From Warrior to Bali Bliss: Embracing a New Chapter at 58

Angel At Power of Now Yoga Bali - Yoga Instructor Course

In 2024, at 58 years of age, I set off on an unexpected journey—I packed my bags and traveled alone to Bali to enroll in a Yoga Instructor Course. I spent four months in this beautiful Indonesian paradise, exploring its serene environment and rich cultural heritage. Both made the perfect backdrop for my deepest personal development. Just eight months before I stepped on the plane bound for Bali, I had stepped onto a yoga mat for the first time, totally unaware that this moment would change the entire direction of my life.

I made a life-changing decision: one that went against convention, embraced the unknown, and redefined what getting older means to me. I packed up the usual routines of my past and set off, alone, to Bali, Indonesia, to live amongst the yoginis and engulf myself in yoga and meditation. Some may have called it a harebrained scheme; I call it a plan for my next half-century.

Several yoga schools in Bali are well-regarded. I chose Power of Now Oasis, a gorgeous shala situated directly on the beach in Sanur, Bali, Indonesia. They offer not just a 200-hour program, but also an immersive 23-day yoga instructor course that combines various styles: Hatha, Vinyasa, Restorative, Yin, Chair Yoga, Playful Yoga (Flow), Prenatal Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Beginning Acro Yoga, and Meditation. They do this, in part, to prepare you for the business of yoga, a part often neglected by yoga teacher training programs. Stand-up Paddle Board Yoga is another unique aspect of their training! Of course, they also teach you how to be a remarkable yoga teacher. You will leave their program with the Yoga Alliance certification, and that is worth its weight in gold.

Since the first yoga class I took, something has shifted. Yoga is no longer a simple sequence of asanas for me; it's a literal and figurative inexpressible every day, leading toward a deeper understanding of my body (and what it's capable of), a more explicit focus of my mind (and its true potential), and a situation of mental, physical, and emotional stability that is unlike anything I've experienced in long, long years. Each day in Bali gifts me with some new insight, some new depth of clarity in my body or my movement. Each practice leaves me feeling stronger—not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally refurbished and ready to take on whatever comes next.

For decades, I funneled my energy into my job, my family, and my responsibilities, often at the expense of my well-being. But as I got closer to turning 60, that barely audible voice in my head started nagging at me to do it—live more fully, move with intention, and love myself and my not-so-young body as we both enter a "new season of life"!

Completing my yoga instructor course not in the U.S. but in Bali allowed me to appreciate even more the rich, vibrant cultural layer that envelopes Bali. This understanding was part of my in-depth immersion into the course. And it is that curtain of culture that inspires me to teach the next layer of what I have learned to others: to the seniors I work with as well as to my peers.

Four months of living in Bali—enveloped in the friendship of new acquaintances, the devotion of my Balinese family, and the kindness and positivity of the island's people—was profoundly restorative. I healed in the sacred spaces that dot the island, savored and celebrated the diverse and delicious new foods that I shared with my companions, and found profound gratitude for the freshest seafood that the island serves up. I am approaching the six-year mark since my husband died, and as I said, the unexpressed ways that Bali allowed my heart to open again seem necessary to explain.

Spending four months in Bali—surrounded by new friends, my Balinese family, and the kindness and positivity of the people—was profoundly healing. Exploring sacred temples, experiencing new foods, enjoying the freshest seafood, and immersing myself in the island’s rich traditions all contributed to my transformation. After becoming a widow nearly six years before, Bali opened my heart again in ways that words cannot fully express.

Since being back, I have witnessed even more signs and have felt even more pressure to produce my next, oh-so-elusive book project. I am attempting to elude that direction—without really trying to elude anything in particular—in favor of creating more and better opportunities for these damn essays to happen.

Bali, with its energetic landscapes and lush, soulful beauty, became the perfect setting for this life and career transformation. The course was more than learning poses and their philosophical underpinnings. It was about learning to break through limiting beliefs that have held us back, rediscovering true strength, both physical and otherwise, and imagining a future in which age is not an obstacle but a bridge to something greater. This has been about more than earning a certification. It has been proven that reinvention has no expiration date. I step into this next phase of life with a renewed sense of purpose, deep vitality, and knowledge that in this day and age, we are never too old to be what we dream.

I am a mighty warrior! A lot of my life has been spent in the service of others—helping them, making decisions that have not been easy but necessary, advocating for all kinds of change, and even shaping what might be called laws. I call it Standing Up, When the Standing Is Not Easy! I have faced such things as not backing down even when the odds seemed impossible, or when this society threw up the usual roadblocks that inconveniently seem to pop up when the work is demanding, or when the real rewards might be just on the far side of the present moment, out of sight. This path has even turned into a life of crime, or at least into a part of life where I have been acting as if. Doing yoga has been one part of my journey. How have I wound up here? Why have my journeys taken the turns they have taken?

I am driven to genuinely motivate people — particularly those in their 50s, 60s, and later — to accept transformation through movement, meditation, and the marvel of new beginnings. After 50, life doesn't decelerate; it charges ahead in the kinds of unforeseen expansions we never believed possible. And this is just the opening act. Welcome to My Yoga, BaliHeart!

I love doing the Wild Thing Yoga Pose!