Attending A Spiritual Holistic Retreat in Bali!

This is my experience of attending a holistic spiritual retreat in Bali.

I went to Bali not to get those Instagram shots on the swing or at the famous waterfall. I didn’t even go there to party at the Bali Beach Clubs.

Infact I barely took any photos when I was there as I was actually there for a spiritual retreat. I went there to realign myself after I had had a messy break up with some guy.

Actually, going to Bali wasn’t even planned – I had planned to spend 3 of my holiday weeks travelling around Australia and catching up with old friends there.

On my first couple of nights in Australia I stayed in Tasmania with a good friend I used to live with in London. She knew me well and even on the first night she could see this relationship had really disturbed me, more than I was letting on.

She gave me a couple of healing books to read and told me to not be offended but why don’t I have a think about going to a spiritual retreat.

Her friend had been to one after she had had a bad break-up with a guy and it literally changed her and she couldn’t stop raving about it.

At first I said “a retreat, wow that’s a bit extreme Jacqui, you think it’s that bad?!”. But then after thinking about it for a couple of minutes I came around to the idea.

I had always really wanted to go on a spiritual retreat in Bali as I was intrigued by the concept, I just hadn’t found the perfect excuse to go on one. I guess now was the perfect time!

BALI SPIRITUAL HOLISTIC RETREAT

Searching for a spiritual retreat online

I did some research on the internet and came across a spiritual holistic retreat in Bali starting in 10 days time.

It sounded like everything I needed, even if there were lots of things I hadn’t heard about, such as reflexology and shamanism – I would certainly learn a lot on this retreat!

Even though I had already been interested in spirituality for a few years, I was worried it seemed a little hippy and out there for me.

I was a little sceptical about how it would work and that I would be out of my depth if everyone else knew more than me, but I decided to give it a go anyway.

I contacted the organiser and secured the last place in the retreat. It meant my Aussie trip would be cut in half, but hell I was going to Bali!

The more I read about the retreat, the more I was so excited to go. My life was already like the movie Eat, Pray, Love after living in Italy so I might as well go to Bali to see some healers and get my mojo back!

All my friends had always said I was the feisty, independent one who never let any guy influence her, and I kind of lost it being with that guy, so I was excited to get the old me back and erase that guy from my memory.

BALI SPIRITUAL HOLISTIC RETREAT

Arriving at the retreat

I rearranged my Australia itinerary and took the 4 hour flight from Perth to Bali in time for the retreat. When I walked through the doors of the retreat, I could seriously feel the love.

I was the last of the 6 of us to arrive. Of course, we all came from different backgrounds, with different stories and different reasons for being there.

But we all were joined by our passion and determination to live our lives to the fullest again, to relight the flame that had faded away, to improve ourselves and to learn.

Some people had a lot more knowledge and experience with spirituality and spirits, some had been to Bali before, and some were completely new to everything.

Some wanted to share the reasons why they were there, others didn’t and that’s fine. We all respected each others’ choices. Some wanted to socialise and chat after dinner, whilst others went to their room.

We each had our own separate en-suite rooms in the villa, which was important so we could have our alone time to reflect on the events from each day, and a lovely pool outside, and the beach was just a few minutes walk away – perfect to watch the sunrise!

Activities for the week

Mitch, the organiser, a guy from Sydney who gave up the stress and unhappiness of his corporate lifestyle for this new life, gave us our timetable for the week.

It was a full on week, with several activities each day. I was so excited to learn and see how the week would develop.

We would start each day with some group meditation, focusing on the chakras, then see separate healers individually, all who focused on different areas for personal development.

Every morning Mitch taught us different techniques and types of guided meditation, and always brought interesting topics, books and questions to the table for us to discuss. Mitch introduced us to Ibu Made – a beautiful Balinese soul who did all our homemade cooking.

Every day we had a variety of fresh, wholesome organic food, and it was always prepared with love.

She showed us the connection between what you eat and what happens in your brain: that your food actually does affect your mood! She also gives a pretty neat Balinese massage!

BALI SPIRITUAL HOLISTIC RETREAT

Balian Healer

On the first day we all went together to see a Balian healer at his house. Balian healers are the traditional medicine people of Bali who practice ancient healing methods.

They are well respected members of the community and are often the first people that local Balinese people go to when they fall ill.

They will use an intuitive and holistic approach to sense if something is out of balance in your body, which links to Balinese Hinduism focusing around maintaining balance.

It was a really great experience to see a trusted and respected Balian healer.

