Would You Like Bee Pollen?

It’s not every day that you’re offered this sweet ‘n sticky treat – unless, of course, you happen to live in Ubud and you’ve dropped by to visit Patricia, she with the outrageously fabulous garden, oracle cards and bushy blond hair. And not every day do you expect to run into another Reiki practitioner, who also writes for a living and is off this week to sort out an environmentally sustainable project for the residents of a remote and desolate Indonesian island.

Here is what I continue to learn and appreciate about Bali: Healing takes place on so many levels, in the most unlikely places, and in ways too numerous and varied to describe. Which is why, I guess, a motley yet like-minded circle of people gravitate to this place from around the world.

Even if you don’t have the good fortune to meet people like Patricia, Cat, Ela, Gabe, Linda or Kadek, a cursory scan of the boards outside Bali Buddha or inside Kafé helps unfold part of the story. So many therapies, events and activities are posted that it makes my head spin.

Take your pick of the following: Cranio sacral therapy. Tantra workshop intensive. Colonic hydroptherapy. Reiki. Kirtan. Chi gong. Ayurveda. Storytelling. Sound healing meditation. Sacred circles. Tarot and palm readings.

And the more esoteric among them: Cosmic energy healing. Quantum energetic emotional healing. Genome transmutation. Voice awakening. Epic breath.

There’s yoga of course, various permutations, combinations and innovations: Iyengar yoga. Kundalini yoga. Power yoga. Partner flying yoga. Yoga groove. Not to be outdone, the dance choices are plentiful: Ecstatic dance, Sunday dance, belly dance, temple fusion dance.

You can’t take more than 5 steps in most directions in this town without having a brochure flung into your face, together with a promise for the most relaxing massage. Take your pick from a dizzying array: Balinese massage. Deep tissue massage. Hot stone massage. Mobile massage.

You can see a Balinese healer. A Seasonal Astrologer. A Cherokee medicine woman.

Do you want to create abundance consciousness? Learn to use a theta brain wave while intentionally engaging quantum mechanics to create a belief matrix that supports your heart’s desires and imprint the energy of creation with your vision?

How about signing up for meditation with a love healer, inner spirit worker and founder of I am The Center of The World program at Human Spirit University? Or indulging in a retreat based on that ‘goddamn book’ widely shunned and poo-pooed in and around Ubud (Eat, Pray, Love)?

Why not attend Didgeridoo Camp?

And if you’re not keen about bee pollen, then you might want to down a daily cup of colloidal silver or guzzle an all-green health and power drink. Or get serious about a 7-day juice fast and detox cleanse. How about a concoction of turmeric, coconut water and papaya? Goji, acai, carrot and beetroot juice anyone?

Healers, bona fide or otherwise, come in all shapes and sizes. They might be locals, they might be long-time ex-pat residents, they might be foreigners swinging through on the Asian segment of their RTW (round-the-world) heal-a-thon. They might be giants, they might be angels.

Above all, there is an inexplicable energy and impulse that propels me forward, guides me to the people who will (I hope) bring more healing to my body. It may or may not be the bee pollen, but there’s an unmistakable buzz in the air of Bali; a collective yearning for well-being. And for that, too, I am grateful.