Ascension Travel & Bali Belly

When most people head to Bali, they book into lush accommodation in the likes of Seminyak, Nusa Dua, Cangu, Kuta or the surfers paradise of Uluwatu where I oddly ended up on my first trip there, given I rarely surf. They want to relax, unwind, and disassociate from life, so their nervous systems can rewire, and infuse themselves with the goodness of the simple life - sun, sex, and surf culture. This might be layered in different external doses of what is deemed as 'good', but most people won't consider taking a taxi two hours inland to the cultural and spiritual centre of the 'land of the gods' to the lesser known hot spot of Ubud.

Last week, this is exactly where I landed for my 5th trip to Bali, and I made the most of

Every.

Single.

Day.

As I've travelled a lot of the world now, my focus has shifted to become more purposeful. I don't just want to see a place, eat the food, go to a cultural show; I want to feel what it's like to be part of the pasture - and in Ubud, that meant submersing myself in all of the local and expat versions of spiritual devotion, purification, and a natural cleansing process called 'Bali Belly' to finish it all off.

Here's how it went.

Day 1 | Tuesday

First up is a 12pm LSV (light, sound, vibration) journey at POC (Pyramids of Chi), which is about a 30 minute walk from the main city centre of Ubud. Book in advance, especailly in peak seasons. If you're savvy, you can catch a Gojek moto there for a few dollars, or walk to the meeting place near Ubud Palace for the free POC shuttle. On arrival, you'll check in, get a free welcome drink, and wait for the gong to be lead into the temple, where the host will explain how it works and what to expect. In short, it is a hosted in a pyramid for the perfect arraignment of sound, vibration, and energetics to cocoon you in a one hour session of healing, whilst laying on your own private island (water bed), that makes you feel like you could be in space. Each bed has an arrangement of speakers beneath it that birth vibration through the water bed, into your body, and with your eyes closed and ears open to the sacredly crafted symphony of sound, you'll be lead upon a transformational journey of your inner world experiencing something very close to lucid dreaming (or journeying with hallucinogenics). You might see colours and shapes beyond the realms of the physical. You might have a past life retrieval or inner child regression. You might just fall asleep, and if you snore, the guide will gently tap your foot until you wake to join the journey in a more considered state. You can get more of an idea in the video below:

My best advice is to go in open minded, expect nothing, and set an intention to allow the right experience for you with the intention of understanding a part of yourself/life better. Intention is essential in all journeying experiences, even when you and I are working together in energy healing sessions. You get what you ask for, so make sure you're mind is on what you really want.

After the session, you can hang out in the beautiful vegan cafe, and nosh down on foods like chia puddings, big hearty salads, curries, tempeh, tofu, smoothies, smoothie bowls, vegan taco's, wraps... all the things. You'll also be able to get locally made kombucha, coconut water (because it's a tropical island and coconut's are everywhere), and then head to the little shop to buy a sacred, but pricey memento of your experience. One brand you'll find there is Warriors Of The Divine, which sells locally made, hand painted silk kimono's that I've been eye-balling for years, but never seem to actually suit me.

This stop will guarantee you to feel relaxed, rested, and reset, so you can quickly get out of your work-hustle-mindset, and into the nurturing arms of Bali's heart centre. Ubud.

We finished the day with dinner at my favourite magical restaurant, Merlin's, where you can pick your whole meal through oracle cards, and I promise, the food and drinks match the stunning décor. Expect to feel joyously surprised.

Day 2 | Wednesday

Morning: Off to Kundalini at the Yoga Barn (tip: download the app before you go to plan out classes and workshops into your itinerary), hosted in my favourite studio, Banyan tree. I later found out that the loudest classes are hosted here, because it's the furthest away from everything else. Kundalini yoga is my stabilising strength right now. I love it. I read once that as a woman, your kundalini energy (shakti) really begins to beckon you around the age of 40, so if this is you, dive in. You'll be uncomfortably surprised at how a combination of asana (postures), pranayama (breath work), mantra (chanting repetition of sacred Sanskrit words, NOT an affirmation), and meditation. 90 minutes later, you'll be so glad you said yes to letting down your guard, trying your best to pronounce the ancient language of the gods (Deva Bhasha).

