Today is my last day in Bali. I woke up at 6 and went down to the beach to do my yoga in one of the little gazebos they have there. It is a beautiful morning after 5 days f rain finally a sunny day again. The sky was christal clear and the vulcano was visible except a little ring of clouds below the top. The sea was flat and like a mirror. All quite perfect.
The Gazebo I always use was occupied, by a group of locals. How dared they! They had a meeting of some sort in there with at least 20 women so I went to the next one. The tide was low so the 2 gazebos that are on kind of a little island were easy to reach through the water. I thought i saw someone doing yoga there too. There was a person standing in a beautiful sun salutation upwards position, totally still, clearly a professional.
I was very much motivated by it and started doing my yoga exercises. There was a little white butterfly that came to sit with me, the crabs were fooling around on the rocks, the fishermen were walking in the low water with the nets and the sun came up from behind me. It was just even more perfect. This volcano, this island and these crabs had been there for millions of years and will be around for millions, probably billions of years. The small scale tourism activities did not seem to bother them that much. They seemed to know that the average time these white, pot bellied nervous creatures that were sunbathing on the beaches, would only be around for 70-80 years. One big explosion of the volcano or a good tsunami would blow them all away when needed.
I did some of my yoga routines and got more and more impressed with the other yogi on the other gazebo far away. Still standing there in that perfect posture, probably breathing deeply and in some state of nirvana and mind stillness that i never seem to be able to reach. Here I was struggling to keep my postures for just 5 deep breaths, my muscles were hurting as i have some funny type of flue and i realized i am really a terrible yogi without discipline compared to this perfect still meditating person across the water.
I decided should practice more and much more regularly once back home. I was going to change my daily routine and really do yoga and meditation EVERY morning from now on for at least an hour, like this person.
I started to get hard on myself and forced myself to do at least 6 breaths of each exercise of the full 1st ashtanga series.
After half an hour it got hot and I started sweating. Given i did so much sports here the last few weeks and my muscles were hurting from the flue and my mind was wandering to problems i would encounter once back at home tomorrow with the caretakers, i decided to do some easier positions and got in a cobra with my face in the sun and gazing at the sea.
I could not prevent myself from glimpsing sideways at the yogi that was still standing there..... why could i not do that so perfect????
Maybe it was because i did not wear my sunglasses or maybe i should no longer deny that my eyes are not what they used to be and that I might need some normal glasses, but i suddenly realized the "perfect yogi" in the gazebo far away on the other side was a wooden structure that some had put up there. It was just one of these pieces of tree that had probably landed on the beach and someone must have put it up straight in that Gazebo........
