Are you looking to feel completely connected to your mind, body and spirit? The Gili islands have several yoga studios available! Allow yourself to become more in touch with your senses and live in the present moment while in paradise.
One of our favorite yoga studio’s on the Gili Islands is Flowers & Fire Yoga Studio, a lovely yoga garden studio, located on the beautiful island of Gili Air. We would love to share with you the story of the owner and how this beautiful yoga studio came about!
Emily, the owner of Flowers & Fire Yoga Studio arrived on Gili Air four and a half years ago. As soon as she stepped foot on this island, she knew this was exactly where she needed to be.
Flowers & Fire Yoga Studio offers a wide range of yoga classes and workshops to accommodate all levels of experience. Their beginner classes are designed to set up a strong foundation for your future yoga journey.
Their magical space is designed with traditional Javanese artisanal architecture, local bamboo and alang-alang styled structures.
Getting To Know The Owner: Emily
In her life before Gili Air, Emily studied and worked in the fields of art and design as an artist, dressmaker and costume designer. It was here she developed her sense of design and aesthetics which help her create the Centre. She later taught art, design, and creativity to students in high schools. Her experience with teaching allowed her to explore various sides of entrepreneurship like problem solving, resilience, people management, and the ability to figure stuff out on the fly! She soon began to see how fulfilling teaching was for her. She felt like she was being a part of a larger whole and doing something worthwhile to expand her students’ minds. She loved the idea of providing a sanctuary for her students to release themselves by utilizing creativity.
“Successful outcomes derive from authentic expression”
Emily bonded very well with the quirky students and soon saw them feel comfortable to speak their minds and engage in their own creativity with her. She loved to inspire her students to listen in and follow the urges of their creative pulse. And she believes that the most beautiful and successful outcomes derive from authentic expression.
Emily’s background in teaching and passion led her to feel she would find a home on Gili Air. After pursuing a journey to explore her innermost thoughts, evolved several spiritual philosophies. While she believes in many, one that resonates with her the most is Tantric philosophy. One of the teachings coming out of Tantric philosophy is the idea that one’s true essence exists in all elements of life, or as Emily states, ‘everything is path’.
We all have different emotional flavors; resentment, emptiness, anger. We tend to judge them as good or bad, repress the ones we don’t like and push forward the ones we do like. Rather than accepting and sitting with what we’re feeling.
When we experience an emotional state that we judge as negative, such as rage, a great technique is to embody the feeling and experience it deeply. Is it sitting in one spot or in another? Does it have a colour?
Emily states that breathing and sitting with your emotions will allow you to experience it as one of many manifestations of our divine consciousness. Allow yourself to taste the self, or as Emily states, ‘ferment in your essence.’ When we allow ourselves to sit with what we’re feeling, we tend to experience our true essence, which is ‘internal bliss.’
This is just a taste of the theory and practices that Emily explores in her yoga classes with her students.
She educates people in their bodies and their minds. Yoga is an evolving field and the idea of traditional yoga and non-traditional yoga varies amongst different cultures and societies. Emily wants to create a foundation of theory and understanding through yoga.
When was Flowers & Fire constructed?
The construction of Flowers and Fire Yoga Studio began in April 2018.
Her inspiration for the architectural layout and design is that of folk tales. How magical is that? She adores folk art and noticed the similarities that Javanese and folk designs share. This blend of designs creates a whimsical atmosphere in her yoga garden.
The furniture in her yoga garden is made by local craftsmen on Gili Air. The coffee tables with typical Javanese designs found on her porches are brought from Bali.
When you book a room at Flowers & Fire Yoga Studio the yoga is included in your package. She liked the idea of creating a community with like-minded individuals who share similar values.
Wake up from a good night’s sleep in their beautiful micro-fibered queen size bedrooms! Microfiber is known to be a very comfortable styled bedding and also hard to find in Indonesia! Emily compares it to “sleeping on a cloud.” Sounds pretty magical, huh?
There’s a wide selection of vegetarian and vegan options for breakfast and lunch. They have smoothie bowls, juices, curry bowls to choose from to help nourish your body that way it needs to.
Are you planning to visit the Gili Islands? Make sure you put Flowers & Fire on your list of places to visit. We promise you, you won’t regret it!
Staying at Flowers & Fire is a great getaway to put your life on pause and clear your mind for a change. Interested in booking your stay with them? Want to know how to get to the Gilis and what activities there are to do here? Find all this out on our website!
If you have any specific questions, feel free to shoot us a message, we’d love to hear from you!
Feel free to share the sunshine!
