I’m sitting here in our surf and yoga retreat on Bali and when you ask me why Bali is the perfect place for your next vacation, I get a big smile on my face.
I live since 4 years in Bali. My Balinese boyfriend and I have a Surf and Yoga Retreat close to Canggu, were we enjoy every little moment in life. Since the day I stepped out from the plane, landed in Bali, I felt something special. If you ask me what it is, I cannot give you a an exact answer, because the most special about Bali is the feeling.
The people
What makes this island so special is for sure the people. Every single person that you meet at the street in Bali will greet you with a big smile. People are full of love and joy. They live in harmony with each other and nature. They live in the moment.
Hinduism
Most of the people in Bali are Hindu. Hinduism is a peaceful religion, that gives a way of life. Unlike other religions in the world, in the Hindu religion you don’t need to believe in any God. You can even enjoy the cultural part of Hinduism while being an atheist. There is not a lot of judgement and people leave each other very free.
Balance
We can learn a lot from the Balinese people. Maybe some days you feel like your life sucks. You feel like you work too much, the weather is not nice, your house is too small etc. You think your life is not perfect. Balinese people accept how things are. Their life can be far from perfect, but they are happy, because it’s in balance. We all have good an bad days, we all have things going well and things going totally wrong. What is most important, is the way we react to it. In Bali we put offerings for the good and for the bad spirits, to keep harmony in life. Life doesn’t have to be perfect, life has to be in balance.
The beach and surf
Bali is beautiful. We have beautiful beaches in Bali, with traditional temples at the beach. Around the area of our surf and yoga retreat we have black sand volcano beaches. Some peoples think the beach should be white sanded with a calm ocean. I think the black sand beach with the rough ocean is beautiful. It’s so powerful and we can do the one other thing that makes Bali the perfect place for your next vacation: surfing. We have always waves in Bali and for any kind of level we can find a great beach to surf everyday. Surfing is the most amazing thing to do to be active with your body and calm down the mind. Surfing is like therapy.
Yoga
At our surf and yoga retreat we have almost everyday a yoga or meditation class. It’s just amazing how good yoga fits with the Balinese culture. Many expects of the yoga thoughts go together with the way of life in Bali. That’s why Bali is simply the perfect place to practice yoga. At Pelan Pelan Bali we practice yoga next to the river, the place where according to the Balinese stay a lot of spirits. Something you can feel.
Everywhere you come in Bali you will smell the aromatic smoke of incense sticks from the offerings. At our surf and yoga retreat we do offerings everyday, some days we have a ceremony at our retreat temple, or at the village temple close to Pelan Pelan. One day you should fly to Bali, and feel the magic of this beautiful island of the Gods.