Reiki with a trained teacher, or a traditional Balinese healing session: which one fits what you need?
By Vanessa Chugani · Updated October 2026
Choose Reiki with a trained teacher if you want rest for a nervous system that has been running hot, in a quiet room, English or German spoken. Choose a traditional Balinese healing session if you want a locally rooted practice, often including diagnosis, prayer and bodywork, conducted within Balinese culture itself.
Both are healing practices you can book in Bali, and both sometimes get grouped together as energy work, but they come from different places and do different things. Reiki with a trained teacher is a Japanese-rooted practice, carried through one named lineage, Usui Shiki Ryoho, and brought to the West by Hawayo Takata. It offers rest and support for a nervous system under strain. A traditional Balinese healing session comes from the island itself: a balian works within Balinese Hindu belief, often combining prayer, herbal remedies and bodywork around whatever problem led someone to seek one out. One is portable and taught the same way wherever it travels. The other belongs to this place, its culture and its own sense of cause and healing.
| A Reiki session with a trained teacher | A traditional Balinese healing session | |
|---|---|---|
| What happens in the session | A trained teacher places light, still hands on or near the body while you lie clothed in a quiet room. | A balian works with whatever is troubling you, often using prayer, holy water, herbs or bodywork. |
| Who you see | Vanessa, a Reiki Master Teacher in Canggu, in the Usui Shiki Ryoho lineage; a Reiki practitioner since 2006. | A balian, a traditional healer whose role usually comes from within Balinese Hindu culture. |
| Language | English or German, spoken throughout, so you understand what is happening. | Often Indonesian or Balinese, so you may need a translator or an English-speaking guide. |
| Where it comes from | A Japanese practice carried west through one named lineage: Takata, Hayashi, Usui. | A living Balinese tradition, passed down within the island's own religion and communities. |
| What people usually want from it | Rest for a nervous system running hot: better sleep, less overwhelm, a body that settles. | A specific answer to a specific problem, or a spiritual experience rooted in Balinese life. |
| Touch involved | Light hands on or near the body in a series of positions. No massage, no manipulation. | Often includes massage or other bodywork alongside the spiritual part of the session. |
Which one suits you
If you are carrying stress, exhaustion, grief or anxiety and want a quiet hour where nothing is asked of you, Reiki with a trained teacher is built for exactly that. It suits someone who wants to understand what is happening, in a language she speaks, from a teacher whose training she can ask about directly. A traditional Balinese healing session suits someone else: a visitor who wants to meet Bali on its own terms, through its own religion and its own healers, especially if someone local has recommended a particular balian. If what you want is connection to the island itself, culture and ceremony included, that is the better choice. If what you want is rest and support for a mind and body that have been running hot for too long, Reiki is what it is for.
Related questions
Can I do Reiki and see a balian as well?
Yes. Nothing about one rules out the other. Some people use Reiki for ongoing rest and nervous system support, then see a balian separately for something more specific to Bali and its culture. They are different practices with different aims, not competing treatments, so there is no conflict in trying both.
Is a Balinese healing session more spiritual than Reiki?
They are both spiritual practices, just rooted differently. A balian works within Balinese Hindu belief and community. Reiki, as taught here, keeps things simpler: a teacher, a lineage back to Usui Shiki Ryoho, and an hour of rest for the nervous system, with no energy field claimed as scientific fact.
Can a traditional Balinese healing session help with something physical, like back pain?
That question is best asked of the balian themselves, since each works differently. What is true for Reiki is that physical tension often sits on top of stress or exhaustion, and that is exactly the kind of tension a session with a trained teacher can help settle.