15 Essentials You Will Want to Bring to Yoga Teacher Training in Bali
Author: Deep Kumar, Founder and Lead Teacher, Yoga New Vision Bali School: yoganewvision.com Location: Omham Retreats and Resort, Ubud, Bali
For yoga teacher training in Bali, the 15 essentials you genuinely need are your own yoga mat, a mat towel, six to eight functional yoga outfits, loose clothing for off-mat hours, a warm layer for 7am practice, a dedicated study notebook, a personal journal, pens and highlighters, a reusable insulated water bottle, a fascia release or massage ball, a personal medicine kit, electrolytes and gut health support, sun and mosquito protection, a universal power adapter with offline study materials, and a Japa mala or personal grounding item.
After 16 years of teaching and 15,000 graduates later, I have watched students arrive at our shala in Ubud with everything from three months of designer activewear to a full skincare laboratory. The ones who thrive travel light. The ones who spend their first two days stressed are always the ones managing too much luggage.
This is the list I would hand you if you were sitting across from me in Kedewatan right now.
What Yoga New Vision Already Provides for You
Before you panic-buy anything, know what is already handled. Your 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training Bali training fee at Yoga New Vision covers yoga mats in the shala, all course manuals, three vegetarian and vegan meals a day, and daily housekeeping at Omham Retreats and Resort. Blocks, bolsters, and straps are available in the practice space.
You do not need to source the infrastructure. You need to source everything that supports you personally across 22 days of immersion.
The 15 Essentials
1. Your Own Yoga Mat
The school provides mats. Bring yours anyway. You will practice three to six hours every day for 22 consecutive days, and the mat you have been training on for months carries something a school mat simply does not: familiarity.
At 7am in our open-air bamboo shala, before the rice paddies outside have fully caught the light, you want a surface that already knows your hands. A lightweight travel mat under 1.5 kilograms is the practical choice for flying into Ngurah Rai International Airport.
2. A Yoga Mat Towel
Non-negotiable in Ubud. The humidity in Kedewatan means you will be sweating before you have finished your third sun salutation. A mat towel keeps your grip, protects the school’s mat, and doubles as a meditation blanket during Yoga Nidra sessions.
One item doing three jobs in a packing situation. Always worth it.
3. Functional Yoga Clothes — Not the Expensive Kind
Here is an honest opinion from someone who has watched thousands of students go through intensive training: do not spend serious money on designer yoga wear for a 22-day tropical immersion. The combination of Ubud’s humidity, six hours of daily practice, and open-air environments is genuinely hard on fabric.
Bring six to eight sets of moisture-wicking, fast-drying, and easy-to-wash clothing. That is the full requirement. Functional over fashionable is the truth this environment will teach you whether you are ready for it or not.
4. Loose, Comfortable Clothing for Off-Mat Hours
Your 10:30am philosophy session with Swami Atma on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras does not require yoga leggings. Neither does your 12pm anatomy class with Rajat Thakur. After four hours on the mat, the only thing a human body wants is to stop being compressed by tight fabric.
Pack three to four pairs of loose linen or cotton trousers. You will reach for them every single afternoon.
5. A Warm Layer for Early Morning Practice
People do not expect this. Ubud in the morning, even in the middle of the Balinese season, carries a genuine chill inside an open-air shala. Our 7am sessions begin in natural light and open air, and the bamboo structure at Omham Retreats does not retain heat from the night before.
A lightweight hoodie or a cotton sweater you do not mind sitting cross-legged on a wooden floor in is essential. Pack one. Use it every morning.
6. A Dedicated Study Notebook
Your course manual covers the curriculum. Your study notebook is where you build your own framework. Students who arrive with a blank notebook dedicated to course content and fill it with anatomy notes from Anurag Acharya, Sanskrit asana names, Pancha Kosha theory, the 8 Limbs of Yoga, and sequencing principles leave with a personal reference document they will return to for years.
Keep this notebook exclusively for classroom content. Nothing personal goes in it.
7. A Personal Journal
Keep this completely separate from your study notebook. This is where you write what is actually happening to you during the training, not what is being taught.
Old patterns surface in a 22-day immersion. Breakthroughs happen. The gap between your morning practice and your evening Yoga Nidra session is often where the most significant internal work occurs. A blank journal with no agenda is the right container for that.
8. Good Pens and Highlighters
Constantly forgotten, always needed. Bring a minimum of three pens because two will run out. Two highlighters in different colours for separating anatomy content from philosophy content makes revision faster and much more useful. One pen you genuinely enjoy writing with is a small thing that adds up across 22 days of note-taking.
