Empowering The Young Girls Of Nepal

Empowering The Young Girls Of Nepal

When my feet landed on the cold cement floor I could hear the familiar sound of chanting and the smell of incense on the breeze…

 

4 am was the new 6 am, where I’d make my way to the Gompa room for my early morning yoga practice…

 

For the past eight months the Ganden Yoga Chozin Buddhist Meditation Centre,

Pokhara, Nepal had become my home as the resident yoga and meditation teacher. 

 

This small cabin… Well, it really was nothing more than a cement slab, four sheets of fibro and a tin roof, but it was my place of solitude.  Yes, freezing in winter!!

Paying It Forward: How Your Yoga Retreat Will Change The Lives Of Two Sisters In Bali

Paying It Forward: How Your Yoga Retreat Will Change The Lives Of Two Sisters In Bali

As I approached the simple thatch hut the two sisters greeted me with warm, welcoming smiles.

Bunter and Kunning live in a basic shelter on the edge of a fruit orchard where they once worked, it’s a mere 1-km walk from the comfort of Gaia Oasis resort.

Their home, made of banana leaves and bamboo, covers little more than a dirt floor, with a wood fire for cooking and hard bed to share.

Rain and wind could easily tear down the flimsy walls and roof, and I couldn’t imagine how these women would survive here in Bali’s heavy monsoons.

In addition, the two sisters have an undiagnosed degenerative condition similar to Parkinson’s disease, and lost their other sister to this condition in March this year. 

7 Things Your Travel Agent Can't Tell You About A Yoga Retreat In Bali

7 Things Your Travel Agent Can't Tell You About A Yoga Retreat In Bali

A yoga retreat in Bali may conjure up images of practising Sun Salutations as the sun rises over the ocean, accompanied by the sweet sound of waves and morning birdsong.

However, it can also be so much more…

Having spent August teaching at Gaia Oasis in northeast Bali, I want to share with you some of my experiences that are not in the travel brochures.

Bali is known for its outstanding natural beauty but it is also a place of integrity, and serenity, where the pace of life naturally slows you down and sends you home with a sense of peace and thankfulness.
 

What Nepal taught me about Yoga

What Nepal taught me about Yoga

A deep sense of returning home enveloped me as I stepped across the Indian/Nepalese border; this sense only magnified as I wound through the majestic mountain ranges heading for Kathmandu.

 

My intention was to be in and out of Nepal within the month, then return to the ashram in Munger, India. However, the cosmos had other plans for me…. and what wonderful plans they turned out to be. Nepal quickly became one of my greatest teachers!!!

For the best part of seven years I’d lived within an ashram environment, both in India