Tooth Filing and Brave Intuitive Painting in Bali

Tooth Filing Ceremony:

Wow! What an honour! Tooth filing is the most important religious ceremony in a person’s life here in Bali – more important than a wedding. It’s a coming of age ceremony that symbolizes the release of an individual’s animal nature (filing of the canine teeth) and sins, thus ensuring peace for the soul and reincarnation. I’ve read on some webpages that only family can witness the ceremony. You can imagine, therefore, how special it was for our group to be invited because Nicole, the cultural coordinator for Flora Bowley’s painting workshop, used to live here (on that property, actually) and is very good friends with the family. The father is the owner of a tour company that caters to German tourists and so there were actually a lot of foreigners there.

The ceremony takes a month to prepare and lasts several days. Because of the high expense, families usually wait until they can hold the ceremony for two or more of their children. The actual tooth filing is what we were invited to witness – it’s only about 10-15 minutes long and by the time we got there (and the time I took photographing the abundant visual stimulus on the way through the family’s entrance gate, temple, upper yard level, and down the steps past the crowd), I only caught the very end of the second daughter’s filing. She was no longer lying down, but seated and then carried out.

The eldest daughter later told us that the actual experience felt a bit painful, but mostly strange. This daughter had already been married for a few years to a man of a higher caste. She therefore had to have a special ceremony to bring her back down to her family’s level. At the end of the celebrations, she would need another ceremony to bring her back up to her husband’s caste. Although she visits the family every week, she cannot pray in her family temple anymore. The father had ensured, before she got married, that this arrangement would be allowed so that he could fulfill his tooth filing duty to his daughters once both were of age.

Our hosts and everyone there were very welcoming – I’d venture to say tolerant as we were sometimes like the paparazzi. I’m not sure if it’s because of the heat or the culture, but the atmosphere was very laid back. People sat around and chatted, answered questions, ate, etc. As is custom when visiting a temple, we all had our shoulders covered and had to wear a sarong (wrap around garment) – even if what we wore underneath was a long skirt. If you had a sash over your sarong, it was even more respectful. Although part of our group left before the daughters were all dressed up for another part of the ceremony, I stayed to see them come out of where they were being prepared. We al left, however, before the ceremony started, in time for a very quick swim before our afternoon painting workshop.

A few quick notes:

• The temple was brimming with offerings, most made with the young fronds of palm trees. At the end, they will all be ceremoniously burned.

• The most popular subject of conversation and photos was definitely the sculpture made almost entirely out of the parts of a pig – even those pretty lace flags at the front. The red parts, however, are either peppers or mini tomatoes.  Everything else came from the pig.
  
  

  
• There were 12 priests involved in the ceremony. The high priest was extremely generous to allow us to photograph him – something we were told not to expect.

Flora Bowley’s Bloom True Ubud Workshop

We’re already half way through our retreat and I’ve been too busy experiencing it to write much about it (that and the horrible Internet service here at Swasti Eco Cottages has encouraged me to be more present).

As you’ve seen through the photos in the previous post, except for the Internet service and tiny portions at the delicious organic restaurant on site, the setting is ideal.

Opening Night:

Our group met for a lovely organic buffet on Sunday evening – more fresh vegetables than I had seen the entire week before. We’re all women living in various areas of the world – U.S., Canada, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria (that would be me). The restaurant looked beautiful and each table was decorated with individual gift bags (Flora Bowley designs) filled with goodies (paint brushes, a fan, a notebook, and more).   What a nice touch. After dinner, we headed through the organic garden to our painting area. The pathway was lined with candles and a circle of cushions with a beautiful altar in the center welcomed us into the space. After sharing a round of names and “truths of the moment”, we had a ceremonial letting go and welcoming ritual before choosing a hand-painted card for our week. I let go of any scarcity mentality (as per my last blog) and welcomed laughter. My intention is to reconnect to that playful side of myself this week. The card I intuitively picked said “Follow your breath”. It seemed very appropriate.

I fell asleep that night to the incredible concert of frogs, geckos and other creatures. Happy. Peaceful.

The Workshop:

Most of the ladies in our group had already taken Flora’s Bloom True e-course (highly recommended). The workshop is following the same process, but doing so in community is quite a bit different. We’re doing a lot of collaborative work, from mandalas on paper to paintings on canvas. The process of having everyone paint on every piece for short periods of time through each step of Flora’s process is ideal for the practice of non-attachment. For the first two days, nothing was “mine” and so it was easy to be bold and brave and to let go of what each layer of paint offered. This course is all about making strong commitments and then being open to change. It’s all about exploring what’s on the edge of our comfort zones and not being attached to anything until much later in the process. It’s also about having a lot of fun while following our intuition. It’s an amazing process for both beginners and advanced painters.   Again, I totally recommend it, and Flora is simply lovely in so many ways – a great teacher. What we learn through her classes (and blog, etc.) is as much about life as it is about art. Some women here have truly had life-changing experiences because of her course. What an amazing role model. Plus she’s a great business woman and I’m learning a lot from her from that perspective too.

There’s so much more I could write about, but that’s it for now. Time for another great day.