Tips as Bali reopens - Quarantine Free!

    As an expat living in Bali throughout the pandemic, I can see how excited everyone here is to have quarantine free travel extended to include all foreign arrivals! As of Today, March 22nd, all fully vaccinated travelers can travel to Indonesia with a negative PCR test (within 48hrs of departure). Check out the Garuda Airline website for updated details:

https://www.garuda-indonesia.com/id/en/news-and-events/kebijakan-operasional-terkait-covid19

    This update comes after a two week trial on select vacation destination islands, including Bali, Batam and Bintan islands. The announcement has been long awaited, and everyone locally and abroad have shown a lot of enthusiasm to be able to get things back to normal. 

    For travelers coming to Bali during this time, there are a few things you should expect. You will be required to wear masks in the airplane and at airports. Masks are still required in taxis and stores. Although not everyone follows this guidance, it is the polite and considerate thing to do. You should keep a mask with you at all times so that you aren’t caught by surprise when a store enforces the rule. Also, if you are one of the early arrivals after the change in policy, don’t be surprised if you are greeted with a confusing process. From what I’ve heard, the airport staff might be as confused by the rapid changes as the travelers are.

    There are a few other things to consider as you look for accommodation. You should check more carefully for recent reviews and pictures. Some hotels have taken the opportunity to renovate, but not all have. Bali is a tropical island. Neglect in maintenance takes a quick toll. Sadly, neglect has been a reality for many places due to the extreme financial impact in the last couple of years. It will serve you well to take an extra close look at any recent information available regarding your chosen accommodation. I don’t want to scare anyone away - like I said, some places have invested in wonderful renovations and capitalized on the economic downtime - but it will serve you well to have some extra caution.

    One concern I had during the pandemic here was safety. I was not sure if the economic strain would lead to an unsafe situation. Gladly, that hasn’t been the case. There has been a raise in crime, and you shouldn’t travel by bike at night in some neighborhoods. However, in general, Bali remains safe. If you plan to go out at night there are plenty of ride options. I think it’s good advice to travel by car at night regardless of just considering crime, since it’s simply safer in all aspects. The driving rules are not well enforced here, and there are often drunk tourists who think it’s ok to operative a motor on the road. I haven’t seen any accidents myself, thankfully, but I’ve heard stories that make me steer clear of that option.

    Domestic travel has become a lot easier once you are in Indonesia. PCR tests have recently been dropped from the requirements for local travel as long as you are fully vaccinated. 

    The return of tourism to the island has been celebrated as a return to normality. It’s an understatement to say that things have been hard here for many people. Unfortunately, many people lost their livelihood during the pandemic. I hope that many travelers will return to the island and bring back the vibrancy that Bali is known for!

    As you prepare to travel here, make sure you download the PeduliLindungi app. Covid policy requires you to scan in on arrival. It’s not used much outside of the airport, but you’ll want to have it just in case. Download the Grab app if you don’t already have a driver arranged for pick up, since there’s a Grab lounge after you exit arrivals. And get GoJek downloaded for ordering food delivery and much more.

    I hope Bali can welcome you soon! Travel safely!

  

An exciting time for Bali retreats!

 I’m super excited to launch my own Bali Wellness ‘connection’!

Right now is an exciting time for Bali retreats. There is a pent up demand for wellness travel, and the booking rates are still low. If you or someone you know have been considering hosting their own retreat, now would be the ideal time to start planning it! People want to travel, and honestly, the return of tourism really can’t come soon enough for the local economy. The pandemic has had a huge impact across the island.

In addition to that, I really see the retreat landscape in Bali changing. More and more people are becoming wellness professionals, and more and more travelers are seeking wellness oriented offerings. The disconnect is between hosts and finding a reliable, high quality venue. 

Bali has many retreat centers to choose from. But the lesser known and more bespoke way of conducting retreats is through renting a private villa. There a many fully staffed luxury villas available for daily, weekly, or monthly rentals. The longer you can host your retreat, the less your costs become. Having a private villa creates a more intimate experience for your guests, and also allows you, the host, to sell out your retreat quickly.

