Since last summer of 2018, I was already planning my trip to Bali to do two trainings that were pretty much back to back. The first one was another women’s circle training with the Be Woman Project and the second was to finally do my yoga teacher training. The reason I wanted to do another women’s circle training with my teacher Sharada is because even though the first training I did with her in Ibiza was life changing, I felt I needed to deepen my knowledge a little bit more. Since it was on a work exchange contract I spent some of my time needing to help assist in the training whereever help was needed, whether that was in the kitchen, making social media content or tidying up the altars. I felt that if I was going to go on to lead my own women’s gatherings, I need to really consentrate and be fully in the moment.
Finding out my teacher is running a women’s circle training in Bali got me thinking to do my yoga teacher training there as well so I kill two birds with one stone and enable myself to live in another country to really intergrate with the culture and feel settled. But that’s another story for another blog post….
My best friend Nicola has done so much for me over the years and although she has never asked for anything in return, I have always felt guilty for being unable to give back. I’ve always wanted to be there for her the way she has been there for me. Since, as a musician she performs and organizes a women’s performance night once a month called “We Want Women”, I felt she’d truly enjoy and deserve a spot on the women’s circle training happening in Bali and it would be a fantastic opportunity to have a best friend holiday since we’ve never been able to do anything like that together.
Reaching out to my teacher Sharada, we organized for Nic to come with me on a work exchange and we made it happen! Nic came to Ubud, Bali with me for two weeks, not only to spend quality time together but to do something special together and its given her the opportunity to take all the knowledge she has learned back with her to fuse it with what she is already doing- We Want Women weekly afternoon circles might come to fruition!
This may well be the only time in our lives where we can be on an adventure like this. We are both at a point in our lives where there is change on the horizon, there is a crossroads happening. I’ve left my old life behind and beginning again and she is deeply in love with her partner wishing to settle down, find a place to make a home, have a stable career and she is training to be a counsellor. This next phase in her life involves love, marriage, honeymoons, couples holidays and saving for a mortage. And for me I’m searching for what “home” means to me, I left my job and old way of life in Plymouth and I am looking to start up my freelance career as a yoga and holistic teacher, there is a chance I might not live in the UK either so this was perfect timing to do a very special best friend adventure that we will keep with us forever in our hearts. The only other time we may have this kind of opportunity again is when we are batty old ladies drinking tea on a seaside holiday to Brighton perhaps.
So happy she came with me to Bali, the entire journey to get to Ubud was so fun because we did it together and I was so happy to see her enjoy being on the Be Durga training but also taking time for herself to heal and relax. We’ve been best friends since we were 19, and I hope we will remain close for the rest of our lives.