Nowadays Balian healing can be a little too commercial and people go just to tick it off their Bali tourist itinerary, thanks to movies such as Eat, Pray, Love and Instagram ‘faming’ these healers, who then become flooded with tourists, thus taking away their time and energy from the community.

Our experience was not at all touristy, I doubt commercial spiritual tourists will have ever come across this guy as he is not advertised anywhere, just well known amongst the community, which made it feel more special and authentic.

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Tirta Empul

We also went for spiritual cleansing at Tirta Empul (‘Holy water temple’) in Ubud; sacred natural springs at one of the most important temples in Bali. For sure you’ll have seen snaps of this outdoor water temple on the internet.

It’s waters have been known for their purification powers and healing properties to Balinese Hindus for over a thousand years. Worshippers still come every day, but there are also many tourists who come to visit too.

 

Just like at other temples, you need to wear a sarong here.

You will need to dip your head under several natural springs in two big purification pools filled with crystal clear water (the water will come up to your waist), each spring symbolising something different, and make your wishes.

Once you have cleansed yourself in each spring, you move onto the next one until you have cleansed yourself under every spring (except there are 2 springs that are for the dead only so you are prohibited to go under those).

Our healer Kadek explained everything to us, and told us what each spring of water signified.

Again, this was such a special experience even if it was very busy with groups of tourists, but luckily we got there early so the hoards of tourists were only entering the pools as we were almost finished.

After Tirta Empul we then had lunch out at some really nice and quiet rice paddies. The views were lovely.

 

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Electric massage

Now the Listrik healer. Quite literally gave me a shock. In what can only be described as a miracle, this woman has electric healing powers coming from her HANDS. Hard to believe?

I certainly didn’t believe it until I experienced it, even though I should have known everything is possible in Bali!

Energy is transferrable right? So she uses the electricity that runs through her body to transfer energy to heal people.

She provides no guarantee of perfect healing, but has healed many people with different problems that were not otherwise curable, thus offering hope to many people.

She is in high demand because of her good results, plus she has a BIG waiting list.

I went into the small dark room where there was a massage table, human anatomy posters and pictures of deities on the altar.

I partly undressed and got on the massage table, feeling a little uncomfortable and scared as I wasn’t sure what to expect. And at first it seemed like a regular massage with some nice oil. Then the sensations started.

She was touching my ankles and electricity was literally coming from her hands – it was like she had placed jump leads on me and full on electricity was flowing through my body.

I peeked to see if she was using some equipment, but no – it was her bare hands. It was no trick as she wasn’t wearing sleeves either so she couldn’t have been hiding anything.

I lay there wondering how this was possible, and also slightly worrying about the metal plate inside my body from a previous accident.

Then I just decided to empty my mind and enjoy this once in a lifetime surreal moment as she was sending electric currents through my whole body.

The massage lasted about half an hour, and afterwards I came outside feeling so relaxed, if not a little perplexed.

I will not provide details of this humble miracle woman as she is worried if too many people hear about her then her powers will get abused and her healing powers will deteriorate, especially if people just go to her out of curiosity and not actually for any healing.

She has no desire to be famous, there are no signs outside her house so you need to know where you are going.

For those skeptics amongst you, well that too was once me. I guess only those lucky ones who experienced it will understand. And that’s all that matters for me.

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Metamorphosis Healing & Shamanism

For the rest of the retreat, healers came to our villa. First of the healers for me to see was Michelle and her metamorphosis healing. Whatever this meant – I actually had no clue!

Metamorphosis healing addresses unconscious stress patterns that create disturbances either emotionally, mentally or physically, and create balance and stability.

Michelle is a hypnotist and shaman and so she was able to determine past lives I had had with certain people in my life, and the instant connection I shared with people was often because I had known them in a past life (it can be happy or bad friendships/relationships in these past lives, or you can even be enemies).

She has the ability to destroy entities and break curses, and made me realise the power people’s thoughts can have and how it can even affect others’ health.

Shamanism is another ancient healing method – infact it is probably the oldest spiritual practice in the world, that works on the belief that everything has a spirit.

Shamans link to the spirit world in order to contact the deceased or to heal people.

Michelle reached altered levels of consciousness as she was in a trance ritual reaching out to spirits. It was both incredible and disturbing at the same time.

I only shared the exact details of my experience with Michelle with close friends as it was very personal and quite frankly, mind-blowing. But let me tell you this woman is phenomenal.

I spent 90 minutes with her and I swear I will remember each and every one of those minutes forever. During that whole week she had the greatest impact on me and I couldn’t stop singing her praises to anyone who would listen.

