Healing with Five Balinese Elements
Healing with Five Balinese Elements
Panca Mahabhuta, meaning 'the five elements’ originating from the ancient Vedas, is our most popular holistic wellness retreat. The private retreat combines Balinese master healer therapies with epicurean plant-based cuisine, awakening sacred arts sessions – physical, creative expression and mind-body awareness programmes - and Balinese blessing ceremonies. Our aim is to gently guide our retreaters through a highly personalised integrative approach supported by extraordinary people and impeccable services.
At Fivelements, our Panca Mahabhutra retreat is inspired by the ancient wisdom of the Balinese, and the Panca Mahabhutas refer to the vedic five elements, earth, water, fire, air and ether, that map out the internal and external forces at work in the Universe and in ourselves. Understanding and balancing the way these five elements interact and affect us helps us to maintain harmony in our own lives.
“The five elements are utilized and interwoven to facilitate awareness and consciousness in our Panca Mahabuta retreats,” says Nilanti, Wellness Liaison. “The sacred healing journeys within lush nature also support reconnection with the "self" through these five elements in their raw, authentic expressions, while guided by our wellness staff.”
Bali’s five elements:
Ether describes the concept of space on one hand, connectedness on the other. In human terms it represents the spaces in our body, the consciousness of our mind.
Air relates to motion; think of our nerves, breath and limbs, in constant activity, while in our mind we have our thoughts.
Fire is more than heat, light and transformation. It is connected to our body’s digestive system and our mind’s intelligence and powers of perception.
Water, of course, is about flow and the various liquids flowing throughout our body, but also it represents loving emotions and compassionate thoughts.
Earth, solid, is our physical body and the stability of our mind.
When all these are in harmony within you, your life will be more in harmony with the universe and everything will feel like it magically falls into place.
How does the retreat unfold?
Michael Hallock, one of Fivelements’ most long-term Wellness Liaisons, explains. “The Balinese, as a matter of course, understand that we all live simultaneously in the seen (Sekala) material world and the unseen (Niskala) world of psychic, energetic and divine forces. Our Balinese healers relate with this unseen world by connecting with the divine source during the healing session. For Balinese society, until relatively recently, traditional herbal medicines and traditional healers were the primary doctors of the local people. At Fivelements we treasure and seek to preserve their traditional healing methods. The Balinese healers that we feature are often unknown beyond their village, and it would be the very rare guest to Bali who would have ever heard of them at all. We make them accessible in a way that has not been possible before.”
Taking the concept even further, Lahra Tatriele, co-founder adds, “According to Balinese, the concept of Panca Mahabhuta refers to the connection and balance between the "buana alit" microcosm of these five elements within our bodies, with the "buana agung" macrocosm. When we cleanse our physical bodies, we also cleanse our minds and thoughts toward "good action" and alignment with our truths and authentic selves and our spiritual auric field. By doing so, we enhance our connection and alignment with the greater macrocosm and the Universal laws of nature. As we flow into alignment along our journey, the "magic of life" begins to manifest. This process is "Divine creation".”
In a nutshell
At Fivelements, our Panca Mahabhuta retreat combines the three pillars of Balinese healing, living foods and sacred arts, the concept of Bali’s five elements, the two worlds of Sekala and Niskala, and the relationship between our selves and our connection to the Universe. All this is designed to help you reconnect to yourself and your place in the world, physically as well as mentally and emotionally.
Guided by our Wellness Liaisons, who will be able to suggest the most beneficial daily routines depending on what you’d like to address or achieve, as always we give each guest the space and opportunity to experience real transformation and leave Fivelements with a fresh, spiritual insight into living your absolute full potential.
Testimonials
One guest’s testimony read: “I came to Fivelements with the hope of releasing tension, stress and to improve my health. I have left having achieved not only my goals but with so much more. I feel centred, inspired and lighter than I have in a long time, or maybe, even ever.”
Another wrote: “We came here exhausted, stressed to the max from the fast paced lives we live, but we are leaving feeling truly rested, grounded, energized, peaceful and well reminded of the really important things in life.”
