Feeling burnt out? Bali Wellness is the answer (Part 1)

The writer’s stay was hosted by Pesona Jiwa.   

I should know better. As a time management expert and bestselling author of five books on time and living your best life, I’ve built a career teaching Senior Executives and Business Leaders how to optimise and curate the chaos of modern life into productive shape. I’ve written the playbook on doing it all without dropping the ball.

I just forgot to follow my own advice there for a moment.

I’m tired. Well, ‘tired’ doesn’t really do it justice. I’m exhausted. Midlife exhaustion feels like a different beast entirely. It’s not solved by a weekend down the coast or an uninterrupted night’s sleep (remember those – when you didn’t have to get up for a 3am wee?). My fatigue feels sedimentary, layers and layers of weariness. Is this burnout? Is it a crisis? Has it just been a big year? I’m not sure what the right question is, but the answer, I am certain, is Bali.

So here I am, for 10 days of wellness.

The Radical Act of Choosing Yourself 

The wellness industry is exploding globally, driven largely by women exactly like me. Midlife women are finally ready to invest in themselves. But before you invade my feed with cries of privilege, yes, I acknowledge I have resources and agency – but more critically, I also have a slowly simmering realisation that I’ve spent decades pouring from cups I’ve never taken the time to refill.

As midlife women – this has become my battle cry – it’s time to be a little selfish, or at least a little less selfless. Not because we’ve earned it through decades of sacrifice, but because we deserve it, full stop. An investment in ourselves, in our wellness, isn’t just a fleeting fancy, it’s fundamental. We’re not just healing ourselves for today, we’re rewiring the baseline for what the second half of life can look like – intentional, nourished, and unapologetically free.

Pesona Jiwa: One Guest, One Sanctuary 

My first destination is a three day stay at Pesona Jiwa (Charm of the Soul). I am met at the arrivals gate at Denpasar airport by my personal concierge who whisks me through what is generally a very stressful experience for me – customs in Bali. Already I am feeling calmer. My VISA has been pre-arranged, paperwork handled, and a private driver is waiting – all part of the Pesona Jiwa experience.

Pesona Jiwa does not advertise its location to protect the privacy of its guests – momentarily I wonder if I am being abducted, but put that to one side. The philosophy here is simple: ‘Wellness isn’t something you do, it’s something you allow’. But the principle is extraordinary: *One Guest *One Villa *One Family – one guest at a time with a personalised wellness program designed solely for you, treated like family by a family of primarily Indonesian staff built by husband and wife team Matt and Nancy Little.

It’s about space, freedom, and the profound luxury of being left alone until you don’t need to be.

A Late Arrival 

I arrive hours after my bedtime (compounded by Bali being 3 hours behind Melbourne). My villa is beautiful and everything you would expect. There is a large bedroom, a spacious kitchen, private infinity pool overlooking the ocean, a rooftop terrace and a deck for yoga. I’m introduced to Joko and Subhan, my personal chefs for the stay. We sit in the open kitchen and they briefly discuss my lifestyle and diet reset: less sugar, more protein, lots of vegetables and fruit, and good carbs please. They nod, grin, and accept the challenge.

I fall into my enormous bed and listen as the ocean thumps against the shore outside my window and a thunderstorm cracks overhead. I have the deepest sleep I’ve had in weeks. I think it’s working already.

Day One 

I’m awake at 5.30am, still on Melbourne time. This is an opportunity to break poor habits – and so, determined not to lie in bed scrolling mindlessly, I head for the beach. The sand is black, volcanic and still cool as the sun rises. The only people awake are locals beginning their day. Families of fishermen check their nets and together haul their boats down the sand and into the water. Others fossick in the rock pools or simply sit in the water watching the sun rise. There are roosters crowing, cows wandering alongside the foreshore and a handful of old men sitting in the sand in their jocks, covering themselves with its volcanic goodness. I breathe deeply and easily, this is good.

Back at the villa, I am greeted by Novi, my yoga instructor for a personal yoga class on the terrace. Within minutes I am sweating profusely – I am embarrassingly clumsy and graceless. Novi congratulates me for trying my best and assures me that tomorrow will be easier. I believe her.

Breakfast from ‘the boys’ is a fresh mango and banana smoothie, followed by blueberry, banana and coconut-soaked chia seeds. Delicious. Joko shares the recipe – and all recipes for my stay – a little of this and a little of that. Every meal is presented like a work of art – almost too pretty to eat.

