Spiritual Journey | Confessions of a Cruise Director

Finding Balance in Bali

This is part 3 of a 4 part series about a recent trip we took to Bali

Every morning, I do manage to find some time to myself.  One day, I make my way over to the 7:30am yoga class, taught gently by a smiling Balinese man named Gina.  Despite being both fit and flexible, Gina is patient with those who have never done this before, or who cannot touch their toes.  He encourages balance, forward bends counteracted by backwards ones, the left side worked on exactly as much as the right.  It is just what I need to hear on a spiritual vacation as I practice the art of balance.

Another morning I follow the signs that say “nature walk”, down the steep mossy steps to a stone Balinese bathing fountain, past a splashing waterfall, along the river which marks the edge of the Maya property.  I walk past plants whose leaves unfurl so large over my head that I could take shelter in a rainstorm.  I see geckos and lizards, blue birds with orange throats, red-winged dragonflies.  I feel so far away from my life back home, so blissfully surrounded on my Bali spiritual tour by ways of life I usually don’t take time to see.

On the last day of our trip, we have given the group the whole day off.  We will gather in the evening for our spectacular farewell dinner (150 dancers and a four course Balinese meal) but today, Greg and I are going to the spa.  Having toured the place my first morning, visiting both the individual and couples suites, I have booked the newest couples suite, which faces the river, two stories down.  In addition to the two massage tables, it has a resting pavilion, a round aluminum bathtub big enough for both of us, private lockers, and outdoor side-by-side showers, all under the high thatched roof that I have come to think of as the Maya’s signature design.   This is where we will spend the next two hours – talk about spiritual travel!

While Greg gets foot reflexology, I begin with a Balinese massage.  It is similar to what I am used to in any massage, but the strokes are longer and the tiny girl never exerts too much or too little pressure, using only her hands.  Draping is observed, and I never feel like I am showing too much skin at any one time.  The sound of the river stands in for the usual spa music, and I am transported to a place of tranquil rest, the soft breeze occasionally wafting the smell of the jasmine oil the masseuse uses.  As Greg moves into a Balinese massage, I receive a ginger and tangerine body scrub (my other options included something that smelled decidedly like curry).  This is unlike any other scrub I have had – a powder is rubbed into each body part and then brushed off, taking the dead skin, but causing no discomfort.  Afterwards, the therapist slathers my whole body in fresh yoghurt and directs me to the outdoor shower.

Spiritual Vacation Spa Materials

My spiritual tour of the spa is nearly complete, and Greg and I meet back in the suite looking refreshed and a little dazed, like something blissful has taken a permanent spot in our hearts.

Finding Balance in Bali

This is part 2 of a 4 part series about a recent trip we took to Bali

The infinity pool into the rice paddies at the Alila Hotel

Of course a spiritual vacation is not all the earnest work of devotion. We are staying at the Maya Ubud, and a more integrated balance between luxurious four star service and raw nature I cannot imagine. The whole property is a lush tropical garden, set among the rice paddies of Ubud, itself the artistic heart of Bali, as well as where Liz Gilbert stayed when she wrote the Bali part of Eat Pray Love. The lawns are well-manicured, but even the team of gardeners working seven days a week can barely hold back the jungle of local plants, huge trees, and bright colorful splashes of flowers. The Maya has a deeply organic feel from the moment you approach the front entrance, a huge thatched roof covering the open space and pavilion, which is inspired by the design of traditional Balinese “bale” and family compounds. You feel like you are on a spiritual vacation for sure here, a spiritual tour of the mind, body and soul. A wooden walkway slices through flowing water to the lobby, where the soaring thatch ceiling is grounded by a circular glass floor at the center, lit from below and filled with objets d’antique from Bali’s ancient past.

All of Bali is a work of art

The staff welcomes you, with more than passable English; their enthusiasm for your comfort makes their meaning even clearer. When my group arrives, our cooling welcome drink and room keys are accompanied by the spa brochures I requested. The energy in the room is palpable as everyone chatters excitedly about the treatments, the design. By the next morning, the spa is booked for three days solid by our happy assembly, knowing that we digress from Eat Pray Love, but happy to do so..

