by Katie Wilkes
“Don’t be surprised if you find a monkey sitting in the bathroom. Sometimes he’ ll come in through the window because he likes the fruit in this tree.”
Admittedly, you never truly know what you’ll get with an Airbnb. But those words alone from our host, Ketut, told me that this trip wouldn’t be like any other.
This past March, I checked my type-A personality along with my bags and flew across 14 time zones in 30 hours for an intimate week-long immersion to strengthen my inner awareness and intentions in gorgeous Bali.
Alongside my Chicago-based life coach, Rebecca Niziol, and fellow client-turned-friend Lee Hubilla, I had the intent from the beginning to go far, far away to create space and dedicated time for creativity, emotional breakthroughs and connection to apply in every part of my life.
It’s easy to become inundated living in a downtown high rise balancing schedules, appointments and expectations. Together with the help of Rebecca and the community around me I’ve deemed my “soul crew,” I have learned that sometimes you need to literally distance yourselffrom the daily noise. That space allows you to feel your way to the next steps in your life—versus overthinking everything—and deeply understand yourself in a way you simply can’t when living your typical day-to-day back home.
The Indonesian island’s beauty is well known for Elizabeth Gilbert’s quest to find herself in the everpopular book, “Eat, Pray, Love.” Though we too dove into the spiritual magic of Bali, we tailored our trip to our own interests and needs.
We spent mornings meditating, practicing yoga and connecting over home-cooked breakfasts. Afternoons were filled with climbing waterfalls, feeding elephants and watching sunsets by our infinity pool. Other days, we didn’t leave our house overlooking the jungle at all, soaking up the stillness instead.
But in between the physical beauty, there was also deep emotional healing. The work can be tough, and it’s a different form of beauty that’s certainly not for the faint of heart.
No matter how different I thought our own sacred immersion was going to be from the famed novel, I now know exactly why Gilbert went to Bali to find the last element of the trio: love. It proved to be everywhere.
No, I didn’t find the man of my dreams there, but what I did discover was the importance of tapping back into love, the root of what allows peace, creativity and happiness to flourish. It’s a simple concept, yet it has affirmed how I want and choose to live. And guess what? Bali taught me how to do it even when I am not in “vacation mode.”
Here’s how I came back to love halfway around the world.
Learn to love and honor…
Tradition
The Balinese are deeply rooted in their traditions, keeping their culture alive through fire rituals, water temple ceremonies and endless other customs. The family whose land we stayed on had lived there since the 16th century. Each morning, they would pay tribute to their ancestral gods and goddesses by presenting handmade offerings made of palms, flowers and treats to their family temple on the grounds. It was impossible for us to not adapt our own sacred rituals of meditation, yoga and prayer to honor ourselves, too. I still do my practice I created in Bali every morning, knowing there’s a place of certainty I can always return to.
Your neighbor
One day, on our way to get one of many more-than affordable massages, I asked our driver how long he had been practicing meditation. “A little over three years,” he said, smiling. Then he told me, “You have tight line on head.” “Oh, no. That’s just a line from my sunburn,” I said, thinking I was understanding. “No, massage no fix that. You have tight line IN head.” Oh my God, he doesn’t even know me and he can tell I’m an over-thinker, I remember saying to myself.
In fact, I noticed a heightened intuitive energy in almost all Balinese people I met. They were vested in being open, understanding and lovingly connected to the land, spirit and each other. They are the epitome of empathy.
The land
“Let the trees talk to you, especially those two big ones,” Ketut advised us during our stay. It’s easy to become what I call “pseudo-connected”—attached to our pinging phones but completely detached from our inner selves. What happens when instead of turning to a screen, we turn to the nature around us? She encouraged us to take a breather, sit back and truly listen with our hearts, as those trees had been there for hundreds of years and had seen way more than we had. Answers had a way of showing up when all I had to listen to was the jungle chorus of rooster caws and gecko chirps.
The unexpected
I got a startling sign when I most needed it. After a day of deep inner-self work, I was in a funk. (No, all your problems don’t stay at home when you go to Bali.) After taking care of nature’s business—mind still clogged—I flushed my outdoor toilet, and both Lee and Rebecca heard my blood-curdling scream. Just as I stood up, a giant tree frog had leapt from under the rim and stuck to the wall. I later found out the frog spirit animal symbolizes transition, transformation, healing and emotional cleansing. Bali told me in its own comic way where I needed to turn my attention.
Yourself
It’s not my default to be patient and go with the flow. It’s not easy for me to open up about my feelings. But the most valuable moments happened when I did fall open, accepted and trusted what was in front of me, and drowned any fear or insecurities in love and compassion by turning down the self-judgement and being gentle with myself (another trick from my coach that has been a game changer). Above all, Bali reminded me what it means to go back into myself at the heart’s core—my own root—to become the best version of myself. I asked Rebecca how she would put our experience into words. “We released the old dark shadows and healed, and love was there,” she said. “Everywhere we looked love found us, so we surrendered into its embrace, relaxed and smiled. Just as the Balinese people do.”
That’s something worth bringing home, no matter where you are.
Katie Wilkes is a storyteller focused on sharing the stories of humanitarians. She is also a yogi and rescue pup mom living in Chicago’s West Loop.
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