Digital Nomad Stories

The Bali Effect: Jamie's Transition to Digital Nomadism and Online Breathwork Trainer

• Anne Claessen • Season 2 • Episode 184

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How to go from baseball exec to breathwork trainer in Bali? Jamie went to Bali for a 2 month vacation in 2020, which eventually ended up being the start of her digital nomad journey.

She now lives between Bali, Ireland, LA, and Colombia.

Connect with Jamie:


Connect with Kendra:

Speaker 1:

Hey Nomads, welcome to Digital Nomad Stories, the podcast. My name is Annick Klaassen and, together with my co-host, kendra Hasse, we interview digital nomads. Why? Because we want to share stories of how they did it. We talk about remote work, online business, location independency, freelancing, travel and, of course, about the digital nomad lifestyle. Do you want to know more about us and access all previous episodes? Visit digitalnomadstoriesco. All right over to Kendra for today's interview.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to Digital Nomad Stories, the podcast. My name is Kendra and I'm your host today. Today I'm joined by Jamie. She's the founder of WeWrite Birthwork and a trauma-informed somatic birthwork trainer. She lives between Bali, ireland, la and Colombia, so I'm super, super excited to have you here, jamie. I think it's like amazing what you are doing, so welcome.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, kendra. I'm so, so, so excited to be on a charity stay. Thank you, kendra, I'm so, so, so excited to be on a chat with you today.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and as your journey to become like a digital nomad and being now in this life is so exciting and inspiring, I feel I would say let's directly jump into it.

Speaker 3:

Maybe you want us to let know, like how everything started, perfect and honestly, I think, before jumping into it as well, I think it's really important to acknowledge just everything that's happening in the world, like the atrocities that are happening in the world, and really the privilege that we have to be able to sit here and have this beautiful conversation.

Speaker 2:

Yes, that's true. Thank you for this.

Speaker 3:

I think, you know, when I look back at my digital nomad story, I didn't even know I was creating a digital nomad story. You know, I worked in Major League Baseball in the States for years. I worked for the Yankees, for the Dodgers. My life changed in 2020 when I came to Bali for what I thought was a two-month vacation and then I stayed for two years and that's when it really opened up the door of oh my gosh, people are living this way, like it's possible to have an online business, it's possible to move around the world and to really create a life that I had never seen anyone living.

Speaker 3:

Growing up in the South, in the States, in Georgia, people weren't living a life like this, and so it was really incredible getting here, spending those two years here, and since then, you and I met in Columbia. I love to spend time there, ireland, the US. I teach breathwork teacher trainings, so I'm all around the world teaching people how to become trauma informed, somatic breath workers and it's really I think it's really changed in the world. It's changed the game.

Speaker 2:

Beautiful and I like. I have one question, because it always sounds like this dream you go two weeks for vacationsations and then you stay two years. Was it really like that? You stayed, or did you once go back home, settled out your things and then you came back to Bali?

Speaker 3:

No, it was during COVID, so I couldn't leave, like if I left, I couldn't come back. So it was a decision of, okay, what do I do? So I had an apartment in Los Angeles. I had someone rent it out. It was a traveling nurse that wanted a accommodation, an apartment, with no like strings attached, right, I also rented out my car. So I had all of my stuff at home in my apartment. I mean, I had my jewelry, like things that really mattered to me in this place, and I had a friend go and pick up the valuable stuff and I was just like I'm doing it.

Speaker 3:

My parents, I think they thought that I had lost my mind. I think everyone thought that I had lost my mind. But also, before I had gone to Bali, I had gotten deep into breathwork and so I had already started working as a breathwork facilitator and so I was already taking my business online. We were all taking our businesses online, right, like we weren't able to work in person. So once I got here and realized that, as long as I wake up really early or go to bed, you know at night, working with the time zones, that it could really become something, so, yeah, it was not intentional. I still have that apartment in LA. I did not prepare for this at all.

Speaker 2:

So how did you feel taking the decision when you like travel back now in time? What was like the Jamie thinking feeling back then?

