The reason why I'm here is a Yoga, Dance and Music festival. I saw an ad on a local paper and i thought: wouldn't that be a nice birthday present for me? There are some risks involved in a Yoga festival, like being surrounded by superhealthy American people who talk only of energy and flow, or even worse vegetarians! :) But I decided to take the risk and check it out. Will not go to any retreat, but only to the open sessions, so if it's too healthy I can always runaway to retox somewhere else.
The festival is held in conjunction with Nyepi, so let me tell you a bit more about Nyepi, or the balinese new year. For a whole day it is forbidden to do anything. No work, no going out in the streets, no electricity, no fires, no noises. You just stay in and do nothing, or rather think, meditate. Isn't it the idler paradise? The rules apply to tourists as well, so that you just stay in your hotel (that wont usually charge you for that day) and do nothing. The Airport is closed, but many tourists just run away in the previous days. They run away as there's nothing to do, while I came on purpose for it.
The day before Nyepi instead you have to make as much noise as possible, so there are firecrackers (it's new year's eve after all), a lot of pot banging and parades with the giant monsters (Ogoh Ogoh) you see here.
The Ogoh Ogoh are then burnt. The reason behind all this is an exorcism of evil spirits: you let them run free (parade), then you scare them away (burn the Ogoh Ogoh, make a lot of noise) and then at Nyepi you don't make any sound so the evil spirits will think there's no one on the island.
With the right state of mind you can really enjoy a day of doing absolutely nothing. I enjoyed indeed, thanks also to my books and my personal touch, a bottle of Balinese wine to gently sip through the day.
Read more about Differences between Bali and Lombok