Do not borrow pens from classmates every morning. Pack yours.
9. A Reusable Insulated Water Bottle
Dehydration in Ubud does not give a polite warning. It arrives as a headache during Kapalabhati or a sudden drop in energy at the asana lab at 3pm. A double-insulated stainless steel bottle that keeps water cold through a four-hour session is the single most used item students tell me they wish they had packed first.
Omham Retreats has filtered water refill stations. Use them constantly.
10. A Fascia Release Ball or Massage Ball
This is where the Western science side of our YNV Method becomes very practical. Our curriculum integrates somatic tracking alongside traditional asana, and the physical reality of three to six hours of daily practice for 22 days is that the connective tissue in your back, hips, and feet needs active recovery.
A small massage ball the size of a tennis ball fits in a side pocket and is the most effective portable recovery tool available. Pack one. Use it every evening.
11. A Personal Medicine Kit
Traveling to Bali means a genuine change in food, climate, water, and bacteria. Pack antacids, antidiarrheal tablets, antihistamines, fever medication, probiotics, pain relief, and any prescribed medication in quantities that cover your full stay. Do not rely on finding your specific brand in Ubud, because you may not.
Starting probiotics a week before you arrive and continuing through the training reduces gut adjustment time significantly.
12. Electrolytes and Gut Health Support
The most underrated item on any YTT packing list and almost never mentioned by people who have not actually trained in a tropical climate. Sweating through a morning practice in Ubud’s humidity depletes sodium and potassium in ways that plain water does not restore.
Pack electrolyte sachets for daily use throughout the training. Combine them with the probiotics mentioned above. Your body will thank you by week two.
13. Sun and Mosquito Protection
The grounds at Omham Retreats are surrounded by working rice paddies and tropical gardens. They are genuinely beautiful. They are also full of mosquitoes at dusk, which is precisely when our evening meditation sessions end and students walk back to their rooms.
Bring a natural mosquito repellent you know you can tolerate on your skin during practice. Bring sunscreen with a high SPF for your Sunday free days exploring Ubud. Bali’s UV index is significantly higher than most Western countries, and the equatorial sun is not something to discover the hard way.
14. A Universal Power Adapter and Offline Study Materials
Indonesia uses Type C and Type F sockets at 230 volts. Your charger from the UK, US, or Australia will not work without an adapter, and this is the kind of thing people realize at 11pm on arrival night. A universal adapter with multiple USB ports handles every device.
Download your Sanskrit reference glossaries, course reading materials, and any study PDFs before you fly. Wifi at Omham Retreats is available. Consistent is a different matter during peak evenings.
15. A Japa Mala or Personal Grounding Item
You will meditate every day in this training. On many days, twice a day. A Japa mala carries 108 beads traditionally used for counting mantra repetitions or breath cycles during seated practice. Sadhana Om, our co-founder, was initiated into Mantra Yoga by an enlightened Master after years of study across Indian ashrams. When she leads mantra sessions in the shala, having your own mala in your hands changes the quality of attention you can sustain.
If you do not own one before arriving, excellent local options are available in Ubud. But bringing one you have already used in practice carries an energetic continuity worth protecting.
The Dimension Every Other Packing List Skips
Sadhana tells every student this before they arrive and most of them only understand it by week two: the most important preparation is emotional, not physical. A 200-hour immersion will bring up things. Stored grief. Patterns you believed you had resolved. Beliefs about your own body and capability that the asana lab will quietly dismantle. This is not a warning. It is the whole point of the training.
Bring something that grounds you when that happens. A specific essential oil. Your mala. A photograph. Something small and personal that anchors you to yourself when the training opens you wider than you expected. Our Women’s Wellness module with Sadhana covers Womb Wisdom and Menstrual Cycle Awareness in depth, and she teaches every student to track how the body responds across each phase of the cycle during immersion. Pack accordingly, and pack honestly.
What to Leave Behind
Laptop in the room. Physical notebooks in your bag. This is our strong recommendation for the 22 days of active training. The subtle energetic work in our Kundalini Meditation and Yoga Nidra sessions builds across consecutive days of reduced screen exposure. Students who maintain heavy device use during the training consistently report a slower internal opening compared to students who choose to step back from screens.
You can use your laptop on Sunday free days in Ubud. During the immersion itself, choose the notebook.