Expect to feel warm, raw, emotive and expressive - though every teacher is different, from a different lineage, with a different intention for the class. Most classes will focus on working with one chakra, but don't get in your head about it; yoga is there to help you get back into your body, connect with your higher consciousness, and figure out what unity consciousness is really all about. I've been practising yoga for over 18 years now, so I'm starting to get the hang of it now.

Afternoon: I'd booked my hubby in with me for this enlightening, pleasurably painful experience of myofascial release with one of my favourite new teachers, Chris Fox, and we got waaay more than either of us bargained for. After 6.5 hours on a plane, 2 hours in a taxi, and all the sitting, waiting in between, your body becomes TIGHT (especially your psoas), and so, this is your perfect release. Chris is a genie when it comes to psychosomatic connection, and led us through all the pain points of release within the body, like 'rivers', he would say, that are all interconnected. Needless to say, there were tears of pain as that tension left my body, and the emotions kept on flowing well after we left the mat. Because Chris is such a rad teacher, he also shared his spotify playlist with me, so I could keep reliving the experience with my own tennis ball therapy at home. Thanks Chris, I have so much admiration and love for your work. Sorry we missed your workshop due to #balibelly.

Day 3 | Thursday

After a very emotionally charged conversation with hubby (all those emotions got released yesterday remember?), we had a deep day of connection together, appreciating each other more than ever. We had conversations I didn't think we ever would, that resulted in outcomes I never thought possible. Life can actually just keep getting better, you've just got to be vulnerably brave enough to ask for what you want, and remember why it's important to you. That is a manifesting lesson for all aspects of life, not just relationships.

That was a slow morning that didn't quite get me to the gym, but, it did get me up to Alchemy Yoga for 'Release & Renew' by Phil Hurrle, teaching us how to use lymphatic drainage techniques to get our bodies back to health, holding less water, less inflammation, less toxins, and oh, less pain. The techniques had a number of touch points located from head to toe, triggered in a specific order of tapping, rubbing, figure 8-ing and pulling to create a release. Think of it like Gua-Sha for your whole body, and imagine if you actually incorporated it DAILY. You'd be so... light and mobile. And that's a lot of what this trip was about; letting go of all the tension of acting like human-doings, so we could both get back to more respectively functional human-beings. This wasn't the highlight though. Not yet. The highlight hands down, was the way he guided TRE (tension/trauma release exercise) and getting my husband to finally experience it for himself. I'd told him about it a long while ago, and tried everything to get him to let me guide him through it, but as always, sometimes partners just need to hear it from someone else to believe in the magic.

TRE is a technique that was designed by a psychologist that spent a large amount of time within traumatised communities in Africa and the middle east. I know that somatic therapies such as shaking are derived from ancient ceremonial cultures around the globe, so it wouldn't surprise me if his intuition saw the link between how they lived, what they experienced, and how they navigated through life. It's also a known fact, that animals, when faced with trauma (or getting wet from the rain like my domestic cat), will shake. They let the energy of the emotion they are feeling ripple through them, experiencing it along the way so they can LET IT GO. Humans don't do that. We hold shit in, we push it down, we get told it's not safe/sane to feel. But times are rapidly changing, and tools like TRE are freely available to everyone, so you can really allow your body to digest those stagnant, heavy emotions that cling to your Psoas, the muscle of the soul. So appropriately names because it is believed to store emotional and physical tension, including trauma, and is closely linked to our nervous system and breathing.

Basically, it will help you create a tremour that leads through your body, generally starting with your legs, and if you are brave enough with yourself to gently feel, the ripple will continue through your hips, lower back, spine, and even into your jaw - where a LOT of tension is held (for me at least - who else is a teeth grinder? you need this). Afterwards, you'll feel the best kind of tired. It's peaceful. Its pointed. It was time to journal and reflect, and nourish myself with raw treats from Alchemy Yoga's little sister, Alchemy cafe.

