March 5, 2026 • 25 mins
Finding purpose through yoga sometimes takes a single class — the kind of moment that quietly changes the direction of your life.
In this episode, Kimberley Utama shares the personal journey that led her from feeling pulled between identities to building a life rooted in practice, presence, and purpose. She speaks about what drew her to Bali, what surprised her most once she arrived, and how her relationship with yoga shifted from “something to do” into something she could not ignore. Along the way, she reflects on the inner work that happens behind the scenes of becoming a teacher, the parts of the path that are rarely talked about, and why she is now leaning toward quieter, subtler practices that feel deeper than anything she expected.
If you have ever questioned where you belong, or felt called toward a new chapter but did not know why, this conversation will leave you wanting to hear what happens next.
Episode Chapters:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:44 Who She Is
00:03:04 First Yoga Experience
00:05:46 Moving to Bali
00:06:50 First Teacher Trainings
00:08:45 Teaching Began Unexpectedly
00:11:04 Teaching Style
00:14:42 Closing a Big Chapter
00:15:55 Why This New Space Matters
00:19:46 What She Is Exploring Now
00:23:25 Yoga Is For Everyone
00:25:29 How to Connect
Mentions & Resources:
Michael Henri’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelyoga.pt/
Kimberley’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimberleyutamayoga/
The IN Movement Instagram: https://www.instagram/com/the_in_movement/
The IN Movement Podcast was formerly the Going Pro Yoga Podcast — and before that, the Yoga Teacher Evolution Podcast and the Rat Race Rebellion Podcast. Same mission, evolved name.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey there, before we get startedon this week's episode, I would
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(00:23):
and then give us some love. Thank you so much.
And let's get started with this week's episode.
Welcome back to the In Movement podcast.
This is your host, Michael Henry.
And welcome to another episode. In this episode, we have a
guest, a new guest actually, whoI've been trying to get on the
podcast for I don't even know how long, but it's a long time.
(00:46):
Kimberly Uttama is in the house.Kimberly, welcome to the
podcast. Thanks for having me, Michael.
Of course. So Kimberly and I have known
each other probably a couple of years now.
I don't know exactly. I think we might have met at the
restaurant Seeds of Life. I think officially with Byron
years ago, a long time, but basically we crossed paths and
(01:06):
eventually we started working together on trainings and things
like that. And Kimberly's also going to be
one of the teachers at the In Movement space in New Kooning,
which is opening later this spring, which is really
exciting. So we wanted to have her on the
podcast to learn a little bit more about her.
So yeah, really excited to have you here.
Yeah, I'm excited to be here finally.
(01:26):
Yeah, exactly, I think. It has been a few years in the
in the making. It has been waiting.
It has been, yeah. It's been a long time, but yeah,
I'm excited to have you here. I think we'll just kind of jump
into, yeah, just learning a little bit more about you.
I think most people, I don't saymost people, but some people
probably don't know who you are yet.
So let's kind of go from that place, like who are you and
(01:47):
where are you from? And your accent sounds like
this, but there's more to it. So yeah, tell me a little bit
about yourself. Such a great question.
Who am I? The constant question?
Yeah. So I'm Kimberly and here in Bali
like half baloney S Australian. I've been here in Bali 16 years.
(02:08):
So you grew up in Australia? I grew up in Melbourne,
Australia, right? Yeah.
And you're half Bolognese. Half Bolognese.
OK. My father's from Bali, my mother
is Australian, right? And yeah, I knew that I wanted
to have a connection with Bali and that's what brought me back
here so 17 years ago. And here I am, all this, all
(02:29):
these years later. Let's start with explaining your
last name. Explaining my last name, I
actually have a lot of names. Oh, you do?
I do have a lot of names. I have a lot of Bali names.
OK. Well, maybe give me your full
name. Let's just see what happens
there. OK, you're ready.
I'm ready. Travel roll.
Yeah. Agusti, IU, Kimberly, Kuana
(02:50):
Utama. And now my my married name is
Sample. So.
Wow, OK. A lot of names, a lot of Bali
names, Western names and now, yeah, my married name.
Great. So thank you for that little
introduction. And so what's your experience
with yoga? I mean, you know, you're a yoga
teacher. There's no surprise there.
But like, when did yoga first like, kind of come into your
(03:10):
life? Living in Melbourne, you know,
living in the West, working 9:00to 5:00, working in sales,
working in accounting, doing thegrind, working in hospitality,
Yoga was something like that. One of my friends said, you got
to come along and experience this thing.
And I remember my very first yoga class laying in Shavasana
(03:36):
and, and just crying. It was like a meeting of myself
in that moment. And it was a slow falling in
love. It wasn't a like all in yoga
addiction. It was like, OK, I'm curious,
like what is this thing that is allowing me to see more of who I
(03:58):
am that I couldn't see back then?
I think a lot of my my youth andgrowing up in Australia and
being predominantly mixed race growing up in a Western culture,
I had a lot of questions around who am I?
You know, that question that youjust asked me of just not really
knowing and yoga was that that place where I could really start
(04:21):
to understand more of who I was beyond all of the expectations
of society. So I started to ask those
Upanishad type questions within yourself.
Yeah. And having those moments of like
realization that I'm so much more than than all the other
things that I'd placed on me. So, yeah, I mean, yoga for sure
(04:44):
has changed my life 100%. I know.
I think every yoga teacher probably say it says that, but
I, you know, I feel it. I don't know who I would be if
yoga hadn't been in my life, butyet here we are.
And it has. And it's definitely shaped who I
am, you know, how I parent how how I teach, obviously, but just
(05:06):
how I interact with the world. Yeah.
So then how old were you approximately when you got first
introduced to it? 20 in my 20s Yeah, 2021.
OK. And then you obviously practice
for a while. Then I practice for a while.
