Balinese MassageバリニーズマッサージPijat Bali

Accounts of Balinese culture may introduce Tri Hita Karana, describing relationships with the divine, people and nature. It would be inappropriate to assume that everyone on the island or every spa follows one belief or ritual.

Scents, plants and offerings have contexts in everyday life and faith. Rather than treating them as exotic decoration, listen to how practitioners explain them. Menus involving boreh, lulur or flower baths should not automatically be described as reproductions of one ancient ritual.

'Balinese massage' became an international menu name in the 1990s. When large resort hotels rose at Nusa Dua and Jimbaran and spas were designed to be as important as the rooms, the techniques local therapists had inherited had to be repackaged into 60- to 90-minute oil treatments that international guests could easily receive.

A style crystallised: long strokes with Swedish-like continuity, kneading, thumb acupressure, skin rolling (pinching and rolling the skin) and gentle stretches. Medium pressure, an unbroken flow and a fragrance that envelops the whole session: this is the core of what is now called 'Balinese'.

The growth of the spa industry sent Balinese therapists to hotel spas around the world; the 'Balinese' offered in the Middle East, the Maldives, Japan or European resorts is often delivered by therapists who really are from Bali. Standardisation has also tended to strip away village-specific methods and the therapeutic elements of balian practice, and how to keep the tradition close is debated on the island itself.

Bali is now one of Asia's flagship spa and wellness destinations, and around Ubud residential programmes combine yoga, meditation, traditional healing and spa treatments. Balinese massage is the entry point most guests choose.

Technically, the menu has diversified: 'Balinese deep' borrowing from Swedish and deep tissue work, variants with hot stones or herbal compresses, and modernised versions of the traditional post-natal care of binding and warming massage. The Indonesian government has set occupational competency standards for spa therapists, and vocational schools in Bali train therapists for work at home and abroad.

Precautions are those of any oil massage: allergies to essential oils or spices, the use of boreh in pregnancy, and treatment during skin disease or fever call for caution or avoidance.