Why 7am monday morning yoga classes can be dangerous

In Bali I feel more connected to nature. I don’t know if it’s the bright flowers that decorate the trees, the comforting breeze or the constant smells that tease my nose but I always feel way more in tune with the ebb and flow of mother nature here.

(And if you just stopped to question where to continue reading this post because it’s sounding a little kooky, trust me, I just stopped to question whether I should openly declare how hippied out I have become.)

So it’s Monday morning here and after an off week, I decided the best way to start Monday was with a morning flow yoga class at Yoga Barn. Today’s class was in a wooden podium overlooking lush nature: palm trees, ponds, a rice field. The first time I took class I think I had goosebumps the WHOLE class cuz it was so beautiful.

Anyways, so here I am in this class, which was on the more difficult end of the spectrum, and its finally savasana – my FAVORITE part. I’m laying there with the usual thought of “yes I made it through that!”. The birds are chirping, I’m feeling my blood pumping from my heart to my toes, and the teacher has just upped the volume on a super tranced out song that is making me feel like I may actually have levitating powers. And then suddenly I got REALLY cold. I tried to be Buddhist about it and just “note the feeling” but it got worse and worse and then suddenly out of nowhere, I hear the trickle of rain on the roof of our podium. At first I think it’s part of the soundtrack and I’m giving this teacher 5 stars now. But I soon realize it’s definitely real rain because, in typical Bali fashion, it went from a trickle to a downpour.

Holy shit, it was beyond magic! Mother nature’s timing is impeccable. I sat there in savasana, and surrendered more than I ever have. In communion, my breath and the rain washed away my effort and I felt so divinely connected to every breath around me, the earth under me, the rumbling sky and the magic shared by every other soul who decided “fuck it, I’m getting my ass to yoga class at 7am today.”

This is why I come back to Bali, because she offers me divine gifts like these on a platter all the time.

Yoga-Barn

After class, I decided to grab a lemongrass tea and macro bowl at the café while the rain subsided and to soak in the awesomeness of the moment. And in typical life fashion, right when I was walking out blissed out to the max, I put one foot in my flip-flop and barely looked down to find a spider the size of my FOOT scurrying off the other. I guess the rain had caused some insect migration.

It took exactly HALF a second to awaken my neurotic, arachnophobic New Yorker and negate the effort of 1.5 hours of yoga. Yes, I only want the pretty nature things. Not the 8-legged nature!

And as I “walked” away, I mentally noted that I may want to take another yoga class after lunch.