SEARCH INSIDE (LIKE GOOGLE)
In March 2018, Hubud is bringing us the renowned Search Inside Yourself (SIY) Program – a mindfulness leadership program developed at Google to help us stretch our emotional intelligence in five key ways. Led by Google trainer/ entrepreneur Yizhao, participants will be shown how to combine mindfulness practices, neuroscience and leadership applications, to focus on the five domains of emotional intelligence – self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. This combination can lead to stronger leadership, creativity, and communication, intensifying focus, managing stress and improving resilience as individuals and in organisations.
In the past decade, over 10,000 people all over the world – from companies such as Google, eBay, Apple, Samsung and LinkedIn – have felt the life-changing impacts brought about by SIY training, enhancing their work-life balance and bringing out the best in themselves. March 10 and 11, at Green School, south of Ubud. Go to www.hubud.org; super early bird tickets expire January 30.
1ST INDIGENOUS FILM FESTIVAL
Hosted by Ubud’s Paradiso Theatre, Bali’s first ever indigenous film festival will highlight the struggles of first nations people in Indonesia and around the world, in 36 Indonesian and foreign indigenous films. The event shows the wisdom and knowledge of first nation communities, allowing filmmakers to share their projects and find opportunities to work together.Event partners, Handcrafted Films, If Not Us Then Who, and Infis, hope to run this festival annually, supporting young indigenous filmmakers in Indonesia.
The festival will run from Friday evening, January 26, till 10pm Sunday January 28, with talks from directors and producers, and a workshop for young activist filmmakers on making effective and powerful documentaries. Films come from Australia, India, Malaysia, USA, Peru, Panama, Honduras, Brazil, Nicaragua, Congo, Canada and NZ, all with English subtitles and some with Bahasa Indonesia. Tickets 50,000 rupiah per film or 150,000rp with director’s talk; day pass tickets, 350,000rp; three-day all film pass 800,000rp. Only 120 tickets per screening. Info: davidmetcalf3@mac.com.
UNIQUE CHILDREN – SUKACITA
It’s six years since we first wrote about the Bali-based non-profit, Sukacita Foundation, created to improve the educational opportunities for Indonesian children with disability.The original driving force behind Sukacita’s many school and regional-based programs was the commitment of its founders, two Dutch educational advisers, Mila van der Meer and Marieke Nijland. They’ve come a long way from their first attempts to demonstrate effective learning principles for disability in the classroom.
In 2017 Sukacita was invited to UNICEF’s Jakarta offices, to share their expertise. They also contributed their experience and practical teaching tools to three days of planning on the new national curriculum about sexual health education for teenagers with an intellectual disability (other invitees included Indonesian professionals from the National Ministry of Education and Culture, universities, schools and NGOs).
In 2018-2019, teachers will use this curriculum to talk more openly about these topics in schools for children with special needs. Sukacita is also working with publisher Gagas Media, to launch their Anak Unik E-book to teachers and parents in 2018, in this way sharing their information with parents and teachers throughout Indonesia. You can find more about Sukacita on Facebook.
THROUGH THEIR OWN EYES
At the same time, two photography students, Simone and Merel, are working with children with disabilities in a different way, providing them with cameras, teaching them how to use them, and encouraging them to express the world through their eyes.The result is a thought-provoking and inspiring exhibition at Taksu Photo Gallery in Jalan Raya Ubud; it opened last week and will continue to January 6.
Simone and Merel have worked with students, parents and teachers for the past few weeks in a spirit of love and giving; the parents seemed universally delighted that their children were chosen to take part, and the results are beautiful. The exhibition is free, and there is a donation box at Taksu Gallery if you wish to contribute. For more information on the project, go to http://doyouseewhateyeseesite.wordpress.com.
BOWLS OF BLISS
Sound healing continues to grow and develop here in Ubud, with some of the world’s most revered practitioners drawn to Bali to join the Sound Healing Collective. Two extraordinary events planned for January are Bowls of Bliss, a Sound Meditation at Radiantly Alive Yoga (Friday January 19, 6.30pm-8pm); and Spirit Night, a special indigenous-themed gala event bringing together world musicians and sound healing artists at the Yoga Barn (Monday, January 8, 7.30pm. The group’s most popular regular sound healing event, Sound Medicine: a Tama-Do Sound Harmonization, will also continue at the Yoga Barn (every Wednesday in January, 7.30pm).
200 HOUR QUALITY YOGA TRAINING
You still have three weeks to book an early bird place at Intuitive Flow’s next Yoga Alliance accredited 200 hour Yoga Pranala Intensive.Revered yoga guru Linda Madani will lead a group of highly respected teachers and yoga gurus in the 20-day program, which is aimed at yoga practitioners who aspire to become certified teachers. Unlike many yoga trainings popping up in Bali, you can rely on the breadth and depth of this program, now in its eighth year.
The training is intensive, and will give you a solid base for yoga practice, theory and teaching methodology, including, hatha and vinyasa, mudra pranala, pranayama, yogic philosophy, anatomy and physiology, basics of Ayurveda, meditation, yoga nidra, restorative yoga, teaching methodology and yoga business management. The program runs from March 22 to April 13; early bird discount (save US$300) is available until 22 January.