Alchemy yoga overview:

Day 4 | Friday

Another slow start and lots of walking, that ended with hubby watching his AFL, and me headed to a very last minute change in my schedule that I know was predestined. If you felt how I felt through that magnetic class, you couldn't argue with me. If you are a woman, and you have a womb, you need to go to this class on your next Bali trip!!

Womb Wisdom by Chokolako (yes that is her REAL name). She has 67k followers on Instagram for a reason, and she is one empowered woman I strive to be like! Perfectly poised after a 'bathroom incident' as she stated, she felt as though she made room for something prior to class, and I believe that something, was me. 7 minutes before her class started, I made the last minute intuitive call to go to her class, having already mentally booked into someone else's.

But I'd gotten the timing wrong.

By an hour.

I didn't really know what was going to happen, I just read briefly that it was great for women with a womb (tick), and especially those who had experienced sexual trauma (tick). I knew this would be uncomfortable. I knew I would be seen and heard, but I didn't know how supported I would feel during that class, and I tell you, it's what the world of women needs right now. To be seen in your shame. Your grief. Your withholding. Your stress. Your trauma. Your tummy. To be seen and witnessed in every shape, at every age, of every colour and every race, and yet, we all came together as one. When you don't have a blood family to fall back upon, you find family everywhere you can; and this was one sacred circle that made me remember all of our ancient wisdom, value and beauty in a safely crafted space led by a woman not of her ego. She was so pure, so confident, so capable, that I don't want to write what she shared in words, because I respect so much what she does, that I can only carry it in my heart and say 'thank-you' for being the voice that we all need to be heard, and the eyes we all need to be seen. Thank-you. And to all the women that were there in that circle, from all places of the world, thank-you too. I was so overcome with love and courage that day, and appreciate you celebrating me dancing away my grief and repression with applause. Big love.

I felt all kinds of uncomfortable emotions afterwards, and journaled about it as much as I could, but what I really needed right then, was the feel the nurturing love and attentiveness that only a woman can give, and I never felt I received from my own mother. So I booked myself in for a facial and massage at Tonic Massage & Botanicals Ubud. I was not disappointed. I walked in feeling all kinds of imbalanced, and left like I was walking on air - so much so, that passers by in the street enquired about said massage spot, and quickly booked themselves in too.

Day 5 | Saturday

This morning was a day I'd booked well in advance, looking for the right tour guide, at the right temple, Pura Taman Pecampuhan Sala with a company called 'Quantum Temple'. This day was about purification, learning the way of the locals and trying my best to understand the process, before the guide said to me simply "ask the gods for their blessings and guidance to understand how to do the ceremony process without mistake". So I did. I sat in quiet meditation, got into my channel, connected with my guides and the spirit of the land, and asked to be shown. To be guided. To be protected. Each part of the ceremony felt authentic. It wasn't a 'tourist activity', it was a local submersion to which I held in deep gratitude and respect, allowing us to come in and do our best to understand, and be held gently by mother earth, and purified.

The location was sublime, but it was the actual experience that our guide did with us, that will remain with me forever. He said that people in Bali usually are doing this at least once per month, it helps to 'erase negativity, and make space for the balance of positivity to come back'. I loved that. As we passed each Hindu statue, we prayed. As we passed through each waterfall, we shouted, screamed, bathed, released. As the two rivers met, we asked to be shown the way. As we ended our session, we asked for blessings; to be shown the way forward; for family harmony; for releasing obstacles that stand in our way; for removing the aspects of our egos that hold us back; and lastly, for abundance - in every sense of the word.

When we arrived, we were the only two westerners on site. We were treated like locals, blessed by the priest. When we departed, we felt like locals, and gave blessings of gratitude to the priest in return for the wisdom and experience he allowed us to have. it felt sacred, and special, and was grateful for the video's and photos taken to serve as my own memory.

