The 3 Nights I Spent with a Balinese Healer
A Balian, or a Balinese Healer
I’ve always imagined these as an older gentleman or even perhaps a woman, in a dimly lit room quietly and softly whispering a prayer. They place their hands on the ill and can cure cancer and heal broken hearts. Before I leave Bali,“A Deeper Understanding” to a Balian’s work and life will be understood. Are they real or are they a hoax?..
In movies like Eat. Pray. Love. Julia Roberts finds a Balinese healer and makes it look easy peasy! Interestingly enough, Bali has no shortage of “Balians”; you just have to be able to spot the fakes. You can walk up to so many people on the street and ask “who is your healer?”
They’d most likely answer, “Oh he’s amazing and he’s been doing it all of his life. His story is incredible. Here’s his number… XXX-XXX-XXXX.”
Which you can assume, makes it hard to find the “real” Balians.
Bali, Indonesia
“It all goes away. Eventually, everything goes away. ”
Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love
Because I am not CNN, History Channel or National Geographic… My funds to entice people to sit down for an interview are limited. If someone is going to share years of knowledge with me, they often want to be paid. This is where I have to work my enthusiasm and ensure them of the kind of person I am.
I am someone who just wants to know more.
A friend of mine on the island named Peter, is an absolute wealth of knowledge and has helped me out with videos in the past. It is great to know that people like him still exist. It was an easy choice to send him a message.
“Firstly, there are different types of Balians, they all don’t do the same thing or operate the same. A Balian Taksu draws power from nature or spirits and creates medicine from holy water, flowers, and plants. A Balian Ketakson will communicate with spirits to seek insight into illness, sometimes going into a trance to heal people.”
text message/peter/9:20am
related film to this article
“Balians are losing their name in Bali.”
“The Kardashians are a lot to blame really.”
-The Kardashians?? Did Peter mean to just say, “The Kardashians?”
“You didn’t hear about when Kim or whoever went to see a Balian?”
I adjust myself in my seat to be more comfortable. Maybe I was actually oblivious but I had no idea about this.
“Khloe or Kim got burped by a Balian to get all of her demons out and then blasted Balians as fakes! Broadcasted this to the world.” -My jaw drops - Wow.
“It’s true that Balians can sometimes burp you but I know that the Balian they went to is actually a fake. He works at the hotel down the street and man, this sh….”
Peter’s frustration was obvious. I asked him for the name of a few authentic Balians and he obliged. One of which was his uncle. He has never been filmed and keeps his practice very religious and sacred.
Exactly what I was looking for.
Is this it? This is where the address brought me. Children are playing in the house, I can hear them scampering around.
*Knock Knock* “Halo?” The kids wouldn’t answer.
The door opens.
-Does Mr. Ketut Ping Ping live here?
“Tidak. di jalan dan ke kiri” (No. Down the street to the left.)
*Knock Knock*
A woman comes to the door pulling her shirt back over her breast with a new born on her side.
-Does Mr. Ketut Ping Ping live here?
“Bukan rumah ini. ikuti aku.” (Not this house. Follow me.)
I followed the beautiful women, she had one baby on her hip and another attached to her leg as she walked down the street. We walked about 200 hundred meters and stopped. She pointed to the house.
“This house.”
-Terima kasih banyak. (Thank you so much)
There was no one home. Not even a bike sitting out front. It was 1 p.m. I sat across the street and texted the healer, Ketut.
“Pintuku terbuka jam 7:30 malam” (My doors open at 7:30pm.)
Well shit… this wasn’t the right angle to take.
I left my bike at the first house that I thought was his, so I walked back after making a little ‘behind the scenes’ video for my Patrons
To pass the time, I drove around Denpasar (Bali’s main city) and shot some film for another video. Treated myself to some soto ayam, (chicken soup) then headed back to the Balians house.
This is your shot Ashlei.
Give him the chance to say no, but also give him every reason to say yes. Keep it personal. You want to understand how one becomes a Balian, how one lives with the pressure, and how Balians are managing to survive in this ever-changing main stream world.
Enter...
I walk inside, to greet Ketut.
Thumb tacks were holding up the curtains,
Mouse holes were in the walls,
Broken glass was used as windows,
With loving pictures of a family above it all.
I approach, place my hands together in front of my chest, bow, and smile.
I proceed to tell him what I am aiming to do (showing him written translations on my phone hoping that he can read).
The room is small. 10x10 feet.
Two girls were laying on a bed inside the room watching tv with their mother. They were older, about my age…
There wasn’t any other furniture but a table and a red cloth mat on the floor.
