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Meditation Retreats in Indonesia/
Meditation Retreats in Bali/
SOMA - Embodied Compassion
6 nights, 7 days
14 person retreat
Highlights
Co-led by Steven Harper, a Gestalt teacher and wilderness guide of nearly fifty years, in the lineage of Richard Price at Esalen
Co-led by Dr Amy Finlay-Jones, compassion researcher, meditation teacher and lead editor of The Handbook of Self-Compassion
A rare pairing in one week: compassion science alongside relational Gestalt practice
Held at Desa Seni, an arts-focused retreat centre in the cool highlands above Baturiti
An intimate group of 10 to 16 participants
Daily compassion-based meditation and mindful movement
Somatic practice for nervous-system regulation and resilience
Relational Gestalt inquiry: working with emotion, contact and the body
A 90-minute Balinese massage included
All meals, airport transfers and a welcome gift included
Long, open afternoons for rest, bodywork, the art centre or the rice fields
Evening ritual, poetry and Balinese cultural immersion
Details
SOMA is a six-night immersion in embodied compassion, held at Desa Seni, an arts-focused retreat centre in the cool highlands above Baturiti in central Bali. At this altitude the air is clear and often threaded with mist; mornings arrive slowly, through cloud and leaf. Daily offerings of marigold and incense mark the edges of the rice terraces, temple bells cross the fields, and movement happens barefoot, over stone and earth. This is the old Bali that many travellers are seeking, but few are able to find. SOMA is a rare opportunity to work with two leaders in their field who embody the essence of the practice they teach: Steven Harper, a Gestalt teacher and wilderness guide of nearly fifty years in the lineage of Richard Price at Esalen, and Dr Amy Finlay-Jones, a compassion researcher and meditation teacher. Together they weave compassion practice, relational Gestalt inquiry and somatic work — meditation and mindful movement in the mornings, experiential inquiry through the day, ritual and poetry after dark. This week is for the people who carry a great deal for others — therapists, clinicians, teachers, carers, those working at the edge of the world's harder problems — and who have begun to feel its cost. You know the kind of tiredness that sleep doesn't reach. You move quickly through days you don't fully inhabit, swinging between caring too much and going numb, wanting to stay open to the world without being flattened by it. SOMA is a week to find a steadier way to live close to what you love. By the end, compassion is no longer an idea you reach for in theory: it is steadier breath, clearer boundaries, and the capacity to stay with another person's pain while remaining inside your own body.
Venue
Desa Seni Baturiti
4.6 ★ 361 Reviews
Stay, practice life, and reconnect through nature, food, and community. Built from reclaimed Indonesian homes, Desa Seni is not a resort placed in Bali — it is a village rooted in Indonesian tradition More than a stay — Desa Seni is a space to reconnect, restore, and return to what matters.
Free Wifi
Pool
Spa
Towels
Housekeeping
Restaurant
Free Parking
Shower
Bathroom
Accommodation
Private room
Private room for 2
$2,600 USD / person
Private room
Private room for 1
$3,400 USD total
Twin Share - Deluxe
2-person shared room
$2,900 USD / person
Twin Share - Standard
2-person shared room
$2,600 USD / person
1 / 4
Accommodation at Desa Seni is housed in antique wooden homes, each one restored and furnished in traditional Indonesian style, decorated with local art and cultural artefacts. The rooms are simple and considered: handcrafted timber, natural materials, the sound of the gardens through open windows. Set among rice fields and lotus ponds, the centre is built as a living village of open-air pavilions, so the line between inside and outside stays soft throughout your stay. Rooms are available on a private or twin-share basis, and solo travellers who wish to share can be matched with another participant. Each includes filtered drinking water, daily ceremonial offerings, and access to Desa Seni's library and art centre.
Meals
Meals provided
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Diets catered
Vegetarian · Gluten-free · Dairy-free
At SOMA, around 80% of the produce comes from Desa Seni's own organic gardens and farms, picked the same day and prepared to keep each ingredient close to what it is. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included daily, served at shared tables in the open-air pavilions, and the menu follows the season rather than a fixed card. Expect bright, vegetable-forward food: garden greens and herbs, tropical fruit, house-made ferments and sambals, rice and warm Indonesian dishes, and fresh juices and teas grown on site. Eating here is part of the practice — slow, communal, and tied to the land it came from.
Testimonials
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Host
Dr Amy Finlay-Jones
Australia
Amy is an Associate Professor, therapist, and contemplative practice facilitator who is dedicated to helping others cultivate more balanced, connected, and meaningful lives through compassion and mind...
1 language
English
Teaching for 8 months
Joined Insight Timer in Sep 2025
What's Included
Six nights' accommodation at Desa Seni
All meals daily — breakfast, lunch and dinner, farm-to-table from the organic gardens
The full daily programme: yoga, movement and meditation, compassion and Gestalt workshops, and evening practice
One-to-one sessions with the facilitators during the week
Opening Melukat water purification ceremony
Closing offering-making and fire ceremony
One 90-minute Balinese massage
Airport transfers
A welcome gift
Access to the book library and the Rumah Seni art centre
Not Included
Travel to Bali from your home country
Visas and tourist levies
Travel insurance (mandatory)
FAQs
Guest requirements
All participants must have comprehensive travel insurance
Cancellation policy
The remaining balance for the retreat is due 90 days prior to the start date. If this balance is paid earlier than these 90 days, you are eligible to cancel and receive a full refund of this remaining balance, provided you do so at least 90 days before the retreat begins.
