Canggu is known for being the best place to party in Bali and for having some of the most “Instagrammable” cafes. The last thing that comes to people’s minds when they think of Canggu is “traditional” anything… and yet, just across the infamous Canggu shortcut you can find a traditional Balinese healer – and it isn’t a tourist trap. Although you’ll see tourists in line for his services, you’ll see equally as many locals.
If you’re in Canggu or planning an upcoming trip and want to stop in for a visit, here’s everything you need to know about the Balinese healer in Berawa.
He typically starts seeing people at 10am and will finish each day in the late afternoon (this time changes). There are no official “hours of operation” and although he typically works Monday-Friday, this depends entirely on whether or not there is a religious ceremony to attend or if it is a ‘holyday’ (ever wonder where we get the word ‘holiday’? you’re welcome haha).
*My friend and I arrived at 9am (1 hour before he started seeing anyone) and we were third in line, so if you don’t want to queue the whole day I recommend arriving early in the morning as I’ve heard it can get VERY busy.
The very first thing he does is diagnose you. But if you think you’ll be sitting there giving him a list of symptoms or telling HIM what you think is wrong. Think again. Instead, he’ll have you sit with both your feet in his lap (just like I’m doing in the picture above) and he’ll place a black stick between each of your toes to find your unique “pain point” – and boy can it be painful.
I’m really glad I went with my friend, because I was able to hear about another person’s experience and it was interesting to find out that she didn’t think it hurt too much when he found her “pain point”. She said it hurt, yeah, but not a lot.
This was SUPER different from my experience, which hurt so bad the phrase “white knuckling it” came to mind.
After he diagnoses you (For my friend, he said that she was carrying a lot of tension in her hips, for me it was that my stomach was inflamed). He’ll have you lay down so that he can give you a healing massage. While everyone started on their back, he always massaged different areas and for different lengths of time.
He speaks pretty good English and he had both me and my friend laughing almost the entire time he was working on us. He’s very funny and very kind and it made the whole experience so much better – especially for me because I had a lot pain in my stomach.
Thankfully, I didn’t get such a contortionist type massage – so if you’re experiencing pain in your hips or lower back, don’t expect him to shy away from ACTUALLY fixing the problem no matter what it takes lol.
Once he has you sit up, if you’re a girl, he’ll put your hair up for you in a traditional Balinese style (he told both me and my friend that he was giving us a wedding hairdo but he did our hair differently, so make of that what you will lol). While this may sound weird, it actually feels really nice and he just keeps cracking jokes the entire time (don’t worry ladies, he never made a joke that could even be seen as SLIGHTLY inappropriate, so you don’t have to worry about that).
Even though my issue was with my stomach and he DID advise me to stop eating spicy foods (even ginger!) and eat more carrots, asparagus, and apples, his methodology is holistic, so he massaged and worked with the entire body. From a holistic perspective, EVERYTHING is related, so even my arms and shoulders needed to be massaged and worked out to help heal my stomach.
Once he finishes his healing massage, you return to a seated position and place your feet back in his lap. He does the “stick thing” (for lack of a better word) again, and it will blow your mind how much it DOESN’T hurt this time. Seriously, it’s crazy!
While he doesn’t charge for his services, it would be EXTREMELY disrespectful to leave without giving a donation. If you want to do it exactly how a local would, then bring a monetary donation (for foreigners who aren’t dirt poor, this should be 70,000-120,000 IDR … which is still less than $10) AND a local Balinese Canang (small offering).
Be sure to bring incense with you (and a lighter to light the incense). Place the money and the lit incense on top of the offering and place it in the temple area that’s just next to where he sees his patients (if you’re facing away from the door you walked through to enter the villa, turn to your right and it will be on your right).*
When it comes to a holistic approach, I firmly believe that consistency is key for it to work. But if you’re interested in seeing a traditional Balinese healer while you’re in Bali, then I definitely recommend hitting up Pak Sirkus on your trip. He’s sweet, he’s knowledgeable, and even if you are a “modern medicine” kind of person, it’s still a unique experience and at the very least it’s just another cheap massage in Bali.
*I’ve since visited another traditional healer in Jimbaran and learned that it’s customary to give the donation BEFORE receiving the healer’s services. However, at Pak Sirkus, I noticed that no one seemed bothered by the fact that my friend had done it the other way around. So if you want to give before to follow customs, great. And if not, no one will really care so don’t worry.
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