Review of Blooming Lotus Yoga Retreat in Ubud

There are plenty of great yoga retreats in Southeast Asia, so if you have been looking to join one, Bali is definitely the right place to come to. Not only is it a beautiful island with lots of great nature, wonderful fresh and colourful food and warm people, it also has something magical to it that can hardly be explained.

Want to know what Blooming Lotus Yoga Retreat in Ubud is all about? In this post, I am sharing my experience from joining the 4-Day Retreat at Blooming Lotus Yoga.

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What And Where Is Blooming Lotus Yoga Retreat?

Blooming Lotus Yoga Retreat offers 4 and 7-day yoga and meditation retreats as well as 200-hour yoga teacher trainings around the year. Founded by Lily Goncalves, the Blooming Lotus Yoga School has a presence in both Bali and Thailand.

In Bali, the retreat is hosted at a villa called Corner 88 Ubud, a beautiful property amidst greenery, next to the Wos River and local villages, roughly 20-minutes south of the busy heart of Ubud.

Set within the jungle and lush green gardens, there are a total of 8 private and shared villas and a big yoga shala, all overlooking the valley, which gives it a beautiful atmosphere close to nature where you can hear the birds sing in the morning.

All villas have small plunge pools as well as there is a bigger communal pool and spa.

And because I deliberately chose to go into a retreat, there is little entertainment like shops or restaurants around here, which is great actually, as it truly presents zero distractions from the outside world. Perfect for a yoga retreat in Bali!

There is, however, an optional shuttle into town each day at lunchtime, if you do feel like exploring Ubud town a little more.

Who Is Blooming Lotus Yoga Retreat For?

While at the retreat, I have met many different people from all over the world: Singaporeans, Germans, people from the US, Australia and South Africa.

There were people joining the retreat who recently quit their job, taking some time off for a sabbatical as well as others who only had one week in Bali and dedicated this week to the yoga retreat entirely.

Truly, you can fit in a yoga retreat anytime that feels right in your life.

So what about the level of yoga that is taught here?

There were yogis in the beginning stages as well as fully trained yoga teachers that attended and I would definitely say Blooming Lotus Yoga somewhat targets all levels and the teachers put in a lot of effort to cater to everyone.

All in all, I found the people I met at the retreat a great mix. However, I would say Blooming Lotus Yoga Retreat is especially great for beginners as the meditations are short to ease you in and the workshops dive deeper into yoga covering the basics.

I myself have been practicing yoga for about two years and still learned a lot about the background and techniques I didn’t know about before. Because I usually only join short 1-hour classes at my studio at home, I had some deeper insights and thoughts into yoga, why I practice and I reflected more on the benefits it brings me. The 1-hour morning workshops after breakfast were definitely a great addition and I learned a lot of just background knowledge.

There were about 20 people with me on the yoga retreat, which was an okay size overall, but I wouldn’t have liked it to be much bigger than this.

Daily Yoga Routine At Blooming Lotus

Retreat Start, Check-In & First Day

All retreats start on a Sunday afternoon. I checked in around 2pm and was served a nice welcome drink and then had some time to relax in my lovely villa by the pool.

Later that day, I met the other attendees of the retreat over dinner. Then, there was time scheduled for a “cultural event” which ended up being a traditional Balinese Kecak dance with some hundred other people in an arena outside of Ubud where we got driven by mini-bus.

I honestly did not like this event and would’ve skipped it if I’d known. Sure, it is an integral part of Balinese culture and interesting to watch but it had zero to do with yoga or what was to come in the next few days. I would’ve much rather done a cacao ceremony or worked on setting some intentions for the coming days or something else more yoga-related.

I truly hope Blooming Lotus Yoga will change this event in the future. Speaking to other retreat attendees, I could gather that everyone was a bit confused and not too enthusiastic about seeing this cultural event.

Daily Yoga Classes 

Our two teachers were Bindi for the morning session and Stacey for the afternoon yoga and meditation classes.

