Nurturing mind and spirit in Bali

In Bali, whether on a short visit or an extended stay, I was soon immersed in the symbols of landscape and life—the rice terraces of Ubud in dazzling hues of green, the graceful village temples, the devotees who formed a processional route on the way to a temple festival, the intense beat of gongs and gamelan music that accompanied them along the way. At times it seemed that I had come to a world with a reality all its own.

The author Patrick R. Booz captures the essence of the Balinese worldview in Bali: The Legendary Isle: “To the Balinese, their island is the entire world. Other worlds may exist outside, but theirs is complete and whole in itself, a total provider, bountiful with all the physical and spiritual attributes important to existence.” Those words resonated deeply as I recalled past visits to Bali and my recent stay.

I returned to the village of Kedewatan in Ubud, home to Amandari, an upcountry retreat set high above the Ayung River gorge in central Bali. Kedewatan’s landscape is a tapestry of verdant hills and sloping rice terraces. Inside Amandari’s reception hall, a panoramic view of the Ayung Valley, and the surrounding hills unfolded before me. The lush setting of Amandari seemed like an ideal place to reconnect with nature and get in touch with the local culture.

Located at the cultural heart of Bali, Amandari provides its guests with an experience guide filled with activities designed to deepen the appreciation of the local culture and environment. These include visits to artists’ workshops, explorations of arts and crafts villages, and tours of historic temples. Guests can enjoy cycling and trekking through the scenic countryside, and for those seeking spiritual renewal, Amandari can arrange a Balinese temple blessing or an energy healing session. For wellness enthusiasts, the spa offers yoga classes, meditation sessions, and traditional Balinese healing therapies.

My visit began with a temple blessing held at Amandari’s temple, located near the resort’s entrance. In Balinese tradition, such blessings mark a new beginning. The village priest called upon the gods to witness the ceremony, consecrating offerings of flowers and rice, as he asked for the blessings of good health and happiness for me. Three elder women from the village guided me through the prayers. The priest then sprinkled holy water on my palms, which I would use to symbolically cleanse my face and body, and offered me consecrated rice, symbolizing divine blessings. After the ceremony, I was invited to eat some fruits from a bowl of blessed offerings, completing my purification and preparing me to start life anew.

The holistic healing practices in Bali reflect the island’s deep spiritual traditions, which have been cultivated and refined over centuries. Eager to explore these traditions, I looked forward to my energy healing session with Badjo Indrijanto, the resident healer at the Aman Resorts in Bali. Energy healing focuses on the body’s energy centers. Healers use a combination of hand movements and intuitive abilities to assess and restore the energy flow, promoting overall well-being. Badjo, who comes from a family of healers from Java, has practiced Olah Roso since his youth. This practice emphasizes the refinement of inner emotions and intuition, attuning individuals to the subtle energies around them. Rooted in the Javanese worldview, Olah Roso seeks to achieve balance, harmony, and a deep connection with the natural world, the cosmos, and human existence, aligning practitioners with the divine forces of the universe.

Before we began our session, Badjo inquired about my concerns. He then asked me to lie down and relax as he began the body-scanning process. I fell asleep during the session. Forty minutes later, the process was complete, leaving my energy balanced. Afterward, Badjo explained that while I was generally in good health, my tendency to overthink was affecting my well-being. He identified long-standing health conditions and injuries, advising me to practice meditation, to take moments of silence, trust in the power of prayer, and listen to my heart and intuition. He urged me to spend time in nature, which he described as a form of meditation that promotes self-healing.

For the final leg of my trip, I headed to east Bali to visit the Klungkung Palace in Semarapura, the Water Palace of Tirtagganga, and the indigenous village of the Bali Aga in Tenganan. The Klungkung Palace, a site of ethereal beauty, was once the seat of the Klungkung Kingdom, which presided over a significant period of Bali’s arts and culture from the late 17th century until the Dutch invasion in 1908. Today, what remains of the compound includes the graceful stone pavilion, Bale Kambang, that appears to float above a lotus pool, and Kerta Gosa, the hall of justice that once served as the supreme court of the kingdom. At Bale Kembang, the ceilings are adorned with traditional Kamasan style paintings depicting the Balinese astrological calendar, a folk tale of an ideal Balinese family and the mythological epic, Sutasoma. At Kerta Gosa, those who awaited judgment could view the ceiling paintings that illustrated the afterlife’s punishments and the consequences of karma. At the Water Palace of Tirtagganga, I strolled around a sprawling pleasure garden, built in 1946 by the last King of Karangasem, which features stone sculptures, an 11-tiered fountain, flowering trees, lotus ponds, and pathways lined with potted plants. The garden evokes the days of the Balinese rajahs, offering a glimpse into a bygone era of grace and elegance.

It was often the most remote places in Asia that resonated deeply with me. The village of Tenganan is one such place. It is home to the original inhabitants of Bali, known as the Bali Aga, who settled here long before the Hindu-Javanese migration. Coming to this village was like stepping back in time, where life was stripped down to its bare essence—remarkable for its utter simplicity. A mud-and-stone path marks the entrance, leading up a steep incline to a communal hall built on a raised platform with a thatched roof and a concrete floor. Here, women gathered around a solid wood table to create offerings of fruits, flowers, and palm leaves for the evening prayers. Some men prepared stews for the evening meal, while others played gentle, rhythmic sounds on iron gamelan instruments, one of the oldest forms of gamelan in Bali. Music, whether performed in a village or a palace, has always been a link between the physical world and the spiritual realm. The women of Tenganan wore woven geringsing, a patterned cloth for which the village is renowned. It is believed to ward off evil and protect the community. This cloth served as a protective force throughout the different stages of life. It was heartening to see that Bali’s indigenous people and their customs still thrived on the slopes of Mount Agung.

In Bali, long-held traditions continue to shape the rhythms of everyday life. Even as the island embraces the new and the now, the legacy of Bali’s past remains vibrant, nurturing a spirit of wonder and discovery in travelers. Whether you seek an active adventure, or a tranquil retreat, a visit to Bali leaves a lasting imprint on the heart and the soul.