Recharge Your Soul in Sidemen; The Land of Rivers and Volcanos

Our trip featured an amazing climb up Mount Agung; we set off way before dawn and were rewarded with an amazing sunrise with spectacular views over Lombok and Bali. It’s actually pretty hard work climbing this mountain so you’d need to be in good shape to get to the top.  Sadly my sister had broken her toe four weeks prior which added to the effort level somewhat!  We managed to get half way up before the path became too narrow with lots of loose stones, far too treacherous for a poorly toe.  We still had fabulous views and watched the sunrise so it was definitely worth it! Memories of the mountain will stick with me forever but the thing that really changed my life happened the next day in Sidemen at the Nirarta Centre.

The Nirarta Centre is a living awareness, yoga and meditation centre set in a pretty valley full of rice terraces. I took part in a two-hour yoga and meditation class followed by an hour of chakra massage, both were led by Mangku Mastra, a local priest and Bayu Surya mediation master. Chakra massage was new to me and I really didn’t know what to expect. I’d describe it as a healing massage where you learn about what causes your body’s stresses and strains as they are eased away – it is a great mix of curative and preventative treatment. Mangku Mastra picked up lots about my mental well-being and overall health from the issues he found in my muscles. The whole experience is very spiritual with a lot of prayer and energy based worship, at first it felt a little strange as a non-religious person but on reflection I found it incredibly positive and an experience I’ll never forget.

As Mangku Mastra assessed me he found that I had a pain in the right side of my abdomen when pressed, this was caused by a build-up of gas, which he explained is a sign that I was holding onto too much anger about people in my life. He said I should forgive them and let go of the anger, I was also encouraged to think about the people I might have caused similar stress to so that I can internally apologise for my actions and be mindful of my behaviour when I next see them. If the situation means an apology is appropriate he recommended doing so.

The next thing he found was a pain in my head whilst he massaged it. He explained that because I overthink things I get stressed, he urged me to avoid this. My back has a whole host of issues caused by the computer time I mentioned earlier, he called it being lazy and said I need to be more active. He also found pains in my feet and explained that they are caused by intermittent poor circulation, I can help resolve by walking on big stones with bare feet. In practice it will be my own DIY version of reflexology and will stimulate blood flow around my whole body. My legs were sore but that was more likely because of four hours of volcano trekking and two hours of yoga rather than any longstanding reason.

Looking back, it really was an overwhelming and fascinating experience. I am determined to practice yoga and meditation as often as I can, ideally every day. I’d also encourage everyone to try yoga and meditation so to start I’ll share some of Mangku Mastra’s exercises with you:

• Place your index fingers and thumbs in a circle – your index finger represents ego and your thumb represents happiness – together they balance each other out. Your little finger represents thinking, your ring finger represents speaking and your middle finger represents action.
• Hold this position and then start with some breathing exercises – breath in and circulate your breath around the seven chakra points (crown, third eye, throat, heart, solar-plexus, sacrum and root).
• When your breath is in your solar-plexus you should hold it and count to 28 before breathing out whilst counting to 14.
• Do this for approximately 10 mins before going into the poses shown in the photos.

1. Feet together and arms up towards an imagined sun and blue sky – this generates and absorbs energy.

2. Arms outstretched and legs spread so that you look like a star, this represents the cosmos and helps you absorb energy from it.

3. A cross like a crucifix with feet together to represent strength and power

4. Feet together and one arm up with head tilted to the sky. Imagine one of the sun’s nine planets moving from the tips of your fingers and down over your body to your legs and feet, absorb the energy of this planet as it moves.

5. Change arms and think about another planet you like (perhaps because of its colours, rings or size). Imagine this enveloping you.

Each of these positions should be held for a minimum of five minutes and maximum of 10 minutes. Try to do this once before breakfast and once before dinner.