Vienna, Peaceful Warriors graduate, describes her typical day during our YTT with The Peaceful Warriors.
6am | Wake up & Get Ready
I begin the day with a few rounds of Nauli Kriya, a stomach massage we learned the week before from Bernd. I also have a glass of hot lemon water, wash up, get dressed, eat an energy ball, pack my anatomy and asana lab lecture notes and take a GoBike to Cosmos Oasis.
7am – 9am | Asana Practice & Pranayama
It’s Bente’s Vinyasa practice today. We learnt a new Pranayama technique, Nadi Sodhana ‘Alternate Nostril Breathing’. I love the morning sessions. It’s a great time to check my alignment and put what we’ve learnt from the Asana labs into practice. In addition to loosening up tight muscles, this helps you stay energized throughout the day. Then after taking a quick rinse at Cosmos, I get ready for breakfast.
9am – 10:30am | Breakfast
We walk 7 mins towards Rise & Shine, one of our favourite cafes around! I ordered my usual flat white with oat milk, and we shared a breakfast burrito. We discuss the upcoming classes this week and some from the group plan to go for a surf over the weekend.
10:30am – 12.30pm | Anatomy Class
Sean takes us around the spine today. It’s a bit tough for me to remember some of the terms without any biology or physio background, but nonetheless very insightful in understanding our bodies better. Sean’s classes routinely include a 5-minute dance break to loosen up the body. We started off a bit shy but by now, all of us are grooving to the beats and even breaking a sweat!
12:30pm – 2pm | Lunch & Break
I’m still quite full from breakfast so I just grabbed sushi and coconut juice from Healthy Ubud right down the street. Then we chilled out in the Shala, and took a dip in the pool downstairs.
2pm – 4pm | Asana Lab
This week we were focusing on backbends – Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose), Ustrasana (Camel Pose), Urdha Dhanurasana (Wheel Pose) & more. Bente walked us through the alignment notes of each pose with Lala demonstrating. We were paired up with a partner randomly to give each other alignment cues. I realized that I was clenching my glutes too hard in Cobra Pose, and learnt to activate my back muscles instead.
4:30pm – 5:30pm | Restorative Yoga
After a short 30 minutes break, we did a Restorative class with Lala. Much needed after all the back bending! Each restorative pose is held for at least 10 minutes. It’s important to make use of the bolsters, blocks and blankets to get as comfortable as possible.
5:30pm – Night | Dinner, Rest & Recharge!
While some of the group headed to the beach to watch the sunset, I was tired and decided to shower and order in from Gojek instead. Within 25 minutes, I got my vegan nachos from Shady Shack and a protein bar for tomorrow morning. After dinner, I read and responded to my messages and emails (I try to avoid social media at night as it keeps me browsing and I end up sleeping late!), got ready for bed, read a few pages of my book and drifted off to sleep.
