Our little home Bali Villa // The Jungle Room

THE JUNGLE ROOM BALI

My dreams for a tiny home are now deepened after our stay at Jungle Room Bali. The mini apartment we stayed in is the epitome of my ultimate dream mini home. Fully wooden furnished, a white draped canopy over the floor bed. Balinese decor pillows, bean bags and lavish decor rugs. A simple desk and dresser with some hanging space from the ceiling. Bohemian Light fixtures to create an ambient vibe. The outdoor shower was stone and white with a deep sink and huge space to shower.   I've dreamed of what it would be like to live in a space like that and I've come to realize that this is a dream that can be manifested. To live in a beautiful small space that you pour your creativity and visions through, a small space to love, be loved, and live a simple, easy, non competitive, non over the top life. No boogie furniture, not too many possessions, just your love, passions and the moment.  

As you walk into the Jungle Room you are welcomed into an outdoor common area with boho chic decor and comfy spots to hang on the wifi, talk to other travelers, and sip on tea. 

Obsessed with the bed canopy we had in our private apartment

The Outdoor private bathroom and shower was one of my favorite parts of the Villa

Creative space to hang out

     Super duper cheap Indo coffee and a great Breakfast and all day smoothies/food menu

This little apartment was everything! 

This house was the common area space. Art was on display inside, along with plenty of seating and even a drum set.  

Breakfast was included each morning and this was my favorite thing on the menu. Coconut Chia Pudding with Fruit and Granola =) 

Yoga at Jungle Room was pretty amazing.

The shala there is upstairs and outside, so it was basically like doing naturally heated yoga

Bali is very hot to begin with, so it felt so good to sweat during my self practice.  The Jungle Room gave me 2 complimentary yoga classes during my stay there.  Something about practicing outside is so invigorating. 

We also had a little fun taking photos around the villa stay 

                             | poetry |



you were in my dreams last night
funny, because yesterday I prayed
I prayed to a higher light 
I prayed to you
In savasana


I lay there completely resting 
Not a single thought came in my mind 
except my call to the light 
Did you hear me?
Is it a coincidence? 
Is there such thing as coincidence? 









You sat there calmly 
my head then began to rest upon your shoulder 
I then went further down and created 
a nook for my head to fit perfectly. 
I melted onto your body
I could feel your physical body 
You were there with me
I closed my eyes
You comforted me
Your energy had me sinking further and further 
into your blanket of serenity and peace 





I felt protected 
but then 

 

I  suddenly knew it was a dream 
When it hit me 
You are not alive 
So I didn't say anything to you. 
For i didn't want to spoil such a pure and raw moment. 
Instead I let you enjoy this dream and the time we had together 
you were having fun, I could tell. 




I just wanted to say thank you
for hearing me

2017 and SETTING INTENTIONS

           creating positive energy in 2017

  With one of my intentions being writing more, and being more expressive with art, I figured I would write a blog post about setting intentions.  During the holidays its easy to get side tracked, stressed out, over eat, practice yoga less, workout  less, etc.  But know that its not just you, its everyone, myself included.   It seems to be a time of relaxation, and a time to be still before the New Year approaches.   

  Instead of creating negating expectations or limitations to what type of intentions you can put out there for yourself, try to come back to the basics.  Simplistic goals are the way to go.  Just like a yoga practice.  If a completely new yoga student sets out a goal to have a perfect forearm stand in less than a week, we can all say thats a farfetched goal and might not be too realistic.  It will only set up that yogi for failure and they will ultimately feel like they didnt succeed.  None of that! Lets go back to basics. Essentials.  Life survival.  Rule #1 should and always should be "happiness".  Easier said than done.  But this can be our first intention.

                      inner contentment / happiness 
This concept has not always been easy for me, and it still is difficult the majority of the time.  Yoga has helped me tremendously to stay in the present moment and instead of getting ahead of myself which creates lots of unnecessary anxiety, it forces me to stay living day to day.  Once the shift in our thoughts changes to simple day to day goals, there is an imaginary weight lifted off the shoulders.   If some days are harder than others to simply "be happy", then we must dig deep into our mental garden and do some renovating.  

                        back to basics 
 what type of things can we actually change that will dramatically alter our natural sense of happiness?  

we are what we eat :  now I'm not ever going to tell my readers to become vegetarian, or vegan or paleo or any of these "fad" ish lifestyles.  I just want to explain  how important it is to stay aware of the things we put into our bodies.  I haven't always been super healthy, and I have only been vegan for a handful of years. Before that, I was a heavy drinker, and did my fair share of party drugs throughout college.  The harsh effects of this lifestyle were never ending.  It was hard to wake up for early classes, exams were awful, I had anxiety, and depression.  I was also heavier and always sluggish.  Headaches would occur often, and don't even get me started on the stomach and gastro issues I had dealt with every day.  I wasn't giving myself proper nutrition , even though I was heavier and looked like I was normally healthy, I was not.  And it trickled into my mental health as well.  It was hard to hold a steady waitressing job because of my lifestyle and the way I treated my body.   Long story short, by the time I moved to Los Angeles and made some serious changes to the way I took care of my physical and emotional self, I felt the positive changes INSTANTLY.   

self body tests : 

Its all about doing little tests and recognizing what types of foods work with you and what types of foods work against you. for example, I used to eat lots of cheese, and it wasn't until I decided to just TRY being Vegan for  2 weeks prior to a music festival to see if I could lose some of my belly bloat.  Well, it worked, and after those 2 weeks, I felt so amazing and light and barely had cramping, gas, and my severely messed up digestive system started to regulate itself.  I ran with this and I continued to stay vegan.  It was hard at first, but after 21 days, my body physically didn't crave milk , yogurt, or cheese anymore. 

