Trisha Sertori, Contributor, Denpasar
Traditional healing practices have been part of the Indonesian medical landscape for more than a millennium, with herbal, spiritual and massage treatments often the preferred medical options in many villages.
In recognition of the vital role this so-called ""alternative healing"" plays in traditional societies, Balinese medical doctors and alternative health practitioners have established a union. The Union of Alternative Traditional Healers was ratified as an organization on Jan. 5 in Bali, and falls under the patronage of the Bali governor's wife, I Gusti Agung Masberatha.
According to union chair Dr. Nyoman Adiputra, a physiology professor at the medical school of Denpasar's Udayana University, the union will ensure the quality of available alternative medical care. At the same time, it will also provide practitioners with the status their studies and skills in alternative medical practices deserve.
The union has the support of many prominent doctors and scientists, and three scientists sit on its advisory panel.
""My father and grandfather were traditional healers,"" said Dr. Adiputra. ""As a youngster, I would study the lontar (ancient pandanus leaf writings) on healing.
""When I entered medical school ... I saw that so much in modern medicine has its parallel in traditional healing. At the village level, these are the people who are trusted by their communities, and it is vital that we bridge the gaps (between modern and traditional) and work together for health across our social structure.""
Pointing out that medical systems in Bali needed a more collaborative approach to address the varying health needs of the people, Adiputra said the new union would go a long way in enhancing that collaboration. It would also give greater legitimacy to health workers who fall outside the modern scientific approach to medicine that, by its nature, excludes alternative health practices and the patients that seek this form of treatment.
""The first reason for the creation of the union is that the government needs greater collaboration from other health fields, particularly from traditional healers. In this way, traditional healers will participate in the health of society, and the government will know who is working in the many different traditional health fields across Bali,"" he said.
Alternative healers are being asked to register and join the union, which provides certification -- something that gives patients greater confidence in their skills, added Adiputra.
Standardization and information exchange are also crucial to the union.
""An important objective in the development of the union is that we can use it as a vehicle for the training and education of traditional healers and it will standardize the quality of those practices,"" Adiputra said.
Traditional health practitioners will be certified by the union, and skills gained through both experience and through university courses will be accepted for certification.
Adiputra explained that alternative health professionals could have letters from their own villages as proof of their standing as healers within their communities.
He stressed the importance of opening communication with this grassroots health tradition, as it allows greater dissemination to small communities that may be distrustful of modern medical practices.
""Traditional healing is at the heart of our culture. (Healers) are at the front line of their community health. There is often a great gap between the culture at the grass roots and that of medical doctors, so suspicion can cause blocks in communication between the two groups,"" he said. ""However, by using traditional healers ... to introduce techniques to improve the overall health of those societies, the people will understand and respond more positively.""
The range of different alternative health treatments on offer in Bali is attracting many alternative health tourists to the island, and Dr. Adiputra and the union believe the standardizing and registration of traditional healers -- including day spa-type treatments -- will go a long way to increase this new form of tourism.
Thailand has long been a haven for medical and surgical tourism, and the union believes Bali could carve its own niche in that sphere with complementary medicine. A union website is planned to inform the global public of the range and application of Bali's alternative health practices, the possible positive impacts of which have been suggested with regard to diseases as severe as cancer, diabetes and HIV.
The union's deputy chair, oncologist and hematologist Dr. Tjokorda Gede Dharmayuda, is so convinced of the power of alternative healing that he applies the spiritual healing powers of Reiki to his cancer patients.
""I first used Reiki, which is an ancient form of healing from Tibet, at the Dharmaisu Hospital in Jakarta. I had a patient with prostrate cancer, who also had cancer in his vertebrate,"" Dharmayuda said. ""He was in constant pain and was wheelchair-bound by the disease. I used Reiki and he walked again. The patient's wife was crying tears of joy and it was at that point that I fully came to believe in the energy of Reiki.""
According to him, Reiki can radically lower pain levels, stimulate appetite, balance white blood cell counts and improve immune systems in cancer patients. Dharmayuda has now established a private clinic where cancer patients are treated using an holistic approach to the disease, with both medical and complementary healing treatments.
One of the most important elements in healing people is to look at the whole person, not just the disease, said Dharmayuda, who feels the new union was much needed.
""When a patient comes, I take in their whole being. Their attitude, the eyes, skin color, organs -- all these are signs as to the vitality of the whole person, not only the disease that may affect part of that person only.
""As a Balinese Hindu and a medical doctor, I see the world differently to non-Hindu doctors. When I diagnose someone, I am looking to their spirit and trying to understand what that spirit, which chose this body, is looking for. What was its goal in returning to Earth? So there must be, in my approach, the recognition of the body and the spirit,"" he explained.
Internationally recognized spiritual healer I Made Koko Absara, who has a staggering 64,000 followers world wide, says spiritual healing methods have been around a long time. Absara works on cell regeneration through meditation techniques, a concept that has also been propounded by American cellular biologist Bruce Lipton.
""I think (the union) is one of the best things that can be done. I believe in traditional healing. We were given this knowledge one thousand years ago and it is very useful,"" said Absara.
""Healers help a lot of people, but there was, until recently, no union to protect them. With registration and membership of the union, if something happens people can be informed, and as new methods become available these can also be put forward in to the healing arena.""
Alternative healing is attracting more and more followers, he continued, and part of the reason is the scientific research into complementary healing techniques.
""With all the research that is now being done, we can show this (spiritual healing) is not superstition, but something we can prove. I teach my students how they can make their minds stronger through meditation, and with that journey ... stimulate vibrations at the organ level.
""This vibration connects with memory and can let go of trauma, which then allows the body to release itself of illness. The immune system is strengthened. By feeling the body, healing is achieved at the cellular level,"" said Absara, who works with HIV and cancer patients.
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