Yoga in Ubud – Week 1

Our first week of training in Bali is over – and it has surprised us.  

 

First of all – our yoga course. It sounds crazy, but we think it has already changed us. Courses like this are often said to be ‘transformative’ – but it is still hard to believe until it happens! We didn’t expect to get information that is so motivating. It is truly widening our perspective on yoga and on life.

 

 

Just a few things we focused on:

  • How every moment, thought and action has an affect on your life force. Working on self awareness.
  • Learning what it takes to ‘strengthen your internal world’, so that you can manage the challenges of life.
  • Yoga helps you achieve a balanced state – not worn out or tired, not stressed or anxious. Your natural balanced state!
  • Amazing insights into meditation and breathing… and actually trying it.
  • There is a lot more to the art of Yoga than poses. A lot
  • And yes – we meditated at dawn, did headstands during ‘reggae yoga’ and sat around a fire chanting sanskrit mantras. We even got a string of mala beads. Total yogis!

…there is so much more. We could write pages! 

  Our yoga teacher training course is with The School of Sacred Arts at The Yoga Barn. We are having an amazing time. Even if it finished now, we would be satisfied – and there is still 3 weeks left!

 Oh, and secondly – Ubud is a wonderful place to visit. You should go.

Great things about taking a rejuvenating trip to Ubud! :

  • Amazing food – local, organic, raw, vegan or pretty much anything else… All at very low prices.
  • Yoga classes – the Yoga Barn alone has an amazing selection of classes, not to mention awesome stuff like ecstatic dance and healing music concerts. 
  • All kinds of talks/lectures/healing therapies available… It is easy to do something for yourself and try new things.
  • Lots of cheap massage/spa treatments /reflexology etc to calm down your day.
  • Live traditional Balinese music and dance – presented in the evening at many temples around town throughout the week. You can really feel the spirit of Bali!
  • The scenic rice paddies – escape the motorcycles and go for a walk or hike into the green. It is so peaceful and beautiful out there!
  • Lots more! …local shopping on the narrow and busy streets – locally made yoga related clothes and jewellery – Balinese sculpture and art… The list goes on!

What an interesting and different holiday this  could make for so many people! Open your mind. Do it for yourself. Find your balanced state! (Plus the rest of Bali is right there, waiting to be explored…)

 

  

 

We have a lot more to say, but thought we would start with this overview of our experience.

See you again soon – Namaste.

Prosperous Pineapple Tarts

It’s Chinese New Year again and 2014 is the Year of the Horse!

There are many festive treats available in Singapore at this time of year – cookie stalls are popping up everywhere. Some cookie fairs even have fancy set-ups that bake on site, so you can purchase them fresh from the oven!

This year, to try and escape the cane sugar and white flour overdose, we decided to make our own!Happy Year of the Horse!

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A Cheesy Purple Dinner from a Market in Melbourne

We are back in Melbourne for Christmas! One of the first items on our Aussie to-do list was to visit the Queen Victoria Market. We couldn’t walk past this amazing cauliflower.

Purple CauliflowerWe love veggies and fruits, so wandering through the Queen Victoria Market takes us a couple of hours – there is so much amazingly fresh produce available and so many vendors. You can shop around for the best taste or price. Everything is fresh. There aren’t as many exotic or tropical fruits and veggies (although we did find some dragonfruit) – we always look forward to those in Singapore – however there were still some things we hadn’t seen before… Continue reading

Our homemade Singapore National Day dinner.

Why is everything red and white? The 9th August is Singapore’s National Day!

One of the things we love about living in another country is discovering the different holiday traditions. We always really enjoy Singapore’s National Day Holiday – and this year we created some extra special recipes to celebrate!

National Day Dinner Continue reading

Custard Apple Jellies

When we’re wandering through the grocery store here in Singapore we ALWAYS go through the fruit section to see if there’s any different tropical fruit in season. Recently we have really been enjoying custard apples. Wait and see the recipe we came up with!

A custard apple inside and out.

A custard apple inside and out.

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Halo-halo Halloween!

Halloween Halo-haloWe are very proud of ourselves at Dancing Greenly – we happen to have found a perfect sweet treat for Halloween!

It is called halo-halo (like ‘hello’ but with an ‘a’). It is a traditional dessert originating from the Philippines. We first tried it when we were in Manila performing on tour. We attended a big welcome party with lots of traditional dishes, and Halo-halo was our favourite. It is another southeast Asian food discovery that we really want to share. Continue reading