Speaker 3:

The Jamie was terrified. I got here to well, I didn't even get to Bali. I flew into Jakarta. I thought that they were putting me on a bus to take me to another terminal, but they were putting me on a bus to quarantine me for five days, because back then you had to quarantine before they even let you go to Bali. So I was taken to this hotel in Jakarta where I had to stay for five days alone, and it was at that point that I was like, oh wow, what am I doing? This was the first time I solo traveled, the first time that I was really taking that leap just out of pure intuition, pure adventure. So I would say that I was feeling very scared, to be honest, and I didn't know anyone. I didn't know anyone in Bali.

Speaker 3:

And looking back too, I mean, I got here right at a perfect time, right when the borders the borders opened just for a little bit, and then I just squeaked in. And what was so amazing about Bali during that time is there's a lot of incredible digital nomads here and they're usually traveling all over the world, maybe using this as a home base, but at that time, everyone was kind of stuck here. So you were creating. I mean, it was this amazing and beautiful conscious community that was forming that. You know, looking back, we didn't know that we were in such a special bubble, this bubble of Bali.

Speaker 2:

Beautiful, it sounds like. Also it should just have been like this, right and for sure it might sound easy, but I can also imagine it's not easy in the beginning, bringing like your business from in-person breathworks into online.

Speaker 3:

It was wild because, also at that time, so I had been working'd been working in Breckford for quite some time. I had taken it online. I was doing a few, you know, in-person sessions here and there here in Bali, and I had an accident about a month after I arrived here. And there's this place here where you can jump off waterfalls and I jumped off the one that was five meters and it was awesome. I didn't jump off the one that was 10 meters but of course I was like, yeah, I'll jump off the 15 meter, and so I throw my life jacket at my friend and I go jumping in. And when I did, kendra, I did not land like the pencil that you're supposed to land like a pencil in the water, I was like the alternate belly flop. So I landed from 15 meters a 50 seat, just straight on my chest and my heart into the water and it was I mean, it was like getting concrete. I passed out immediately. I was so grateful that there were people in the water that swam to me and that really prevented me from drowning, but in that moment I had the most.

Speaker 3:

I don't even know how to explain it, but it was an out-of-body experience. I look back, I know it was a near-death experience. I mean, I know my heart stopped, I was taken to the hospital and somehow nothing was severely broken no severe damage a little damage to my right lung and my teeth were really chipped up. But I walked away from that. And the thing is, I walked away physically, but mentally, emotionally, energetically. I was a different person, and so not only was I in a new place, I was completely alone. I was a different person, and so not only was I in a new place, I was completely alone. And then, anytime I tried to go into breathing exercises or breath work, I would go into panic attacks, and so it was like, okay, I'm here, I can't even lead breath work sessions, because it led me into deep panic. That was my introduction to Bali. That was the first two months 2021, when I got to Bali. Thanks for sharing this.

Speaker 2:

I think it's really like, yeah, a life-changing experience, almost dying, but then you were forced to go on with the breathwork because you were not able to go back. I don't know if you had like a corporate job or something before. So do you want to share also with us? Like, how did you manage then to go over those panic attacks to even now you're not a facilitator, just in where you're like a trainer? You? Know, so it really became your business.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, honestly, I remember right afterwards I was scouring the internet for near-death experiences. You know what did people do? And so many people were like it changed my life. I don't do all these things and all this like amazing stuff that came from it. And I remember being so angry, scared, alone and just frustrated because that wasn't my story.

Speaker 3:

At that time I was really in it and I went back into therapy and it was talk therapy and my therapist it was just talk therapy, it wasn't moving through my body, I was just. I was like re-traumatizing myself over and over. I was telling a story over and over and at that point I found an incredible somatic therapist here in Bali and that's when the game changed. That's when everything changed, because then I learned how to move this experience through my body. I learned how to use my breath in a whole new way and then I began teaching a lot of really deep somatic tools and really getting deep in trauma, learning everything about trauma and how to work with trauma in the body, not just in our mind. So now I guess I can say that I can look back and say it changed my life and I've created an incredible community and business. I mean, I've trained people in over 15 countries, like there's rewild breathwork practitioners all over the world that are trauma-informed, they're somatic trainers and they're helping people to go through experiences like I had gone through.

