A water purification ceremony is a spiritual cleansing ritual, recommended when you’re feeling stressed or exhausted — and at least every six months if you can. This week, ours took place at Pura Taman Pecampuhan Sala, a hidden jungle temple in Bangli where two rivers meet and nine sacred fountains feed the holy spring water.

Dr. Agung, head of Traditional Medicine at Bangli National Hospital, led our melukat ceremony with calm authority and deep respect for the tradition. We began with a few simple but important meditative basics: forming a lotus flower with our hands, the right hand leading as a constant reminder to do the “right thing” along with the gesture to cleanse your head, face and heart three times with water. Our group was small, sharing the purification site with a handful of tourists who had come to witness and join the ceremony.

Together, we moved through around 21 offerings to the gods -greeting Mother Earth, praying to the god of the sky and to the spirit of the water where the two springs converge- while wandering through the holy spring water, letting it wash over us as if it were pulling away negative energy and restoring an inner balance I hadn’t realised I’d lost.

In Balinese Hindu belief, the melukat ritual at Taman Pecampuhan Sala uses sacred water to cleanse body, mind, and spirit of negativity and spiritual heaviness. Standing under the flowing springs in this quiet ravine, I felt the weight of recent weeks soften, replaced by a quiet steadiness that stayed with me long after I changed out of my wet sarong.