Pack minimalist. Carry only what genuinely serves your practice. Everything this training requires of you is already inside you. We are just going to help you remember it.
Ready to secure your spot?
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Do I need to bring my own yoga mat to yoga teacher training in Bali?
Yoga New Vision provides mats for all students in the shala. Bringing your own is still strongly recommended. You will practice three to six hours daily for 22 consecutive days. A mat you have trained on carries your grip pattern and supports presence at 7am in a way that a school mat rarely matches. Pack a travel mat under 1.5 kilograms.
2. How many yoga outfits should I pack for a 200-hour YTT?
Bring six to eight sets minimum. Most days involve two sweat-heavy sessions, and Ubud’s humidity means nothing dries quickly. Omham Retreats offers laundry service, but same-day turnaround is not guaranteed. Moisture-wicking, fast-drying fabrics are far more practical than expensive athletic wear in this environment. Functional is the only relevant standard here.
3. What study tools do I actually need for yoga teacher training?
A dedicated study notebook for class content and a separate personal journal. Your course manual covers the curriculum. Your study notebook builds your personal understanding of anatomy, Sanskrit asana names, Patanjali’s Sutras, and sequencing structures across the training. Your journal processes what the immersion is doing to you internally. Keep them separate and use both daily.
4. What medicines should I pack for yoga teacher training in Bali?
Bring antacids, antidiarrheal tablets, antihistamines, fever medication, probiotics, pain relief, and any prescribed medicines in full quantities. Ubud pharmacies stock basic items but not specific branded medications. Starting probiotics one week before arrival significantly reduces gut adjustment time. Your body is adapting to new food, climate, water, and bacteria simultaneously.
5. Is a Japa mala necessary for yoga teacher training?
Not mandatory. Genuinely useful. You will meditate daily, sometimes twice daily. Mala beads with 108 counts give the hands something purposeful to hold during mantra repetition or breath cycles, which anchors attention more effectively than breath awareness alone. Sadhana Om integrates Mantra Yoga initiation practice into the curriculum. Having your own mala in the shala deepens that work.
6. What should I NOT bring to yoga teacher training in Bali?
Leave your laptop active use at the door during immersion days. Skip expensive designer yoga wear that tropical humidity will damage quickly. Avoid packing disposable single-use items and excess clothing you will never reach for. The training produces the deepest results when you are fully present. Over-packing creates logistical noise that competes with internal attention.
7. What does Yoga New Vision provide so I can pack less?
Your training includes yoga mats in the shala, all course manuals, three vegan and vegetarian meals daily on six days per week, daily housekeeping at Omham Retreats, and all yoga props including blocks, bolsters, and straps. Two weeks before training begins, Yoga New Vision hosts a welcome video call. One week before, the WhatsApp coordination group opens for airport transfers and arrival support.
8. How do I prepare emotionally for a 22-day yoga teacher training immersion?
Arrive with the expectation that something will surface. Bring a personal journal, a grounding object you already trust, and the specific support items your body needs across a full menstrual cycle if relevant. Sadhana Om holds dedicated space for emotional processing throughout the training. The Women’s Wellness module and her presence in every training cohort make this part of the curriculum, not separate from it.
9. What is the weather like in Ubud during yoga teacher training?
Ubud is tropical year-round with high humidity and temperatures between 24 and 32 degrees Celsius across most months. Early mornings at the open-air bamboo shala feel genuinely cool and require a warm layer. Afternoons are hot and humid. The rainy season brings brief, heavy rain in the afternoons rather than all-day rain. Pack layers for early practice and light breathable clothing for the rest of the day.
10. How should I handle money and payments for personal expenses during the training?
Bring Indonesian Rupiah for personal spending, Ubud day trips, Sunday meals, and any souvenirs. The training covers three meals on six days per week, so your main personal food expense is Sunday. ATMs are available throughout central Ubud. Cards are accepted at most restaurants and shops in the area. Airport currency exchange offers reasonable rates on arrival at Ngurah Rai.
Author: Deep Kumar Title: Founder and Lead Teacher School: Yoga New Vision Bali Instagram: instagram.com/yogadeep Website: yoganewvision.com
Yoga New Vision is a Yoga Alliance Registered School since 2011, based at Omham Retreats and Resort, Jl. Raya Sanggingan No.36, Kedewatan, Ubud, Bali 80517, Indonesia. Contact: info@yoganewvision.com | +6282145498596
Join our next 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training in Bali or book a free 15-minute discovery call with Sadhana Om to ask every question you have before you decide.
