Bali Part 2: Finding the Balance: Food for Health-Food for Thought

?Our food should be our medicine and our medicine should be our food.? ? Hippocrates

I entered into this somewhat small ?institution? and stood agape for what could have been a couple of minutes. My eyes slowly scanned the premises, trying to take in and make sense of all that I saw.

To my right was a small kitchen where I saw two young men cooking, and cutting, boiling and pouring. The smells which emerged were colourful, potent yet pleasant but, for me, undefinable. A few tables dotted the room and I noticed a set of steps leading up to a room where some young men were cleaning. The walls were lined with counters, within which bottles upon bottles of herbs and roots, leaves, liquids-dark liquids, red liquids, clear liquids, powders and other non-recognisable substances were placed. To my left, there was an altar with incense burning, stashes of money and various other ?things? placed upon it.

It was a mysterious scene and continued to scan and stare, stare and scan. It was misty outside, making the room fairly dark, which only added to its mysterious nature.

I perhaps looked around just a bit too long, as I hardly noticed that there was a lady with long, flowing, dark, silky hair sitting at one of the tables with a man standing next to her. She snapped me out of my state of wonder by shouting out:

?wat yu want? in her Balinese accent, which until that moment, I had found most charming. She repeated herself twice nodding her head upwards and raising her voice each time.

Quite honestly, I was terribly intimidated as she looked at me. Her large, dark, piercing eyes freaked me out in a way. I found her tone most unwelcoming and I lost my train of thought completely. So, what came out as a response on my side, was no more than an incomprehensible stutter.

I am uncertain as to what she understood from my uttering, and I am not exactly sure of what she said in response. However, I did grasp that she had no time, or perhaps did not want to be disturbed, or maybe just wanted me to get out.

Rather disturbed by the interaction, I quickly left the premises and made no attempt to look back.

Later on that week, on my way to my favourite café, I had to walk by the centre again. As I hurriedly walked past, the above-mentioned lady, who, I had now referred to as ?the scary-lady? to my mind, came out. I said nothing, expected an ?attitude? again,  and was caught off guard as she most apologetically invited me to come inside.  She said that she had time for me now. She said so with such a deep smile on her face, and I wondered if it was actually the same lady. I gave her a big smile back and then we laughed.

Before I could say anything, she ordered me to have a seat.

My assumption was that she would ask me about my ailments, and then decide which ?therapy? or combinations of herbal medicine she would prescribe to me. She Asked me for my name, introduced herself to me as Wayan-and began to ?read my body?.

?I reed yu body now?. She exclaimed.

What this meant, I had no clue on earth and was slightly hesitant to give her my hand. But she grabbed them!

Then she held my wrists, examined them, and asked me to lift one arm. During this entire process, she did not once look at me in the eye. Her face was almost stern, as if concentrating on something terribly complex. She then turned around to the altar, as if asking the Gods to assist her in the process.

At this point, my eye brows were raised with loads of question marks running through my head. And then, I heard her speak…

No, not to me.

She whispered something to herself (or to someone else perhaps?!), while still looking up towards the altar.  With a determined grasp, she turned around and took my other arm, repeating the procedure.

What she then proceeded to tell me caught my utmost attention. She spoke, albeit in broken English, but with great intent, which I found close to intimidating.  She raised her voice, perhaps to ensure that I was able to understand every single word of what she as saying. And then, she began to locate each and every issue that I was contending with over the past few years.

She furthermore told me why, when and how I got sick.

My heart felt that she really could not have hit the spot more accurately. But, then my brain and logical sense kicked in and I questioned the entire affair saying that this could perhaps apply to more than half of the people who walk in there. Or that perhaps my interpretation of what she is saying is completely false!

Before I could continue my internal dialogue, she interrupted by taking my hand:

?I now read yu hand.?

I definitely took this for a joke, but allowed myself to go with the flow of the moment. Of interest to me during the reading was that she indicated that there was a break in my ?life line? indicating that I was ill for a few years, from about 4 years ago until now. But I am getting better now. A new beginning is supposedly here (there is indeed much more that she told me, however I shall spare you all of the tales of my life-to-be, until they do perhaps occur!).

Once the reading was over, Wayan left the room for a while. The longer I waited, the more confusion and near anxiety overcame me. How could she have known?! How she see all that she saw?! I began to question everything, my sanity and the reason why I came here in the first place. She returned to the room and said:

?I can help you. These are fo yuu?

Wayan showed me two large bags of what she said were herbs, plants and all sort of things which I should take upon my return to jump-start my body?s natural healing process. I looked at her with doubt and politely thanked her, thinking what a fool I am, doubting if these things would truly help anyway.

I began packing the various bags of ?medication? into my rucksack, my head sunk somewhat. I closed the bag, felt my usual sharp pain in my back and slowly started to make my way out when she screamed out:

?No, leave for now. you no finish. I just begin. Massage now. In two hours yuu feel no pain.?

Before I could even contemplate anything, and the minute Wayan let out her ?no? two young gentlemen came running down from upstairs, as if on command. They escorted me upstairs, told me to undress and wrapped my body in a sarong.

Then I was escorted back downstairs, behind the kitchen area into a little room which served as a sort of washroom. My ?escort? began to take some dark green leaves, which were soaking in a tub of hot steaming water and rubbed and scrubbed my legs, hands face and back with these leaves. The warmth of the leaves were soothing and I very much enjoyed this massage. This continued for about 15 minutes, when I was asked to go back upstairs.