Speaker 2:

That sounds like amazing. And then like, after those two years, was it your business? Because your business was growing, you wanted to teach around the world. That was taking you away, like, from settling completely to Bali and staying, or what was then like your motivation to go on to other countries.

Speaker 3:

I think when the borders opened here the borders opened in 2022 and Bali began to feel really different and it started to just explode and that really special bubble that was created here kind of almost floated away. I needed to come back to the real world because I didn't know what was going on in the world Right. So at that time too, in Bali, I'd worked with a lot of Irish that were here, which then led me to go to Ireland to do teacher trainings there. I did, you know, sold out trainings there, go back there this year and do more and do a level two training there. So that's how Ireland got on the map. La was on the map because that's where kind of a home base is, because I still have that apartment there, which I don't know how long I will, but I do right now. And then Columbia came into the mix because I'd spent a lot of time down in South America, needed a place to just go and like plug in Dude. Medellin is incredible when it comes to entrepreneurs and to just the energy there. So I spent time there and this year will be the first time doing a training there. So my flight path you know my flight path is a little odd.

Speaker 3:

People don't really associate Bali, ireland, la and Colombia together, but it's been. It's mine, you know, and it's absolutely incredible. I'm in Bali right now. Maybe you can hear the chickens. My neighbor has chickens in the background, even though it's absolutely incredible. I'm in Bali right now. Maybe you can hear the chickens. My neighbor has chickens in the background, even though it's what? 4.30 pm and they're out there coffee-billing. I love being able to move around the world and I also love the people that I meet. I love just the experiences that I get to have, and it's my choice. I think that choice is something that's very often overlooked. Many people think they don't have a choice. Many people want to live in a life that is a digital, nomad life, and they feel that they can't do it. And I'm here to tell you that if I can do it, literally anybody can do it.

Speaker 2:

It really just takes you making that choice and going out there and I resonate with it because it always looks like this dream of being a digital nomad Ah, you could. But, to be honest, it's also like, as you say, we need to know how to deal with having so many choices Because, literally, like, the world is yours If you're having your own online business. If you're not, like depending on some time zones of Texas, so how do you do those choices? Depending on some time zones of Texas, so how do you do those choices? Like, how do you feel when you need to decide? Okay, maybe in you, before you came to Medellin, like how did you make this choice of a new country?

Speaker 3:

Oh, that's such a good question. I had gone down to Patagonia with some friends and then I knew that I needed to be in Peru to meet some other people at the end of the year, and so I had about a month and I knew I couldn't go back to LA because someone was in my apartment and I was like, hey, where do I go? And everyone had been talking about Medellin. So that's how I ended up there. I thought I was just going to pop by for a week, remember? I remember meeting you and being like, yeah, I'm just popping by for a week, and then I stayed there the entire month.

Speaker 3:

I think for me there's an intuitive piece. There's definitely an intuitive piece, and another thing that people don't realize is that when you live this life, you find that you have friends all over the world, because as soon as I got there, I was like, hey, anybody have any friends or contacts here? And so many people were like, oh, my friend is there, a friend that I had from Bali. Actually, two Bali friends were there at the same time, and so it's like your network continues to expand when you choose to live this kind of life is what I found.

Speaker 2:

And that's like also the beauty part of it, like this loneliness we might feel in the beginning, when starting now it's like, oh, it's me like next week, I like two weeks, I maybe go to Bali and then I can meet you there, you know so. And it's like three years ago when I, like, when I started, I went to like Colombia and I was like I don't know anything. You know, like it's that's also like the beauty and I fear we are growing on this path also of building our networks, of also facing and dealing with loneliness, so it becomes like a different rhythm.