It was a dabble. It wasn't an everyday thing.
It was, you know, when I could, how about the space?
I would get to the mat and I waskind of living these two lives,
(05:30):
you know, this kind of going out, wild party, carefree, lost,
climbing the corporate ladder life.
And then I would step in and, and head to a studio and head to
a class like 2 * a week, 3 * a week.
So it kind of started like that.But it wasn't until I moved here
to Bali that I really dived in where it was like it became an
(05:51):
everyday thing. And this is where I've done all
of my trainings, you know, here in Bali, I have also trained in
India. But this is where really the
seeds started to be planted. This is where I really developed
my own personal yoga practice. So you said you wanted to
reconnect with some of your Bolognese roots.
So when you moved here, how was that whole process?
(06:12):
You were you married then. You didn't have kids then.
Nope, I wasn't married, had no children, moved here, Yeah, was
actually brought over here to doa job on the Gillies Gilly
Islands. And yeah, I ended up here in
Bali and was working in real estate, so kind of back into
that corporate rat race. Well, I don't even know it's
(06:35):
Bali. And then, yeah, I mean, I met my
husband and practising yoga and then starting to meet the
different teachers, the people that have influenced me on the
pass here in Bali. So when did you do your first?
Training. My first teacher training was
done at Radiantly Alive with Daniel Aaron.
(06:57):
He was, yeah, an amazing yoga teacher.
He was the former owner of Radiantly Alive and that was
back in 2015. And then straight after that I
had also another great teacher actually at Yoga Barn, Les
Leventhal. And he was also doing a training
(07:18):
literally 2 months after. So I did 2200 hours within like
a three month period going through the very different
teachers. But I was like, all in and I, I
kind of knew from that moment like this is, yeah, like this is
there's something here, there's wisdom here.
There's medicine for me here. Like I got to keep going.
I'm an all or nothing kind of girl so.
Right. So what did you do before you
(07:39):
said corporate finance something, real estate was it?
Here in Bali. Well known before when you were
in Melbourne. Yeah.
So in Melbourne I was doing sales, I was also doing
hospitality. So a lot of yeah, clubs and
hosting and all of that stuff. So then taking some of maybe
there was a transmission of someof some of those skills into the
(08:00):
yoga place, which kind of resulted in more of like, I'm
going to, you know, take some ofthat masculine energy and really
go for it kind of thing. I guess so.
I mean I think I've always had adesire to support and help
people. I started doing like natural
medicine at university and then deferred.
I've done a diploma in counselling, so I have a
background in, in, in the fieldsof, you know, healing modalities
(08:25):
and yoga to me was just that embodiment of what I other
skills I had learnt. That was more like talk therapy,
right? So then you basically went from
doing the practice for yourself and then, you know, really
exploring the, the teaching sideof it, really going all in.
And then you obviously started teaching.
(08:45):
Yeah, here's the thing. I did my first training with no
desire to become a yoga teacher.It was a gift that was given to
me. It was a scholarship.
I 100% had no intention to become a yoga teacher.
All I knew is that I'd loved yoga and I needed to do more of
it. And then from that experience,
yeah, I also received that gift from my other teacher to come
(09:06):
and do that. And again, after both trainings,
I never had that clear intention.
OK, now I'm going to teach. But the universe has plans.
And my teacher Les was come and assist, come and support me.
So within two months of finishing both of those
trainings, I was back in teachertraining that container as an
(09:27):
assistant, like supporting him in trainings at Yoga Barn, at
Reading, the Live in Australia. And so I've spent more hours in
my in my yoga teaching career inteacher trainings than I have in
studio classes or privates or anything like that.
Yeah, I can relate to that. Yeah.
The majority of my experience isusually in trainings and things
like this with you and many others.
(09:49):
Cool. And then obviously you, I mean,
when I got to like meet you and know you, you were, you're
teaching classes quite a bit. So obviously there was a
transitional point where you really started to get into the
public classes and stuff like that.
And how was that for you? Great.
Yeah, I mean, I love, you know, it's, it's very different Public
classes is it's a great place. You know, Bali is so transient.
We have so many people coming. There's a great community here
(10:12):
of people that live here. And then there's also so many
people that come to do the trainings and then they go off
and then they come back. So having a public presence is a
great way to reconnect to all the people that come back into
Bali. But for sure, my heart is in
teacher trainings, you know, that depth, that immersive
experience, the journey. It's yeah, it's amazing to to
(10:34):
watch the transformation, to be a part of that.
Yeah, yeah, I can relate. I mean, it's mostly what I'm
familiar with as well. But just having that extra time
to be with people and building that connection, that
relationship, the support, you know, being able to share with
them and these types of things, it's just yeah, really, really
cool. OK, so let's think about you're
(10:55):
going to be one of the teachers at the in movement space, which
is really exciting. So all this experience and all
this story that's kind of comingthrough with it.
And obviously you've cultivated a certain way in which you
teach. So thinking into that a little
bit more, I mean, we could ask the question, like, what are
three words to describe your teaching style?
Or it could just be like, what do you think is your unique way
(11:17):
of like, what's what's unique about you?
Like if I come to your class like what's, what's your thing,
you know? I love that.
I definitely feel that I'm evolving as we all are, but I
think the foundations of my classes and what I really value
when I teach is it's flow. You know, I am a vinyasa flow
(11:37):
teacher. That's my heart's there.
But I would say like integrated vinyasa, you know, 3 words.
I love to bring in Swad Vyas, self inquiry, self reflection,
moments of devotion and spirituality, which I really
feel connects me back to Bali. Like there's just a, you feel it
in the land, you feel it here. Like there's just, it's a big
(11:58):
part of who I am. Like that ritual devotion.
So that's sort of that essence. That element is definitely what
I love to infuse in the classes as well as flow.