I understand there is a real need to have someone trustworthy in-destination who can check things out in person. That’s how I came up with the concept, and I am hoping to help many wellness hosts to have a smooth, stress free experience along with their guests. I am even in the process of training retreat assistants to be there on site and manage the small things that add up to create the best experience!

Right now I am attending a retreat workshop with Escape Haven, a specialized retreat brand here in Bali, which will help me to best serve my clients! If you have retreat experience (either hosting or attending) and you would be willing to share your experience with me, I would love to hear about it for my market research! Please get in touch with me!

I’m very excited to create this niche in Bali. 

Keep me in mind if you or someone you know could use some help bringing their retreat vision to life!

Trading in Espresso for 15minutes of Yoga

 Hello all!

Alright, so the title is a little misleading. I am a coffee lover, which means espresso is staying in my daily routine - however, I'm resolved to trade in my second cup of coffee for 15 minutes + of daily yoga!

I'm sure you've seen the 'How Coffee Works' videos, but here's a quick summery:

Coffee tricks your brain into thinking it's not tired.

But your brain compensates after awhile.

Which makes your baseline more tired and can lead to withdrawal.

On the other hand, yoga (and any exercise) is a natural energy booster. Instead of tricking your brain, you're doing what your brain was basically made to do - move your body.

One of the greatest impacts I've experienced during this year of quarantine has been that there's less movement overall. At least for me. I didn't realize how much this has impacted my energy level until I got back onto my mat. 

Since I'm warming back into my practice, I am keeping my sessions short and focusing on simply getting on my mat and finding a daily routine. My practice right now consists of a few sun salutations, some warrior poses and variations, and generally making sure to move my spine in all seven directions:

Side stretch left and right

Forward fold

Back bend

Twist left and right

Top to bottom stretch 

In addition to that I'm fitting in some abs training as well as using small (1kg) weights to gain back some arm muscle. 

Writing in the blog and posting progress videos on Instagram is helping me to stay motivated, so I hope that this helps anyone reading to find their own motivation as well!

Sincerely,

-Elaine

Yoga Movement - YMTT Singapore - My ytt200 review

    Yoga Movement is a very popular yoga studio in Singapore with many locations. The classes are frequent, accessible, and always have music. Yoga Movement bridges the gap between the gym and yoga studio, with most classes building up a nice sweat even if they aren't hot classes.

It's a nice studio. I highly recommend going for their classes.

I don't particularly recommend the ytt.

As a disclaimer, this is my own personal review. I have a lot of respect for Yoga Movement as a studio and I think their business structure is great aside from the ytt. It's unfortunate that this is a negative review, and I debated posting about it or not, but in the end this was part of my ytt journey and I include the good and the bad since they both lead to the teacher I am now.

I'll start by pointing out that I took this ytt for the wrong reasons. I had just finished my first ytt, which I took to deepen my own practice, and realized I wanted to teach. I was afraid I would lose my progress and the skills I had just learned. Also... I wanted to improve my instagram.

The timing was perfect, the ytt was starting right away. The studio is beautiful and perfectly situated above Common Man Coffee which partners with YM and has a little cafe in the studio upstairs. The cafe also caters breakfast and lunch for the ytt - a great insta opportunity. Yoga Movement is trendy and cool. It has a large expat community. Their ytt is pricey, but I figured that with everything included it's not so bad. I quickly swiped my credit card without much of a sales pitch needed.

If you are looking for a ytt, then do the things I tell other people to do: Research, attend a class, ask to contact previous students. Also, ask your favorite teachers about where they learned.

I walked into the class feeling very confident. After all, I had just completed a ytt200 course. But it became clear pretty quickly that things were done differently at Yoga Movement than at The Yoga Mandala (where I had done my other training). There was no ohm. There was no teachers mat. There was no consistent instructor. And Sanskrit was discouraged. That being said, there was reasoning behind YM making those decisions. The chanting is excluded so that everyone can feel included when they come to classes (since some people can find it offensive). There is no teachers mat so that the teacher is walking around instead of participating in their own class. The teachers rotate since they all have different expertise.