  

 
Example #2 : I started cutting out Starbucks.  This was challenging, but I also had the motive to stop spending so much money at Starbucks.  I was getting up to 3 coffee drinks a day while deep in my bartending life and I was putting excess sweeteners in the coffees.  The blue ones, the pink ones, the yellow ones, it didn't matter. I just ALWAYS craved sweet drinks and I thought I would be cursed forever for having these cravings.  Once I decreased my sweetener intake drastically, after a couple weeks I found myself feeling so revived and rejuvenated.  I didn't need to have sweeteners even in my bland tasting teas I made at home and i stopped craving coffee all together.   Little did I know, my body was detoxing all of the deadly chemicals that they put in these sweeteners and each time I used the sauna, or did hot yoga I began to del increasingly GOOD! I used to buy a box of sweetener a week, and now I only use stevia or coconut sugar if I absolutely need to.  I have more energy, I am not as sluggish and its a real physical and chemical imbalance I had going on. 


MODERATION Just like the Yin Yang sign, there is always good in the bad, and bad in the good.  Finding the balance between the positive and negative is always a bit of a battle but don't let numbers and ratios consume you. WE are HUMAN. No one eats perfectly clean 100% of the time.   give yourself a break every once in a while and enjoy your favorite frozen yogurt, try a different type of dessert, make a vegan or "healthy" sweet or savory dish at home.  If you need inspiration, Pinterest is the best! You can find tons of vegan recipes, Paleo, Gluten Free, or just super bomb things you must try!  Every day is a new day.  Stay positive. Making small changes one bit at a time will eventually turn into a complete lifestyle that is much healthier.  You are already on your way to inner happiness! 

So maybe start with little steps.  One thing at a time. and eventually you will mold a template of what a perfect way to eat for your own body is.  We are all so different.  Take into consideration that making changes does take time, so be gentle with your body and yourself. remember, no high expectations.  Don't build a wall, just work from the ground up.  
Incorporate more fruits in your diet.  Make yummy smoothies with peanut butter and cacao in them.  Drink lemon water to help your body detox and revive the digestive tract.   Once you have done several of these little personal body tests, decide what is best for you to keep as a lifestyle to feel HAPPY! 

hope this helped. 
more to come 
xoxo
Gab

Ever wonder what the heck you're actually doing with your life?  I have. and it used to be   ALL the time.  As a twenty something in this generation aren't we all programmed to think our lives are living up to the potential? Not enough business, not making enough money, not enough Instagram followers, not a nice enough car?  Let's take a step back.   If you could have complete happiness for lack of a better word, what does that entail?  Is it money? is it travel? is it changing your career? is it not having debt? is it physical like losing weight and getting in shape?  


SANTOSHA;  A word derived from ancient Sanskrit which translates to "contentment" "inner peace" "inner bliss".   

  

 While living in LA, a series of events occurred that kept digging me into an emotional and depressing roller coaster.  It was until one night when a good friend and I went out to a Hollywood coffee shop.  I had known her for some time, as we practice yoga at the same studio and she was also an amazingly talented teacher. Her and I became close over time, and it became effortless to open up to her about life. (She's also my same sign, Sagittarius)
   
                                                                      …


We spent time chatting about how broke we were, our non existent love life, and played with some tarot cards.   An innocent coffee conversation quickly made a real spiritual and awakening turn.  As we kept talking about different options I have to make changes in my life, it suddenly hit me.  Im going to move back to Florida, I decided right then and there that was the best and most perfect decision I could make.  It felt right.  It made sense.  After living in Los Angeles for 2.5 years constantly broke, and struggling to buy food or gas in my crappy Jetta, i suddenly realized that I wasn't LIVING. I was simply "surviving" and being in Survival Mode in the hectic and narcissistic city of Hollywood maybe isn't what I needed anymore.   I was no where near completely satisfied with the way life is going, so ultimately I had nothing to lose.  All I could think about day in and day out, was saving enough money to travel again.  Asia and Indonesia have always been dream places of mine to visit and travel, but it was always such a far fetched desire since I was making minimum wage in LA, and working my ass off in retail or restaurants, just to level out to $0 and make ends meet by the skin of my teeth.  As I made this random and perfect decision to move back to Florida, I envisioned how I would be able to actually find a yoga teaching job there, and a waitressing job, and finally save money for life, and for a little bit of travel.  I was 25 years old and had $25 to my name and a Bachelors Degree in Fashion Merchandising, along with a fresh Yoga Teacher Certification that I was ready to take advantage of.  

                                                                      …

I will always remember that night with Coco.   that rainy and somewhat gloomy night, turned into a bright epiphany where I literally imagined what my life could be if I just took a leap of faith and SURRENDER.