There's always theming. And it's also, you know, for me,
I feel like it's, it is more than Arsenal.
I don't just teach Arsenal. Like there will always be
Pranayama's in there for sure. Some Koreas, if there's space
(12:19):
and time meditation when I teachon trainings, I've got like 2
hours in studio classes. It's like, OK, he's, he's 90
minutes. What can you do?
It's like, Oh my gosh, right. But you know, ultimately, you
know, an integrated practice, anembodied practice 1 where you
know, people can connect to thatstate of flow and moving
(12:39):
meditation, you know, dropping into presence.
I think that's more than three. That's OK.
That's great. I mean, I heard flow, I heard
spot, yeah, yeah, which is self reflection or self study.
And the other one was devotion. Yeah.
So those are great. And I assume that through the
practice, obviously the flow, there's a certain feeling which
(13:01):
I know a lot of people really resonate with flow.
And just like that, you know, some people are very flowy
people and some people are more like static.
Like I like the holds and the strength building.
And there obviously can be a combination of those two.
So I know that that's a huge desire for a lot of people.
Then for like that, say the Svadhyaya self study, self
reflection, that would probably come through as like prompts
(13:22):
questions. How would you?
How do you infuse that a little bit for within your class?
Yeah, I think the the prompts the questions.
Every class has a theme or an intention, so depending on what
you know the story is within theclass.
It's just bringing a little moreself-awareness on how students
can connect to their expression of whatever the intentional
(13:44):
theme is. So it may be a question of
asking whatever it may be, you know, building of resilience or
connecting to such a connecting to truth or whatever it may be.
It's just usually in the quiet moments, whether it's in
meditation or even throughout the class, where I might just
sprinkle in moments of self reflection to keep coming back
(14:06):
to that inner expression, to that inner experience beyond the
physical expression. Yeah, of course.
That's great. And then the devotional aspect
is there. I don't know a way that you
would say that that kind of infuses in or is it just kind of
embodied mostly I. Think it's more embodied.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool.
Well, amazing. I mean, I've been to a couple of
your classes and I can definitely feel and resonate
(14:29):
with those words. Very much so.
So then coming into this, because you've been teaching at
Radiantly Live for a long time. Yeah.
And that's, I think since ended,or at least it's coming to an
end. Yearly I just had my my final
class. You just had your final class?
Yeah, last week. Oh, how did that feel?
It felt big. It felt like a really big
(14:49):
chapter. I yeah, I felt heartfelt and
just a beautiful ending. You know, it's where a lot of
seeds were had begun and I just really acknowledged and looked
around within the community a lot of faces that have been
coming regularly for 8-9 years to my classes.
(15:10):
And it was just, it was beautiful, but it felt like a
the perfect timing. Yeah.
So you must have been because you did your training there and
that was however 1516 years ago.And you've basically been
sitting there not quite maybe that long, but pretty close to
that. So that's a long, that's a long
chapter. Yeah.
Yeah, it is. It's a long time.
(15:30):
And so now, I mean, I'm excited for you to be part of the in
movement. I think that's really cool.
I even forgot what the question was, but it had something to do
with like, what are you excited about for being a part of this
this new movement, this new style, this new, this new group
of facilitators, this, you know,mission vision, It's all kind of
like unfolding as we're even talking now.
(15:52):
So like, yeah, how do you feel about that?
I'm super pumped. Yeah, yeah, I'm pumped.
I'm excited, I, I really feel that Ubud is looking for that
place and, and that space where,you know, teachers can come
together. One of the things I'm most
excited about is that it is owned and run by yoga teachers,
(16:14):
which is, can be a little rare in, in this, in this town.
And I, and I really appreciate that.
Like I'm really excited to be working alongside, yeah, amazing
teachers, the vision, all of that.
I, I feel so ready for, for new things.
And it's going to be amazing, yeah.
Yeah, it's funny, when you said that, I was like, oh, yeah.
(16:35):
It's like, I've never really thought of it that way, but, you
know, it makes me think of like,myself and like physiotherapy.
I've worked for many different places.
And you know, often some of these businesses or clinics are
being run by some sort of corporate organization or place
or people in an office basicallytrying to crunch numbers and
figure things out. But one of the most or one of
(16:58):
the last places I worked before I ended up moving here was a
private company that was createdand started by a speech
pathologist who was a clinician who someone who understood what
it was like to be with the patients, be in the room.
And I was just like, I love working with this woman because
she gets it. Because she gets it.
Yeah. And I think that's going to be
reflected within the space, you know, completely, not only just
(17:21):
within the community and the teachers, but within the space.
So I'm really excited for that. What's going to be built?
And then at the same time, it also makes me think about how
yoga teachers, I don't want to say this blanketly, but they're
not the most organized people. And things can be a little bit,
you know, in the. Yeah, I think I'm one of the
majority. I'm pretty organized.
(17:41):
Yeah, you are definitely very organized and so is Leia,
basically speaking about Paul and Bayonner.
So maybe, maybe it's a a male thing.
I mean, I'm pretty organized, but anyway, I think it's pretty
funny. So it's kind of like the there's
a lot of benefit there with obviously having the the people
that have been on the ground kind of in the trenches is an
expression to say like we've, you know, we've been doing it
(18:02):
for a long time. We know what it's like.
We know what has work, what hasn't worked, what we want to
try to make work. And obviously there's, you know,
a business side of it, but it's being LED more heart, heart
centered versus let's say money centered.
I think that's really cool. Yeah.
Yeah, 100%. And they're and they're all a
part of the community, you know,beyond the yoga, you know, where
(18:25):
wood is a small community. So I'm excited to to continue
that. And the community part is
something that actually Leia mentioned a lot about, she was
really excited about and me as well.
It's creating more of that community sense, especially in
the area, which is new Kooning, which if you know you're
(18:46):
listening, you don't know where that is.