I get the reasoning. But it was such a contrast to the incredible experience I had only one month prior. Rather than feeling passionate about yoga, I finished the course feeling underwhelmed and questioning if I should teach or not. I stayed in touch with one or two of the other students for a month, before losing touch with them all. Which is unusual since both my other ytt groups regularly chat and exchange information.

Why did I feel that way in the end... I think the biggest factor was the teacher rotation. No one was there who knew the progress of every student. No one was aware of what had been covered, so previous modules couldn't be incorporated as the course continued. It felt touch and go. If I hadn't had the previous ytt I wouldn't know what a huge difference it makes to have someone cheering you along.

*However, the teacher in charge of anatomy was phenomenal. I feel bad because I've forgotten her name, but she really had a passion for yoga and for healthy practice. All her classes were thoroughly planned with slides and printed handouts. She previously worked at a hospital and knew what she was teaching. She went above and beyond what was required and brought some real value to the course. If there was one way for YM to make a great ytt it would be to simply put her as the instructor for the entire course.

What you can expect:

Classes start each morning with a yoga class taught by the instructor in charge of that day's module. Come on time, you cannot enter the class after it starts. After class the group breaks for breakfast which is waiting in the common area (reserved for the ytt group). The group meets again for that day's module, often reviewing the morning sequence but not always. Each week you will be told which books to bring for which days. After the morning module the group breaks for lunch, which is waiting in the same area (each week you choose your meals). Then the group meets back up for some further discussion and/or for adjustment practice. The day finishes with an evening practice taught by that day's module instructor (sometimes there are two instructors for the day, one morning and one evening).

There are no practical teaching hours, which I find so important for actually learning to teach. There is a 20 or 30 minute mock class at the end of the course which you need to pass to get the certificate. You get some practice teaching during the class, breaking into groups and teaching each other, which is common for most ytts. To prep for the final mock class you are able to reserve studios in any of the YM locations as long as they are not scheduled for classes. You do this practice on your own time, mostly with your fellow ytt students. You are required to attend YM classes during the week as part of your total 200hrs (you have unlimited access, it doesn't cost extra).

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

Food included
Nice studio and facilities
Large class
Good anatomy teacher
Books are included (Ray Long) and YM tote bag

Cons:

No chanting
No teachers mat
No practical teaching hours
Multiple teachers
Location far from MRT and bus
Large class
Little focus on safety
Food is repetitive



All in all, this was not the ytt for me. It could be the ytt for you, but do your research and make sure you really enjoy the style of YM classes. Do not take this ytt as an attempt to build your instagram. The lighting in the studios is not good - all the studios are windowless. The mats are glued down and not easily rearranged for photos. The food is not instagramable since it's packaged for takeaway. The coffee is put in your own container so not photo worthy either. And you can expect the menu to be on repeat for the entire course. A better option might've been a 'credit' to be used at the cafe... the catered food was great the first week but I honestly lost my appetite for 'healthy' style cafe food for a good two or three months afterwards.

I hope that this information is helpful. Attending a ytt is expensive, a large time commitment, and also a huge personal investment. Be extra mindful of your own safety during a ytt, since you can't expect the instructor to take on that responsibility for you. Do your homework and find a ytt that can really benefit you. These yoga courses can be a huge inspiration and the source of many cherished memories, so you owe it to yourself to selective. Enjoy your journey and I wish you the best of luck!

If you would like to find out more about Yoga Movement Academy and their upcoming courses, please follow this link:
https://www.yogamovement.com/academy

The Yoga Mandala - TYM Singapore - My ytt200 review

    I lucked out with my first ytt200 at The Yoga Mandala. I did minimal research, and based my decision on online reviews and mostly a gut instinct. I did go to a few studios to speak in person about their program, but I did not attend classes at the studio. This goes against my own advice that I give people.