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Astrology and Energy Healer

Jon used Chinese Astrology and our date and time of birth to work out areas in our life that need improvement and also some future predictions for us.

Looking back, things he said at the time that didn’t make sense, now make perfect sense.

I made a couple of big decisions this year, and only realised later that they had matched up perfectly with what he had said about my near future. Decisions for me that came almost out of the blue.

His words gave me a lot of peace, and I don’t worry about my future anymore.

He followed this by doing energy block removal therapy, which was unbearably painful as he physically puts a lot of pressure and force on your body to move energy and energy blocks from inside you.

The others raved about his session a lot, but I was still sore from how much physical pain he put my body in I didn’t see the benefits at first!

BALI SPIRITUAL HOLISTIC RETREAT

Life Coach

Then came the time to see Susan the holistic life coach. That was it – officially I’ve lost the plot if I’m seeing a life coach! But actually all life coaches are are people who help you to make a change in your life or reach a goal.

They motivate and empower you by offering sound advice and making you think of things from a logical point of view to resolve your problems and achieve your goals with minimal stress.

Susan is like the grandma you wished you had – she is firm but young at heart.

Just because she is nearing retirement age does not mean she is not in touch with what youngsters feel and experience in this day and age. You can be totally honest with her without any judgements, and no subject is taboo for her.

She helps you identify stresses in your life and then helps you work out ways to reduce or eliminate those stresses so you will start taking action in the areas of your life you want to change.

Literally she solved your life dramas like a maths teacher solves an equation – giving you step by step points to follow.

She really brought everything back to who you truly are and what you really want in life, and makes a realistic plan for you to make your goals achievable.

BALI SPIRITUAL HOLISTIC RETREAT

Reiki

Another new healing technique to me was reiki, undertaken by Graham, a lovely Irish guy.

Reiki is based on channeling energy into a patient by touch, to relax the body and activate the body’s natural healing processes, as well as to reduce stress and restore wellbeing, both physically and emotionally.

It is based on the idea that we all have different life force energies, and the higher your life force energy, the happier and healthier you are.

Reiki is a simple and natural spiritual healing method and something you can learn and practice on yourself. It’s results are always beneficial and it has been known to treat almost every illness.

Before the session Graham stressed the importance of always remembering who you are, and burning candles and incense allows you to reconnect with yourself.

Reiki releases wonderful feelings of peace and security as it treats the whole person – body, mind, emotions and spirit, and since the retreat I have even had reiki sessions in Japan, where reiki originated and I would love to take a course on it in the future.

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Kinesiology

Last but not least was Bridget and her kinesiology session. Still to this day because of Bridget, I find kinesiology and the study of the mechanics of body movements fascinating.

Kinesiology works by doing muscle testing to identify and correct energy blocks, and looks at imbalances in the body’s energy.

The kinesiologist gets feedback from your nerve pathways by a series of involuntary movements from your body.

It bypasses the conscious thinking and isolates factors causing problems, and is able to work out what your body needs by how your body involuntarily responds to what she is saying.

Bridget starts with allergy testing on you and well who would have thought, it turns out I am gluten intolerant.

After all those years suffering but not knowing which food caused my body to be in discomfort, she diagnosed it not long after starting the process.

She provided really useful nutritional advice specific to me and what my body needed.

Especially as a flight attendant, it was important for me to get some routine and work on a healthy nutritional intake (let’s be honest, we all know airplane food is not the healthiest).

She told me what my body was lacking (some of the things which surprised me), and she devised a meal plan for me to follow which was really helpful, and I still apply her advice today.

I invested in a lot of vitamins and minerals my body was lacking in, and could feel the changes within a few weeks. She also worked on areas on my emotional and spiritual life that needed care, improvement and change.

I stayed in Bali for 3 days after the retreat as I still had a few days of leave left, so I stayed in Ubud to unwind and see a little bit of Bali.

I actually went back to see Bridget as I felt I could really benefit from another session with her, and I really did, and I would love to have more sessions next time I am back in Bali.

BALI SPIRITUAL HOLISTIC RETREAT

Tai Chi, Yoga and Massages

We also learnt tai chi and yoga during our stay at the retreat, as well as having a couple of relaxing massage sessions.

Learning about yourself and your childhood

Before the retreat, I was already aware I was an empath. Now, chances are, if you’re not familiar with this term, you probably aren’t one. Let me explain how I came to learn this about myself.

I had always known from a young age I had something extra in my mind, in my senses. Like a sixth sense so they say.

I would sometimes just put it down to my star sign: that Scorpios could feel things deeper and more intense than others.