They were both super friendly, open and true yogis. While they didn’t stay at the property with us, they were there early in the morning and stuck around after the class to have a chat.

Two very warm and beautiful souls! All the other times, the Indonesian staff looked after the group.

A typical day at Blooming Lotus Yoga Retreat looks something like this:

It was very nice that the group was together for tea and coffee in the morning and afternoon and we could exchange plenty of stories and thoughts over the nightly group dinners as well.

The 4-day retreat however felt much shorter than I anticipated. Since Sunday was the arrival day with no yoga classes scheduled and Wednesday was the departure day with only one yoga and meditation session in the morning, we really only did two full days of yoga on Monday and Tuesday.

These days consisted of 4 hours of yoga and meditation plus a 1-hour workshop packed with lots of learnings and techniques which we could then practice in class.

I believe if you just want a short intro, the 4-day retreat is a good choice, but I could’ve definitely stayed on for the full 7 days, I think this way you get a whole lot more value, but it totally depends on you of course!

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The Accommodation at Blooming Lotus Yoga Retreat

Of course, you could just find a great place to stay in Ubud and go to a yoga studio everyday to practice at the oh-so-popular Yoga Barn. This might be a cheaper option, but I truly loved the atmosphere of the retreat and everyone I met was friendly and kind and the group had a warm dynamic.

Staying at Corner 88 also meant fewer distractions from the outside world, no commute between yoga studio and hotels and searching for restaurants to eat at. You don’t even have to clean your room, the staff does it all for you!

Blooming Lotus Yoga Retreat seems especially targeted to solo travellers or small groups of friends as they offer shared air-conditioned suites where you share the room with another yoga student or friend.

You have your own en-suite bathroom that you share only with your roomie and the suite itself is set within a large 3-bedroom shared villa. There is also a Deluxe version of this room with some more space.

Alternatively, you could opt for a private 1-bedroom villa, which you’ll have all to yourself.

I loved having my own villa as it helped me just sit with my own thoughts and I truly had no distractions, so I could focus 100% on new yoga techniques and mind work.

My private villa came with a huge bathroom and beautiful bathtub, plunge pool and outdoor shower as well as my private sunbed area and an equipped kitchen, which I didn’t use however, since breakfast and dinner was provided at the retreat and I ate out for lunch one afternoon and ordered room service the next day.

Food at Blooming Lotus Yoga Retreat

Amrita Restaurant is the on-site, open-air restaurant providing 100% vegan and organic cuisine for breakfast and dinner. Lunch is not included in the price.

The breakfast was good, smoothie bowls and pancakes were on the menu. The later were delicious!

Dinner was quite small on arrival day as my plate only had three little jackfruit tacos, but the next two nights were a lot better with a plate filled with food. In general, I could sense from the group that they bought snacks for in-between as the food at the retreat wasn’t plentiful proportions. Maybe part of the yogi lifestyle to eat light and fresh, which I do agree with but I don't like being hungry.

Is There Anything Else To Do Outside The Retreat?

Yes sure, there is plenty! Ubud is known for its many adventure activities and day trips and if you fancy, you can definitely hike Mount Batur one morning or explore the rice terraces and jungle swings in the afternoon.

Some girls are the retreat actually did that. They got a shuttle to the rice terraces one afternoon. Others hiked Mount Batur in the early morning. Blooming Lotus can organise this for you on the spot, if you decide to be adventurous outside of the yoga part.

I chose not to do any of those activities while on retreat, as I wanted to fully focus on being there and my thoughts. Instead, I arrived a week early into Ubud and got my activity fix then. You could also stay a few days longer and then go exploring.

There are many amazing yoga retreats in Bali, Blooming Lotus Yoga Retreat in Ubud provides an affordable option if you don’t mind sharing your room and villa.

The facilities of the retreat are exceptional and the location within the lush green jungle adds to the peacefulness of practicing and learning about yoga, meditation and daily mindfulness.