    To be completely honest, what drew me to TYM for their ytt was social media. Jessica Sinclair, founder of the studio, is known to be a social media star. The studio is beautiful, and makes for great photos. This has become important to fresh ytt students who are striving for those killer insta pics.

    The second reason I chose this studio was simply the abundance of options. TYM is constantly holding ytt trainings. I'm a somewhat of an impulsive person, and I wanted to start my yoga training immediately. I was beginning the class one week after I had started my search.

    So, let's get into more information on the ytt itself. I signed up for a weekday course. This is a more intense course and is usually smaller in class size due to it not being compatible with most work schedules. It was great for me, since I got to know the people in class very well and also got plenty of personal attention.

    Jessica was our instructor for the duration of the course. She is an excellent teacher, and very easy to get along with. It was like having your own personal coach, but shared with a few other people who are all along for the same journey. In their larger weekend courses I believe that there are two instructors, so if weekend is better for you I think a similar level of attentiveness can be expected.

    Jessica's course focuses primarily on the spine. She puts a lot of emphasis on identifying alignment problems and addressing how to help students better their bodies. Jessica has scoliosis, so she is a life expert on alignment and the advice she gives is very insightful.

    I entered this ytt course primarily for my own practice. However, the course structure sets students up to be excellent teachers. By the end of the course I was passionate about yoga and I wanted to teach. Of the three ytt200 courses that I've taken so far, TYM has been the best for preparing students to teach due to their incorporation of practical teaching hours. Each student taught portions of sequence throughout the course, and at the end everyone held three 1hr community classes. Unlike other studios that expect you to bring your own students for practice classes, TYM expected the fellow students to support each other and fill all vacant mats.

    Also worth noting, students in this ytt WILL learn Sanskrit. Everyone graduated confident in their use of Sanskrit and understanding of poses and assists.

    Overall I would highly recommend TYM for anyone interested in getting certified to teach, or to deepen their own practice. The ytt was safe, fun, and informative.

    Pros:
    Many options on course and dates
    Small class size (weekday)
    Excellent instruction
    Photogenic
    Abundant practical teaching hours
    Excellent Sanskrit instruction
    Excellent instruction of Pranayama and Chakras

    Cons:
    Spiritual - Depends on your comfort with Ohm and Chakras

    I was very happy with my experience at The Yoga Mandala. I would encourage anyone looking for a ytt option to consider this studio. But don't take my word alone. Ask your favorite yoga teachers where they had their ytt and what they recommend. Always go into the studio you researching to speak to someone about the course. And perhaps ask them for contact info from previous graduates who are willing to share information about their experience.

    I hope that this information is useful for you. To learn more, check out their website.
*note: at the moment there seems to be a problem with their website. You can also check their instagram @theyogamandala
 

Space and Light Yoga - COMO Shambhala - My YTT200 review

    For anyone interested in taking a YTT course, it is essential that you visit the studio first to be sure that the teaching style fits your standards. This can seem overwhelming, as there are so many options these days for YTT, but it is worth the time. Most studios these days are on classpass. I recommend using the app (there is a complimentary trial period if it's your first time) to test out various studios.

    Space and Light Yoga studio is founded by the duo Lynn and Sumei. They have partnered with COMO Shambhala studio, and teach regular classes throughout the week. They teach as a pair, with one leading and the other adjusting. This is great for their students. When you go to their class it feels much more personal than most studios and you will leave class feeling more balanced since they ensure you are doing the poses properly. There are trial class prices for first timers, call the studio or visit the front desk for more info.

    Lynn and Sumei hold one ytt200 per year. That can be a good thing (plenty of time to make arrangements), or a bad thing (no other options), depending on your schedule. The classes are held on the weekend - Friday, Saturday, Sunday - often including Monday evenings and full class on holidays. You must attend all class hours, so plan accordingly.

    I am a bit partial to this studio, since I have been a student at COMO Shambhala for over a year now. I'm a big fan of their style, since all of the teachers there pay particular attention to alignment. It is on the pricier side, understandable given the studio's connection to the COMO brand. The studios are air conditioned, so if you are a fan of hot yoga this might not be for you. However, to learn to teach yoga it is worth considering this studio.

