as much as I could and improving my own personal practice while I was there so when I did eventually teach again I would be ready to go and show my enthusiasm again J

It still amazes me how my journey has taken so many twists and turns to bring me to where I am right now. Initially the trip was about having as many adventures as possible, as much beach time as possible, and as much diving as I could possibly afford.  Until one day a very good friend of mine in November last year, Hilda – who I hadn’t spent a huge amount of time with one on one or face to face before we both left Bermuda, said to me at the MAAC track one night on the stands while we waited for torrential rain to stop so we could go home “Caroline, what I don’t understand is that you have this amazing adventure planned and lined out for your facebook friends to see, but yoga doesn’t feature at all. How come? I would have thought as a yoga teacher in Bermuda you would be going to hide out in an ashram in India or something. I could totally see you doing yoga, so what’s up with that?”.  She set me off on a whole different path after that conversation. I believe you meet every single person you encounter on this journey in life for a reason. And for that I will be eternally grateful. I could list so many people I have met in recent months and years who have shaped my path in so many amazing ways. I am a lucky girl.

I met Hilda to help me see what was so obvious to others, but less so to me as I was so busy trying to analyse my life and plan, plan, plan that I didn’t see the right path for me. That evening I began to explore India more, and yoga more. I had the choice between Rishikesh or Goa when it came to available yoga courses. I decided quickly that I wanted to learn more and so would take the YTT 500 hour teacher training course. It was just a question of where. I had decided on Rishikesh, and well you all saw how much I fell in love with that crazy little town, and my YTT course and the beautiful girls that I met during this course as well. Love love love. And so it was that my whole world changed direction based on that one conversation at MAAC track with Hilda. I wonder if she realizes what an impact she made on my life? And if you are reading this Hilda, then THANK YOU. For more than you will ever know. So grateful to have met you and have you in my World J

While Russell was in Dubai we went to the movies a lot, I met some of his friends and had dinner with them also. We took a trip to the top of the World’s tallest building to meet his friend the lovely Sara who has an awesome events job working for this business. We sat on top of the World with Sara and drank lots of delicious wine, olives and other nibbles while we (I) watched the world go by and sat fascinatedly people watching. Dubai amazed me, in that whole tables of people would sit together yet not actually be connecting with each other. They would all sit with their cell phones out and be online checking various social media sites, or else chatting to people who weren’t with them at the table. That whole idea is so bizarre to me, and gave me a brief taste of what the ‘real life’ was like. That scared me a little, and as much as I did briefly consider it might be time to re-enter that ‘real world’ and join in again soon, I quickly realized that the fact it both scared me and frustrated me meant that it wasn’t actually the right decision for me.

While drinking coffee one morning during a sand storm which literally killed any kind of view from the apartments, I stumbled across an article about Bermuda! About Johnny Barnes - the 85 year old man who is a famous feature in Bermuda, as he stands every single day at the roundabout where all commuters into town pass by and ways and shouts "I love you, I love you, I love you!!" with all the passion in the world. Reminded me so much of Bermuda days and made me ever so slightly homesick, especially at a time when I have no clue on my direction of my journey as of next week.  

Russell was away on business for much of my time in Dubai this time, and kindly left his apartment for me to use while he was away. It really was very generous of him indeed and I was so grateful for the free time (financially and mentally) to just spend some time alone with me, in beautifully comfortable surrounding. It was such a pleasure to be able to shop at the grocery store and have a kitchen in which to prepare meals!! Every evening I made a beautifully big and fresh chicken salad and dressing - just because I could :) Ah so satisfying! I spent my days around my yoga mat. I ate my breakfast at the mat, did my online research on my mat, I did my yoga practice on the mat. Everything revolved around the mat and Russell joked that the mat was my new office, which made me smile.  It was, and I was completely ok with that J

Dubai was just the perfect place and time for me. It allowed me some space and time to clear my head, to think about what I wanted next in life and to assess how to get there.  It didn’t give me any clear answers as such, but it did set me off in the right direction. I booked a one-way flight to Singapore, and then a flight from there to Bali and arranged to meet my lovely friend Theresia in Bali the night before my birthday with the intention of travelling together to Nusa Lembongan to celebrate my birthday together, and perhaps some diving. Well, definitely diving. I missed diving as much as I missed teaching yoga. I knew nothing about what I would do from there, or how long I would stay. I had an appointment to meet with the Yoga Shack there about possible yoga teaching work, and a date with some manta rays and maybe a mola mola if I was super lucky.  

And so the next stage of my adventure begins….off I go into the unknown with all my friends telling me to stay strong and have faith in the universe to work out what comes next. No more tears about not knowing what the future holds, just trust J  I was quite amazed by how many tears I had cried over whether I was doing the right thing, despite knowing deep down inside that everything would work out exactly as it is meant to and to chill out haha!

Watch this space as the story unfolds xox

The above is a poster I saw in the coffee shop downstairs from Russell's place. I love little signs that life sends us along the way ;)