Lombok 2025: A Week on a Yoga & Surf Retreat
"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."
At the beginning of this year I decided to travel to Asia by myself for the first time. The first part of my trip was a retreat on the Indonesian island of Lombok, organised by @elenaisa_yoga with a group of incredible women. I worked hard to make it happen, and I'm truly grateful I got to see this beautiful country, talk to its people, and bring home what I learned. Because in the end, we only regret the chances we didn't take.
The Week
Day 1 — Arrivals
We trickled in throughout the day — strangers from different corners of the world, each carrying a slightly too-heavy bag and a quiet sense of anticipation. After check-in and time to settle, we gathered in the early evening for a welcome circle followed by our first yoga session together. By dinner, it already felt like we'd known each other for weeks.
Days 2, 3 & 5 — The Rhythm
The week quickly found its shape. Up before sunrise, coffee and fruit optional but almost always taken. Yoga at half seven — the kind of practice that wakes up parts of you that had been asleep for months. Then breakfast, then the sea.
Surf lessons filled the mid-morning: paddling out into warm, forgiving waves, getting it wrong, laughing, trying again. Afternoons were loose — free time, a wander to the beach, the slow golden hour before sunset. The evenings were long and unhurried, the way evenings should be.
Day 4 — Waterfalls & a Sasak Village
A day away from the water. We set off in the morning for a waterfall excursion — the kind of place that feels untouched, even if you know it isn't. Lunch somewhere local, then a visit to a traditional Sasak village, one of the indigenous communities of Lombok. Quiet, beautiful, and a reminder that the island has a depth well beyond its coastline.
Day 6 — Pink Beach
The snorkelling day. Pink Beach lives up to its name — a blush-coloured shoreline caused by fragments of red coral mixed into the sand. Underwater: more colour than you can take in at once. Lunch was included, eaten in the sun, salt still in our hair. In the evening, a closing circle — the kind of conversation that makes you want to write things down.
Day 7 — Last Morning
One final yoga session. One last breakfast. One more surf. Then check-out, goodbyes that lasted longer than expected, and the particular bittersweet feeling of leaving somewhere that gave you something.
What I Brought Home
More than I expected to. Not just the tan and the tiredness, but a quieter confidence — the knowledge that going somewhere new alone, especially somewhere as far as Indonesia, is not just possible but genuinely worth it.
Already dreaming of coming back to Asia. ✈️
Retreat organised by @elenaisa_yoga