    Before starting a YTT, be sure to know what you want out of it. Do you want a yoga bootcamp or do you want to eventually teach? Space and Light Yoga is a great option for those who want to teach. Lynn and Sumei have a background in teaching Anusara yoga, and their YTT focuses on the Anusara Universal Principles of Alignment. Important to note: This is a Hatha yoga course, not an Anusara course.

    In addition to extra focus on alignment, this YTT sets aside time to teach about the history of yoga. I found this very informative, and I appreciated learning about the roots of yoga and it's differences between modern and historical practice. Lynn and Sumei invite experts who research yoga history to come and talk about it. You are also assigned some reading to do at home, although they didn't expect everyone to have time to read the full book(s). 

   Every studio advertises teaching anatomy as part of their YTTs. Space and Light Yoga does the same. They require you to purchase the yoga anatomy books by Ray Long, a requirement that many yoga studios in Singapore have lately. The books are great, and while they weren't used a lot during the course they are worth having at home for reference. One thing that sets Lynn and Sumei apart from other studios in regards to anatomy: Lynn is a doctor. She really knows her stuff, and makes learning anatomy very fun. She even brings a real human skeleton to class, something she acquired during her medical studies.

    Overall, this YTT was a great experience for me and I highly recommend it. The one thing that I would say is lacking would be the amount of time students spend teaching. The class is on the larger side, 20ppl, so there simply isn't enough time for each student to teach a whole lot. Becoming a teacher requires a lot of practice to become comfortable leading a class. In this YTT, you will need to take the initiative to practice at home. As long as you practice on your own time, you will graduate with enough confidence to go out and start your own classes. Everyone in our group graduated, so do not fear.

    

    Pros and Cons:

    Pros:

    Excellent Alignment Education

    Excellent Facility

    Personal Attention

    Great Yoga Materials

    Large Class

    Cons:

    Only One Course Per Year

    Limited Teaching Practice

    Large Class

    Unique Cues

    To elaborate on the unique cues, this is related to the detailed nature of the alignment principles being taught. The cues go beyond simply moving, and go more into engagement. If you practice at the studio you might be familiar with some of the cues, but if you are going to be teaching at another studio most likely you will need to modify the cues to be simpler and introduce the more detailed cues slowly to your regular students. If it is for your own practice, the unique cues are excellent for having a safer practice.

Next intake:

10th April - 25th May 2020

    Lynn and Sumei also offer a ytt300hr path. They do this differently from other studios, since their 300hr certificate is an accumulation of hours spent in their trainings or workshops. This is a good option if you have already gotten your ytt200 from a different studio and want to continue taking workshops. This is the route I am taking. I might get more into this in a different post, but basically if you want to work slowly towards your 500hr RYT this is an option available to you.

** note: Lynn and Sumei do try to work with the COMO studio after the ytt is complete to allow their students to teach one hour 'open level' classes. These classes are offered to COMO practitioners at a cheaper rate and give students the chance to apply their teaching skills in a real class. It is not guaranteed for every intake.

    I hope that this information is useful for considering Space and Light Yoga's ytt200 course. To learn more, check out their website: http://www.spaceandlightyoga.com/about.php

Sincerely,

- Michelle Elaine

A note as I start this blog

Hello/Namaste,

My name is Michelle Elaine. This is the first post of my new blog, Juxtaposed with Elaine. 

I find that the word juxtaposed suits me well: to put things that are not similar next to each other. I am an expat from the USA living in Asia, so the unfamiliar has become my norm. 

As the title also suggests, I am a yogi, so poses are my thing. I have jumped into the deep end of yoga, taking up teacher training from a basic level of practice. The root of my motivation to start this blog comes from my experience as a yoga student. As I am writing this, I have just begun my third teacher training within one year. I am eager to explore the differences between teacher trainings and share my experiences.

And finally I will share some lifestyle posts from time to time since this is my personal blog. I do travel often and I will likely share that content here.

Sincerely,

- Michelle Elaine