Heather | Bali 200hr YTT Testimonial
I enrolled in the School of Yoga Institute (SYI) 200-hour yoga teacher training at Bumi Cinta in Bali (December 1–21, 2025) with both professional and personal intentions. After a challenging year marked by emotional strain and a Lisfranc fracture in May 2024 that left me unable to walk for six months, I was seeking a thoughtful reentry into embodied practice. My aim was to refresh my yoga skills, rehabilitate my foot, and return to practice in a way that felt safe and sustainable—so that I could once again share these tools with my patients and with those I serve through I THRIVE 501c3.
Although I had previously completed a 500-hour yoga teacher training, this experience felt fundamentally different. I arrived in Bali emotionally depleted and physically cautious, aware that I was not at my best. Paradoxically, this became one of the most valuable aspects of the training. Moving through an intensive program while emotionally unwell offered insight into earlier experiences during medical training and residency. Familiar patterns emerged—how I respond to pressure, how easily others’ projections can take hold, and how often I had historically carried responsibility that was not mine.
Throughout the training, moments arose in which others projected their unresolved material onto me. Rather than avoiding these experiences, I approached them as opportunities for reflection and growth. Engaging consciously with my own shadow while holding appropriate boundaries allowed me to process long-standing themes with greater clarity and self-compassion. This work was not always comfortable, but it was deeply instructive. It transformed what might once have felt destabilizing into something integrative and strengthening.
Graduation carried unexpected symbolic significance. Walking forward—both physically and metaphorically—marked a meaningful closure. The experience helped me process unresolved wounds from residency and medical training in a way that felt complete rather than reactivating. Completing the program allowed me to step away from that chapter with greater understanding and finality, no longer needing to carry its weight forward.
The environment at Bumi Cinta played a central role in this process. The staff were consistently gentle, welcoming, and deeply human—capable of holding seriousness and levity in equal measure. Their warmth fostered a sense of psychological safety that allowed growth to unfold organically. During the training, my mother was unexpectedly hospitalized. While far from home and navigating intense uncertainty, the manager, Nyoman, guided me through a traditional Balinese blessing. He spoke with quiet assurance, telling me that if I believed my mother would recover, she would. The following day, she was taken off life support and able to breathe independently. That moment remains profoundly meaningful to me, both personally and culturally.
From an educational perspective, the School of Yoga Institute offered a streamlined and well-organized curriculum. The training emphasized two core sequences: a foundational Hatha practice followed by a more challenging Vinyasa flow. This structure allowed for repetition, confidence-building, and embodied learning rather than cognitive overload. Team-building exercises and healing practices were woven throughout the program, supporting connection and reflection while respecting individual boundaries.
Jed, the owner and one of the primary teachers, brought a light-spirited and grounded presence that was particularly valuable during more demanding moments. His humor and accessibility created a safe place to land while navigating both physical challenges and emotional complexity. The balance between professionalism and levity helped maintain momentum without sacrificing depth.
Living at Bumi Cinta meant fully engaging with the natural environment. Open-air bungalows, frequent encounters with insects and animals, and close communal living required flexibility and adaptation. Over time, this immersion became an integral part of the experience. Surrendering to nature and simplicity—despite discomforts (mosquitoes, oh my!) —fostered a sense of presence and humility that felt aligned with yogic principles. Sharing space with like-minded individuals, each on their own path of growth, created a quiet but powerful sense of collective healing.
By the conclusion of the training, I did not feel “fixed,” nor did I expect to. Instead, I felt as though the ground had been tilled—prepared for deeper, more intentional healing to continue. The training created the conditions for insight, release, and integration, clearing space for the next phase of my recovery rather than signaling its end. It helped me reconnect to my body, regain trust in movement, and reestablish an internal steadiness that had been disrupted over the prior year.
Building on this foundation, I chose to pursue more dedicated healing through additional retreats in Bali and continued travel to Japan and Thailand. These experiences allowed the work begun at SYI to deepen rather than dissipate, offering further opportunities for reflection, embodiment, and cultural immersion. Taken together, this sequence of intentional experiences left me in a markedly better place than where I began—more grounded, regulated, and resourced, with a clearer sense of direction and renewed capacity to serve others.
I can confidently recommend the School of Yoga Institute (SYI) 200-hour training to those seeking an organized, manageable entry into yoga teaching, as well as to individuals interested in cultural immersion and personal growth. For me, this training was not simply a certification; it was a meaningful return to practice, a process of integration, and a pivotal step in a longer healing journey that continues to inform both my personal life and professional work.
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