Ubud Bodyworks Centre — Attraction in Bali

I came here for a Kundalini yoga class & this is a warning NOT to go here for kundalini yoga. I was the only student in the class & there was a male teacher. He didn’t introduce himself or check if I was ok being in a 1:1 class as a female with a male teacher. (Normally I would never do this.) I’d already paid at the reception & no one told me this. As someone who has practised yoga for over 10 years & kundalini for 5 years, and now a qualified kundalini tantra yoga teacher, this ‘teacher’ did not have a clue what he was doing. He was making it up as he went along & I don’t think I have ever been to a ‘bad’ yoga class in my life, but this was the first. The teacher also had a very strange/bad vibe about him. He was not able to explain well, and what we were doing in the class did not make any sense. I actually seriously thought about leaving the class halfway through because I sensed something was not right. However I stayed because I wanted to complete & close the practice & thought maybe I would learn something new or different from this teacher. He was intent on trying to push the body beyond limits in asanas & if I was not as flexible as him he would laugh. He told me that he helps his students to be ‘successful’. I asked him what success is & told me it is being able to get into difficult postures. This man did not even have an understanding of basic principles in yoga. Later that day I had quite a serious injury & it could be totally unrelated, but I can’t ignore that I’d had contact with this person with very bad energy earlier that day. Be...

I had high hopes for this massage, especially after reading so many positive reviews about the salon and reaching out TWICE beforehand to check whether this treatment would be suitable (once in person, once via whatsapp) for relieving ongoing neck and head pain. I was assured it would help.

Unfortunately, the experience didn’t meet my expectations. While the therapist was kind and clearly tried her best, the massage felt rushed and lacked the depth, intuition, and sensitivity I was hoping for. The description mentions deep tissue healing with meridian point acupressure and yogic stretching, but there was no sustained pressure, no deep release work, and no real attention to trigger points.

Despite communicating clearly that I was in a lot of pain and looking for relief, the technique used felt more forceful than therapeutic — quick, repetitive movements with no real feel for the body. I couldn’t relax at all during the session, and unfortunately, the pain is still very present.

It honestly felt like being massaged by someone who was following a routine without any actual connection to what my body needed — which is disappointing, especially considering that this type of massage is meant to support deep healing and pain relief.

On a positive note, the space was clean and the environment fine.

Sadly, the treatment didn’t help with the pain at all, and now I’ll have to look for another massage elsewhere and pay for the procedure again — which is frustrating, especially after putting trust in the...

We recently visited Ubud Bodyworks Centre for a massage and full-body treatment. My therapist, Arisiana, was absolutely wonderful – kind, professional, and very skilled. The massage itself was deeply relaxing and felt great.

The detox spa treatment included a coconut oil massage, a 30-minute sea salt body scrub, and finally an herbal bath filled with various herbs and spices, which was said to have detoxifying effects.

However, after the treatment, I was told to take a shower, while my girlfriend was told not to, so the herbs could supposedly keep working on her skin. This left us totally confused — what was actually the correct procedure?

Also, since we still had a clear oily layer on our skin (the water in the bath was literally beading off), we started questioning how any herbal ingredients could be absorbed at all. Oil creates a barrier that prevents water-based substances from penetrating the skin. Even if the salt scrub removed some of it, the skin still felt greasy afterward.

In the end, the whole experience felt amazing in terms of relaxation and atmosphere. But from a scientific point of view, the detox and absorption claims don’t really make sense — and more consistent and informed guidance would have made the experience...