Slow is a place
A spa retreat in the hills above Ubud, with hot spring pools, a bathhouse of steam and stone, and nowhere you need to be.
Scroll slowlySenja is the Balinese word for dusk. It is the hour when the work of the day is done and the light turns soft and gold. We built a whole retreat around that feeling.
Twelve hectares of forest, a river that runs warm from the volcano and a team of therapists from the villages around Payangan, many of them trained by their mothers and grandmothers.
Before anything else, breathe
Every visit begins the same way. Sit, let your shoulders drop and follow the circle. In for four, out for six. Three rounds is usually enough for the city to leave your body.
The bathhouse ritual
Steam
Fifteen minutes in a room of hand cut stone, filled with steam from lemongrass and pandan leaves. Breathe deep and let it open you up.
Heat
Water poured on river stones, a little more each time. The heat goes into your back and your shoulders and stays there.
Cold
A plunge into spring water at fourteen degrees. It feels impossible for three seconds, and then it feels wonderful.
Float
The hot spring pool sits at the edge of the valley. Lie back, let the water hold you and watch the mist move through the trees.
Rest
A warm room, a cup of ginger and turmeric, and as long as you need before the world gets a vote again.
Treatments
Every treatment includes the bathhouse ritual, a pot of tea and the afternoon in the hot spring pool.
River stones heated in the spring are laid along your spine and worked into your muscles with coconut oil infused with frangipani.
IDR 1,450,000For one guest
Long strokes, deep pressure and acupressure points along the body, the way it has been done in these villages for generations.
From IDR 950,000For one guest
Rice, turmeric and coffee from the farm, scrubbed in and washed away with warm rain water, then a wrap of fresh banana leaves.
IDR 1,150,000For one guest
Bronze bowls and a gentle gong played in the steam room while you lie still. Most people fall asleep. That is fine.
IDR 650,000For up to two guests
Clay from the riverbank, cool cucumber and aloe, and a slow face and scalp massage at the end.
IDR 1,050,000For one guest
Hands, heat and quiet
Our therapists work with very few things. Warm stones, good oil, steady hands and a room where the only sound is the river.
Thirty minutes from Ubud
A whole day away from everything
Come for the morning ritual or stay for the night in one of six forest lodges above the river.
Make some time for yourself
Choose a treatment and a morning or afternoon. We will send directions, what to bring and what to leave at home.