Be there for yourself — nadia wanders

(Originally written December 2, 2024)

The theme of my first week in Bali was to “be there for yourself.”

I guess you could say I’m here for business, a bit of work. But I always feel a certain way when I’m in Bali. This is now my fourth time on the Island of Gods. I’ve been here with family a few times and took Andy here last year to celebrate my birthday.

Next week I’ll be knee deep in wedding venue hunting, running all over the island. But this week offers a lot of down time.

Nothing to do but hang out, enjoy the town, and reset. I’ve been going non-stop since our trip to India. I’ve made an effort to see as many family members before and after our trip to Thailand. I’ve done it all.

But this week, I magically filled each day with a wellness class, whether it be a yoga class above a rice paddy field, Pilates, or a somatic breath work class with reiki.

Today is the first day of wellness week and I went to a yoga studio that my teacher in Jakarta recommended, Serenity Eco Guesthouse.

I started following them on Instagram when she told me about them and was so excited to find them on ClassPass.

I poked around their website and signed up for their sunset flow right before reading that they’d be holding a somatic breath work and reiki workshop.

Take my money, I didn’t even think twice about it. And I’m so glad I did it.

My latest mantra is that life is too short. Just do the thing you’ve been thinking about, without any regrets.

I showed up at Serenity a bit before class. I was with family earlier in the day and I was ready for some alone time. Not that I needed a break, I just needed some stillness.

I walked to the beach and said hello to the waves before walking past an awesome coworking space, some coffee shops and restaurants.

There’s just something about how Bali integrates nature with its living spaces that makes me want to live here.

I got set up in yoga class; the studio was lovely. It was perched above some trees, along with the pool and some guest rooms. There was a garden that explained the medicinal properties of Bali’s native plants.

The yoga sequence and flow were great. I worked on my handstand and got some personalized assists and tips from the teacher. It started to rain nearly the moment the class started. There’s something so magical about taking a yoga class outside, or just simply outside of a room of mirrors.

I forget the moment the instructor said it but what I remember most was when he said “Be there for yourself.” It might have been when he was guiding us through inversions or during the abs set. But something about his statement stuck with me.

Be there for yourself.

I had some downtime before the breath work workshop so I shopped a bit in their lobby and took a shower.

I met Nicole, the breath work teacher. I’ve taken a few breath work classes in San Diego and always felt more alive after them. This class would be coupled with sound healing too so I knew I’d be in good hands.

Nicole led us through multiple rounds of breath while my body sank into the ground and seemed to float away the deeper I got into the rhythm of breath she set for us.

It started to rain again.

I drifted off somewhere during the class. I’m not really sure where I actually “went” but I know that when I returned back to my mat, back into the yoga studio perched above the trees, I had gone “somewhere.”

I laid still for a bit, trying to soak in all of the feelings and visions of where my brain took me. I pulled an oracle card from the deck Nicole laid out. The card was all about my spirit guide.

“Your spirit guide is the personal spiritual teacher who was with you before you came to this world and began your current journey. It is the spirit who watches over your life and directs the lessons you must learn in order to grow and expand before you return to the spirit world with all your new knowledge.

“Even if you don’t know it, you have made a contract with this spiritual friend and mentor to learn together in a procession of life after life in order to add more experiences to your soul group and higher self…

“Even when your head is overfull with thoughts, your guide will still speak, this time to your heart, and you will receive a feeling that will let you know that your guide has answered you.”

I left the breathing session entranced, wanting to linger a bit longer before returning back to the world and the sounds of life. I eventually walked to one of my favorite restaurants and just sat and watched the world go by.

The next day, I signed up for a yoga class at Jiva Yoga, a studio I found on ClassPass that was just a few minutes away from our villa. I met Vena, the instructor, in the coffee shop downstairs, not realizing I showed up almost 30 minutes early to class. We chatted the entire time, getting to know each other, asking each other about our concurrent wedding plans, and sharing stories from our cultures.

The outdoor studio space was new, a covered deck that overlooked a rice paddy field below. The studio was at someone’s property so there were lots of trees and dogs to greet me when I arrived.

I was the only student who signed up for class that day, and let me tell you, that is one of my favorite surprises. I love signing up for a group yoga class just to find out I’m the only person in attendance. It happened the first time when I took a class at CorePower with my teacher friend Brooke. The attention and adjustments you receive are so special.

Vena was an amazing teacher and adjusted me often. She moved my body around so I could go deeper. Her sequence was in flow with my body and I came out of that class drenched in sweat and fully aligned. I ended up taking another class with her the next day because I loved the vibe so much.

After freshening up and meeting my parents for a quick snack, I hopped on a motorcycle to Potato Head. My aunt told me about a light, sound and vibrational therapy offered at the wellness space within Potato Head.

I arrived at Potato Head early so I could grab a juice and enjoy the property for a bit. It started to rain so I was happy to find some cover inside the Sanctuary.

The experience was other worldly. I walked into the room lined with soft curtains, musical gongs and instruments. The smell of incense filled the room ever so delicately. We all laid down on individual spaces which included a water-bed mattress of sorts, hooked up to a vibrational machine. Prismatic lights would shine above us in sequence and color that matched up with sound therapy.

Like other sound healing sessions, I’m not really sure where I went. Yes, my body was physically in a room with strangers and strange machines. But my mind. That went somewhere unknown. The experience is so hard to explain because I don’t really think you can put into words how you feel during the session. (Check out this piece I wrote right after the sound healing session.)

After our hour-long experience was over, I lingered at the restaurant awhile, really not wanting to enter back into the hustle of the Balinese streets. I ended up eating the most amazing vegan nasi campur, before eventually leaving and finding my way to a hair salon to wait out the rain.

Bali feels like home to me for some reason. Even though I’ve only been here four times, it feels like I belong here. The ability to practice movement, sound therapy, and breathwork is one of my favorite things. And to experience it on the Island of Gods makes everything that much more magical.

My hope is that I’ll always be able to come to Bali to experience new things and meet new people, even if those new people are within myself.