It's basically South of the monkey forest and it's, I don't
even know how to describe it, but to me it has a little bit
more of like a homey feel it. So does it has its own energy.
It has its own vibration. I love it.
It's it's own little pocket of awood.
Yeah. Yeah.
The gardens, the restaurants, the places.
It's quiet. It's Yeah, It's beautiful.
(19:07):
It's a cool little spot for sure.
They even have, I see a lot of kids, probably families, you
know, there's a big soccer field, there's like little
events and things going on. So I don't know.
So there's something about that community thing that just feels,
just feels nice, you know, it's just a nice.
Obviously there's a lot of people that come in trans, they
come through travelling. They're here for a couple days,
couple weeks, couple months and there's like a certain
(19:30):
travelling transient energy. But I actually think that those
people do like to fly into community, right, Which is why
people like the home stays and they want to like be a part of
the thing that's like grounded and, you know, established here
Exactly. So I think that's really cool.
What are you currently exploringor refining for you and your own
practice? Things that are like really
(19:52):
interesting to you right now? What is interesting for me, I
mean, I feel like over the last,you know, I did all my trainings
in vinyasa, a lot of my trainings, MY22 hundreds and my
three hundreds were in vinyasa, in flow.
And then I went to India and I did a 300 in, in Koreas, which
(20:13):
is like Kundalini and Koreas andsubtle body practices which I
loved. And I I feel like more within my
own practice, like yes I love arsena and yes you'll probably
find a few peak poses in my classes.
But ultimately within my own practice, I'm more tapping into
the subtler practices. So long meditation practices.
(20:36):
Yeah, more, more of the breath work, more of the career
practices. I've spent so much time in the
Art Center in the body. It's still in the body, but I'm,
I'm going more into into those practices at the moment.
That's where my heart and focus is.
So that's for your own personal.That's for my own, yeah.
Personal practice, yeah. And if it hasn't already, do you
(20:56):
think that will potentially bleed into 100% some of your
public yeah offerings to some degree, Yeah, A. 100%.
So then do you have any other things that you want to explore,
potentially create in addition to just, you know, teaching yoga
classes? I know that you do teacher
trainings and you said that you love that experience in that
(21:17):
space, you know, moving away from rating they live.
I know that you and you and I work with East West together
amongst other team members. But I don't know, I'm just kind
of like thinking, is there something else that you might be
like potentially leaning towards, like teasing out some
secret thoughts that you might have on where you might want to
go or what you might even do? I mean, yes, of course.
(21:38):
I feel like creating space is the very first thing.
So that's what I've done. You know, I've been so busy
doing so many trainings and classes.
So I've created that space. It's been a week, but there's
definitely things that I am working on and creating in
wanting to share. But ultimately it is in that
education space. So creating new trainings to be
(22:01):
offering for teachers. You know, I've done a lot of 200
hour and 300 hour trainings. And at the moment that's yeah,
one of the things I'm working towards is a is 100 hour to to
support teachers. Oh, cool.
A continuation. Oh.
That sounds right up my alley. I like.
It this is the first little share you got that I.
Teased it out. I feel so special, lucky and all
(22:24):
the listeners as well. I want to ask more questions
about it but I'm thinking I probably should respect your
space especially. It's only been a week and I
think, I think more time and more spaces allow things to kind
of marinate and stuff like that.So yeah, I appreciate you, yeah,
sharing what you did. I kind of like to also let
things organically happen beforespeaking about them.
I'm kind of 1 words, less words and more action, right?
(22:47):
Yeah, OK, that's good. But what about manifestation?
How do you feel about that? I love it.
Yeah. There's a manifestation part of,
I mean, obviously there's actionthere, and I hope people
understand that element. But the energy you're kind of
putting into that, which might be words, so maybe this is
helping. Yeah, because now I know about
it, which might help with the creational process or supporting
(23:08):
the creational process. OK, I like it.
Cool. Paul, let's see, is there
anything else that comes to mind, anything else unique or
that you'd love to share with people?
And yeah, I don't know, just thinking if there's anything
else that comes to mind that you'd love to share, something
that's important to you or meaningful for you.
I mean, I think I just always love to come back to the power
(23:29):
of yoga and, you know, not only how much it's impacted me, but
how much I see it impacting and changing people's lives,
students lives. You know, one of the things that
I often hear is that people don't go to yoga because they
have an idea or perception of like a certain type of person.
You know, only unless you're super bendy or super Fiat or
(23:50):
certain age can you go. And I think I just want to like
just highlight that it, you know, yoga is for everyone and
the importance of just just showing up as you are and
letting the practice meet you where you are.
Like that's really something that I'm saying all the time
because I, I see that and I hearthat and I know that, you know,
there's a lot of people that don't think they're welcome in
(24:13):
that space. And yet you just never know when
you go because yoga really is a journey.
I'm not only into the self, but it can lead you to your greatest
expression of who you are. Like, I've just see it, seen it
transform so much, not just myself, but in so many people.
(24:33):
Yeah. I mean, I could go on and on.
When it comes to yoga, we could be here a while.
Well, maybe we'll have you back on again.
We'll just have to wait another three to four years, but.
No, we can. We can schedule it.
In. We'll schedule it in.
Yeah, the podcast will be eventually the studio that I'm
in right now, which if you didn't already know, this is in
my house and eventually it will actually be on location.
So you can catch me before I teach.
(24:53):
Yeah, yeah. There you go.
I think you can't run away from me.
Exactly. Exactly.
Awesome. Yeah.
I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for coming in,
spending the time. I know you've got a lot going
on, especially with three kids and obviously the integration
and space for more, but I'm excited to be working more
alongside of you and we're together.
(25:14):
And if there's if there's nothing else, I think we can
kind of wrap it up. What do you think?