Speaker 3:

Let's talk about that. Let's talk about the cons of this perfect digital nomad life, because that's one of them. You know, there is definitely, when you get to a new place, like there's some excitement and then there's also a little bit of loneliness, like I remember I was in Bali, had made a ton of friends and then it was like in one month they all left, and so also the places that you know, you and I go. They're also very transient, so you might make a really great friend and you and I we hung out for like a week or two, we went dancing and all of this, and then it was like, okay, now I'm off to the next place, which is can be really difficult. There's that piece of loneliness. I think that's difficult, and the fact of not being with family, you know, and that almost like guilt that comes up around. Am I spending enough time with my family? Thank God for FaceTime, but last year I spent about a month at home with my family in Georgia. I'll do the same this year, but it's still hard.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, I feel like the same, as you say. Then it's beautiful, like everyone around the world, but you just spend this certain amount of time that can be then intense and beautiful, but then you always like start over again. It's not, sometimes it's just also nice and cozy if you have, like your apartment the same and just big, very entire, Because I also feel then maybe we go back to a country I mean for you as for me, like Minihin is always this point where for sure we go back or going back home to see your family, but then it's, the surroundings also change. Your family and your friends from school they evolve, you know, maybe they get a family now, like children, your parents get older, whatever, or also like the digital nomad friends you made. I mean, he might not be there anymore. So also, it's not that you just go back after a holiday and everything is the same. Maybe you go with this mindset and want it to be the same and then you need to deal with it and there's acceptance of, oh, people also change their lifestyle changes.

Speaker 2:

They also have maybe new friends, and they are not like waiting there for you all the time.

Speaker 3:

You know that's you really hit the nail on the head there, because I was even reflecting on this last week. Would I love Bali as much as I do if I didn't land here this time and just have a beautiful community waiting for me, like if I came here and I had to really start over? I don't know that I would have that same feeling about being here this time, I mean. And another thing the way that I like to travel is I like to go and be somewhere for a while, like for Bali, for instance. I came here, I'll be here for about five months this year and then I'll go to Ireland for about a month and then I'll keep moving. But that's a thing for me is to really go and almost ground into a place and create and be in that community. Because even when I was in Medellin, like I was only there that time when I met you, only there for a month, and so it was not necessarily a long enough time to really dig in. And so I wonder too, because I know that we all live this life differently, as digital nomads, like some people like to go live somewhere for a year, some people literally hop around month to month. So I think something important to note, too, is that you can live this life the way that you want to, that you can pop around, that you can stay somewhere for a longer amount of time.

Speaker 3:

And I'll never forget when I was leaving Georgia I was moving to New York. It was the first time I was moving, moving away from my family and I remember really being anxious about it, and my mom said something brilliant, because she's absolutely brilliant she goes, jamie, you know what? If you don't like it, you can always come back. And that when she said that it's like the world stopped and I had permission then to say, okay, if I don't like something somewhere, it's okay to go back home, it's okay to go back to where you need to, where you have your community, your people, your family, and then jet off again if it feels good. So that's one thing I want to note too. For people that are digital nomads or want to be digital nomads. It's ever-changing and flowing and fluctuating. It's dynamic, so allowing for intuition and allowing for things to change. I know that I love this life now, but maybe in three years I can have a house somewhere. You never know. But I do know that it can change and I'm open for that beautiful.

Speaker 2:

yeah, I also see it like as a daily dance between like all the emotions of fear, loneliness, frustration, but then also like this complete, like all fulfillment of joy. You know, and you, that's also something I feel. When we are like nomads, we learn like I learned it and I hear from many nomads if we want, we can learn it to really be also with our emotions, because we are like like really moving between like so many emotions, so many things are going on and we are like like being with with ourselves is like the only stability we then sometimes have, and that also can be scary and we need to learn it. But once we are like embracing it and we know who are, we authentically and really understand our needs and take them like as a priority, then it's really sad also enjoying this life side Because, to be honest, like the first month I was like what the fuck? I thought it's like amazing and I just wanted to go back to my comfort zone.

Speaker 3:

you know, yes, I remember when I came out to Bali, too, I was dying for home, right. So I got this villa. I got like the only milk brothel in Bali, like I've got all these comforts, and I was just, I wanted home. And I remember someone saying you know, home is inside of you. And I just remember saying like fuck off, like I can't right now. And I went through.

