Amid the thriving spiritual tourism business in Bali, you might wonder while strolling around this peaceful and serene island whether there is any way to soothe your body and enlighten your soul without destroying your wallet at the same time
mid the thriving spiritual tourism business in Bali, you might wonder while strolling around this peaceful and serene island whether there is any way to soothe your body and enlighten your soul without destroying your wallet at the same time.
As it turns out, there is.
The community of Pasemetonan Yoga Asana Seger Oger, which can be translated as the Yoga Asana Very Healthy community, has been humbly providing free yoga lessons for all on a daily basis for the past seven years.
Initially available every morning between 7 and 8 a.m. at Sanur Beach, the Seger Oger community, which was initiated by yoga practitioners Ida Bagus Candi and Ida Bagus Sutama, expanded its humble promotion of Yoga Asana practices to Renon Square in Denpasar every morning (7–8 a.m.) and afternoon (5–6 p.m.) four years ago. Since last year, the free lessons were also available in Gianyar regency.
Just bring your yoga mattress to one of those locations, and you will be warmly welcomed by fellow participants as well as the Seger Oger’s yoga instructors.
On Sundays, the number of participants gathering at the favorite spot — on Sanur Beach — just across from Inna Grand Bali Beach could reach more than 70 people, consisting of both locals and foreigners.
“This is our way of moving it forward. Our masters learned their yoga from yogis who did not collect fees. They taught us for free too. And thus now we too have become yoga teachers who do not collect fees. This is all for good karma,” 62-year-old Pageh Artana, one of the Seger Oger instructors, told The Jakarta Post on a Wednesday afternoon session in Renon square.
With the massive promotion of spiritual tourism on the island, yoga has become more of a commercial commodity nowadays.
“In my eyes, the spirit of yoga and meditation are very far from commercial … You should not commercialize religion, arts and things like yoga,” said Radka Strapkova of Slovakia, who has attended the Seger Oger yoga sessions for the past four months.
“In Ubud, they charge you Rp 100,000 [US$11] per class. That’s unbelievable. Training for yoga instructors is US$2,000. It’s just crazy,” said Radka, who has learned yoga for years in her hometown of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, where the cost of yoga classes are much more affordable, ranging from ¤2–6.
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