Yeah. Sounds good.
Thank you for having. Me, of course.
My pleasure and thank you everyone for tuning in this
week. And if you have any questions
you want to tune in, of course, you can reach out to us.
But maybe there's a way if someone is like, I actually want
to connect with Kimberly, what was the best way to do that?
For sure. You can find me on Instagram.
Kimberly, you tell me. Yoga.
Yeah. Also, I love answering
(25:35):
questions. I am an open book so if there's
anything that anyone wants to know, just reach out and maybe
we can bring it up in the next in the next session.
Yeah, perfect. Cool.
We'll make sure to add that in the show notes so it's easy to
find you otherwise. Thank you so much.
Thank you everyone, and we'll speak to you next week.
Take care for now.
Hey there, before we get startedon this week's episode, I would
love to ask for your support by reviewing this podcast.
We want to share yoga with as many people as possible and this
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(00:23):
and then give us some love. Thank you so much.
And let's get started with this week's episode.
Welcome back to the In Movement podcast.
This is your host, Michael Henry.
And welcome to another episode. In this episode, we have a
guest, a new guest actually, whoI've been trying to get on the
podcast for I don't even know how long, but it's a long time.
(00:46):
Kimberly Uttama is in the house.Kimberly, welcome to the
podcast. Thanks for having me, Michael.
Of course. So Kimberly and I have known
each other probably a couple of years now.
I don't know exactly. I think we might have met at the
restaurant Seeds of Life. I think officially with Byron
years ago, a long time, but basically we crossed paths and
(01:06):
eventually we started working together on trainings and things
like that. And Kimberly's also going to be
one of the teachers at the In Movement space in New Kooning,
which is opening later this spring, which is really
exciting. So we wanted to have her on the
podcast to learn a little bit more about her.
So yeah, really excited to have you here.
Yeah, I'm excited to be here finally.
(01:26):
Yeah, exactly, I think. It has been a few years in the
in the making. It has been waiting.
It has been, yeah. It's been a long time, but yeah,
I'm excited to have you here. I think we'll just kind of jump
into, yeah, just learning a little bit more about you.
I think most people, I don't saymost people, but some people
probably don't know who you are yet.
So let's kind of go from that place, like who are you and
(01:47):
where are you from? And your accent sounds like
this, but there's more to it. So yeah, tell me a little bit
about yourself. Such a great question.
Who am I? The constant question?
Yeah. So I'm Kimberly and here in Bali
like half baloney S Australian. I've been here in Bali 16 years.
(02:08):
So you grew up in Australia? I grew up in Melbourne,
Australia, right? Yeah.
And you're half Bolognese. Half Bolognese.
OK. My father's from Bali, my mother
is Australian, right? And yeah, I knew that I wanted
to have a connection with Bali and that's what brought me back
here so 17 years ago. And here I am, all this, all
(02:29):
these years later. Let's start with explaining your
last name. Explaining my last name, I
actually have a lot of names. Oh, you do?
I do have a lot of names. I have a lot of Bali names.
OK. Well, maybe give me your full
name. Let's just see what happens
there. OK, you're ready.
I'm ready. Travel roll.
Yeah. Agusti, IU, Kimberly, Kuana
(02:50):
Utama. And now my my married name is
Sample. So.
Wow, OK. A lot of names, a lot of Bali
names, Western names and now, yeah, my married name.
Great. So thank you for that little
introduction. And so what's your experience
with yoga? I mean, you know, you're a yoga
teacher. There's no surprise there.
But like, when did yoga first like, kind of come into your
(03:10):
life? Living in Melbourne, you know,
living in the West, working 9:00to 5:00, working in sales,
working in accounting, doing thegrind, working in hospitality,
Yoga was something like that. One of my friends said, you got
to come along and experience this thing.
And I remember my very first yoga class laying in Shavasana
(03:36):
and, and just crying. It was like a meeting of myself
in that moment. And it was a slow falling in
love. It wasn't a like all in yoga
addiction. It was like, OK, I'm curious,
like what is this thing that is allowing me to see more of who I
(03:58):
am that I couldn't see back then?
I think a lot of my my youth andgrowing up in Australia and
being predominantly mixed race growing up in a Western culture,
I had a lot of questions around who am I?
You know, that question that youjust asked me of just not really
knowing and yoga was that that place where I could really start
(04:21):
to understand more of who I was beyond all of the expectations
of society. So I started to ask those
Upanishad type questions within yourself.
Yeah. And having those moments of like
realization that I'm so much more than than all the other
things that I'd placed on me. So, yeah, I mean, yoga for sure
(04:44):
has changed my life 100%. I know.
I think every yoga teacher probably say it says that, but
I, you know, I feel it. I don't know who I would be if
yoga hadn't been in my life, butyet here we are.
And it has. And it's definitely shaped who I
am, you know, how I parent how how I teach, obviously, but just
(05:06):
how I interact with the world. Yeah.
So then how old were you approximately when you got first
introduced to it? 20 in my 20s Yeah, 2021.
OK. And then you obviously practice
for a while. Then I practice for a while.
It was a dabble. It wasn't an everyday thing.
It was, you know, when I could, how about the space?
I would get to the mat and I waskind of living these two lives,
(05:30):
you know, this kind of going out, wild party, carefree, lost,
climbing the corporate ladder life.
And then I would step in and, and head to a studio and head to
a class like 2 * a week, 3 * a week.
So it kind of started like that.But it wasn't until I moved here
to Bali that I really dived in where it was like it became an
(05:51):
everyday thing. And this is where I've done all
of my trainings, you know, here in Bali, I have also trained in
India. But this is where really the
seeds started to be planted. This is where I really developed
my own personal yoga practice. So you said you wanted to
reconnect with some of your Bolognese roots.
So when you moved here, how was that whole process?
