Crystal Tan
Age: 29
Nationality: Singaporean
Occupation: Still searching
Bali Usada 1 Tapa Brata student, 24th to 31st January 2010

Peace and Happiness needs to be found from within and not always from external environment.

I guess I can say that life is not going to be the same again after going for 7 day 6 nights Tapa Brata. It is so clear to me now that Tapa Brata is so essential to life, The learnings from it, I truly believe is as important as how a child needs to learn how to read and write. In fact, if it were up to me it should be introduced to all school curriculums.

Let me tell you a bit of my life background. I’m 29 years old, and my husband Bjorn and I were working in the advertising industry for seven years when we decided that what were not on the right path. The job was life-draining. It was hard work and stressful during the day, sometimes the challenges were so impossible, deadlines so tight that we used to say “I’m losing the will to live” quite regularly to each other in the office. The salary was good though, and the parties were abundant. So our lives were basically work work work, then drink party party. On the weekends, we had no energy left for anything and usually slept through it or watched mindless TV just to ‘rest’ our minds and body. Life was essentially just flashing right by us. We were depressed and spiritually sick, knew we had to get out before our bodies give in too sooner or later.

By Michele Cempaka

Merta Ada, a man of gentle demeanor with an ever present smile, has been teaching meditation on the island of Bali since 1993. Today there are 86,000 people who have jumped on board the Bali Usada Meditasi wagon. What’s the secret to Merta Ada’s successful meditation practice? Perhaps it lies in the fact that most people are seeking more profound healing methods which address a great deal more than just our gross bodies, but incorporate the belief that our emotions and state of mind can also have powerful effects on our overall well being. Merta Ada shares his ideas about how a harmonious mind and wise body awareness can greatly assist in our healing process.

“For five thousand years we’ve had the culture of healing in Bali. After that time, we were influenced by Indian and Chinese cultures. All of these cultures are mixed together at Bali Usada Meditasi,” says Merta Ada.