The Sakti Dining Room at Fivelements Healing Center. The soaring roofline, sculpted from bamboo and thatch, resembles a banana leaf, symbol of nourishment. Photo / Supplied
The Sakti Dining Room at Fivelements Healing Center. The soaring roofline, sculpted from bamboo and thatch, resembles a banana leaf, symbol of nourishment. Photo / Supplied
Gabrielle Dunlevy cleanses her body, soul and mind in an Indonesian healing resort.
I'm cradling my ego in my hands.
It's tough, prickly, brownish-grey and I can almost make out an ugly face on it. It has to be smashed and thrown into the fire, says Pak Nyoman, as we approach the end of the agnihotra ceremony, which is perhaps the most fitting introduction to Fivelements Puri Ahimsa, a five-star healing resort in Bali.
Agnihotra is a Hindu purification ceremony that involves pouring ghee on to a fire as well as a succession of more elaborate things, which Pak Nyoman has lined up in little metal dishes like a surgeon.
To represent the sacrifice of my ego, he passes me an old fibrous coconut. For a distilling minute, I contemplate the ego outside the body and my mind goes blank. I suspect that's the outcome Nyoman, absorbed in chanting and noisy bell-ringing, was aiming for.
By the end of the ceremony I've been daubed with ash, showered in holy water and blossoms, and blessed in the most lively way imaginable by this Balinese priest.
I say this is the perfect initiation to Fivelements, because it is a place of many surprises.
The resort was built five years ago near Ubud and sits alongside the flowing Ayung river, which can be seen and heard from all of the nine suites, dining room, pool and spa treatment rooms.
It's there I go for the superfood facial, which is a bit like a degustation menu for your skin.
Inside the secluded room, therapist Sutini unveils the array of ingredients she has prepared from the garden minutes beforehand.
A few months ago, elsewhere in Bali, I had a superfood facial that was anything but.
I was slathered in yoghurt and paw paw, which make for a great breakfast but are unpleasantly pungent when coating one's nostrils.
Luxury healing resort Fivelements Puri Ahimsa is a place of many surprises. Photo / Supplied
But everything Sutini has placed on the platter before me looks divine, and when she ducks out of the room, I can't resist dipping my finger into the honey and mint scrub for a sneaky taste test.
Each part of the luxurious two-hour facial compliments the last - for instance a hot compress of enzyme-rich pineapple is followed by cooling aloe vera.
To reveal all of the elements of the facial would only spoil the surprise.
Another revelation is the vegan, raw food menu in Fivelements' award-winning Sakti fine dining room. The variety on the menu, featuring 80 per cent raw food, will inspire anyone who is curious about the diet but worried it might get boring.
For lunch, I sample a raw spring roll and a wonderful pappardelle made of zucchini ribbons with cashew cream alfredo sauce.
Here, German chef Felix Schoener has found a home to combine his French technique and passion for raw food.
He trained in Michelin-starred restaurants but became disillusioned and went backpacking.
