It’s taken two years of residing in Bali to experience my first eat, pray, love moment, and no, it didn’t involve a sexy Brazilian (sadly), but provided a refreshing change of perspective.
One unsuspecting Sunday morning, while executing a harmless backbend in yoga - crack - my neck felt like it had given way from the rest of my body, and for the next few days I felt like an Adams family monster, and had to turn my entire body to speak to anyone. Luckily I didn’t have to meet any guests that day; otherwise their first impression would’ve been somewhat unfortunate!
I regularly visit an amazing healer on the island, Yanto, who does a lot of work with our retreat guests, however he is quickly becoming somewhat of a local celebrity, and increasingly difficult to secure for last minute fixes; so desperate and in need, I visited my friend Emma who manages our spa , Bodyworks.
Being the archetypal courteous Brit; my friend Emma managed to abstain from any heckling at my expense, although I could tell she was stuffing down a smile. When I explained my predicament, there was only one answer, “you just have to visit Pak Circus”, he’s a local legend. I love making new connections and testing them on behalf of our guests, so I was eager to see him ASAP.
“Hang on”, said Emma, I’ll ask the girls the best way of getting there. The directions that followed were as follows:
“Go right at the fork in the road, past a huge tree on the right, and stay on a straight road for another kilometer or so, past a field of chickens. Just ask anyone where Pak Circus is, they will know.”
Feeling dubious about leaving with no exact address, I went in search of a savior, Mr. Circus. Sure enough, I pulled over and everyone knew just he was, and I found the man in question settled next to a large chicken gathering.
Pak Circus was reigning supreme in his little courtyard, a patient dutifully laying at his fingertips on a make- shift ‘bed’ while Pak was treating her with a healing hand, smoking a gudang (clove cigarette) in the other. Given the rustic atmosphere, it wasn’t quite the serene healing scene I was hoping, although I was truly relieved to finally be there awaiting some much needed healing.
Seeing as he was temporarily engaged, I thought I would cross off a few other things on the to do list and come back when he was finished – he told me ‘about ½ hour’ so off I set to be ‘organised and resourceful’ and came back in the half hour to find a whole room full of people watching the same girl get healed. I made eye contact and gave him the knowing grin that ‘hey I’m back now’ and here for the ‘call’ when he was finished, assuming that I would resume my initial place at the top of the queue. I felt a little bit funny that there would now be spectators but hey I could cope with the crowd if it put me out of my lock neck agony. I was confused and a bit perplexed when the girl finished and another person hopped in, and again until 1 hour later, still confused, I was wondering if I would have to wait until the 20 odd people who had miraculously appeared out of the rabbit hat when I was away ‘being productive’, would all go before me. I asked the only foreigner present, Robby a tired surfer in a wheel chair, if this was the case – he did a full belly laugh and said ‘honey, this is Bali’…..ahhh of course, I caught myself. That familiar feeling came back and I scolded myself, there I go again using my western thinking and applying it to my newly found eastern life.
When would I ever learn? In my Eastern life I am only 2 years old, so I guess I can be forgiven for slipping back into my western thinking – in my bid to rush off and be productive in that ½ hour, it had ended up costing me 3 hours yet provided me with a valuable lesson – patience IS a virtue– it’s a lesson that both Bali and surfing have taught me but one that I struggle to remember sometimes!
Another lesson learnt in my Bali files and in case your wondering, Pak Circus lived up to his superstar credentials, 3 hours later I was ready to face the world again, lock neck free.
Jen
Surf Haven Bali
www.surfhavenbali.com
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