Greg and I are staying in a pool villa, one of 34 that stretch out in neat rows ringed by the ever-abundant plant life. Walking to our room for the first time, I see five different types of butterfly. As we slide open the teak doors to our room, we are transported into another level of beauty. I treat myself to a spiritual tour of the room. The roof is thatched in the traditional Balinese fashion, the neat rows of dried grass clearly visible high overhead. We have a 4-poster bed with filmy cotton mosquito netting draped charmingly on the bedposts. Our bath is an oversized hammered aluminum affair with a view of the private garden. Nicer than the accommodations in Eat, Pray Love… by far.

The outdoor shower of our room in Bali

Outside, facing the bathroom, is a small plunge pool, filled to overflowing with cool clear water. The sticky humidity has already taken its toll; as soon as the bags are delivered to our room, I strip off my clothes and take a bracing plunge into the pool. There isn’t much room to swim, but it is enough. During our stay, I use the pool three or four times a day, looking up into the blue sky, enjoying the view of the Ti plants and the verdant jungle that envelops me. Once, I see a huge snail, bigger than my index finger, gliding up a three-foot leaf, his antennae waving cautiously as he explores what comes next. I want to be that snail while I am here, concerned only with what is just in front of me, but spiritual tour leaders don’t get much spiritual vacation time. Ensuring that all the guests are happy, well taken care of, and that their myriad questions are answered, leaves me little time for personal pursuits, though I do re-read portions of Eat Pray Love in the pool each afternoon, just as a reminder to stay on track.

Finding Balance in Bali

This is part 1 of a 4 part series about a recent trip we took to Bali

I am sitting in the stunning, airy bar of my gorgeous Balinese hotel and I am sweating… a lot. I’m on a spiritual tour that I’m leading and I’ve just had a ten-minute walk, the slow, meandering kind, but it has still taken its toll in the sticky, humid weather. Even with spiritual vacations, there is a delicate balance here between freshly showered and breaking out in a full, glorious dancer’s sweat and I am hoping to find it. Like the heroine of Eat Pray Love, I have come to Bali searching for balance.

It’s a challenge, because I am not exactly here on an actual spiritual vacation. My partner Greg and I lead spiritual tours to sacred sites around the world, and Bali is high on many people’s lists. So we are working. Managing a group of 35 American travelers, to be exact. This is not as hard as it sounds, if you take into consideration the group dynamic of “one mind.” I never thought I would want to travel with a group until I first took a spiritual tour myself. But when I did I understood the tremendous power of shared intention. This is furthered by the tremendous interest in Eat, Pray Love, where the author/heroine visited Bali for four whole months and found the love of her life.

We are traveling in Bali for two weeks, visiting temples almost every day. The emphasis of a spiritual tour is on pilgrimage, yes, but also on poolgrimage, its sister, spagrimage, and their close cousin, shopgrimage. At least the group is balanced. Our little band of Americans is made up of some real sports. They have bought their temple clothes – the sarong, sash, white shirt, and (for the men) headdress – indicating the devout intentions of a Balinese worshipper. Yes, most of the women have readEat Pray Love, though none of the men have. They go to the temples and learn how to pray like the Balinese Hindus. They clasp their hands in Namaste (not unlike our good old-fashioned American “prayer hands”) and hold them up – first to their foreheads, for the gods, then to their hearts, for our human selves. They wash their faces in incense smoke, toss flower petals in the air and tuck them behind their ears. They eat uncooked grains of rice (to suppress base desires) and are doused with holy water by “Pamungku,” the Balinese priests who accept our offerings and lead us in prayer. For two weeks, they give their lives over to the search for something greater, the core of any spiritual vacation.

Next week… part 2 of a Spiritual Vacation in Bali

What a beautiful soul!

Did you read “Eat Pray Love”?  Do you want to meet with a famous Balinese Shaman?  Ketut Liyer, thanks to the best-selling book, “Eat Pray Love”, has found himself catapulted to fame and at least some small fortune as the most important Balian on an island of very spiritual people.  And earlier this year, Spirit Quest Tours was in Bali for two weeks with a group of 35 American tourists, many of whom had read the book and were hoping to meet Ketut.  Luckily, our Balinese guide knew him, and where he lived, and I was able to send him over to Ubud to set up an afternoon for our group to see him.