Day 6 | Sunday

Morning: Another slow start, beginning with my favourite walk up to the Campuhan Ridge at daybreak. The best time of day. When it's quiet, still, and the rising sun imparts its beauty by lighting up the land in its prime. The reward at the end, is the array of cafe's that offer refreshments for any time of day, and for us, this meant breakfast - with a view over the valley in the quietude of nature. It's not a hard walk, nor super easy, but the hotter it gets, the harder you will find it, go early, and you'll find the peace amidst the honking horns and traffic of main city Ubud as good as a deserving dessert. Keep an eye out for squirrels, they'll bring a smile to your face. Keep an extra eye out for snakes. I hear they might bite.

The day then, got away on us. We walked back to the hotel, read, nourished, and got a 90 minute couples massage at the blissful spot Tonic Massage & Botanicals Ubud. It's Instagram worthy yes, but it's also amazingly clean, affordable, and the service is excellent. Both times I went, I felt more aligned and in my body (which is a really big part of any healing journey from that involves physical trauma) and mind. I also always get HUGE downloads of information channelling through me when I'm being massaged, because I know its safe for me to just 'receive'. Try it. Tell me your thoughts.

Day 7 | Monday

Afternoon: The afternoon led us back to Yoga Barn for another class, this time a sound healing workshop lead with singing bowls, and armed with an acoustic guitar. It was nice, but not amazing, given all the previous wonderment we had. Perhaps a sign that a lot of release had been done, and that integrative downtime was needed. Today was also about packing, reflecting, and the internal fight of not wanting to go 'home'; because that meant having to take on all of my grown up activities again. Like washing.

Day 8 | Tuesday

Morning: This morning I made it for a BIG walk before rushing home to the hotel for breakfast (chia pudding with coconut milk, fruits, and almond coffee), and then heading straight for the Kundalini masterclass with Gregory Kaps He doesn't seem to have social media, or a website (re-spect!!), so this little Yoga Barn pic will have to fill you in on his essence. I actually started this morning feeling a little off, and by the time I was sitting journaling, waiting for the 9:30am class to start, by stomach was cramping, nausea was sinking in, sweats had started, and I thought it was all just my period... it turns out Bali had one last little gift to share, that had just started taking hold as I purged my way through a 3 hour kundalini intensive, raising my vibration, setting intentions, and getting ready to do a final release of what I no longer needed in my life. A lot of pent up sh$% that I hadn't tended too earlier. This is what the body does. It reminds us that when we hold onto sh$%, we aren't digesting our past, we're not feeling it, we're not healing it. So we hold it, until it becomes 'weight' (I've done a lot of research and experiential work on energetic weight loss, trust me!). So now I had weight to lose, and I was finally ready to admit it. To see it. To let it go.

All of that shame.

All of that guilt.

All of that grief.

Now was a time to let go of all the things that a nine year in numerology tells us to reflect upon, and this was the moment of reckoning.

So I followed the teachers prompts. I breathed. I chanted. I held. I let go. I got to heightened levels of trance meditation that day because I was able to find that stillness in the exhaustion that a period brings, and I was able to purge everything out of me in the days that followed so by the time I got back home to the Sunshine Coast, I finally was able to sit in love, and see all the opportunities and excitement available to me; instead of being in fear of all that I was indeed, needing to release.

End. 📖🔖

Final words | Ubud is a beautiful destination to travel with purpose, and set intentions for why you are there, what you are willing to try, where you are willing to go. It's about allowing yourself to be vulnerable to new experiences, ideas, culture and foods, and of course, getting travellers diarrhoea so you can cleanse your system of negativity, and make way for positive change. It's not just a matter of being mindful of what or where you're eating, it's a matter of allowing yourself to see what you're actually ready to let go of at the mind, body and soul level of change, and being kind enough to yourself to release it with love in your heart, and lightness in your steps.

Love always,

Monique Elouise x

@monique_elouise