Purification and Healing at the Tirta Empul Holy Water Temple in Ubud, Bali
Tirta Empul Holy Water Temple is a very popular destination in Ubud, Bali. Have you ever wondered what would happen to you if you dipped your feet in the “holy water” at a place like Tirta Empul holy water temple in Bali? Would you be transformed? Or is it just ordinary water?
This article is part of our Simplify Your Life in 30 Days with EFT Tapping series
On our travel blog living the life of the location-independent entrepreneur, today we visit the Tirta Empul Holy Water temple in Bali, Indonesia.
Today is my last day in Ubud, Bali – and wow am I going to miss this place! I absolutely adore the tiny little streets of Ubud and the wonderful food and yoga studios. And the holy water. If you’re interested in learning how to heal your health yourself, as I am, you leave no stone unturned. So if they say the water has healing properties, you go and find out for yourself.
Yesterday I journeyed about 40 minutes away through the rice fields of Bali to the holy water temple at Tirta Empul. Most of the fields were green not gold, yet I could hear Sting singing in the background “among the fields of gold” …
On the wooden bridge that I crossed over from the hotel to the driveway where the car would pick me up, I saw a dead bird lying on one of the planks. I looked up the spiritual symbolism of seeing a dead bird and it is not a bad omen at all. It symbolizes the “death” of a dysfunctional relationship or habit. I was crossing the bridge to Tirta Empul to be reborn. :)
Everything in Bali is beautiful, and honestly the Tirta Empul temple does not look much different from the ordinary homes that line the streets of Ubud and its surroundings. I don’t put a lot of stock in “holy water” or other external aids to healing. Healing comes from within. It is the mind that heals, and all too often these external accoutrements are just getting in the way of the real healing.
And yet … a place or a thing like Tirta Empul holy water temple can sometimes become a symbol of an intention, an outer manifestation of the purification work we are doing within ourselves.
At the temple, I removed my flip-flops, rolled up my pants, and let my feet hang in the water for maybe 20 minutes. I didn’t really expect much, I was just relaxing by the Tirta Empul pool with my feet in the water. And yet about ten minutes into this, I felt a shift in my body. A very profound sense of calm came over me, and I felt a new vision was given to me in what has been a difficult relationship.
“Now let a new perception come to me.”
“Above all else, I want to see things differently.”
It had not rained in Ubud the entire week I have been here, yet when I returned to the hotel, it began to rain. Rain is a symbol of purification. And it’s still raining, as I write this blog post from the balcony of the Four Seasons Sayan hotel that I wish I didn’t have to leave today!
Simplify Your Life in 30 Days with EFT Tapping
A week of massage, Yin Yoga, meditation, quiet solitary time, melding into the busy noise of the streets of Ubud, and soaking my feet in the holy waters at Tirta Empul. All while recording EFT tapping videos to Simplify Your Life in 30 Days with EFT Tapping. It does indeed feel like a purification here at Tirta Empul.
Today we journey on to our next destination, which is Desa Seni yoga retreat in Canggu, Bali. I must admit it is becoming increasingly challenging to put the profundity of this journey into words, which is why I don’t blog as much as I once did. The journey now is not about attaining more, more, more … it’s about stripping everything down to the bare essentials of simplicity. And almost everything we ever valued must be let go to allow the new perception to come to us …
This article is part of our Simplify Your Life in 30 Days with EFT Tapping series
By the way, a pretty amazing healing miracle happened just a few weeks after I dipped my feet in the water at Tirta Empul … I saw my ex for the first time in years in Saigon, Vietnam … do the waters really have magical powers, or is it our intention? You be the judge … ;)
Love,
This place sounds beautiful, there are only a few places I’ve ever been that made me feel a complete calm. I wouldn’t mind visiting this place myself
Sounds like a beautiful and serene place. It certainly sounds like an amazing and introspective journey.
I have been to the holyest of lands.. and have heard many stories of holy water.. thanks for sharing..
It sounds like a beautiful experience! It’s been pouring rain here today. I hope that means it’s purifying the area :)
Love the rain :) thanks for stopping by
It is not often I learn a new word from blog posts, but today was an exception. “profundity” – I had to look that one up!
haha I love using new words. I loved reading a travel article the other day and she used the words peripatetic and ludic. Poetic.
I have never been to a place with “holy water”-but I believe any body of water will and can heal your soul if not your body.
Yea for sure water can be very healing … especially in nature
I have never bathed in holy waters, but it sounds fascinating. I also had no idea that rain was a symbol of purification.. My home state has been having rain most of this summer.
Well then things must be getting very purified and clear :) Thanks for stopping by
My guides in Bali taught me about the symbolism of all the customs including the Holy Springs of Tirta Empul. I had a profound experience there while dipping my head under each spout 12 times. Something big shifted about half way thru and I felt a new level of peace as I tuned into the wisdom of seeing thru vision and healed sight. The Holiness represented in the water is only helping us see the truth about ourselves. Tapping helps me tune into my purity and so did all the spiritual rituals I participated in while in Bali!
Thank you for sharing about the symbolism of your journey in beautiful Ubud! I am so excited for you! Blessings of love and light!
Thanks for sharing Elaine. How wonderful that you had a guide to show you this way of bathing in the holy waters. Now I feel that I get to have that experience through you. And how wonderful that unguided I still felt a profound shift. If I visit again someday, perhaps I will get to have your experience also. I must say, even without a guide, I feel like I am just seeping up the spiritual vibe here.
Today there was a motorbike accident. I got out of the car I was being driven in to Desa Seni. I went to the accident and stood a few feet away. The woman was wailing and holding the man who had a head injury. I was tapping and silently praying, and I felt her grief and despair in my body, and then it all calmed down. She stopped wailing. I kept repeating ACIM mantras to myself, “there is nothing to fear,” “now let a new perception come to me,” “God made not death, and we renounce it now in every form.” “God is the strength in which I trust.” “God is the light in which I see.” I asked Archangel Michael and Archangel Raphael to come. I saw the man taken away in a pickup to the hospital by about a dozen villagers. I pray he is okay.