What is a Balian?  The Jakarta Post, Indonesia’s local paper, defines many different types of Balian or holy man.  ”[One type of Balian] are called balian tulang or bone setters. There are many other types of balian – shaman or traditional healers. There are the balian uwut, the name originating from urat or muscle, which refers to a masseur who has mastered the traditional knowledge of human anatomy and is capable of healing muscle strains or any other bodily stiffness.  The Balinese also recognize balian ushada (shamans whose traditional medicinal knowledge is based on ancient lontar or papyrus inscriptions) and balian tenung (soothsayers who spiritually heal people affected by black magic).  The balian uwut, especially, still play a significant role in traditional Balinese medicine. Despite the fact modern doctors are practicing in rural areas, people still choose to go to balian uwut for help.”

Of all of these types of Balian, The Balian Tenung is the one that most accurately describes Ketut Liyer, not the least because he is over 80 years old (no one I asked, including Ketut himself, had an exact age for him) and cannot perform the physical requirements of massage or bone setting. 

Ketut’s home is a typical Balinese compound, a gathering of buildings which are situated North, South, East and West, and a big open pavilion at the center with a low bed or sofa.  Ketut meets people under a smaller side pavilion, and the waiting group sits under another open area – in our case, we brought about 30 people with us, so it was a large group hanging around, and Ketut saw us in twos.  According to Liz Gilbert, author of “Eat Pray Love”, Ketut complained that the lack of tourists in Bali a few years ago led to him being “empty in his pocketbook.” I do not think that is much of a problem now.  People come to see him every day – the big issue is making sure we don’t completely tire him out.

He smiles a lot, but when you take a picture of him, he is quick to point out that he is ugly (he is not, in fact, just mostly toothless and quite old, so sweet and charming).  Ketut’s English is heavily accented, and his voice raspy.  The combination makes it hard to understand him, even with our Balinese guide helping with the translation, and Ketut speaking English.  One of our group was asked to show him her back, and as she turned around, Ketut nodded sagely, running his hand across her shoulder.  ”Mah dick,” he kept saying.  ”Good for mah dick.” Oh, we were all in a tither over that one, our eyes darting from person to person as we assessed the situation. Was he really saying what we thought he was?  Could Ms. Gilbert have neglected to mention that Ketut was rude, and made passes at the female guests right in the middle of a reading?  Suddenly, the light dawned.  ”Magic,” I practically shouted, patting my client reassuringly on the arm.  ”He says you have good magic!”  Our traveler nodded vigorously, looking relieved.  ”Ohhh. Thank you, Ketut!” Ketut’s head bobbed a few times.  ”Yes,” he rasped.  ”Good mah dick!”

Every person in our group gets a palm reading and is told the same thing – you are smart, and you will live to be 100 (after looking at your lifeline).  But I got to sit in on all the readings, and there were many other variations.  Ketut will talk about some interesting things – your sex life, your work, your need to be married (or not!) and sometimes he will ask you to turn around so he can look at your back.  He did not give anyone in our group the kind of invitation that set Elizabeth Gilbert on the path to her enlightenment, “Come live with me here in Bali” but he did say a remarkable number of things that resonated with our guests.  In fact, several people said it was the highlight of their trip!

The other thing that was wonderful about the compound was Ketut’s family – one of his sons and two of his granddaughters were there, selling wood pieces the son had carved, and the little girls showing off their school drawings.  We were so impressed by the art, we actually asked to buy some of the girls’ paintings, which were extremely colorful and original pieces, and they were thrilled to sell them to us.  And outside the compound, a few doors down, was a school with about 15 little boys and girls.  We spoke with some of them while we were waiting our turn, and eventually they shyly poked their heads into the compound.  Posing for pictures, they grew bolder and bolder, until all of them were hanging, grinning, around the door frame and waving at the American tourists and our myriad cameras.

Back for my turn with Ketut Liyer, he told me my husband and I would be together for a long time, which I have suspected myself ;->  We promised to bring all our groups back to see him, as long as he feels healthy enough to do so.  Then he winked at me.  ”See you later, Alligator!” Wow.  This was Liz Gilbert territory. And I knew just how to respond: “After a while, Crododile!”

*** Spirit Quest Tours is offering Eat,Pray, & Love Bali – a tour that will pay homage to the best-selling book, Eat, Pray, Love, in May, 2010.  http://www.spiritquesttours.com/bali