(06:12):
You were you married then. You didn't have kids then.
Nope, I wasn't married, had no children, moved here, Yeah, was
actually brought over here to doa job on the Gillies Gilly
Islands. And yeah, I ended up here in
Bali and was working in real estate, so kind of back into
that corporate rat race. Well, I don't even know it's
(06:35):
Bali. And then, yeah, I mean, I met my
husband and practising yoga and then starting to meet the
different teachers, the people that have influenced me on the
pass here in Bali. So when did you do your first?
Training. My first teacher training was
done at Radiantly Alive with Daniel Aaron.
(06:57):
He was, yeah, an amazing yoga teacher.
He was the former owner of Radiantly Alive and that was
back in 2015. And then straight after that I
had also another great teacher actually at Yoga Barn, Les
Leventhal. And he was also doing a training
(07:18):
literally 2 months after. So I did 2200 hours within like
a three month period going through the very different
teachers. But I was like, all in and I, I
kind of knew from that moment like this is, yeah, like this is
there's something here, there's wisdom here.
There's medicine for me here. Like I got to keep going.
I'm an all or nothing kind of girl so.
Right. So what did you do before you
(07:39):
said corporate finance something, real estate was it?
Here in Bali. Well known before when you were
in Melbourne. Yeah.
So in Melbourne I was doing sales, I was also doing
hospitality. So a lot of yeah, clubs and
hosting and all of that stuff. So then taking some of maybe
there was a transmission of someof some of those skills into the
(08:00):
yoga place, which kind of resulted in more of like, I'm
going to, you know, take some ofthat masculine energy and really
go for it kind of thing. I guess so.
I mean I think I've always had adesire to support and help
people. I started doing like natural
medicine at university and then deferred.
I've done a diploma in counselling, so I have a
background in, in, in the fieldsof, you know, healing modalities
(08:25):
and yoga to me was just that embodiment of what I other
skills I had learnt. That was more like talk therapy,
right? So then you basically went from
doing the practice for yourself and then, you know, really
exploring the, the teaching sideof it, really going all in.
And then you obviously started teaching.
(08:45):
Yeah, here's the thing. I did my first training with no
desire to become a yoga teacher.It was a gift that was given to
me. It was a scholarship.
I 100% had no intention to become a yoga teacher.
All I knew is that I'd loved yoga and I needed to do more of
it. And then from that experience,
yeah, I also received that gift from my other teacher to come
(09:06):
and do that. And again, after both trainings,
I never had that clear intention.
OK, now I'm going to teach. But the universe has plans.
And my teacher Les was come and assist, come and support me.
So within two months of finishing both of those
trainings, I was back in teachertraining that container as an
(09:27):
assistant, like supporting him in trainings at Yoga Barn, at
Reading, the Live in Australia. And so I've spent more hours in
my in my yoga teaching career inteacher trainings than I have in
studio classes or privates or anything like that.
Yeah, I can relate to that. Yeah.
The majority of my experience isusually in trainings and things
like this with you and many others.
(09:49):
Cool. And then obviously you, I mean,
when I got to like meet you and know you, you were, you're
teaching classes quite a bit. So obviously there was a
transitional point where you really started to get into the
public classes and stuff like that.
And how was that for you? Great.
Yeah, I mean, I love, you know, it's, it's very different Public
classes is it's a great place. You know, Bali is so transient.
We have so many people coming. There's a great community here
(10:12):
of people that live here. And then there's also so many
people that come to do the trainings and then they go off
and then they come back. So having a public presence is a
great way to reconnect to all the people that come back into
Bali. But for sure, my heart is in
teacher trainings, you know, that depth, that immersive
experience, the journey. It's yeah, it's amazing to to
(10:34):
watch the transformation, to be a part of that.
Yeah, yeah, I can relate. I mean, it's mostly what I'm
familiar with as well. But just having that extra time
to be with people and building that connection, that
relationship, the support, you know, being able to share with
them and these types of things, it's just yeah, really, really
cool. OK, so let's think about you're
(10:55):
going to be one of the teachers at the in movement space, which
is really exciting. So all this experience and all
this story that's kind of comingthrough with it.
And obviously you've cultivated a certain way in which you
teach. So thinking into that a little
bit more, I mean, we could ask the question, like, what are
three words to describe your teaching style?
Or it could just be like, what do you think is your unique way
(11:17):
of like, what's what's unique about you?
Like if I come to your class like what's, what's your thing,
you know? I love that.
I definitely feel that I'm evolving as we all are, but I
think the foundations of my classes and what I really value
when I teach is it's flow. You know, I am a vinyasa flow
(11:37):
teacher. That's my heart's there.
But I would say like integrated vinyasa, you know, 3 words.
I love to bring in Swad Vyas, self inquiry, self reflection,
moments of devotion and spirituality, which I really
feel connects me back to Bali. Like there's just a, you feel it
in the land, you feel it here. Like there's just, it's a big
(11:58):
part of who I am. Like that ritual devotion.
So that's sort of that essence. That element is definitely what
I love to infuse in the classes as well as flow.
There's always theming. And it's also, you know, for me,
I feel like it's, it is more than Arsenal.
I don't just teach Arsenal. Like there will always be
Pranayama's in there for sure. Some Koreas, if there's space
(12:19):
and time meditation when I teachon trainings, I've got like 2
hours in studio classes. It's like, OK, he's, he's 90
minutes. What can you do?
It's like, Oh my gosh, right. But you know, ultimately, you
know, an integrated practice, anembodied practice 1 where you
know, people can connect to thatstate of flow and moving
(12:39):
meditation, you know, dropping into presence.
I think that's more than three. That's OK.
That's great. I mean, I heard flow, I heard
spot, yeah, yeah, which is self reflection or self study.
And the other one was devotion. Yeah.
