<\/span><\/p>\n Note: I also have a post about trying a Balinese water purification ceremony<\/a><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Wayan Nuriasih is the female healer in Bali, featured in the book and film \u2018Eat Pray Love\u2019. It was never my intention to visit her out of fandom, or to follow in the Eat Pray Love author\u2019s footsteps, but rather I stumbled on her business by chance.<\/p>\n After running an errand, I noticed a green sign across the road with bold capital letters: \u2018EAT PRAY LOVE\u2019. I recognized Wayan\u2019s name and snapped a photo of the sign advertising energy healing sessions.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n After a creepy nightmare (or questionably, an experience with a spirt), I decide to seek out a Balinese healer in Bali. I pull up the photo in my phone and re-read the details on the sign. I\u2019m not clear what an energy healing session involves, but I\u2019m in my healing era and open to trying anything that might help me.<\/p>\n I order a Gojek and arrive outside the compound where I first saw the road-side sign. A Brazilian couple are waiting outside the gated entrance, and we form a short queue which reaches the road, a bustling street with motorbikes whizzing back and forth.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Wayan opens the gate and stands, blocking the entrance. She wears a crisp white blouse and lilac skirt, and her dark hair is twisted into a claw-clip. She holds a clipboard and resembles a stern school teacher, silently examining us through rectangular spectacles. I wait for her to invite us in, but she remains stationary at the gate, handing us an intake form. We are instructed to write our full name, place of birth and birthday, including the day of the week.<\/p>\n Wayan has each of us step up to the gate for a brief introduction, before shooing us away and motioning to the next. The gated entrance we crowd around is only a few steps from the road and it\u2019s difficult to hear her voice over the traffic. A wave of disappointment rolls through me. I anticipated a more private setting than this, perhaps even an opportunity to sit down with Wayan.<\/p>\n <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n She\u2019s speaking to one of my companions, when she suddenly stops and looks directly at me:<\/p>\n \u201cI do not allow people into my property without a cleansing ritual, it brings bad spirits, bad things happen before we do this.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m startled, as though she\u2019s just read my mind. I silently step forward when it\u2019s my turn to approach her. Wayan has me outstretch my hands, palms facing up, and examines them through her reading glasses.<\/p>\n \u201cPain in stomach, yes, pain in stomach, digestion not so good,\u201d she says while scribbling notes on my form.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have pineapple, next day mango, next day spicey, next day coffee, not all at same time or too much acid,\u201d she instructs.<\/p>\n She pauses to check the progress of the Canadian girl behind me, who was instructed to apply a gray paste to her stomach. Wayan uses her pen to demonstrate, poking her own belly.<\/p>\n \u201cYou put inside belly button. See, you feel better already!\u201d<\/p>\n Wayan returns to my outstretched hands as if gazing into a looking glass and continues diagnosing me.<\/p>\n \u201cNeck and shoulder pain too.\u201d She nonchalantly ticks a box on her form.<\/p>\n Using the tip of her pen, she flips my hands over, examining the tops, and reaches for an offering from a nearby basket. She holds it high over her head and chants a prayer for me in Bahasa.<\/p>\n Returning her gaze to mine, she tells me, \u201cThree generations from your papa, they are healer people.\u201d Nodding in affirmation, she confirms, \u201cYou can learn healing.\u201d<\/p>\n There is a generous pause before she asks, \u201cWhat do you do?\u201d<\/p>\n Momentarily stunned, my thoughts fail to properly link with my speech. I blurt out, \u201cMedical.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHuh?\u201d she asks.<\/p>\n How can I possibly explain to her I\u2019m a researcher by background, with a prior career in health care and a failed yoga business, but I\u2019m currently unemployed on a career break; and oh yah, I\u2019m also a travel blogger.<\/p>\n I realize what I\u2019ve said didn\u2019t make sense, but it comes out again:<\/p>\n \u201cMedical.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a medical researcher,\u201d I tell her.<\/p>\n The Brazilian man behind me has been listening with interest. \u201cAhhh, general practitioner,\u201d he says in a thick Portuguese accent, nodding in approval.<\/p>\n \u201cResearcher,\u201d I correct him, now speaking more to him than to Wayan, and he steps in as a makeshift interpreter, saying loudly over my head: \u201cInvestigation. She makes research.\u201d<\/p>\n Wayan nods in acknowledgement and looks me square in the eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cYou must learn healing. This is your part-time job now. You must learn something. If you don’t, it will confuse your mind, cause problem, long time pain in neck.\u201d<\/p>\n Unsure of how to react, I silently nod, as she leans forward and pulls down my lower eyelids to examine the whites of my eyes. \u201cLow blood pressure,\u201d she nods, adding another tick to my form.