Reflexology in Sidemen: The Healer Who Reads Your Feet

The Healer Who Reads the Body Through the Soles of the Feet

Before he touches a guest’s feet, I Made Adi Raharta always closes his eyes for a moment.

The prayer is short, less than a minute. He asks taksu, the divine gift that, in Balinese Hindu belief, brings life to every kind of work, for clarity and guidance. Then he sits down, holds his guest’s feet gently, and begins to “read and sense the condition of your organs.”

“Every human being has problems,” he says. “But don’t give up. Every problem has a way out.”

This is Magic Healing Reflexology, a small and deeply personal healing practice in Banjar Lantang Katik, Telaga Tawang Village, Sidemen. There is no glossy spa menu here. Most guests come because a neighbour, a relative or the owner of their guesthouse told them about it.

Learning by Watching

Made Adi did not learn reflexology in a classroom. He learned it by working alongside his older brother.

For years, his late brother practised reflexology, and Made Adi often helped him. Along the way, he watched which points were pressed and how people reacted as they were treated. “I never studied formally,” he says. “I learned by watching, and then by doing.”

Healing has long run in his family. His ancestors were balian, traditional Balinese healers who treat people with prayers, mantras and usada, the herbal medicine handed down through Balinese tradition. Reflexology came to the family much later, when his brother received a book from a German reflexology community. According to Made Adi, when practitioners from that community came to test his brother’s skills, they found that the points he used were different from those written in the book. Those were the points they judged to be more accurate.

After his brother passed away, Made Adi began practising on his own in 2023. What he did not yet know, he taught himself: anatomy, diagrams of the body’s organs, and reflexology maps of the feet. Slowly, he built his own understanding of the human body.

“Everything Comes Back to the Blood”

Asked how reflexology works, Made Adi gives a simple answer: through the circulation of blood.

To him, every point on the sole of the foot is a doorway to a particular organ. A point that feels hard or painful is what he calls a “block,” a place where the blood does not flow freely. His job is to open these blocks one by one, on both feet. The heart point is on the left foot and the liver point on the right, while points for organs such as the stomach are found on both.

He is clear that reflexology is different from the massage of a balian urut, the traditional Balinese masseur who works on muscles and tendons. “Urut treats the tendons, for example when you sprain something,” he explains. “Reflexology treats the points on the feet.”

He works with his hands and a small wooden tool he designed and made himself. When needed, he suggests herbal remedies from the usada tradition. For international guests, he recommends ready-made herbal teas and capsules from local producers.

What Guests Feel

A basic session, which he calls a “detox” because its aim is to improve blood circulation, lasts about 30 minutes. If he finds many blocks, it can run to 45 minutes. He adjusts the pressure to each person: firmer for those who can handle pain, gentler for children and the elderly.

The pressure can be strong. Some points hurt enough to make guests wince. Made Adi also admits that pressing too hard at the start can leave the skin scraped. If a guest needs a follow-up session, he asks them to wait three days so the body has time to rest.

What guests feel most often afterwards, he says, is lightness. “When they get up and walk, they say their body feels so light.”

The story that stays with him most is that of a female guest from abroad who was staying at a guesthouse in Telaga Tawang. Her back was so badly injured she could barely walk. A friend brought her to Made Adi, who identified it as a pinched nerve (sciatica). He began working on the soles of her feet. Not long after, he recalls, she was able to stand up and walk, and she cried with emotion.

A Healer Who Stays Humble

Most of Made Adi’s guests are still local Balinese. Foreign visitors only began arriving in the past six months or so. Most come through word of mouth, sometimes with a guide who helps translate.

He works alone and is in no hurry to pass his knowledge on. “I’m selective about who I teach,” he says. Healing, he believes, also draws on inner energy (tenaga dalam). The work is draining, so it suits only the right kind of person.

He also has a message for fellow healers in Sidemen, where wellness is now starting to grow into a business. “Don’t be arrogant. Don’t put your ego first. Let the results speak, and let people be the judge,” he says. He does not like chasing targets or making grand promises, let alone asking for more than a guest wishes to give.

Why It’s Worth a Visit

You won’t find a luxurious treatment room or a long list of therapies here. What you will find is a man who inherited his skill from his late brother, opens every session with a prayer, and listens to the soles of your feet as if they were telling a story.

You might come with an aching back, legs tired from walking the rice terraces, or simple curiosity. Whatever brings you, half an hour with Made Adi is a rare chance to see how healing is still understood in a Balinese village.

Reflexology is a complementary practice and does not replace medical care. If you have a health condition, are pregnant or have recently had surgery, tell the practitioner first, and continue to follow your doctor’s advice.

Visitor Information

• Practitioner: I Made Adi Raharta, Magic Healing Reflexology

• Address: Banjar Lantang Katik, Telaga Tawang Village, Sidemen, Karangasem, Bali

• Contact/WhatsApp: +62 856-3755-300

• Session length: 30 to 45 minutes

• Languages: Indonesian and Balinese; an English-speaking guide can be arranged

• Rates: Contact Made Adi directly

• Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/PyKsUBcX8stBX77V8