Arriving
Days 1–2
An orientation to the tradition and its boundaries, the first healing session, and the plant-based kitchen.
- Orientation to usada
- First healing session
- Water purification
YogaFivelements Retreat Bali · Ubud, Indonesia
The Balinese healing week, 5 nights
A respectful, well-mediated encounter with a living tradition — and honest that it is not medicine.
From · sharingUS$2,070
From · singleUS$2,490
Per person. Sole occupancy is not half a double, and we would rather you saw both now.
- Length
- 5 nights
- Group
- Max 8
- Intensity
- gentle
- Lengths
- 5 · 7 nights
- Discipline
- Yoga
What this actually is
The programme
Balinese healing sessions with named practitioners in the usada tradition, paired with yoga, water purification and a plant-based kitchen. Built around the tradition rather than importing a wellness concept onto it.
Five nights is the shape of it. This is a retreat rather than a cure, and the house does not pretend otherwise.
Intensity: Gentle — nothing dramatic. Every programme here carries this line, because "restorative" and "demanding" are sold with the same photographs.
Read this part twice
Who this is for, and who it is wrong for
Read the right-hand column as carefully as the left. It is the half that decides whether this is a good fortnight or a wasted one, and it is published before the price for that reason.
✓Book this if
- Anyone curious about Balinese healing who wants it handled respectfully
- Guests who want a short, gentle first retreat
- Plant-based eaters, who are catered for as standard rather than as an exception
✗Do not book this if
- Anyone looking for clinical treatment — this is not medicine and we will not sell it as such
- Guests wanting a long programme; five to seven nights is the format
- Sceptics who will find the ceremonial framing irritating rather than interesting
The shape of it
Day by day
Days shift according to how you respond — that is the point of a daily review. This is the structure, not a timetable.
The week
Days 3–4
Daily sessions with the practitioners, yoga, and time on the river.
- Daily practitioner sessions
- Daily yoga
- Plant-based kitchen
Closing
Day 5
A closing session and a frank conversation about what does and does not transfer home.
- Closing session
- What transfers, discussed honestly
A day, hour by hour
What a Tuesday actually looks like
Two to three hours are fixed. It is the gentlest schedule here.
- Wake to the river
- Yoga in the bamboo shala
- Breakfast — plant-based
- Healing sessionWith a named practitioner, roughly ninety minutes.
- Lunch
- FreeMost guests sit by the water.
- Water purification or bodyworkOn two days of the five.
- Dinner
Where you stay
Fivelements Retreat Bali
The property that built itself explicitly around Balinese healing rather than importing a wellness concept — and the one most engaged with the balian tradition.
Fivelements Retreat BaliMambal, on the Ayung river · Indonesia
Balinese healing is not a regulated discipline and it is not medicine; what is on offer here is a respectful, well-mediated encounter with a living tradition, and you should go with that expectation rather than a clinical one. Stays are short by the standards of this site — this is a retreat, not a cure.
The full profile →Who looks after you
Supervision, by qualification and number
You will not find a physician's name on this site. Staff move, and a page that names one is a page that quietly goes out of date — worse, it invites you to book a person no house can promise will be on shift. Assignment is made on arrival, from your examination, at every serious property here.
- Clinical supervision
- Balinese healers working in the usada tradition alongside the house's own therapists. The property is small enough that these are real relationships rather than a rota.
- The team around you
- There is no physician and nothing is diagnosed. This is a cultural and emotional programme and the page says so rather than implying otherwise.
- Consultations
- An opening conversation, a session each day, and a closing one.
Your consultation is with our clinical desk, not a salesperson. The free call before you book is about whether this programme is right for you at all — and often enough it ends with a recommendation to go shorter, later, or somewhere we do not sell.
Counted, so you can compare
What is actually in it
Most of this industry publishes inclusions as a bulleted list, which cannot be compared between two programmes at two prices. These can.
- 5healing sessions
With Balinese healers in the usada tradition, not with spa therapists working from a menu.
- 1water purification
The melukat ritual on the river, done properly and explained beforehand.
- 10hours of yoga and movement
In the bamboo pavilion over the Ayung.
- 100per cent plant-based
The kitchen at Sakti is largely raw and is a destination in its own right.
The money
Prices, by season and occupancy
Both occupancies in every band, before you enquire rather than after. Sole occupancy is not half a double and never has been — publishing only the sharing rate quotes the minority of this market and surprises the rest.
Short by the standards of this atlas, and honestly so — this is an emotional and cultural programme rather than a medical one.
| Season | Sharing | Single |
|---|---|---|
| Low seasonFebruary, March, October and November | US$2,100 | US$2,500 |
| ShoulderApril to June and September | US$2,400 | US$2,800 |
| High seasonJuly, August, December and January | US$2,700 | US$3,300 |
- Low season. The wet months, which in Ubud means an afternoon downpour rather than a washout. Green, cheap and quiet.
- Shoulder. The best combination of weather and price on the island, and the months we book most.
- High season. European and Australian holidays. Excellent weather, full houses, and the highest rates of the year.
What the price is. Per person for five nights in a riverside suite, including all meals from the plant-based kitchen, the Balinese healing sessions, the water purification, daily yoga and return transfers from Denpasar. Flights quoted separately.
Illustrative, and held for seven days once we have quoted you in writing. Nothing on this site costs more for booking it through us.
The detail
What the price covers
Included
- Five nights
- Daily healing sessions with named practitioners
- All plant-based meals
- Daily yoga
- Transfers from Denpasar
Not included
- Flights and visa — flights quoted separately
- Insurance
Cancellation. Free to 30 days before arrival. Half between 30 and 14 days. Inside 14 days we hold the full amount as a credit for twelve months rather than keeping it — a cancelled treatment is usually a health reason.
Questions
The ones we are actually asked
Is this the "real" Balinese healer experience?
It is a mediated one, and that is the honest description. A balian treats their own community, and the tourist trade in healer visits has done real damage to that. What is on offer here is a respectful encounter arranged with practitioners who have chosen to work this way — not a private audience with a village healer.