Speaker 3:

You know, it had to have been a couple years of cultivating that home within and it really took time. It's being with myself, being with my emotions, coming into what authenticity means for me, honoring that. And now I can honestly say that, wherever I am in the world, I do feel at home, and I don't need a milk frother to do that Like I actually have cultivated this, and this journey is what has allowed me to come into that deep understanding of myself, that deep grounding, centeredness. I actually know myself now, and not only do I know myself, I honor what that knowing is. And so that means if I want to be somewhere, I'm there. If I want to be somewhere else, I'm there. If I want to be somewhere else, I'm there. If I want to be with my family, my friends, I listen to that, I honor that and I'm walking in my truth, finally.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, as you say. Finally, that's also like a journey, right, like just as an addition. As you said, someone is like traveling like every month or one year. In addition, as you said, someone is like traveling like every month or one year, I feel, also for one listener. That's just, that's also something we can accept, that we learn it. When we just started. We cannot plan. For example, I understood for myself like to like because I usually need like three weeks to arrive fully like to meet like new contacts, have this intimate maybe new friendships, know where to go, what to do, maybe also for me to know where and how can I host events and then like leaving after one month when I'm super in it. It's like no, this I had like now I was in Mexico I just said one month, but I will go there back for sure and then staying longer. So now I try to plan at least to be like two months in one place. Yeah, so I have like now also my Mexico and my list with Colombia. Let's see also.

Speaker 3:

Bali. I'm excited for you to come to Bali. You're going to love it. There's so many beautiful things about Bali. Just the entrepreneurial scene here. It's incredible. Everything here. Very much like Columbia, even more. It's so set up Like I wake up, I go to the gym.

Speaker 3:

It's a beautiful coworking area, so I'll do a little coworking, go to my gym, go back into my coworking. There's a beautiful pool there, so then I go hang out at the pool and then I've got friends. You know that's a great way to meet friends too. It's like your gym. Wherever you go, your gym, your coworking space and really mapping out where you want to go, based on, you know, living somewhere close to a beautiful coworking space and make friends.

Speaker 3:

People are always like oh, it's so scary, I'm alone, I don't know anyone Not for long In places like this. Nobody comes here knowing people, so everyone is so loving and nurturing when you come into the space. So it's looking back. If I could have told myself something before I started this journey, I would have told myself that it's not as scary as I'm making it out to be, to just slow down and to be in each moment, because each moment you can't forecast the future right, so each moment is going to lead you to the next. This almost as if you're walking on a path, but the path isn't there yet. You take a footstep and your foot just lands on a path. That's like being built in that moment, and so really allowing yourself to get over this control of the future and being in that moment and again knowing something doesn't feel right. If something isn't right for me and my body and my truth, I don't have to be here and go somewhere else, you know.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because, as you say, the only thing we can control is how we are feeling in that situation, this present moment. We cannot control what's happening the next day and what I also believe, when we like really then understand and embrace an authentic life we want to live. We are like this might sound cozy to some, but I really believe it's like the universe is also co-creating with us. Things are like falling into place and it's okay that sometimes we have anxiety of the future, that we need to remember ourselves. Okay, we trust. We trust in ourselves. Everything will work out. That's life. We are not like every day in this, but, yeah, that this can become it. Maybe now you can like, maybe in this moment, something is popping up in your mind Like this one learning. You learned in all that time you were a digital nomad, besides everything you said, but maybe still something you want to share, something we are missing. That is like this one learning.

Speaker 3:

It's literally like what you just said, this co-creation. It's in co-creating. You know, I can think that I'm going to do this, I'm going to this place, I'm doing this, my business is going here, but honestly I don't know that. All I know is where my desire, my next step to be, and I think that giving up some of that control is a huge, huge piece. Giving up some of that control is a huge, huge piece. I think.

Speaker 3:

Living from your heart, I think really slowing down, giving yourself time and space, being in your practices, a practice like breathwork, a somatic practice where you can really get into your body and listen. That's one thing I love about breathwork is that it's this deep connection to intuition. My teacher, he says his company is called Breathe On it and he's like I don't do anything until I breathe on it and that's what it is for me and for everyone. It's your own modality, you might dance on it, right? So it's like listening to this intuition that comes in. So I'd say one thing that's really important, especially in this life, is this digital nomad life, is to create or cultivate that deep connection with your heart, that deep, deep connection with your intuition, because also in this, in this digital nomad life.

