I desperately needed a break, so when a friend invited me to join her in Bali, I jumped at the chance. The only problem it was a yoga retreat in Ubud and I don’t do yoga!!  Before I came away, I joked that I was going to spend the week avoiding yoga; however, I decided to embrace the experience.

I do believe an open mind, is a young mind!

Beautiful, Tropical Garden at the Retreat

Day 1, I cried through an hour of gentle yoga.

Day 2 ,white light penetrated through my body, as I tried to restore my femininity.

Then there was ecstatic dance…

View from the Yoga Studio

When I sheepishly looked at the retreat’s program, the only thing that really appealed to me was ecstatic dance. I love dancing, so an hour and half of expressing myself through dance sounded more my cup of tea. So the eve of day 2, I opened my mind and body to ecstatic dance.

Ecstatic Dance Flyer

Ecstatic dance at the Yoga Barn was the highlight of the week in Ubud, so I eagerly turned up 2.5 hours before to put my name down. The 100 odd places were quickly filled, and within an hour folk were getting turned away! My friend decided to bale, so a young traveller jumped at her ticket.

This was definitely the place to be on a Friday night!

Ecstatic Dance Studio

At the start, a very hip looking DJ, doning a black bowler hat, told us the rules:

• No talking;
• No alcohol or drugs;
• No phones or cameras (hence no photos of the night);
• Go with the music and;
• Even if you don’t like the music keep dancing.

Sounded easy.

Ecstatic Dance Reenactment 1

And so my hour and an half of ecstatic dance began. The night started with Jazz and changed constantly through the evening; from hip hop to a piano concerto to pop music to classical.

Ecstatic Dance Reenactment 2

Looking around the room as the people danced, it reminded me of 3am at Escape from Samsara, a pyschedic trance night from the 90s, in a London nightclub. Well the dancing was the same with people dancing methodically in their own world; except for a few show offs that broke out into contemporary dance. The dance floor was filled with sweaty men, with their shirts off and girls just in bikinis.; all wanting to show off their muscle rippled yoga bodies. I think a few people didn’t hear the no drug rule, one girl’s smile and eyes were too big to be just dance induced, unless I was doing it wrong!

Let The Force Be With You!!!

Ecstatic dance is mostly an individual experience. There were a few couples dancing, but they were part of the contemporary dance showoff’s crew where movement involved rolling over one another’s back. There was one couple being a bit too intimate at the back. Whatever they were doing it was a bit too full-on for public viewing and I think they should have a no sex rule.

I was probably one of the oldest there but I didn’t feel out of place. I spotted an older couple in their 60s; which was really sweet to watch. Not like the couple at the back, still trying to get the image out of my head.

Morning Breakfast

I found the whole ecstatic dance experience silly, but in a good way. I spent an hour and half, moving goodness knows how, and giggling at the silliness.

The dancing ended with an electronic tune containing Om, and by the end of it everyone was sitting cross legged on the floor. I felt a huge wave of calmness wash over me and an urge to pray.

Favourite Relaxing Spot

Then we all formed a huge circle, held hands, shut our eyes, inhaled and exhaled. We were encouraged to sigh on the exhale and that’s when another round of silliness occurred. A girl screamed, and subsequently people started howling and goodness knows what. I didn’t participate, just giggled.

Ecstatic dance was certainly an experience. Is it one I want to repeat? Well, my current passion in life is learning 1920s swing dancing, and I think, for now, even though I suck at it, I will stick to that on a Friday night.