How a Retreat in Bali Can Reset Your Mindset Completely

We’ve all met them: travellers who return from a few months on the beaches of Bali and other tropical paradises, wearing baggy trousers and braided hair, proclaiming how their entire perspective on the world has been shifted. You’ve probably wondered, are they just being dramatic, or are they telling the truth? Well, in this article, we’re going to find out. We’re exploring the benefits of visiting Bali for a retreat vacation.

Types of Retreats

Of course, there are different types of retreats available in Bali. They all focus on improving your health, both physical and mental, in some way, but there are various ways they attempt to achieve those goals. Meditation, yoga, and even silent retreats are popular. Some people also go for health-focused retreats, where they eat a strict diet and take daily exercise to help them get into shape.

Provided that the retreat you attend aligns with your goals, the benefits for your mindset tend to be fairly similar. You won’t necessarily return from your trip as the hippie-like figure described in the introduction, but you can certainly expect some changes to take place. Let’s look at what those might be.

You Become More Aware of Mental Noise

In our daily lives, our minds are constantly busy. When we’re not conversing with people, answering emails and messages, or working, we’re usually thinking about these things. And if we’re not thinking about work, we’ll find other problems to think about.

We’re so used to this constant low-level anxiety and mental chatter that we barely even notice it. That is, until we take a break, such as going to a retreat in Bali.

You don’t even need to attend a meditation retreat to quickly recognise how much time your mind spends occupied with this kind of noise. However, that type of retreat may offer some techniques for dealing with it effectively. But putting any kind of space between you and your worries will help you see how large a role this plays in your mind. And once you recognise it, you can start taking steps to stop it.

You Reprioritise and Focus on What Really Matters

Back home, we tend to chase productivity. We think achieving more will lead us to happiness, and we strive to find ways to get more done. This isn’t necessarily bad, but these efforts are often wasted on goals that aren’t really worth chasing. This is something that many people realise when they embark on a Bali retreat. They often find they’re happier after a few weeks of simple living than they are when attaining their career goals.

This doesn’t mean you’ll lose your ambition, but it might prompt you to increase the amount of time and energy you dedicate to your health, relationships and leisure. We often get so caught up chasing salient rewards like promotions or money that we overlook the large role these other factors play in our lives. A stay at a retreat centre in Bali often reminds people how important they are.

You Redefine Productivity

Besides trying to be productive in areas of life outside of work, Bali vacationers also tend to come back with a new idea of what it means to be productive. Most people think it means getting as much done as you can with the time you have. So, they try to squeeze as much in as they can, burning the candle at both ends, and then wonder why they constantly feel burned out and exhausted.

The perspective that many people pick up in Bali is that doing a bit less, but doing it consistently and doing it well, garners even better results. The freedom from distractions found at these retreats also causes many to recognise the role that focus plays. They begin to realise that back home, they often waste time on distractions that enable them to feel productive, but don’t really lead to results.

You’ll Regulate Your Emotions Better

It is said that practice makes perfect, so you’d think that the people who are best at regulating their emotions are the ones faced with stress, anxiety and frustration daily. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Those whose decisions have large consequences, like managers of businesses, are often far more likely to give in to anger and worry than, say, monks who exist in a carefully cultivated atmosphere of calm.

It’s not that the latter don’t get angry. They just have enough time to rest and reflect in between powerful emotions so that they understand that their feelings will pass, and that immediate action may not be necessary. Taking some time away in Bali can give people the same kind of space and quiet atmosphere they need to recognise this, too.

You’ll Feel More In Control

When we feel negative emotions, our first instinct is often to blame something outside of ourselves. And while it may be true that something external caused us to feel the way we feel, we also tend to shift the responsibility for making us feel better again onto it. But when you’re in Bali, learning techniques like meditation and breathwork, or taking charge of your health, you’ll realise that your happiness is largely in your control.

Many people return from Bali with a renewed sense of optimism and calm. They’re not this relaxed because of all the time they’ve spent on the beautiful beaches; it’s because they have accepted responsibility for their own inner state. No matter what the world throws at them, they know they can take action to overcome their negative emotions and restore their own happiness.

You Won’t Feel the Need for Constant Stimulation

The rules around using digital technology depend on the particular retreat you go to, but most at least discourage you from using it. This is why so many visitors come back and find they are less interested in checking, or sometimes even carrying, their phone. The same goes for watching TikTok or YouTube and checking social media. It doesn’t take much time without these things for your brain to reset and no longer desire them.

Boredom, in small doses, can be highly beneficial. It not only gives you time to think about what actually matters, but it also makes any subsequent activity seem interesting, which is great for productivity. In Bali, many people also realise that going without constant stimulation is not really boring. There are plenty of other things to do, but technology is so effectively addictive that we fear we’ll be bored without it.

You’ll Be More Comfortable With Uncertainty

When you attend a retreat, you relinquish control over many aspects of your life. You’ll likely get some say, of course, but your choice of daily activities and even your diet may be constrained. You’re essentially forced to go with the flow, which can be an intimidating experience for some people. Yet many find that it brings a great sense of relief.

This doesn’t mean that when you go home, you should have others make all your decisions for you. It just means that when, inevitably, things happen that you cannot do anything about, you’ll be ready. You’ve already practised responding to such situations in a safe environment.

Conclusion

So, yes, a retreat in Bali really can lead to some quite dramatic mindset changes. You probably won’t feel the need to grow dreadlocks, but you’ll likely come back with a new perspective on life and what’s important to you.