After a rest (as per my schedule), I am introduced to Desy – the head nurse at Pesona Jiwa. Desy runs a team of nurses to support guests who need medical care. Matt, a psychoanalyst with a background in treating addiction and trauma, has worked with Nancy to create a space that caters for clients wanting a digital detox or a short break and respite from their demanding lives to recovering addicts to clients with CTPSD or eating disorders. Desy administers a cocktail of vitamins through a drip and assures me I will be feeling energised in no time.

Before bed a massage therapist visits and I have another deep sleep. This is wonderful.

Day Two 

My yoga session is more successful. My downwards dog is less shaky, my cobra more extended.

What makes Pesona Jiwa’s approach unique is the blend of ancient traditional healing practices with modern psychotherapy. Matt and Nancy explain that traditional healing has always recognised what modern science is finally catching up with: the mind, body and spirit are not separate.

It feels a little woo woo, but I’m all for it – bring it on!

My sound healing session with Aya is blissful. I am someone who cannot sit or lie still for 5 minutes without thinking about 10,000 things at once. My poor brain pings from one thought to another without rest. It is exhausting. I am worried that I won’t be able to relax into the sounds. But I needn’t be. Aya places bowls all around and on me and I feel their frequencies resonate through me – it is deep, intense relaxation. Perfect.

Later I am honoured to receive a sacred Balinese purification ritual. For centuries Balinese communities have used Melaka to restore balance, connection and clarity, guided by healers whose wisdom has been passed down through long unbroken lineage. I stand barefoot in a mandala of flowers and am showered in holy water and coconut water (3 handfuls to my face; 3 handfuls to my hair; the rest poured over my head, repeatedly) – I have to kneel on the ground as I am too tall for the healer to reach my crown. I meditate with the healer’s daughter as her father chants prayers and again I am amazed that my mind does not wander, my back does not ache from sitting still, my mind is at rest.

Day Three 

The Watsu experience – water shiatsu in the infinity pool – defies easy description. The therapist explains that all I need to do is close my eyes and let her guide me through the water. I must relax completely. I must relinquish control. The session will last an hour. Again, I wonder how I will possibly be able to spend an hour in the pool with my eyes closed and resist taking back control or cataloging my lists in my brain. But, I remind myself, I am here to refill my cup, and so I lean in unconditionally.

Xandra is Spanish – the only non-Indonesian member of staff I have met. She cradles me as I float weightless, joints decompressing, muscles unwinding with the flow. With each gentle movement I realise what trust feels like when you finally let go. “Like dancing on air,” I scribble later in my journal, but it’s more than that. It’s being held by something larger than yourself. It’s about flow, release, surrender. Complete trust.

The Watsu session is my most profound experience of the stay. I drift into complete relaxation. When Xandra gently squeezes my arm to signal that she is about to fully immerse me, I completely surrender as I am gently rolled and folded and passed through and then under the water. No fear. No panic. Nothing. It is complete and utter freedom. I see the most intense colours behind my closed eyelids – a deep, deep red, a dark blue. Is this me letting go?

My two psychoanalyst sessions are with Matt who specialises in nervous system regulation – and this is where the real work happens. Using targeted transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation with a TaVNS device that delivers a gentle buzz to my ear each time my vagal nerve blocks a triggering thought – Matt helps me connect a lot of dots. My nervous system has been in a constant state of fight-or-flight for incalculable years. As the TaVNS device repeatedly zaps my ear, I am aware that I am experiencing thoughts and emotions and questions that would normally send my gut into chaos. Fascinating.

What Isn’t There 

What strikes me most about Pesona Jiwa isn’t what it offers – it’s what it omits. No busy check-in desk buzzing with activity. No fitness classes blasting motivational music. No group activities. No pre-packaged programs. No community dining where you’re expected to share your trauma with strangers over granola. Instead, there’s an intentional hush and lack of pace. Pesona Jiwa is a sanctuary where healing is directed by your needs, not the resort’s schedule.

After my three days  

I have spent many years being everything to everyone. I have certainly lived my advice about perseverance and grit and strategic resilience. But I haven’t always lived The Life List’s central message: that the best life isn’t later. It’s now. In the quiet. In the calm. In the agency of letting go of control. In the slightly scary space of not hustling.

Bali and my three days at Pesona Jiwa have been a reset. To let expert hands remind my body and my mind what safety feels like. To let the gentle pace, the heat, the warm air, the beautiful ocean drown out the busy playlist in my head. To sit with myself – not my brand or my responsibilities, and just be a 55-year-old woman who is very, very tired, and finally doing something about it.