Reiki training on a retreat island or staying in Canggu: which one suits you?
By Vanessa Chugani · Updated October 2026
Choose a retreat island such as Nusa Lembongan if you want a dedicated week with a built programme and a group, away from ordinary life. Choose staying in Canggu if you live nearby, want training arranged around your own schedule, want a teacher to return to afterwards, or want the option to train live online instead.
Many people picture Reiki training in Bali as a retreat: a week on an island like Nusa Lembongan, a group, a programme already built. Others are already living in Canggu, or passing through often enough that a full retreat does not make sense. Both are real routes to the same levels, through to Master Teacher. The actual differences are not about which teaching is better, since this page cannot speak for a teacher it does not know. They are structural: how the schedule gets set, who else is in the room with you, and what happens once the week or the weekend ends. This is about matching the format to the person, not about ranking one above the other.
| Reiki training on Nusa Lembongan or another retreat island | staying in Canggu for sessions and certification | |
|---|---|---|
| How training is scheduled | Set retreat dates and a programme booked in advance, usually alongside other retreat activities. | Arranged around the student, in Canggu or live online, with no fixed calendar and no advertised dates. |
| Group size | Often part of a bigger retreat group, as one piece of a wider programme. | No more than six people, and often just one to one. |
| After certification | The group disperses once the island stay ends, and the week is over. | The same teacher stays reachable in Canggu for further sessions or support. |
| Travel | A separate trip: flights or a boat, plus accommodation and time away from home. | No extra travel if you are already near Canggu, and training also runs live online. |
| Setting | A quieter island, often bundled with yoga or a wider retreat itinerary. | Fits around ordinary life in Canggu instead of replacing a week of it. |
| Best suited to | Someone who can give a whole week and wants it planned for them. | Someone who wants training built into ongoing life, not one intensive week. |
Which one suits you
A dedicated island retreat suits someone who can give a whole week to it and wants the structure already built: a programme, a group, somewhere to switch off from ordinary life completely. If that is the real point of the trip, a retreat on Nusa Lembongan or another island does that job well, and no page about Canggu should pretend otherwise. Staying in Canggu suits someone whose life is already there, or who visits often enough to come back. It suits a student who wants Level 1 now and Level 2 in a few months, not both crammed into one week away. It suits someone who would rather have a teacher to message after the attunement than a group that scatters when the retreat ends. And because the same training also runs live online, it suits someone who wants it without booking a flight at all.
Related questions
Is training on a retreat island better for beginners than training in Canggu?
It depends on what you need from the week, not on the island itself. A retreat hands you a built programme and a group, done for you, which can suit someone starting from scratch. Training in Canggu covers the same levels and the same attunements, just arranged around your own pace instead of a retreat calendar.
Does training in Canggu also run online, so I would not need to be in Bali at all?
Yes. My training runs live, either in person in Canggu or live online, with the same levels and the same price either way, and the attunement given live rather than sent as a recording. A retreat on another island, by its nature, only works in person.
I only have a week in Bali. Does that rule out training in Canggu?
No. A single level can be taught at either pace: concentrated when you have the time, or spread across weeks when that fits your life better. The real difference shows up afterwards: a retreat ends when the island stay does, while training in Canggu leaves you with a teacher you can message, or book another session with, once you are home.