<\/p>\n She pinches one of my fingertips.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re smart, not a stupid person,\u201d she adds, vigorously shaking her head. \u201cNot stupid, very smart.\u201d<\/p>\n Her stern demeanor finally breaks, and she giggles.<\/p>\n \u201cYour mind is like this,\u201d she says, drawing a straight line which forks into two directions. She rotates one of her hands back and forth for extra effect, as if opening and closing a jar.<\/p>\n Wayan prescribes me rice porridge and star gooseberry leaf, though I\u2019m unclear for what, and offers me a small, clear bag of green goo to put on my face.<\/p>\n \u201cNow,\u201d she instructs.<\/p>\n I step aside and begin to apply the paste to my face like a mud mask. I look like Shrek and people on motorbikes gawk as they drive by.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n I watch on with intrigue as the Brazilian man is instructed to get down on his knees for an onion-water cleansing. She sprinkles it over his head like a root vegetable baptism, while he pats the holy water over his face and head.<\/p>\n \u201cMy eyes, it burns,\u201d he exclaims, blindly stumbling to the outdoor wash basin to rinse his face.<\/p>\n I follow him to wash the green crust off my skin and return to the gate to hear final remarks from Wayan.<\/p>\n \u201cYou must calm the mind, you learn meditation, then you will be healing.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The experience of visiting a healer in Bali was admittedly not what I expected, but Wayan was extremely accurate. I do have neck pain and digestive issues, I\u2019ve experienced fainting spells from low blood pressure, and I certainly struggle to calm my mind.<\/p>\n Yet, I accept her prophecy with hesitancy. For all I know, she could tell every visitor they\u2019re meant to be a healer, playing into the egos of foreign tourists. I suppose only time will tell!<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n So do I recommend visiting a healer in Bali during your trip? If you are staying in Ubud to explore healing and spirituality, then yes\u2014why not? The entire experience was 500,000 Indonesian rupiah, which felt reasonable to me (though I have since learned that most Balinese healers do not charge even close to this much and do not advertise their services, which makes finding authentic practitioners a challenge to foreigners). Wayan offers her services from her compound, located North of the centre of Ubud.<\/p>\n You can find the location on Google Maps here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Do I feel as if I was healed by the experience? No\u2014it felt more like visiting a psychic than a healer, as if she had access to information about me just by looking at me. Standing at her gate among other tourists did not feel personalized though, nor private. It was also difficult to hear her over the noise from the road. However, I don’t regret going and did find the experience very interesting and memorable, turning it into a chapter in my debut book ‘With Love from Bali’.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n I have also participated in several water purification ceremonies from Ubud with a different healer, De, a character in my book. You can read more about it in my next post: Trying a Balinese water purification ceremony<\/a> where I share her contact information.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Tap to order my ebook ‘With Love from Bali’.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Was this post helpful?<\/em><\/p>\n Let me know in the comments below.<\/em><\/p>\n The post I visited the eat pray love healer in Bali<\/a> appeared first on <\/a>.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I visited the ‘Eat Pray Love’ healer in Bali during an extended wellness trip which ended in a neurodivergent diagnosis (which I have since wrote an entire memoir about). This blog post shares my personal experience and some helpful info at the end, including the healer’s location and the cost. Note: I also have a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":350515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98526,201,121686],"tags":[5251,10009,171950,465,7537,20934],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-350514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-travel","category-unique-experiences","tag-bali","tag-eat","tag-healer","tag-love","tag-pray","tag-visited"],"yoast_head":"\nVisiting the ‘Eat Pray Love’ Healer in Bali<\/h3>\n
![\"Eat](\"https:\/\/www.thepinkbackpack.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_1114-e1729221485850.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thepinkbackpack.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_8056-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Visiting](\"https:\/\/www.thepinkbackpack.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_8057-scaled.jpg\" "\\"Visiting")
<\/p>\n![\"Visiting](\"https:\/\/www.thepinkbackpack.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_8072-scaled.jpg\" "\\"Visiting")
<\/p>\nSummary: Visiting a Healer in Bali<\/h3>\n
\u00a0Shop my Book<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thepinkbackpack.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/front-cover-1.png\")
<\/p>\n