So those are great. And I assume that through the
practice, obviously the flow, there's a certain feeling which
(13:01):
I know a lot of people really resonate with flow.
And just like that, you know, some people are very flowy
people and some people are more like static.
Like I like the holds and the strength building.
And there obviously can be a combination of those two.
So I know that that's a huge desire for a lot of people.
Then for like that, say the Svadhyaya self study, self
reflection, that would probably come through as like prompts
(13:22):
questions. How would you?
How do you infuse that a little bit for within your class?
Yeah, I think the the prompts the questions.
Every class has a theme or an intention, so depending on what
you know the story is within theclass.
It's just bringing a little moreself-awareness on how students
can connect to their expression of whatever the intentional
(13:44):
theme is. So it may be a question of
asking whatever it may be, you know, building of resilience or
connecting to such a connecting to truth or whatever it may be.
It's just usually in the quiet moments, whether it's in
meditation or even throughout the class, where I might just
sprinkle in moments of self reflection to keep coming back
(14:06):
to that inner expression, to that inner experience beyond the
physical expression. Yeah, of course.
That's great. And then the devotional aspect
is there. I don't know a way that you
would say that that kind of infuses in or is it just kind of
embodied mostly I. Think it's more embodied.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool.
Well, amazing. I mean, I've been to a couple of
your classes and I can definitely feel and resonate
(14:29):
with those words. Very much so.
So then coming into this, because you've been teaching at
Radiantly Live for a long time. Yeah.
And that's, I think since ended,or at least it's coming to an
end. Yearly I just had my my final
class. You just had your final class?
Yeah, last week. Oh, how did that feel?
It felt big. It felt like a really big
(14:49):
chapter. I yeah, I felt heartfelt and
just a beautiful ending. You know, it's where a lot of
seeds were had begun and I just really acknowledged and looked
around within the community a lot of faces that have been
coming regularly for 8-9 years to my classes.
(15:10):
And it was just, it was beautiful, but it felt like a
the perfect timing. Yeah.
So you must have been because you did your training there and
that was however 1516 years ago.And you've basically been
sitting there not quite maybe that long, but pretty close to
that. So that's a long, that's a long
chapter. Yeah.
Yeah, it is. It's a long time.
(15:30):
And so now, I mean, I'm excited for you to be part of the in
movement. I think that's really cool.
I even forgot what the question was, but it had something to do
with like, what are you excited about for being a part of this
this new movement, this new style, this new, this new group
of facilitators, this, you know,mission vision, It's all kind of
like unfolding as we're even talking now.
(15:52):
So like, yeah, how do you feel about that?
I'm super pumped. Yeah, yeah, I'm pumped.
I'm excited, I, I really feel that Ubud is looking for that
place and, and that space where,you know, teachers can come
together. One of the things I'm most
excited about is that it is owned and run by yoga teachers,
(16:14):
which is, can be a little rare in, in this, in this town.
And I, and I really appreciate that.
Like I'm really excited to be working alongside, yeah, amazing
teachers, the vision, all of that.
I, I feel so ready for, for new things.
And it's going to be amazing, yeah.
Yeah, it's funny, when you said that, I was like, oh, yeah.
(16:35):
It's like, I've never really thought of it that way, but, you
know, it makes me think of like,myself and like physiotherapy.
I've worked for many different places.
And you know, often some of these businesses or clinics are
being run by some sort of corporate organization or place
or people in an office basicallytrying to crunch numbers and
figure things out. But one of the most or one of
(16:58):
the last places I worked before I ended up moving here was a
private company that was createdand started by a speech
pathologist who was a clinician who someone who understood what
it was like to be with the patients, be in the room.
And I was just like, I love working with this woman because
she gets it. Because she gets it.
Yeah. And I think that's going to be
reflected within the space, you know, completely, not only just
(17:21):
within the community and the teachers, but within the space.
So I'm really excited for that. What's going to be built?
And then at the same time, it also makes me think about how
yoga teachers, I don't want to say this blanketly, but they're
not the most organized people. And things can be a little bit,
you know, in the. Yeah, I think I'm one of the
majority. I'm pretty organized.
(17:41):
Yeah, you are definitely very organized and so is Leia,
basically speaking about Paul and Bayonner.
So maybe, maybe it's a a male thing.
I mean, I'm pretty organized, but anyway, I think it's pretty
funny. So it's kind of like the there's
a lot of benefit there with obviously having the the people
that have been on the ground kind of in the trenches is an
expression to say like we've, you know, we've been doing it
(18:02):
for a long time. We know what it's like.
We know what has work, what hasn't worked, what we want to
try to make work. And obviously there's, you know,
a business side of it, but it's being LED more heart, heart
centered versus let's say money centered.
I think that's really cool. Yeah.
Yeah, 100%. And they're and they're all a
part of the community, you know,beyond the yoga, you know, where
(18:25):
wood is a small community. So I'm excited to to continue
that. And the community part is
something that actually Leia mentioned a lot about, she was
really excited about and me as well.
It's creating more of that community sense, especially in
the area, which is new Kooning, which if you know you're
(18:46):
listening, you don't know where that is.
It's basically South of the monkey forest and it's, I don't
even know how to describe it, but to me it has a little bit
more of like a homey feel it. So does it has its own energy.
It has its own vibration. I love it.
It's it's own little pocket of awood.
Yeah. Yeah.
The gardens, the restaurants, the places.
It's quiet. It's Yeah, It's beautiful.
(19:07):
It's a cool little spot for sure.
They even have, I see a lot of kids, probably families, you
know, there's a big soccer field, there's like little
events and things going on. So I don't know.
So there's something about that community thing that just feels,
just feels nice, you know, it's just a nice.
