The first time you step into Bali, you notice something unusual. The vibe, the air is heavy and soft. You can smell the serene incense sticks while walking through the roads and streets. The temple bells sound so soothing. One will also find flower baskets resting peacefully on the ground, shedding a pleasing aroma. Life here has rhythm, a rhythm that isn’t rushed. For anyone practising yoga, that rhythm feels familiar; it feels like breath.
One is yoga, another is Balinese; both healing methods belong together. Both are rooted in balance. Both are about remembering that health is more than the body; it’s the spirit, the heart, and the way you live your days. Bali offers a mix of two phases, two traditions so well that healing there feels amazing!
Healing as Balance
The Balinese don’t look at illness the way modern medicine often does. To them, sickness can come from the body, yes, but also from emotions, from relationships, or from losing touch with the spirit world. Healing is about harmony—bringing everything back into alignment.
Yoga speaks a similar language. When the breath flows, when the mind steadies, when prana moves freely, health appears. Put side by side, yoga and Balinese healing feel like two rivers flowing toward the same ocean.
Meeting the Balian – Balinese Healer
Traditional healers in Bali are called Balian. Some inherit the role, others are called by dreams or visions. Villagers come to them for stomach pains, heartbreak, or even a restless spirit. A session might be simple, a bitter herbal tonic, a massage, a prayer whispered under the breath. Or it might be deeply ceremonial, involving chanting and ritual.
You will be left with a serene sense of healing that is given by the healer to you in the form of yoga or other healing techniques. You won’t be a patient anymore, but a healed person filled with a lot of stories, beautiful experiences, positive energies, and amazing connections. The word healing is not just about curing something, but correcting the whole.
Herbal Medicine that includes Jamu – Plant Wisdom
Fresh and green pharmacy can be the right term for Bali! Turmeric, ginger, galangal, lemongrass, cloves—you see them piled high in markets, fresh and fragrant. These are not only spices, they’re medicine. The Balinese prepare jamu, a golden herbal tonic, as casually as tea. It cleanses the blood, strengthens digestion, and supports the immune system.
For yogis, this natural medicine is a gift. A warm drink of turmeric is often useful after practice. A ginger infusion supports breathwork and clears heaviness. Herbs make the body feel light and ready, so practice becomes less about pushing and more about flowing.
Energy Healing – Clearing What’s Stuck
Anyone who has practised yoga knows the feeling—after a deep class, something shifts inside. The breath feels smoother, the mind quieter, the body lighter. Balinese healing has its own way of working with that shift.
A Balian may move their hands over your body, sensing areas where energy feels heavy or blocked. Through touch, prayer, or chanting, they release what doesn’t belong. It’s subtle, but powerful. Yogis often compare it to clearing a chakra or unblocking a nadi. Energy work makes space for prana to move freely again.
Water as a Healer
Water is sacred in Bali. Springs are believed to hold cleansing power, and temples are built around them. The most well-known is Tirta Empul, where locals and visitors line up to step under fountains, letting cool water wash over their heads. Each fountain represents a different kind of release—anger, sadness, confusion.
Daily Rituals
The best thing that can be seen in Bali is the simplicity. People are simple and very spiritual, you will see families offering rice, flowers, and putting incense sticks at the doorsteps. They are called canang sari, and they’re everywhere. These offerings are small acts of gratitude, a way to keep harmony between humans, nature, and the unseen.
For a yoga practitioner, this feels like a ritual on the mat—lighting a candle before practice, chanting Om before asana. Small gestures, repeated daily, shift the way you see the world. Healing in Bali isn’t about one big event; it’s about the little things you do every day.
Balinese Massage
After a week of yoga in Bali, a massage feels less like luxury and more like medicine. The relaxing pressure and bodywork applied is amazing and very rejuvenating.
Many retreats include it as part of the experience, and it’s easy to see why. When the body is released from tension, yoga deepens naturally. Poses open, breath steadies, meditation becomes easier. The two practices feed each other.
Yoga and Balinese Healing Together
Yoga prepares the body and mind. Balinese healing works with spirit, energy, and nature. Put them together, and you don’t just practice yoga—you live it.
A typical day in Bali might look like this: a sunrise yoga session in a jungle shala, herbal jamu to refresh the body, a visit to a healer in the afternoon, and meditation by the river at sunset. Each piece supports the other, and the effect is layered. It’s not a retreat; it’s an immersion into wholeness.
Why It Matters Now
Modern life is noisy. Screens, deadlines, and distractions pull us out of balance every day. Yoga helps, but sometimes posture and breath aren’t enough. What Bali offers is depth—rituals, ceremonies, and a way of living that reminds you healing is not just individual. It is communal, cultural, and connected to nature.
That’s why people return again and again. They don’t just come back for yoga. They come back for the feeling of being restored on every level.
Conclusion
Balinese healing traditions and yoga share the same heartbeat. Both ask us to listen, to breathe, to honour the connection between body, spirit, and the world around us
And that is Bali’s gift. A gift that lingers long after your mat is rolled up and your suitcase is packed.