Speaker 3:

Fomo is real. You know, I got friends there in Ibiza and I'm like how have I not made it there? I need to be in Ibiza, I need to be in Portugal. They're in Ibiza and I'm like how have I not made it there? I need to be in Ibiza, I need to be in Portugal, but that's not my path right now, and so really listening to my heart, being devoted to my dharma and my purpose is really. It keeps me on on the path and I think that's a big piece of the puzzle that is so beautiful thanks for sharing and that's exactly like also what I would say like really being brave to listen, the answer to this voice of our heart right and not let FOMO happening.

Speaker 2:

That oh. But friends expect me to be there like really being brave, to listen to our heart.

Speaker 2:

And the sales are sometimes the challenge and so maybe for some like like as to to to like, as we are slowly coming to the end, but maybe some of our listeners don't really know, like, what's best work is. I don't know. If you want to share a little bit more about your business also, maybe some people are interested. How would you really make it happen, this online business that makes you traveling around the world? Maybe you can. We can also touch upon this a little bit.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, totally so, breathwork. Breathwork is essentially an umbrella term for all kinds of breathing modalities. You've got up-regulating, you've got, you know, down-regulating. There's balancing breath. There's so many breaths that you can use to really bring you into your center. Can I call it the greatest biohack of all time, to be honest? And a lot of my clients, they're coaches, they're entrepreneurs in the health and wellness space, they're therapists, they're space holders that want to bring a really somatic modality into their practice. So imagine, let's say, that you're a coach or your therapist and you're doing a lot of mindset work with a client. That's very top-down right.

Speaker 3:

Using something like the breath is very much of a bottoms-up approach. Using our body, the subtle sensations, that intuition, the type of rhetoric that I teach is very much known to bring us into altered states of consciousness, so essentially being able to access different parts of our brain than we typically do on a day-to-day. So I always talk about, you know, we create these problems from the same part of consciousness that we attempt to solve them from, and that doesn't really work for anyone when it comes to so many different, to so many different things. I mean, breathwork is wonderful for people that really just feel stuck, people that are anxious, people that are wanting to find their purpose, that want to create more creativity in their business, people with addiction, people with all kinds of backgrounds and traumas. It's a beautiful way to bridge that conscious to subconscious.

Speaker 2:

Beautiful and you are offering it online right. If I would like to book like a session with you.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so I do online group sessions. I bring a lot of service elements into my business because it's so like the world has impacted me in so many ways and I want my business to leave the world a better place. So we have service initiatives in Bali. We work with a school with kiddos with disabilities, because lots of kids with disabilities don't go to school here. We work with a organization out of Ireland with suicide prevention, and then we also work with some initiatives in Peru, and so each month I do a online breathwork to benefit one of those groups. So the online classes are phenomenal. To jump in the group classes and then also, if you were curious at all about becoming a breathwork facilitator, bringing this magic and this modality into your coaching that this is who you talk to. This is who you talk to.

Speaker 2:

Great, yeah, we will put also all your information in the show notes. Awesome. So yeah, anything else that's on your mind? Anything I should have asked? Anything we forgot to talk? Talk about I don't think so.

Speaker 3:

I'm feeling pretty good. Are you feeling pretty complete?

Speaker 2:

yes, I think it's um it's that it was like an inspirational talk, just to prepare yourself to become a digital nomad.

Speaker 3:

Also like to really embrace, sit into it yeah, anything else that you would want to bring in, I think for our listeners.

Speaker 2:

I think it's really complete and maybe that's like a nice possibility, as the listeners are still listening. If you feel something is missing, reach out to me or to Jamie and ask us any question.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Yeah 100%, I'll race here, perfect, so thank you%, I'll race here, perfect.

Speaker 2:

So thank you so much, thank you.

Speaker 1:

And that's it for today. Thank you so much for listening. I appreciate it very, very much. I would appreciate it even more if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts for me. That way, more people can find this podcast, more people can hear the inspiring stories that we're sharing, and the more people we can impact for the better. So, thank you so much if you are going to leave a review. I really appreciate you and I will see you in the next episode.