After a few painstaking moments of Ketut trying to make out the tiny letters on the screen, his daughter comes into the room. She smiles at me and informs me that she can speak a bit of English. Ketut’s daughter, Diah is the reason Ketut is a Balian. ( watch the video for more information).
Shirtless with only a sarong on, he sits at the front of his mat on the floor, he wipes his face with his entire hand…
Ketut: “Yes. Okay.”
“Terima Kasih, Terima Kasih, Terima Kasih!!!” (Thank You!).
Night One
One by one people start to file into the room. The room is small, lit by just one uncovered light fixture in the ceiling. Do you know those lights that are used in doctor’s offices? The sterile-feeling ones? I hate these lights.
This is getting the real. This is not making it a beautified movie talking about spirits and angels.
As more people make their way in, the room gets cramped. In minutes the room became stifling hot and damp. The humid tropical air didn’t help this at all. But, this was normal.
As Ketut met the sick and injured, I watched as he healed.
Apparently, Ketut is hilarious, he cracked so many jokes with the patients. Something I was not expecting.
For Ketut and I, there was no conversing, only getting to know the presence of each other. For me, this was an unsuccessful night.
Everyone had come and gone. I told Ketut and his daughter I was coming back to do another night of filming, only this time I would be bringing my Indonesian friend and translator, Susan, to do the interview. They seemed excited that she was Indonesian. Maybe this will loosen the mood a bit between Ketut and I.
Night Two
Same as the previous night, I enter the Balian’s workspace and give the proper greetings, introduce Susan, and sit.
It should be noted that Susan is from the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta. And she is my Indonesian teacher. She is also getting a deeper understanding, to Balinese Healers.
To hire a translator, they must understand you and they must understand your project. Because essentially, they are representing you in conversation.
I pick up my camera. I let Ketut sit first and then position myself to his comfort.
I’m watching my subject begin to divulge information about himself and even if I never heard him speak, his motions and body movement said it all. His pitch varied so much that my mic could barely keep up.
When the interview was finished, the energy in the room had changed. We all of a sudden knew each other.
Before we left, Susan asked Ketut to look at her wrist. She said it was something that has been bothering her for a while.
Ketut places his fingers in his homemade coconut oil. Rubs his fingers on her wrist.
“Snap.”
It was so abrupt and Susan didn’t flinch.
Night Three
THIS was the most relaxed night yet.
Ketut asked me not to film his face, he was having a bad hair day.
This. Is. Ketut.
This is the father,
The son,
The husband,
The believer,
The gifted.
Ketut.
I saw a man limping off a bike outside. This guy, my age, limps inside and is placed on the floor as if he was very broken. I notice right away that his foot is swollen two times the size it is supposed to be. Ketut motions him to come closer and begins to work on him.
He screams.
Ketut squeezed the young man’s calf with force and moved his foot around ever so gingerly. Ketut wasn’t necessarily going easy on him.
He sat inside the office for at least an hour after his treatment, talking with Ketut and other patients.
The night is over.
I wait until 10 minutes after the last patient leaves to ask for Ketut to look at my back. I’ve been told by Chiropractors that it is a place in my body where I hold all of my stress. I scoot across the floor and sit directly in front of the Balian.
He gestures for my foot. He pushed on the pressure points on the bottom of my toes with his fingernails to the point of excruciating pain.
My muscles tense…pain.
I started to sweat like crazy.
It brought chills down my back.
He laughed because my face was probably like a ghost….
Diah, his daughter asked me if it hurt… “Yes. Very much.”
Am I I really not that strong? I saw so many people go through this exact procedure over the past 3 days and here I am sweating acting like someone who is so uncomfortable…. Or is it just me? Some people were acting like it was the worst pain they’ve ever felt and some like it was a massage…
“I think you are on your period?”
How did he know that….
“Yes, I am.”
“You are not sleeping well.”
I think by just looking at me you could see this. I hadn’t slept in two weeks from the stress of work. But by any means, it was true.
I just nodded my head.
He grabbed my hair by the ponytail and whipped my head back and forth as one would do in a fistfight.
POP POP. Making my arm spin around like a Ferris wheel and pushing on points of stress in my back, there was a relief.
When I say pushing- I mean with all of his might.
He let me know that this was not a one-time permanent fix. If I wanted to come back a few more times it would help more and more for the long term
The knots are deep. Pain is universal. Never cause it and never mock it. Show kindness and compassion, always. Karma is real.
Where does it take us?
Whether you read this first or watched the video first, I hope you get the chance to experience both. For you will be able to better understand the video at hand and maybe have a few inner questions answered about it all. Different information is shared in both the video and the blog. I hope you enjoyed this and look forward to seeing you on the next posting, to get A Deeper Understanding.
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