Why Is Meditation Important? A Guest's Unexpected Discovery at Ubuntu Bali

Last month, a guest named Marco arrived at Ubuntu Bali for a short stay. He was a tech founder from Singapore—exhausted, overstimulated, and openly skeptical.
“I can’t meditate,” he admitted on day one. “My mind doesn’t stop.”

We hear this often.

On the third morning, Marco skipped the seated meditation session. Instead, our team found him standing quietly by the garden, watching a small gecko climb the frangipani tree. He stayed there for twenty minutes, barely moving.

Later he told us, “I didn’t realize I was meditating. I was just… watching. And for the first time in months, my chest didn’t feel tight.”

Meditation Isn’t What You Think

We’ve all been sold the same image: someone sitting perfectly still, legs crossed, mind empty. But meditation isn’t about emptiness. It’s about presence. And presence can meet you anywhere.

Marco found it with a gecko.
Another guest—a mother of three from Australia—found it while kneading dough during a simple cooking class.
“My hands knew what to do,” she said. “My brain finally went quiet.”

The Moment It Clicks

On Marco’s last day, he joined the morning meditation. He didn’t sit perfectly still—he shifted, scratched his arm, adjusted his posture. But he stayed. Afterward, he said something we still remember:

“I used to think meditation was about escaping my thoughts.
Now I realize it’s about not running from them.”

He returned to Singapore with no specific method or ritual—just a practice of pausing. Three months later, he emailed us: “I watch the trees outside my office now. Five minutes. Every day. It’s not much, but it’s mine.”

The Bali Effect

There’s something about this island that softens people. Maybe it’s the offerings placed carefully at every doorway—tiny daily reminders of attention. Maybe it’s the temple bells that shape time differently, or the way the air feels full of space.

At Ubuntu, we never try to force meditation. We simply create an environment where presence can find you—in the slowness of breakfast, in the rice fields at dusk, in the sound of rain on bamboo.

And for many, presence becomes easiest when the mind stops trying to be still… and the body begins to move.

When Meditation Happens Through Movement

Some people find stillness by sitting.
Others need to move to arrive.

This is why practices like 5Rhythms® resonate with so many—especially those who think traditional meditation isn’t “for them.” In 5Rhythms, nothing needs to be perfect. There’s no shape to achieve, no performance, no choreography. Just breath, body, rhythm, and honesty.

It’s meditation in motion.
A doorway into yourself, entered through the body rather than the mind.

And if Marco taught us anything, it’s that meditation often begins the moment we stop trying so hard.

5Rhythms®: A Movement Meditation with Jada at Ubuntu Bali

If you’re curious to explore meditation not through stillness but through movement, this upcoming session may speak to you.

5Rhythms is a dynamic practice that brings you back into your body—into sensation, intuition, and the truth of your own physical expression. Each rhythm invites you to meet a different quality of energy:
Flowing (grounding), Staccato (clarity), Chaos (release), Lyrical (lightness), Stillness (presence).
Together, they form a Wave—a journey of listening, feeling, dissolving, and returning home.

As Gabrielle Roth once said:
“There is a dance only you can do… Are you willing to listen with fascination?”

If something in you whispers yes, you’re welcome to join.

So, join us on the dance floor: 5Rhythms® with Jada at Ubuntu Bali, 13 December at 11:15 AM

Come as you are.
Move as you are.
Your dance is waiting.