Obviously there's a lot of people that come in trans, they
come through travelling. They're here for a couple days,
couple weeks, couple months and there's like a certain
(19:30):
travelling transient energy. But I actually think that those
people do like to fly into community, right, Which is why
people like the home stays and they want to like be a part of
the thing that's like grounded and, you know, established here
Exactly. So I think that's really cool.
What are you currently exploringor refining for you and your own
practice? Things that are like really
(19:52):
interesting to you right now? What is interesting for me, I
mean, I feel like over the last,you know, I did all my trainings
in vinyasa, a lot of my trainings, MY22 hundreds and my
three hundreds were in vinyasa, in flow.
And then I went to India and I did a 300 in, in Koreas, which
(20:13):
is like Kundalini and Koreas andsubtle body practices which I
loved. And I I feel like more within my
own practice, like yes I love arsena and yes you'll probably
find a few peak poses in my classes.
But ultimately within my own practice, I'm more tapping into
the subtler practices. So long meditation practices.
(20:36):
Yeah, more, more of the breath work, more of the career
practices. I've spent so much time in the
Art Center in the body. It's still in the body, but I'm,
I'm going more into into those practices at the moment.
That's where my heart and focus is.
So that's for your own personal.That's for my own, yeah.
Personal practice, yeah. And if it hasn't already, do you
(20:56):
think that will potentially bleed into 100% some of your
public yeah offerings to some degree, Yeah, A. 100%.
So then do you have any other things that you want to explore,
potentially create in addition to just, you know, teaching yoga
classes? I know that you do teacher
trainings and you said that you love that experience in that
(21:17):
space, you know, moving away from rating they live.
I know that you and you and I work with East West together
amongst other team members. But I don't know, I'm just kind
of like thinking, is there something else that you might be
like potentially leaning towards, like teasing out some
secret thoughts that you might have on where you might want to
go or what you might even do? I mean, yes, of course.
(21:38):
I feel like creating space is the very first thing.
So that's what I've done. You know, I've been so busy
doing so many trainings and classes.
So I've created that space. It's been a week, but there's
definitely things that I am working on and creating in
wanting to share. But ultimately it is in that
education space. So creating new trainings to be
(22:01):
offering for teachers. You know, I've done a lot of 200
hour and 300 hour trainings. And at the moment that's yeah,
one of the things I'm working towards is a is 100 hour to to
support teachers. Oh, cool.
A continuation. Oh.
That sounds right up my alley. I like.
It this is the first little share you got that I.
Teased it out. I feel so special, lucky and all
(22:24):
the listeners as well. I want to ask more questions
about it but I'm thinking I probably should respect your
space especially. It's only been a week and I
think, I think more time and more spaces allow things to kind
of marinate and stuff like that.So yeah, I appreciate you, yeah,
sharing what you did. I kind of like to also let
things organically happen beforespeaking about them.
I'm kind of 1 words, less words and more action, right?
(22:47):
Yeah, OK, that's good. But what about manifestation?
How do you feel about that? I love it.
Yeah. There's a manifestation part of,
I mean, obviously there's actionthere, and I hope people
understand that element. But the energy you're kind of
putting into that, which might be words, so maybe this is
helping. Yeah, because now I know about
it, which might help with the creational process or supporting
(23:08):
the creational process. OK, I like it.
Cool. Paul, let's see, is there
anything else that comes to mind, anything else unique or
that you'd love to share with people?
And yeah, I don't know, just thinking if there's anything
else that comes to mind that you'd love to share, something
that's important to you or meaningful for you.
I mean, I think I just always love to come back to the power
(23:29):
of yoga and, you know, not only how much it's impacted me, but
how much I see it impacting and changing people's lives,
students lives. You know, one of the things that
I often hear is that people don't go to yoga because they
have an idea or perception of like a certain type of person.
You know, only unless you're super bendy or super Fiat or
(23:50):
certain age can you go. And I think I just want to like
just highlight that it, you know, yoga is for everyone and
the importance of just just showing up as you are and
letting the practice meet you where you are.
Like that's really something that I'm saying all the time
because I, I see that and I hearthat and I know that, you know,
there's a lot of people that don't think they're welcome in
(24:13):
that space. And yet you just never know when
you go because yoga really is a journey.
I'm not only into the self, but it can lead you to your greatest
expression of who you are. Like, I've just see it, seen it
transform so much, not just myself, but in so many people.
(24:33):
Yeah. I mean, I could go on and on.
When it comes to yoga, we could be here a while.
Well, maybe we'll have you back on again.
We'll just have to wait another three to four years, but.
No, we can. We can schedule it.
In. We'll schedule it in.
Yeah, the podcast will be eventually the studio that I'm
in right now, which if you didn't already know, this is in
my house and eventually it will actually be on location.
So you can catch me before I teach.
(24:53):
Yeah, yeah. There you go.
I think you can't run away from me.
Exactly. Exactly.
Awesome. Yeah.
I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for coming in,
spending the time. I know you've got a lot going
on, especially with three kids and obviously the integration
and space for more, but I'm excited to be working more
alongside of you and we're together.
(25:14):
And if there's if there's nothing else, I think we can
kind of wrap it up. What do you think?
Yeah. Sounds good.
Thank you for having. Me, of course.
My pleasure and thank you everyone for tuning in this
week. And if you have any questions
you want to tune in, of course, you can reach out to us.
But maybe there's a way if someone is like, I actually want
to connect with Kimberly, what was the best way to do that?
For sure. You can find me on Instagram.
Kimberly, you tell me. Yoga.
Yeah. Also, I love answering
(25:35):
questions. I am an open book so if there's
anything that anyone wants to know, just reach out and maybe
we can bring it up in the next in the next session.
Yeah, perfect. Cool.
We'll make sure to add that in the show notes so it's easy to
find you otherwise. Thank you so much.
Thank you everyone, and we'll speak to you next week.
Take care for now.
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