Blissful Bali
While Brian was in his Singapore UCLA - NUS MBA session with his classmates, I joined a week-long women's yoga & wellness retreat in Bali, Indonesia.
After doing some research on women's retreats via Tripadvisor and women's wellness blogs, I found Bliss Sanctuary for Women. It's an amazing retreat created by an Aussie woman that has hosted thousands of women from all over the world. And I signed up just in time for their pre-grand opening of their Seminyak Villa Zen.
Villa Zen's pool view from my room
Bliss Sanctuary for Women is an all inclusive package for women, meaning ladies can enjoy unlimited yoga, spa treatment and massages, healthy food and smoothies / juices, and Bali site seeing every day. There was a driver onsite who would take us site seeing, or for grocery store runs. Women also have the option to take unlimited surfing classes in Canggu, however I opted for the yoga option. The staff were a mixture of Australian and European women, and local Balinese staff. Everyone was so warm and accommodating.
The Bliss Sanctuary driver, Putu greeting me at the airport for pickup
Villa Zen all you can eat, all you can drink menu
The wonderful kitchen ladies of Villa Zen serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day
My favorite dish: Vietnamese spring rolls
Indonesian dinners: Coconut curry, gado gado salads, and some kind of chicken
Indonesian Chicken Sate (not satay)
I spent the entire week taking yoga classes, eating healthy meals and drinking green juices by the poolside, getting massages and spa treatments, and going on day trip excursions around Bali. During down time I wrote in my journal.
Villa Zen's yoga room
Villa Zen's yoga room
Yoga at Desa Seni Village
Yoga at Desa Seni Village
Massage bungalow at Villa Zen
My room was beautiful and tastefully decorated. It did take some time getting used to the Balinese style outdoor bathroom. Basically it was an outdoor garden, and I shared the ecosystem with frogs, centipedes, geckos, mosquitos, and lots of ants.
My room view from the pool deck
Manny resting peacefully on my bed
Outdoor garden view from my bedroom
Outdoor Balinese bathroom. Notice the bug spray and Raid cans at the bottom?
Outdoor Balinese bathroom.
The best part about the retreat was meeting wonderful and inspiring ladies from the UK who were all very sweet. There were a group of 3 girlfriends that met in High School and were now moms, wives, and successful business women. And there was another woman traveling solo from the UK who grew up going to the British School in Hong Kong and was now editor of a well-known women's fashion magazine.
Seminyak Beach sunset. Hundreds of beanbag chairs.
With the British girls at Potato Head, Seminyak
With the British girls at Woo Bar, W Hotel Seminyak
With the Bliss Girls at Seminyak Beach
We were all at different stages in our life, but we connected over meals and nights out and spent the entire week relaxing in Bali.
How I felt at the end of the retreat
Seminyak sunset
It was an amazing and perfect week that reminded me the importance of balancing your SPINE (spiritual, physical, intellect, intuition, and emotional) needs as a woman and to make time for your girlfriends no matter how busy life gets.
I'm very thankful that I had the opportunity to experience Bliss Sanctuary for Women in Bali.