My mother had told me when I was a young child that she could sense things other people couldn’t feel, sense when things were about to happen; either good or bad things.

I guess you can call it a very strong intuition and gut feeling.

I could also see that she felt other people’s pain as if it was her own. She really felt pain deeply. Too much. Why was she suffering so much when it wasn’t her pain to feel?

Perhaps some would say she is just too caring or too emotional.

As I got older, I could feel the same happening within myself; my emotions were one big rollercoaster when I was a teenager, whereas my friends just seemed to glide through puberty effortlessly.

Soulmates

When I met my soulmate in my mid-twenties (read about my story and the encounter here), a lot of things clicked into place and this is when spirituality started to make an impact on my life.

I became inquisitive and more aware about energies; how your vibrational frequency can change depending on who you are with. The first few times I met him I felt electricity through my body. How can you even explain this?

Is it the souls rekindling from past lives? In my opinion, yes. And spiritual guides, life coaches and shamans at the retreat confirmed this to me.

Important things the spiritual retreat taught me

Vibrations

The retreat made me aware that places, not only people, carry vibrations of different frequencies. And this helped me to understand why some places give you such a good feeling from them and you can’t explain why.

Why some places just make you so happy and at peace by just being there, and some give you an uneasy negative feeling. I guess it’s because you are picking up on the vibrational frequency and it is matching yours.

People with higher frequency vibrations are matched to places with higher frequency vibrations, and the same goes for people and places of a lower frequency vibration.

Even a combination of the vibrational frequency, and the fact that you had a past life in certain places will play a part in how you feel about certain places.

Losing your identity

I learnt that when you move abroad and are surrounded by completely new people and cultures all the time, that it IS possible for you to almost lose your identity.

You momentarily forget the things that fulfilled you before, as you are spending so much time trying to adapt to your new life.

Mindfulness, whether through yoga or meditation, is important in a situation like this as it makes you focus only on the important things and disregard the rest.

It teaches you to disengage from your emotions, separate your identity from your emotions and streamline your thoughts.

Crystals

One of the other girls at the retreat was Tracy, a lovely Australian lady whose mum was a medium before she sadly passed away.

After dinner each evening, we had many a conversation and she introduced me to the importance of crystals and learning to protecting yourself from negative energies.

I started to feel like the more I learnt about spirituality, the more I realised I didn’t know, and started learning a lot more about crystals after the retreat, and even I have learnt to read people’s auras since coming back from the retreat.

Final Thoughts On The Bali Spiritual Holistic Retreat

The week-long retreat was absolutely perfect: intense yet relaxing and with time every day to reflect on everything that had happened.

I was so glad I made the decision to go on the retreat and so many people noticed positive changes in me when I came back.

But the greatest and most important thing was the change I saw and felt within myself, and how the retreat had opened my mind up to so many things.

This retreat gave me more than I ever imagined. It opened my mind up to so many things. The healers were incredible and every single one of them gave me something valuable which I will never forget.

They are some of the most understanding and inspiring people I have ever met, and I would come back to Bali in a heartbeat. Going to this retreat was really one of the best decisions I made.

It has been a year and a half now since the retreat and it still is very much a strong part of my every day life.

Friends instantly saw a positive change in me after I came back from the retreat, and not only did the retreat more than exceed my expectations, but it gave me some amazing friends who I could talk to about anything, and I still chat with them and remain close with them which is amazing.

Many people may be sceptical about the idea of a retreat, and to be honest I was at first! But I promise you if you are already thinking to go it is 100% worth it.

Thankyou Mitch and everyone for the life changing experience, I know I’ll be back in Bali again one day!

Booking on the retreat

For those of you interested in the retreat, head to baliholistic.com for future retreat dates and more information.

How long should I stay in Bali?

The retreat lasts 7 days however try and spend AT LEAST a couple of days either before or after the retreat in Bali. Here is a great Bali itinerary to follow. 

Bali is a fantastic island with a very special vibe and there are lots of interesting and fun things to do here.

For example you can visit the Monkey Forest or Tegalalang Rice Terraces, both of which are located in Ubud. I chose to stay in Ubud for three extra nights.

If you’re keen to live out your Bali bucketlist and stay in a proper treehouse, a great place to stay is at the Hobbit Treehouse at Sebatu Sanctuary, a 30 minute drive from Ubud.

Or if you’d prefer to stay in Ubud, The Ridge Resort in Ubud offers the most stunning views from your private villa!

Tegalalang Rice Terraces:

 

Monkey Forest Ubud:

If you’re after some more Bali inspiration, check out these Bali quotes and captions!

 

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