OK. Great! That was truly lovely. I proceeded to go over to where I had left my clothes, and was quickly interpreted and taken over to the massage bed.

What I had was just the rub-the pre massage soak.

OK. I said (which Is pretty much all that came out of my mouth during the rest of this adventure).

The massage which followed was the most mind-blowing experience. I lay there on the bed for nearly 3 hours, where my body was rubbed, scrubbed, patted, knuckled, dug into, elbowed, kneaded, polished and rolled with an array of ointments, herbs, oils and waters poured and dripped and dribbled onto my body.

Some oils were hot, some were cold, some had a stringent feeling to them, others were more neutral. Then I heard some crushing, much like pepper being crushed in a mortar and pestle, then the crushed substance was applied to my skin. A warm roll, which felt like a rolling pin was being rolled over my back and stomach.

During the process,  I drifted in and out of sleep, being awoken each time by another fragrant of oil being rolled into my skin. Then I would drift off again to the soft and flowing movement of the hands massaging my body. At one point, I realised that there were more than 2 hands on my body, but rather 4 and perhaps even 6 at one point. It felt so very synchronous like a dance, each hand knowing its movement and dancing elegantly to the choreography.

From the corner of my ?seemingly? closed eyes, I saw Wayan,who had come to join in the choreography. She was working on my back and stomach extensively and hot and more hot oils were being rubbed in with her hands.

I have no idea what happened thereafter as I fell asleep. My sleep was gently broken a tender voice of an older woman, who escorted me downstairs again back onto the washroom.

She washed me down with what smelled like a delicious healthy herbal tea. The warm water had a mixture of herbs into which the bitter leaves were soaked. And buckets upon buckets of this warm ?tea? were poured onto my body washing away all of the oils from the massage.

My body felt amazingly supple, soothed and smooth like the butt of a baby! I felt light and invigorated, amazed and quite frankly rather confused.

Wayan then came in with almost a smirk on her face.

Her long hair was tucked into her sarong at the buttocks, and she folded her arms asking me to bend over.

OK.

And so I complied.

?And??

She looked at me with her smiling eyes.

I bent over again, looked at her, bent over again, looked at her, each time with more question marks in my eyes. I was able to bend over without a problem and felt no pain! I looked at her, wondering if she had perhaps put some sort weird stuff into the oils or water. ?Is this a joke?!? I asked her. She just gave me this sort of all-knowing look, as if she has been asked this question numerous times before and laughed.

She was right, and my chronic back pain was at that moment, no longer to be felt.

And then I cheekily asked her if that means I am healed?!

?This is beginning. Pain gone. Symptoms gone. Yuuu must now take care yuuuself. Take these (pointing to the bags of herbs) and eat to health“.

?He that takes medicine and neglects diet wastes the skills of the physician.? ? Chinese proverb

The whole thing is simply bizarre to me. I did really not know what to say, other than a polite thanks and I shook her hand to make another attempt to make my way out again.

?No. yuu eat now. important part?

(Me): ?What???!?!!?!?!??

I spent the subsequent hour sitting at the table and eating a meal which she had her staff prepare from the kitchen. It was a set menu which featured an array of spiced and marinated vegetables, such as ginseng leaves, agar agar, spinach, shredded coconut and tofu served with red rice (shown in the photos throughout this post).

It was extremely tasty, and as I ate, she described to me the importance of each ingredient for the body, and the elements to which I should give more attention in my diet.

I was thinking to myself, almost in self-defense, that I do indeed eat healthily, at least so I have always thought. And as if she was listening to my thoughts she said:

?Yuuu take care. But no good enough!?

She told me exactly which vitamins I was lacking and what I should eat more of to acquire them.

This, she said is the real secret. Healthy eating is how you can best heal yourself.

?I help yuu start, rest is up to yuu. Healthy food make healthy body, not hospital?

When she made that comment, I thought about the Chinese proverb I read some time ago:

The superior doctor prevents sickness;

The mediocre doctor attends to impending sickness;

The inferior doctor treats actual sickness.

As amazed as I was during this entire experience, I cannot help but to question this ?reaction? as perhaps a placebo affect, because I wanted to experience something here?! Was my back pain just something simply which any massage would have taken care of?!

Whatever the case, I felt incredibly good!!

Healing is certainly a process and nothing that a ?magic pill? or magic hands can make ?disappear.?  The fact that Wayan was able to indicate more, or less, what was going inside of me, I found mind-blowing indeed, and the various herbal mixtures that she gave me…well, who knows what that will bring. But I shall certainly give them a try.  My back pain has not returned since my first visit, and is something that my various chiro-practitioners and painkillers have not been able to sustainably cure. So….who knows. Had I arrived with a much more grave condition, or 4 years ago when it all began, perhaps she would not have been able to help me.

Nonetheless, it all made sense to me. It is wise to strive to prevent ?imbalances” through nutrition rather than to treat with drugs.

At any rate, what I took away most from my visit with Wayan was the realisation that I truly have perhaps more control than I had ever thought over my health and healing. And as I leave Bali to return home, feeling full of energy, with greater wisdom, free of pain and utmost optimism-I am evermore dedicated to strive for optimal health with great support through my diet and other lifestyle changes.

So, although I have no recipes to close this post, I shall end in the same manner with which I began: with some food for thought:

?Our food should be our medicine and our medicine should be our food.? ? Hippocrates

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